Mr. Tan Man spent two years in a South Carolina “no kill” shelter - most of it living outdoors. Located on a dirt road with farm animals wandering around, it wasn’t like a typical shelter. The folks running it were very passionate about animal rescue and had taken good care of him, but they required vet references and a home visit before we could become his “guardians.” Requirements like this - or that adopters have fenced yards, be home during the day, etc. - are why dogs languish. #DogsOfCoSo
@cassandra17lina when well meaning is not well doing. Absurd.
@cassandra17lina
I won't even deal with those small shelters anymore. They may be well intentioned, but they are misguided. Their rigid criteria rule out some of the best homes.
I've just gone to the big SPCA in the city for my last few dogs. Much more practical in how they assess adopters.
@cassandra17lina
Denying a veterinarian an adoption is cuckoo banana-pants insane.
Lots of rescuers fall into this unhealthy mindset that conflates a regular screening with "your living situation must be exactly like mine." It's so narrow-minded. 😩
@TomeReader There are plenty of people who love dogs and can take excellent care of them but who don’t fit the extremely narrow (and socioeconomically judgmental) profile of the “ideal” no-kill shelter client. Fortunately, thousands of “pawsome” dogs can be found at public shelters for much less money and no lifestyle restrictions. I got Little Miss Attitude at our county shelter where I volunteered for four years. I was her “handler” at an adoption event. #DogsOfCoSo
@cassandra17lina
Aw! ❤️
Our Dargo came from the municipal shelter. All they asked for was a vet reference and, if you were renting, written permission from the landlord.
Where I live now, there is no municipal shelter. Animal control partners with an ASPCA. The costs to adopt are so high, there's less incentive for people to choose adoption.
@TomeReader @cassandra17lina
The ASPCA rakes in millions of dollars, they should offer free or low cost adoptions.
@Smccune55 @TomeReader @cassandra17lina Free adoptions may sound good but it encourages irresponsible adoption and even exploitation (bait dogs.)
A reasonable fee is one way to insure people are serious. One shelter waives the fee for special needs adoptions and for seniors adopting senior pets.
@S_r_stone @TomeReader @cassandra17lina
Of course, for private adoptions, ie rehoming. But in this case, the ASPCA is functioning as a shelter, and they are responsible for vetting the adopter.
@TomeReader @cassandra17lina the no-kill shelter people work during the day too.😉
@cassandra17lina It’s impossible to adult in my area of Wisconsin. We tried. We were approved but the process was insane with references, a home visit, etc. The dog we tried bit my husband during our pick up enough to cause a scar. Apparently, vetting the dogs is non existent. They’re lucky we didn’t sue for medical. We ended up getting a dog out of state, purchased, where the money went to a church pastor running a summer camp for the disabled. Never again.
@cassandra17lina ADOPT but adulting is hard too here. Oy.
@SaltyVeruca Adulting and adopting should always go hand in paw!
@cassandra17lina 😀 I’m honestly convinced these shelters here are just doing I don’t know what but they’re hella expensive. Even the state ones. As much as purchasing expensive. Hundreds. I honestly don’t think there are enough wealthy saints here for all the dogs.
That's wild.
The city shelter in Dallas frequently has free adoptions, because they get overcrowded. And when they do charge, it's typically like, $40. They also don't require anything but an ID. They'd like to screen more, but as I said--overcrowding.
The cost to neuter/spay is a few hundred, so that's where the adoption cost is often passed on to the adopter, but the Dallas Shelter never charges for that.
Oh, and they put a tracker in the animal, so if anything happens to it, the animal is at least tied to your ID and phone/address at the time of adoption
@tyghebright @cassandra17lina Same in MO where I’m originally from. I was shocked.
@cassandra17lina . Rigorous? How about self righteous.
@TR_forester6291 Yup. Judgmental people gonna judge.
@cassandra17lina We had a Boston Terrier and were looking for a playmate, after 20 years of responsible dog ownership, with references. We had a person at a dog rescue tell us we were too old to adopt a Boston (we were in our 40’s!!), because the dogs had a lot of energy 😂 . Found a different rescue.
Give me a break. Too old at 40? Boston Terrier is not a Belgian Malinois.
@LnzyHou @cassandra17lina They have a lot of energy, until they hit about 10, but I'd raised the first from a pup, for goodness sake, without dying of exhaustion. And, they're 20lbs, so not exactly unmanageable for "an old" 😜 .
We did see the same adoption group in a Petco parking lot, after we adopted our second. We went over and let them know we were unimpressed with their selection process, and our very well trained dogs were both happy and healthy.
@cassandra17lina I lthink some of these places-and more than we’d like- are just hoarders.
@cassandra17lina
The fenced yard thing is crazy...
I keep wondering about the time post Tucker... 😢
He's happy and healthy... The Mrs says he was first and last...
I'm not so sure... But there are so many rules at rescues...
@InvaderGzim Leaving a dog in a fenced yard in the Carolinas means that they face many perils from the lowly mosquito to the copperhead snake to the chompy alligator. I take each of my two dogs on at least a mile walk every single day, rain or shine.
@cassandra17lina @InvaderGzim The boxer rescue group we used requires a fenced yard but they are careful not to adopt to anyone intending to leave them outside unattended.
Leaving dogs outside in a fenced yard is much worse than keeping them crated when unattended but giving plenty of exercise.
I do think some breeds are too big or energetic to consider for an apartment.
@cassandra17lina We finally gave up trying to adopt. We are over 60 and no fenced yard. Even though we had adopted 5 dogs previously and the dogs went out with us, frequently hiked (here is a daily hike), and got loads of attention and an indoor life. Rescues would push pit bulls and that was a no for us, but we were told "no yard, too old to walk" too many times. We bought a puppy (4 months old) from a less than ideal place. But he needed to live his life, too.
Yes, ideally there should be *some* kind of screening. At least a record of other animals adopted from shelters.
Though someone like Vick could probably get around that by using several people to get animals.
@cassandra17lina Fenced yard requirement for larger dogs makes sense. "Home during the day" is nuts.
We adopted from boxer rescues twice. They checked out the yard and required an hour with a training specialist after we got the dog (included in fee) and learned about crate training.
Steps to avoid returns make sense to me. But if you exclude people with jobs (home requirement) it doesn't help the dogs.
@cassandra17lina I am thoroughly jaded about the moral superiority felt by the "no kill" shelters.
No kill shelters routinely turn away admission of strays. Turning away dogs is no better than euthanizing a few that are not adoptable. Those dogs have to go somewhere, back on the street or to an open-admission shelter. So turning dogs away is not really better; it is just different.
A local dog rescue group wouldn’t allow my veterinarian to adopt a dog because she worked during the day, even though she could bring her dog to work. Some of the dogs at that establishment had been there for years. People running some of these “no kill” shelters are very rigorous. Perhaps they should just refer to these establishments as “no adopt” shelters rather than “no kill.”