Hi
It would appear that I have been turned down by a breed rescue because I am a single person.  Their concerns were what would happen to the dog if I was taken ill or died.  As some of you may know, I spent all of January in hospital and my friends rallied round and moved into my house so that my young GSP did not have to go into kennels.  I have also made provision for my dog and horses in my will.  Am I being selfish having a dog?  What do you all think?  Are there any other singleton dog owners out there?

Personally it wouldnt put me off, if the home was a good choice for the dog & vice versa then it wouldnt matter to me if that person was single,gay,married or living with a cardboard cut out.( obviously all family member would also have to get on with the dog too :-) )
You can point out to the rescue place that you did make provisions for your dog whilst ill, but at the end of the day accidents, illness & death happen, you have take all the right steps to make sure your GSP will be cared for in any of those situations.
Good luck :-)

What a shame :(  there are many dogs out there who need to have one main carer of a certain sex because of bad experiences, so to be turned down for being single doesn't make sense.......

How ridiculous .... who's to say that if you were a "2 parent family" the same problem wouldnt arise, it has been known for very bad accidents to happen that wipe out familys in one go.....

they let single adults foster children these days :rolleyes:

Hi Gunner,

I'm sorry you were turn down by a breed rescue because you were single.  It's really a stupid way to disqualify someone.   I don't recall what the latest figure is with regard to divorces, but if I recall correctly it's 50%+ of marriages that end in divorce.   So 50% of the time the breed rescue will rehome a dog to a family and the dog will end up with only one person anyway, best case.   In many cases the dog will end up back in a rescue or rehomed by the owners because neither partner is able to care for the dog when home circumstances change.

Stacey

How completely stupid!!  No home can be guaranteed 100% to be there forever.

What is it with people in authority-Nuclear family or nothing!
As you may have gathered from that outburst I to am a singleton dog owner and there is a lot to be said for it- as there is for families owning dogs.
As someone has pointed out we are not going to get divorced and dump the dog like some couples do.
I feel sorry for the dog but I know there are more open minded rescues out there.

Single would not bother me......young (ie under 30 in my scale :)) or at work all day I would definately rule out and I suppose many single people are going to fall into that category apart from the retired.

Half of us on here are under 30 LOL

Sadly, I am well over 30, but only half way between that and retirement age!  ;-)  Yes, I do work, but I work from home and am lucky enough to work predominantly with the USA, so mornings are free until c.1300 when the east coast wakes up.  Mornings are therefore dedicated to dog walking and training;   in the pm further short sessions are fitted in around conference calls and I work mainly in the evening when the woofer is (as now!) curled up in front of the fire asleep.  This didn't seem to bother the rescue people at all.

I am under 30, single WORKING mum, 2 kids, one 10 and one 6. And not in anyway saying i am the best dog owner but i have 2 dogs and they are happy :D Gemma i have had since before I got divorced and Beano I have had since i have been on my own. I wouldnt say it is a bad thing. Depends on the person :) :) one person wouldnt be able to cope with a dog when there are 2 people to cope with it. Where as another can cope with 4 kids and 30 dogs. there is NO cut and dried way. I wish there was but there isnt :( :(
Lea :)

I guess that makes me a terrible dog owner - Single, under 30 & heaven forbid I have to work to earn a living!!!!

Now lets look at the facts. My dogs get 2 walks a day & have their own room in my house whilst I am out. Their room has a dog-flap so they are free to come & go into a secure fenced area. 2-3 evenings a week we go training so they can have a lovely time doing things they enjoy & meeting up with their doggy mates. Then at weekends we go to agility shows so they can do more of the same......Poor neglected beats, someone call the RSPCA quick!

Some people has such sily fixed ideas. A rescue centre told my friend that she only wanted a dog as a substitute child because her children were leaving home! Oh really, how many of us have substitute children then? Dont give up, try another centre. People should look at individual circumstances not have fixed ideas about who you are, or whether you work etc.

I'm single, just over 30 and work all day, but I think that my dogs have a happy, healthy life. 

I think you may find that some rescues have a different policy, and may take your circumstances more postively :)

Lindsay
x

<<A rescue centre told my friend that she only wanted a dog as a substitute child because her children were leaving home!>>

The mind boggles - I wonder, pray tell, who they will find worthy to rehome dogs to? I think I've just found out where the put the over zealous social workers out to pasture.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<I think I've just found out where the put the over zealous social workers out to pasture. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
LMAO @ phoebe. so you have had some like that have you!!!!!! ;) ;)
lea :)

Fortunately not, but I calls it as I sees it. ;) I'm single and have a problem with my back... don't tell anybody or they might come round and 'rescue' my dogs from me - he-he! I've heard quite a few of these stories about good and experienced homes being declined for pathetic reasons.

I must say that I had only positive experiences when I bailed my sadly now deceased Phoebe out of a shelter ran by The Jerry Green Foundation. They were WONDERFUL. I had to force them to take the adoption fee from me as she was a puppy my friend had bred and they'd only had her there for 2 days after she was left there by the people who bought her.

I fail to see how being single makes you a not so good dog owner then someone in a relationship.

I would be happy to sell a pup to someone in your situation.  Sounds like you have and ideal life for dog ownership :)  Proberbly just as well looked after as ours with a married couple and two teenage children at 15 & 17 who all look after the dogs where now the dogs are left no longer then 5 hours (only that long once aweek aswell!!!!)

I think thats really un-fair, someone who is single can be just as good at looking after there dog as anyone.
All those dogs in rescues and you get people like that being picky how awful :(

I find that those who are already single taking on a dog have more sorted in their lives than those in a relationship and then become suddenly single. I believe in this day and age relationship breakups result in a lot of rehoming of dogs (probably more than someone who's already single getting into difficulty).

That is ridiculoua.  Many of the most committed (mean that in both its sences) dog owners are single.

I have been since 1990 (have the children who are fast becoming independent). 

In fact it is often people who have apartner who have to choose between time spent doing things with their dogs and theri partners which can cause some strife.

Most of the single dog owners of my acquaintance the dogs are theri lives, and they work in order to keep them and spend al the rest of their time on them.

What is the problem with under 30 Isabell ?

Im single and under 30 AND I work full time I was up at 5:30 this morning, gave my boys a good walk and game, left them snoozing on the sofa with a couple of stuffed kongs for when they wake up ;)

I dont see how being single makes a difference, if anything I have more time for my boys because I dont have an OH fighting for my affections :p

I believe as a group they have a greater potential for facing changes in their lives, early days with relationships, continuing education or commencing careers for instance and I'm afraid they are less reliable.  Just recently some statistics were published on people failing to turn up for Doctors appointments, for instance, by far the biggest offenders were the under 30's. 
Of course this is not necessarily true for the individual, I got my first dog in my early 20's but I am more often on the other side of the fence now :) and although I can and do spend considerable time vetting prospective purchasers there is a limit to how well you can really judge them so it makes sense to me to utilise what I have learnt about groups of society as well.  I am aware that would definately be classed as prejudice and I hope there is no board you can report me to :p but when it comes to my puppies their interests are the greater to me.
At least I don't rule out the single (mature single that is ;))
If you are under 20 don't even ask :D

Ok Isabel...I won't!!! ;)

(still under 20 :( )

Hi Gunner,

What a load of nonsense!  I have only seen three of the 'Me or the Dog' programmes but all three were about *families* that couldn't cope with their dogs and (IMHO) told you a great deal about the state of the relationships within the family, little of it healthy.

I think you'll find this silly policy goes the way of most when reality finally kicks in and they find themselves with a surfeit of dogs and no homes quite good enough - the standard will be redefined p.d.q. and will probably be lower than the original before they introduced this mad idea.

Good luck, don't give up.

Linda  

I am under 30, so is my OH but we have 2 dogs and regardless of the situation our dogs come first to us no matter what.  We do want to have a human family too but the dogs will still be equally as important to us, they are our babies at the end of the day.  I don't really think you can compare missing a docs appointment to owning and caring for an animal????  My mother is nearly 50 and sometimes forgets she has appointments, so should she not have dogs?

Sorry to jump on the band wagon but I feel you are ruling out a lot of fab owners due to some unrelated statistics!

Firstly, to the OP it is ridiculous that this re-homing centre turned you down for being single, my mum is single, but they allow her to foster children! I hope you manage to find your dog from a rescue that doesn't have silly restricitions :) Good luck! :D

Secondly, about the under/over 30 thing, I will just point out that I am under 30 (thank goodness - my time is running out though!! ;) ) my hubbie is over 30, we have a three year old little boy, and we are getting our first puppy in a few weeks. I can see where Isobel is coming from though, when I look at my friends, age ranges from approx 20-35, I wouldn't let most of them have a puppy of mine (if I had any puppies ;) ) Don't get me wrong, they are lovely people, they wouldn't hurt a fly, but most of them work all day, party all night, have no responsibilities for anything or anyone, and I have heard more than once, "I want a little dog just like Britney's" :(

Obviously, this is only my view on things, and it doesn't mean that everyone under 30 is the same - I'm not!! But perhaps to take on the responsibility of an animal, the owner needs to be a bit more mature? Certainly a bit more settled, and definitely have learnt that picking up dog poo in the middle of the path isn't that big of a deal!! ;) :P

JMO

Glad to see you get what I am saying Natalie, we all know individuals that don't fit the norm and isn't it likely that the dog dedicated, under 30 year old is going to be a frequenter of Champdogs making it look like there are millions of you out there ;) but the fact remains, as a group, they are not too impressive on the responsibility stakes as the doctors appointment statistic illustrates.
When I am looking at homes for my puppies I do not have the luxury of getting to know people for several months and seeing them deal with all manner of situations and neither do homing societies.  Short of regularly taking a chance, which I am not prepared to do, all that I can do is deal with the strongest likelyhood scenarios based on my own life experience which now I am not lucky enough to be under 20 myself (never something to have a glum face next to ice queen! :)) I have accumulated a bit of.

As I said, these people are my friends who I like very much, they are not bad people, they're just not at the right stage in their life to take on the responsibility of a puppy/dog. If any of them really wanted a dog, and was dedicated enough to get their life more secure and settled then I wouldn't have a problem with them having a dog, but the way most of them are living now, I would do my best to put any idea of them getting a puppy out of their head!

As Isabel says, as a breeder she can't possibly get to know all of her puppy owners personally over a long time, so she has to make assumptions, and choices, as to who she want's one of her puppies going to. Besides, it is she that has put all of the hard work into the litter, why can't she decide who she want's to own her puppies? When it comes to the welfare of dogs/cats/children/any living being on the face of the Earth, being politically correct is out of the window I'm affraid - or it would be with me anyway!!!

I'm 21 and i would class myself as a good dog owner!!!! I am at uni and live with my boyfriend, round the corner from my parents and as most parents out there will know "full time" university is far from full time! - In the holidays i go to work with my boyfriend. While im at uni Leo is either with my dad or with my boyfriend in the office, and in the holidays he comes to the office with us where he has literally hundreds of toys as i sell pet things (no admin im not advertising just making a point) - so in actual fact he is spoilt in that department. He very rarely gets left on his own and if he does hes a little angel and just sleeps.

we also live right next to the park so he gets plenty of exercise, he has the run of the house when we are out.

In fact i would say because of the way we live our lives hes actually the best behaved dog ive ever had - he gets more attention that dogs we had when i was living with my parents, hes much better in the car because he;s in it daily etc etc

so im just glad our breeder didnt have an age prejudice!

On the subject of being single i also dont see how that automatically makes you a bad owner!

I am married, well over 30 :rolleyes:  have 3 children 21, 19 and 15 and have had our dog for less than 2 years.  I work part time and one of my daughters works between 11am and 7pm, son is still at school and home by 3.30pm.  We live next to a park that borders woods and open farmland and I think on paper we should look like good candidates for owning a dog.  However, everybody experiences changes throughout their lives and this has happened to us.  Having booked our first skiing holiday for February (taking son) we thought no problem with dog as daughters will obviously manage very well between them.  Hey presto last month 21 yr old moves into flat with boyfriend and 19 yrs old buys ticket for Australia! She is going November and intends to stay for a year.  I am not deliberately trying to bore you with my life story :D but just want to illustrate that you can't predict how good a prospective owner is likely to be judged on their age or current circumstances.  Besides which as you get older you are more likely to get ill and peg it (unless someone has been telling me porkies)  not less likely.

As I remember the stories in the media, those recently convicted of cruelty to animals were, or at least looked, ancient.

We all have problems and emergencies arising but it is how you will deal with them that often changes with age. 

>Besides which as you get older you are more likely to get ill and peg it

Life expectancy isn't that bad in the western world :D although yes I have refused the elderly as well although more on the grounds that my breed thrive on plenty of exercise.  Being older and more mature they will generally have thought about what would happen to the dog in the event of their demise ;)

What will happen when you leave university though.  It seems to me that at this stage of your education and, indeed relationships, you could be, indeed are likely to be, facing great changes in the immediate years to come.  I don't doubt, as you are obviously a dog dedicated person that you will make great efforts to work it out, but it all seems added pressures to the future of any puppy I might place such that I feel perfectly reasonable in not being willing to accept for them.

I know you're not referring to me but I'm at university as well! lol - bit of a later starter :P  Don't know what I am going to do but know that dog will be heavily featured in my plans whatever they are. :)

Why on earth do some people take delight in telling others how to run their lives? Appalling.

The person that started this thread seemed eminently sensible and is the dog going to be better off with him or in kennels with very limited human contact ? I think we know the answer.

if I was left on my own, the first thing I'd want to keep would be my dog and a replacement for her when she went.

Isn't that natural enough ?

Shame on the rescue centre   My first dog was a rescue from Battersea Dogs Home.  When I got him I was single and in a full time job working unsociable shifts.  He lived a long and very happy life.  I feel sorry for the rescue dogs getting potentially wonderful homes denied them due to rescue centres holding out for that elusive *perfect* family.  I wonder how many are euthanised due to overcrowding after someone allegedly *unsuitable* for similar circumstances has been turned down :(.