I am wondering what people think about some of the rescue societies polices on rehoming.

I have been turned down in the past as I have children, I know of others who have been turned down for working, living in a flat, only having a small garden etc.

I think a dog would be better off in a home where it is loved even if it only had a small garden & owners worked than in a kennels for months.

I dont want to cause an argument  but would like to know why - especially want to here from you who work in rescue.

I know not all dogs would be suited to a working owner / small garden / children ect - but I dont think it should apply to them all

On the one hand, i think a lot of rsecues, certainly larger rescues have blanket policies that are often NOT hugely helpful.

On the other, well people with small children are a risk with a dog with an unknown history and puppies and small children are a bad bad mix. The rescue cannot check your entire life history so cannot know if you really ARE experienced or not, and they do not want dogs going to the wrong homes and bouncing back into rescue.

I think a great many dogs would indeed be better off in a loving home where a dog walker was employed to make up for the owners working, and it got long walks morning and night as well to make up for lack of garden.

But rescues again cannot ensure this always happens, lots of people SAY they will get a dog walker and then dont want to hand house keys out or pay someone to do it. Dog goes nuts throuhg lack of exercise and being left alone, ends up returned and is evne harder to home next time round.

There are good reasons for these rules, even though it can be pigging annoying at times. I would recommend you try smaller, local rescues or breed specific rescues who have more time to match dog to owner and owners lifestyle.

Em

Our local rescue kennels say that because they cannot vouch for the temperament behind the puppy or dog they rehouse, they cannot, in all conscience, rehome any dog to a family with children under 7.

They do not have the capacity/resources to enable them to use behavourists, and they go on their own instincts/home checks/references - and at the end of the day, they retain ownership of the dog/puppy.   They also reserve the right to pay "surprise" visits (and they do do this) just to ensure that everything is working out well.

This is a small, local rescue kennel BTW.

Margot

You say that you have been turned down in the past for having children, was this after choosing a dog? or was it just because you had children.  I agree that obviously different dogs need different circumstances ie big garden, dont get on with cats/dogs, or are wary round children.  I would ask about their policy and why having children stops you rescuing an animal.  I think as long as your children are aware of the responsibilty/care a dog needs and the dog is ok with children then it shouldnt pose a problem.  Our dog was from rescue kennels and when we got him they said they would come and do a home check every 6 months we have had Jazz nearly five years and have never had a visit or phone call.

I know that it is very sad for you when you want a dog so much, but rescues are looking for forever homes for their dogs who often have had a bad start, middle or finish to their lives.

With regards to children, not even the history of a dog is just the problem any dog can jump up and knock over a child or scratch or nip with just everyday play.  Toddlers and young children are renowned for pulling dogs tails, holding and squeezing them in unsatisfactory ways, poking and proding when they shouldn't and basically not knowing how to communicate properly with an animal. (How can they know??)  It's not just about protecting a child from a pup/dog, but also protecting a dog/pup from a child. Could you guarantee 100% that you would never leave your children alone unsupervised with a dog/pup.  When children are older they understand better and get much more pleasure from a dog, rescues are not saying never, just wait a little longer.

They do not want to risk an unhappy ending or have a dog brought back because it did not work out.

I know it seems hard, but it is for the best all round. Rescue centres work hard to match dogs to people.  If all breeders were the same, they may not be there in the first place. :-)

Yes I can see the point of the rescue.

This was a few years ago & I had just lost my staffie bitch to old age & phoned up a local rescue to enquire about an older rescue staffie - thats when I was told no dogs at all to kids under 7.

I am not after a rescue now - I do my bit by fundraising for the local rescues

I did get another staffie from another rescue a couple of years later , but I did wonder why they had these rules.

I see your point about children, some do not know how to behave around dogs.

I just feel so sorry for these poor dogs :-(

I also think if someone gets turned down for a rescue dog they will go & buy a pup,like I did, which in turn encorages more dogs being bred = more dogs in rescue!

Hard one this - thanx for your replies

( I also think if someone gets turned down for a rescue dog they will go & buy a pup,like I did, which in turn encorages more dogs being bred = more dogs in rescue.)

That is so true Tennostaffs :-(

I think the difference is between rescue centres and rescue.  Depends on how the operation is carried out.  Yes, rescue centres need to have general rules because they cant always go out and physically look at the prospective owners situation.  Many of them do and prospective owners can be put off by the intrusiveness of visits to their home.  I know I was when I wanted to re home a cat, having years of experience - perfect set up, I was grilled mercilessly by a very rude woman who made me feel like a beginner.  Still had the cat though.

That aside, rescue, and someone mentioned breeders taking more responsibility, usually applies to breed rescue which certainly in our case is run on entirely different lines. 

Dogs are never kennelled in large numbers but are matched with prospective owners, some have waited years, as soon as a request to take a dog for re homing is received.  The current owners are visited, as often as is necessary, to get a feel for how the dog is trained or if it needs special treatment.  During these visits the dogs are observed interacting with their owners and their children if there are any.  While this is going on the prospective new owners are going through something similar so as to make as near a match as is possible.  There is then usually a seamless transfer from one home to another, unless the dog needs to be fostered in between, so kenneling is not necessary.  This is were the responsible breeders are most active - breed rescue (even if not physically they generally know how to get hold of someone that is).  And while it is not true of every breeder it has to be the best way to go for re homing. 

Sadly people are turned down for whatever reason and yes they do go off to look for a puppy (if they are still looking for a particular breed).  The beauty of that is that through the network we already know these people and if a rescue wasn't for them sometimes a puppy with no previous history is.  That isn't encouraging breeding, it is encouraging careful placing as all the dogs notified to us are re-homed and not stressed out in long term kennels. 

If the rescue take the time to explain WHY they have a certain rule, one hopes the person in question will understand and either not get a dog, or get a responsibly bred pup from a good breeder.

Rescues can do no more than that, however where i DO think they have some responsibillity is when their customer service skills are rather lacking and they are rude and not helpful to people, which may WELL send people off to buy a dog and they may buy one from a puppy farm or bad breeder.

Sadly a lot of rescues seem to feel they have a right to be rude to people, either people wanting unsuitable dogs or people trying to rehome dogs for whatever reason, and i do think the latter is often why dogs are dumped rather than handed in.

Em

I think you have something there EM.  I do feel that a lot of people are afraid to go to rescue with their unwanted puppies/dogs because of the lecture they might get.  If they received a welcome for finally becoming responsible it might be a different story.

that's all very well how welcoming would you be to this call i took

"Is that the Alsatian Rescue"
"Well we're part of German Shepherd rescue"
"I want rid of my 14 year old Alsatian"
"Why"
"It doesn't like my 6 month old puppy & I'm getting another puppy after Xmas so it's got to go"
"Well if we were able to take him/her we would really struggle to find him/her a home & he/she'd have to be in the kennels maybe for the rest of his/her life"
"It's your job to take it isn't it & I want it collecting now you can do what you like with it when you get it"
"Have you thought about taking the puppy back to it's breeder & not getting another until your oldie dies"
"Why should I you have to take it NOW(she was shouting at this stage) & I want to start breeding next year can't do that with it in the same kennel, call yourself a rescue you're a load of  f*****g w*****s"phone slammed down

Should I have said "Certainly madam I'll come now(11 pm)to liverpool(150+ miles away) & take you old dog away"

"Why should I you have to take it NOW(she was shouting at this stage) & I want to start breeding next year can't do that with it in the same kennel,

The poor dog :(
How can they have a dog for 14 years and just want to get rid :(
Another BYB that will have litters from every season just to make money!!! Poor things :( :(
Lea :(

Sorry Moonmaiden our rescue doesn't operate like yours and so I cant compare how you would deal with your enquires.  Do you know what happened to that old dog.  Did they throw it out with the garbage or have it put down.  Would it have had a better chance in rescue?  They are all ifs but and maybes and when we are stretched to our limits who are we there to serve the irresponsible owner or the poor dog who did nothing wrong.

Thought I should add. 

I don't think you could have done anything differently as the caller didn't give you a chance to get to the bottom of it, and wasn't meaning to say that you did any less than you could.

There will always be people you cant help or reason with, we're left with the ones sitting on the fence who cant decide whether to leave the puppies in a box by the road side or tie their old dog to a fence and walk away.  Yes it does happen and I just hope that more of these people can be persuaded to bring their unwanted dogs to a rescue.

The majority of them are underfunded and it is hard for the people working in them, we all know that.  We also take our hats off to you for the work you do.  We all give our services free of charge, and travel to visit pick up dogs with no thought of recompense, I am sure you are in the same boat.  I know I am lucky because I have never seen an unhappy ending for the dogs we have been involved in and they go straight to their forever homes. 

Keep up the good work.

What she really wanted I suspect was for us to collect the dog & have it put down

We get lots of calls from people with GSDs with DM(previosuly CDRM)that are going off or have gone off their legs & are incontinent & they want rid instead of making the decision to put the dog down themselves

Even had two dumped that were riddled with cancer & that had both had previous cancer ops(in our vets opinion)how sick is that ?

In rescue a 14 years old would have no chance of being rehomed & so would occupy a kennel for maybe a couple of years depriving several other real rescues of a chance of being taken into a safe place

Our lady has a "white"rescue shepherd house dog that cannot be rehomed due to behaviour problems & the only other dog he has ever been able to live with died last year so she cannot even have one of the rescues living as a permanent resident in her house sad isn't it

We've had the dogs tied up outside & in whelp bitches chucked out of cars etc near to the kennels !

Funding what's that ????? We're lucky we get a payment from a legacy of a local deceased dog lover each year that pays a few bills otherwise it's donations from a couple of GSD obedience clubs & what we raise ourselves & the lady & her husband raise at car boots etc

You are right it B hard work & heart breaking at times :(

Id find it bloody hard is the honest answer.

Gritted teeth and 'sorry, we might be able to organise it next week' followed with 'well thats all we can offer, i am sorry, goodbye'.

Best you can do really. As tempting as it must be to shout something deeply offensive down the phone at them, they will just tell evryone they know not to bother with rescue because some cow was rude to them.

Its a KILLER being polite to scum, but thats customer services :(

Em

Have to say have listened to repiles and agree with my other fellow rescues.Our policy is to not rehome to the under 5's UNLESS the dog in question is ok with maybe 4/5 yr olds.We also get so many in because of young children, people get a dog, then have a family, the dog takes second place to the family, and now must go.

Also people think that it is so easy to rehome a dog, we can get up to 10 /20 calls a day looking for a dog, some people can be downright rude, we want a dog, and we want it now, are you in, can we come now...why cant we come now....etc...

Rescues differ in their rules and we all try our best for the dogs in question, each dog is different some loves kids, some hate them..!
We "fit" the dog into the lifestyle of the adopter, some dogs may be full of bounce, and will fit in with a family that loves outdoor etc, some love quietier dogs, no 2 dogs are the same.

But people can be fickle only this week we had a dog returned because he had developed arthritis, and they wanted to change him for another,needles to say they didnt get one.
He has been with us only a day, and he is happily running around no problem...

I can only speak from experience with the Blue Cross (Banbury) some years ago.
We rehomed a xchow about 12-18 months old after several visits to the shelter & a successful home visit. Our son was 2.5yrs old at the time & this was not a barrier at all. I think some common sense should prevail. He's still with us by the way, now about 13 yrs old.

I do think it should be down to the indervidual - not a blanket policy.

Some children are good with dogs others not, some dogs love kids others want to bite them or run away!

For people who worked an older dog would be better off with them than in kennels.

I can see why these rules are here.

We have a rescue puppy from a well known rescue centre and I have mixed views on their policies. We were originally looking for an older dog as had never had a pup before - our previous rescue dog was a year old when we had him. We looked at many dogs but they were always reserved by someone else and you literally had to say yes the second you  saw it to stand a chance of getting the dog you thought might be best suited to you and you to him. We visited every day for a month and then had to leave it for a fortnight due to preparations for our sons wedding. When we went back the following week our details had been thrown away as we hadn't been in so we had to apply all over again. As we are home all day we were asked if we would be interested in a puppy that had come in that morning- one look and we were besotted with a beautiful Golden Retriever puppy. I did feel a bit pressured into saying yes as I knew he would be very popular with other people looking for a puppy but was also sure that he was the right dog for us.  I also explained to my daughter that although we had said yes to the pup we would have to go home and think very carefully about the full implications of having such a young dog and all the work involved with a puppy.I do wonder how many people take a dog without having a real chance to think about that one particular dog they have reserved in order not to lose that dog. Perhaps that is why so many dogs are returned to centres when things don't work out. In our case we definitely made the right decision and have a truly wonderful pup. The rescue centre came and did a home visit to check out all was well and were very helpful.

As I have posted on here before, I was turned down by my breed rescue for being single!  Their argument was 'what would happen if you had to go into hospital or if you died?'  Funny, but I thought everyone died... no 'ifs' about it! 

As a homechecker for rescue can I say that we are not all rude and intrusive, yes it can sound like I am trying to tell you what to do, but it's more to make sure you know what to expect from a rescue dog, I always point out the things that can happen and believe me a lot of people think that because they are getting an older dog it will be fully housetrained, socialised and totally obedient, which are often reasons it has end up in rescue in the first place because the previous owner hasn't taken the trouble.
I don't go in and poke around in everything, a passing glance at the parts of the house the dog is going to mainly live in, I nevewr go into bedrooms etc., (much to the disappointment of one pair of kids who had spent the entire morning tidying theirs) and the main place is the garden to make sure it's secure. A small or no  garden  doesn't necessarily mean you will be turned down as long as there is plenty of places to walk close by.
Take as an example on I did for a collie pup, 18 month old child and wife pregnant.  Small garden with open trellis on one side, large enough holes for the pup to squeeze through, not prepared to do anything because the pup would soon grow and would be allowed out in the garden in it's own until it was bigger. Low back fence with main road on the other side, easy for an adult dog to jump, no problem they would train it to stay in the garden.
So look at the scenario, husband at work all day, with with young child and soon to have a second (we all know how much time that takes up, only previous experience with dogs was from husband with parent's dog, so yes they were turned down.  I got the impression the wife was quite relieved.
A lot of the dogs in rescue come in from pounds as strays with no previous history and you can't take chances, also I would say that a lot of owners that hand dogs in don't tell the truth, according to them the dogs are well behaved, social etc. Why are they being handed in, marriage breakdown, allergies etc.  You soon find out that this isn't the case