Rescue Rules...

My parents wanted to adopt this lab:



She is 6 years old, 80lbs and at a kill shelter. My parents thought she would have a hard time finding a home because of her size and age, they thought, "We have the room, why not give this dog a home?" So they sent in an application, hoping to save this dog's life. And give their yellow lab, KC, a buddy:


They hear back today and they were denied. Why? Because their 1.5 acre yard that is on a dead end road and has a State Forest behind it is not fenced in. The rescue won't even consider making an exception and my parents don't plan to spend the money that it would take to fence in their entire yard. Here are a couple of pictures of my parent's yard (the fence you see in the second picture encloses the pool, which the rescue found unacceptable, and the downed tree in the third picture has since been cleared out):




So this dog may now be PTS because my parent's yard isn't fenced in. How many other adopters have been denied for such reasons? I, for one, think that's ridiculous. Is this dog really better off dead than in the care of my parents?

It's criminal that these places just look at a few rules on paper and if they cant tick the boxes then it doesn't happen , poor dog

That's very disappointing to hear.

yea some reason need reforming!! some people get reject for silly reasons

thats terrible

As Dave says sometimes if they cant tick their boxes they are stuck. Common sense isnt so common any more sadly, and it should be used to fill in the gaps but this doesnt always happen. I guess it can depend on who is completing the form in the first place

Its just so sad they would apparently rather have the poor dog pts than rehomed, just makes no sense at all. There must have been other reasons behind their decision.

I have always found shelters to do a very good job, I thought I would be turned down as I didn't have a garden but I wasn't.

Sometimes commen sense goes out the window, can they appeal the desicion?

I don't understand rescues. They won't rehome to a place with space, they wont rehome to a place with no garden, what the hell do they want? i mean they are aiming to rehome dogs, why wont they bloody do it?! Im all for rescues but they make so many problems for themsleves. i would love to know how many homes that were perfectly fine were rejected. this is another reason there are so many dogs about, noone can rescue because of theyre stupidly hard requirements!

That looks like doggy heaven to me - Saxon sure looked like he was having a good time.

Yet again, it's the poor dog that will suffer because of stupid decisions made by humans.

I too am all for rescues, and think most do a wonderful job, but they wouldn't be so full if they relaxed, or were at least willing to compromise on some of their rules and restrictions.

shontelle wrote:That looks like doggy heaven to me - Saxon sure looked like he was having a good time.

Yet again, it's the poor dog that will suffer because of stupid decisions made by humans.

I too am all for rescues, and think most do a wonderful job, but they wouldn't be so full if they relaxed, or were at least willing to compromise on some of their rules and restrictions.

We tried to get a rescue dog before we got Violet, but no luck And we know a woman who was willing to take on two dogs (to be fair, we could've been talked into two dogs if they came as a pair) but also denied. We both had gardens, someone home most of the time, and were financially able to look after a dog, but just weren't what the rescue centres wanted.

linzy wrote:We tried to get a rescue dog before we got Violet, but no luck And we know a woman who was willing to take on two dogs (to be fair, we could've been talked into two dogs if they came as a pair) but also denied. We both had gardens, someone home most of the time, and were financially able to look after a dog, but just weren't what the rescue centres wanted.

Out of interest why did they turn you down and what shelter was it?

Cat, how disappointing!

linzy wrote:We tried to get a rescue dog before we got Violet, but no luck And we know a woman who was willing to take on two dogs (to be fair, we could've been talked into two dogs if they came as a pair) but also denied. We both had gardens, someone home most of the time, and were financially able to look after a dog, but just weren't what the rescue centres wanted.

And i bet they gave the dogs to someone with a 7ft fence around their 6ftx6ft garden

I actually have some good news on this! I just got off the phone with my mom and she said that my step dad talked to the decision maker at the rescue for over an hour and they finally agreed to do a home visit! My parents are confident that they will pass the home visit and (depending on when she gets transported) Silver could come home in a few days!

Really pleased

Thank goodness for that, seems that common sense will prevail in the end, all the best to them for the inspection.

Thts so good! Hopefully they realise what silly things they have been

janey wrote:

linzy wrote:We tried to get a rescue dog before we got Violet, but no luck And we know a woman who was willing to take on two dogs (to be fair, we could've been talked into two dogs if they came as a pair) but also denied. We both had gardens, someone home most of the time, and were financially able to look after a dog, but just weren't what the rescue centres wanted.

Out of interest why did they turn you down and what shelter was it?

They wanted to know if we had experience of large breeds (we said that we specifically wanted a staffy after loads of research) and when we said no, then that was it. I fully appreciate that there are some dogs in rescues that wouldn't be suitable for an inexperienced owner, but surely not all dogs in the shelter are there because they're wild! The other woman didn't get the dogs because although she had an enclosed private garden, she lived in a first floor flat.

I know it's difficult for rescues to find homes for the massive amount of homeless dogs, and that they don't have the time or money to assess potential owners on a case by case basis, but it's such a shame that the dogs are missing out

Some rescues are alot more lenient then others. Like with Chance they wanted a very experienced owner with a 7foot fenced garden. We have one side of the with a 4 foot fence, meh but i think the way Chance was with Harv and how he acted with us changed their mind

I just think it's crazy how strict they are when a dog's life is on the line! How many good homes are turned down for stupid reasons!? I just hope it works out with my parents and Silver. She sounds like a sweet little lady!

At least your step dad fought for silver. Lots of respect to him for that! Best wishes on the home visit!