for those of you with more rescue/shelter experience than me, advice/wisdom would be appreciated!
in my grand search for a dog, i've been in contact with a few shelters and rescue organizations over the past few weeks and most of them have been awesome. they generally appreciate the fact that i have educated myself, am home most of the week, want to adopt an adult dog, have experience with obedience, live in a house with a fenced yard, etc.
unfortunately, i had an experience with one that kinda made me wonder, and i am trying to decide if i should report them to the humane society of canada.
our phone call: first, she was rather snarky with me once she found out we wanted a small-medium sized dog. she gets lots of larger dogs, apparently, and seemed to want to push them onto people. after a somewhat cranky spiel about large dogs needing homes, she reluctantly admitted that she knew of one small dog in need of a home and then proceeded to make it sound like there was little chance i would get him due to other interest in him. all this crankiness before she knew anything about my living arrangements, family, needs, background...anything!
i asked a bit about the dog and realized that it was a dog i was already getting ready to meet in two days [the owner had classifieds out about the dog and had seen my classified ad about looking for a dog and we had connected]. when the humane society lady found out i had been talking with the owner, she became livid and proceeded to snappily explain that the owner HAD to go through the humane society once she had contacted them. i was at a loss as to why the owner's behavior was grounds to be so entirely rude to me!
i got in touch with the owner to apologize for getting her into trouble and then thought "why WOULD she be in trouble for trying to take responsibility to rehome her dog instead of dumping him at the shelter?"
apparently, what had happened was, the owner had rescued the dog from the city pound [our pound is little known and fairly obscure, and doesn't advertise adoptable dogs], but didn't have time to care for him herself. so she was attempting to place him in a good home. she had placed ads and was keeping an eye out for people like me who wanted a dog. she was fairly picky about her standards considering she has no experience in fostering/rescue [fenced yard, no cats, someone who is home a lot, etc]. she had contacted the humane society simply to get the word out. she had signed no paperwork, had been given no rules or guidelines, and was under NO impression that the dog belonged to the humane society. she was even asking potential adopters for a donation to be given to the humane society, in the event that she found a home, just to show her appreciation for their work.
this humane society worker proceeded to contact the owner after our phone call and chewed right into her for breaking these unknown "rules" and being in contact with people outside the society process.
i also found out that this worker also tried to get the owner [who doesn't even have a fenced yard] to adopt a large dog, even suggesting she trade in her small dog for a large one. if the owner doesn't have time for a little, mellow, 7 year old dog - why would she suddenly have time for the needs of a large dog?! the worker was also showing favor/approval to potential homes that had cats [dog doesn't like them] and whose family members are gone most of the day. both specifics the owner was against.
now, i have to say, the owner is a person i found to be very emotional in my dealings with her. so, it's possible her account of the circumstances is slightly embellished. but, i found that it really lined up with my phone conversation with this same lady, so i can't help but believe it.
i am thinking about writing the national humane society about this lady. my biggest concern is her pushiness about the large dogs. i wouldn't trust her to safely place them!
thoughts? advice? ideas?
in my grand search for a dog, i've been in contact with a few shelters and rescue organizations over the past few weeks and most of them have been awesome. they generally appreciate the fact that i have educated myself, am home most of the week, want to adopt an adult dog, have experience with obedience, live in a house with a fenced yard, etc.
unfortunately, i had an experience with one that kinda made me wonder, and i am trying to decide if i should report them to the humane society of canada.
our phone call: first, she was rather snarky with me once she found out we wanted a small-medium sized dog. she gets lots of larger dogs, apparently, and seemed to want to push them onto people. after a somewhat cranky spiel about large dogs needing homes, she reluctantly admitted that she knew of one small dog in need of a home and then proceeded to make it sound like there was little chance i would get him due to other interest in him. all this crankiness before she knew anything about my living arrangements, family, needs, background...anything!
i asked a bit about the dog and realized that it was a dog i was already getting ready to meet in two days [the owner had classifieds out about the dog and had seen my classified ad about looking for a dog and we had connected]. when the humane society lady found out i had been talking with the owner, she became livid and proceeded to snappily explain that the owner HAD to go through the humane society once she had contacted them. i was at a loss as to why the owner's behavior was grounds to be so entirely rude to me!
i got in touch with the owner to apologize for getting her into trouble and then thought "why WOULD she be in trouble for trying to take responsibility to rehome her dog instead of dumping him at the shelter?"
apparently, what had happened was, the owner had rescued the dog from the city pound [our pound is little known and fairly obscure, and doesn't advertise adoptable dogs], but didn't have time to care for him herself. so she was attempting to place him in a good home. she had placed ads and was keeping an eye out for people like me who wanted a dog. she was fairly picky about her standards considering she has no experience in fostering/rescue [fenced yard, no cats, someone who is home a lot, etc]. she had contacted the humane society simply to get the word out. she had signed no paperwork, had been given no rules or guidelines, and was under NO impression that the dog belonged to the humane society. she was even asking potential adopters for a donation to be given to the humane society, in the event that she found a home, just to show her appreciation for their work.
this humane society worker proceeded to contact the owner after our phone call and chewed right into her for breaking these unknown "rules" and being in contact with people outside the society process.
i also found out that this worker also tried to get the owner [who doesn't even have a fenced yard] to adopt a large dog, even suggesting she trade in her small dog for a large one. if the owner doesn't have time for a little, mellow, 7 year old dog - why would she suddenly have time for the needs of a large dog?! the worker was also showing favor/approval to potential homes that had cats [dog doesn't like them] and whose family members are gone most of the day. both specifics the owner was against.
now, i have to say, the owner is a person i found to be very emotional in my dealings with her. so, it's possible her account of the circumstances is slightly embellished. but, i found that it really lined up with my phone conversation with this same lady, so i can't help but believe it.
i am thinking about writing the national humane society about this lady. my biggest concern is her pushiness about the large dogs. i wouldn't trust her to safely place them!
thoughts? advice? ideas?