A lot of times I have seen on Petfinder a dog that has stolen my heart, but then it turns out they are at a rescue that screens people a little too well. I'm all for making sure the dogs are going to go to a good home, but a lot of those requirments are over the top. Almost every sigle one insists on a 6ft fence, which I do indeed have, unfortunatly it has one spot where a tree has grown between it and it has an opening to the front fence which is only 4ft. Apparently this makes my home "unsuitable" well pin a rose on your snobby-rescues-nose. Whats odd is a lot also say that if you don't own a house (like you live in a condo etc) you aren't required to have a fence at all. Its so disheartening, we would never have the dog out in the yard by itself anyways, when we had Atlas I took him with me EVERYWHERE. When I couldn't take him with me(like to the grocery store) i'd drop him off with Patricks parents so he could have company for the hour I was away.
At this point i've narrowed my search down to Animal Controls (which have waaaay too LITTLE amount of screening, they didn't even check that we were allowed to have a dog when we got Atlas) and the humane society, which has reasonable screening imo, they make sure you own your home or have landlords permission and they have an adoption counseler discuss all aspects of dog ownership.
At this point i've narrowed my search down to Animal Controls (which have waaaay too LITTLE amount of screening, they didn't even check that we were allowed to have a dog when we got Atlas) and the humane society, which has reasonable screening imo, they make sure you own your home or have landlords permission and they have an adoption counseler discuss all aspects of dog ownership.