Is this a dog rescue?

[Gempress]

I heard something interesting the other day. Apparently there are some rescue groups in my area that have an interesting way of operating.

There is a high population of senior citizens around here. So naturally, there are a lot of small dogs around, which means a lot of small dogs in the shelters (sad, but true). The rescues go to our local animal shelter and adopt the small purebred dogs on sight. The adopt the pekinese, toy poodles, boston terriers, daschudnds, etc. From what I understand, they actually race to try and adopt them before the public gets a chance. Adoption fee is $45 (includes shots and neutering). The dogs are then sent to large, nearby metro areas where demand is high, where they are adopted for $200-$300 dollars.

Is this a common practice? It sounds like a money-making scheme to me, not a rescue. Granted, they are getting the dogs out of a "kill shelter" and finding them homes, but why try to get them before the public has a chance? I have to admit, it kind of makes me suspicious of the rescue groups out there who charge $200-$400 for their dogs.

 

[RD]

Whereabouts do you live, Gempress? It's done ALL the time here, we have these so-called "rescues" adopting the small dogs from the shelter nearly as soon as they arrive.

It is maddening to me because I really do think they're making money on it. There is also a high population of retired people and seniors here, and therefore not really a shortage of homes for the little guys -- people rush right towards the dogs under 20lbs, it's the larger dogs that are left in the shelters the longest.

I completely disagree with what those "small-breed rescues" do. They're not rescuing dogs that honestly need it, because they KNOW the dog would be adopted within a day or two of its arrival to the shelter. They only adopt young dogs and rarely adopt the ones with health problems, it seems they do that just so they don't have to spend much money on them.

It's too bad, really, because if they would stop doing that in this town, a lot more people would be able to afford to rescue a dog instead of turning to a BYB because a rescue dog is too expensive.

 

[Fran27]

Yeah here there are rescues that will take the pets off the pound for you if you're interested in them and will charge you $150 more for it

 

[gaddylovesdogs]

Quite a few Northern rescues and shelters are now running programs that get dogs from overflowing shelters down South and bring them back up to the empty shelters. The Southern states have a bigger overpopulation than the Northern states do, and some Northern shelters are even having to have people wait to get a pet, because they don't have enough animals to adopt out. Personally I think this is a great idea, because in Lousiana alone, 750,000 dogs and cats are gassed to death annually. The ones I have heard about are NOT doing it for money, they're doing it to save animals.

 

[doberkim]

the puppy transports up to the northeast are not because we have no pets that need adoption - most shelters arent taking adult dogs - they only take in the cute shelters.

meanwhile, 75% of all the pitbulls are still stuck in shelters up here.

we have more than enough dogs in the northeast, we dont need more - we just have people who are set on getting puppies -

and dont worry, once these puppies (all mixed breeds most of the time) end up being nothing like what they were "adopted" as, they end right back at the shelter.


i have a big problem with this, if you cant tell

 

[mwood322]

I've got the same annoyance with the importing dogs idea. There are plenty of dogs here, just not huge numbers of puppies or small breed dogs available.

We have one shelter here that goes through something like 40 puppies a week. They are all from southern states. They have no idea what dog breeds are in the mix on these puppies. No ideas on adult size and such either. They say their contract insists that the dogs be returned to them, but we do seem to have a high number of hound mix young adult dogs up for adoption in other shelters now.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if my dog was one of the imported puppies, returned to a different shelter to get out of paying a surrender fee.

--Mia

 

[aurorab]

The group that I'm w/ will take in any type of dog and work to find it a home (from a very high kill shelter). We have other groups that will only take certain kinds and if the aren't pure enough forget it. Then they make it very had to adopt a dog, many home interviews, they really pick apart your life and they only adopt to a certain type of person and their $$ are high. They say it is to cover their cost but we take dogs from the same shelter and the most we chare is $125 and that would be w/ SX, shots, plus thay have been in someones home. We have had so many people that have been on waiting lists for months and still don't know if they will be allowed to have a dog. I can understand being careful and making sure that it is a FOREVER HOME but this is beyond that and to rescue a dog for almost the same price that you can get one at a breeder, I just don't get it. Some people have said that they wanted to help and save a dog but w/ the other "rescue" it almost doesn't seem worth it. Sometimes it makes it harder to get people to rescue b/c they don't want to go through all that again.
They are almost as bad as puppy mills, well not as bad but still.

 

[snk101604igk]

So it's bad to buy a puppy that is from a private rescue group? We paid $200 for our Aussie mix but she was house and crate trained, up to date on her shots and knows some basic obedience. We went to the Humane Society and saw many dogs and puppies as well. Our puppy was well-socialized living with only a handful of dogs and has had many human visitors as well since they get 'babysitters' to come take them away. So yes we paid quite a bit more but we did look around and we thought she was best fit for us. So I'm not sure what to think. I work with a woman who knows a lot about our city Humane Society and she said they are not a non-profit organization - they take the highest bidders on their animals and they 'rescue' many of the animals from breeders. This is from what she told me though.

 

[Denaluvscorgis]

That's awful!

 

[Sirius]

Well, there is a Samoyed rescue in my area and they charge 150-200 dollars a dog. At the shelter it is less (I don't know the exact... maybe 120?) and they snatch any "Samoyed or Samoyed resembling"dog. Well, my friend wanted one and she snatched Bob from the shelter just as the guy was walking in from Samoyed Rescue.

 

[aurorab]

So it's bad to buy a puppy that is from a private rescue group? We paid $200 for our Aussie mix but she was house and crate trained, up to date on her shots and knows some basic obedience. We went to the Humane Society and saw many dogs and puppies as well. Our puppy was well-socialized living with only a handful of dogs and has had many human visitors as well since they get 'babysitters' to come take them away. So yes we paid quite a bit more but we did look around and we thought she was best fit for us. So I'm not sure what to think. I work with a woman who knows a lot about our city Humane Society and she said they are not a non-profit organization - they take the highest bidders on their animals and they 'rescue' many of the animals from breeders. This is from what she told me though.

It's not that everyone is bad but some do take atvantage. Some have to be a bit higher for what they do and provide for the animals. But there seem to be some that have other reasons for being so high in price and being so picky. There are even a few individuals that will go and rescue a dog just to resell it or even breed it. We had a problem one time b/c we let someone have a dog b4 their SX and they didn't bring the dog back for the appt, well it was b/c it was preg and they didn't want us to do anything to the puppies. Per our contract the puppies and the mother would revert back to us, but they were trying to pull a fast one. Unfortunietly there are some bad people out there, so the best advise is be wary and do lots of research.