Shelter not being upfront with adopters

[misticaleclipse]

I have been thinking about getting another dog for a while now
and noticed a dog in local shelter so we decided to go and see
her.

There was next to no information on the web site about her
and not much more on the sign in front of her cage. While
we there and going to take her out for a walk a person
called on the phone and asked about her and the secretary
spoke to the vet.

The vet refused to disclose anything but that she had an issue
with her one tooth, and a growth that was not an issue and
had been removed. The vet would only give out more information
to someone who put in an adoption form and sat down and
spoke with him in more detail. (the receptionist did not know
about the dog herself but thought that it was a major issue
if the vet was saying that)

My question would be why? I take my time to go down and
see the dog, walk the dog, fill out an application. Then I
take up the vets time with an interview. I am assuming
it was something serious like cancer or expensive monthly
needs. I just find it a terrible waste of resources to go through
the whole process when you can just tell people upfront
what is wrong medically and let them decide.

I don't think its fair to waste donation money that these
people are paid to take the time to do this process when
people when you can just be honest with them right
away. (they are entirely run on donations)

I also do not like wasting my time either and find it kind of
insulting. Sort of like we will go there, meet the dog, fall
in love with her and then at the spur of the moment say
"sure I will put down 6000+ for surgery, 300$ a month for
shots or whatever". It feels like a ploy on a persons
emotions.

 

[Road dog]

Shelter's drive me nuts. I encounter this scenario all the time working in rescue.

One of our "shelter scouts" spies a GSD in a local kill shelter. Dog has broken leg and other expensive medical issues related to the dammaged leg (many county shelters will do little more than simply wrap a broken limb

The associated costs of fixing this dog will deter many people from adopting it. Shelter staff announces to our volounteer that the dog will be put to death tomorrow because he's not very adoptable and space is tight.

Our volounteer offers to take the dog from the shelter:

Shelter staff: "Ok, that will be $80 please"

Volounteer: "You people are going to KILL this dog TOMORROW if I don't take him, but if I want to save him you want a full fee?"

Staff: "That is correct."

Volounteer: "It will cost you more to use your euthenasia drug and dispose of the body than it will to just let us take the dog."

Staff: "Policy, no exceptions."

End result, heck yes we save the dog. We just pay the shelter's blood money on top of all the medical bills. Rediculous.

This very thing has happened time and time again with us...

 

[Bobsk8]

Shelter's drive me nuts. I encounter this scenario all the time working in rescue.

One of our "shelter scouts" spies a GSD in a local kill shelter. Dog has broken leg and other expensive medical issues related to the dammaged leg (many county shelters will do little more than simply wrap a broken limb

The associated costs of fixing this dog will deter many people from adopting it. Shelter staff announces to our volounteer that the dog will be put to death tomorrow because he's not very adoptable and space is tight.

Our volounteer offers to take the dog from the shelter:

Shelter staff: "Ok, that will be $80 please"

Volounteer: "You people are going to KILL this dog TOMORROW if I don't take him, but if I want to save him you want a full fee?"

Staff: "That is correct."

Volounteer: "It will cost you more to use your euthenasia drug and dispose of the body than it will to just let us take the dog."

Staff: "Policy, no exceptions."

End result, heck yes we save the dog. We just pay the shelter's blood money on top of all the medical bills. Rediculous.

This very thing has happened time and time again with us...

I think a heart to heart talk with the shelter management on a face to face basis, might possibly change that scenario....

 

[ToscasMom]

Sickening but not surprising, Road Dog. We have the same problems here. We have this marvelous no kill animal sanctuary that takes everything from horses to ducks to goats to dogs and cats and more. It's a constant struggle and some kind of ludicrous turf war with our HS, who would prefer that the sanctuary, that runs TOTALLY on donations and courses in animal communication, books, endowments, etc, to go away so that the HS can have their full turf back again and go back to euthanizing some more animals. I think that this wonderfully successful sanctuary puts our local HS to shame yet they refer to it with disdain and would rather kill an animal than send it to the sanctuary for another chance. Then they wonder why people leave the sanctuary in their wills and ignore the HS.

 

[Road dog]

Sickening but not surprising, Road Dog. We have the same problems here. We have this marvelous no kill animal sanctuary that takes everything from horses to ducks to goats to dogs and cats and more. It's a constant struggle and some kind of ludicrous turf war with our HS, who would prefer that the sanctuary, that runs TOTALLY on donations and courses in animal communication, books, endowments, etc, to go away so that the HS can have their full turf back again and go back to euthanizing some more animals. I think that this wonderfully successful sanctuary puts our local HS to shame yet they refer to it with disdain and would rather kill an animal than send it to the sanctuary for another chance. Then they wonder why people leave the sanctuary in their wills and ignore the HS.

Many "Humane Socieities" are anything but humane. A crisis was narrowly averted here in Southern California, when the owner of a privately owned "humane society" shelter decided that he wanted to convert the facility into a boarding kennel to run for profit. This would involve remodeling the facility and ALL animals in their care were to be euthanized so the plan could go forward with no strings attatched. A huge outpouring of public outrage stopped the slaughter before it started, but the fact that somebody would even THINK that was an ok thing to do..... that's what disturbs me.

 

[misticaleclipse]

There are good ones and bad ones everywhere I guess. Not that this situation makes ours bad, just a strange vet practice for sure. You could tell the receptionist did not approve of this practice and I felt bad for her.

 

[Gempress]

It's sad what some shelters/rescues are like. You'd think they'd put the well-being of the animals first.

I've heard some bad things about a "rescue" in our town. They go to the local humane society and adopt every small, young, good-tempered purebred toy (or designer "purse dog" type) available. I was told these people will actually wait at the door for the shelter to open, then RUN inside in an attempt to beat out anyone else who might be interested in adoption of these animals.

The adoption fee at our shelter: $35. That includes spay/neuter and shots. These people then load up a vehicle with these dogs and takes them to the other branches of their "rescue" in large cities. Adoption fee: $300 and up, depending on breed.

WTH?? Sounds like no more than glorified dog brokers to me. It's not like this "rescue" is even paying for shots or spaying/neutering. Disgusting.

 

[casablanca1]

To OP: run from a shelter or rescue that plays coy about its animals, and tell everyone you meet about it. Bad shelters and rescues hurt the reputation of all second-hand pets by adopting out sick or aggressive animals, and by making bad matches (snotty terrier to family with infant, for example) and deserve to be blackballed out of existence. In my opinion, getting a pet from a lousy shelter or rescue has the same effect as buying from a pet store; you save one poor animal from a bad situation, but your action helps the problem continue.

 

[StillandSilent]

Road Dog, I have a question for you. Our shelter has a purebred Dalmation that we pulled from a kill shelter. We vaccinated him, neutered him, heartworm checked him, everything. A dalmation rescue contacted us about him and wanted him. We asked that they pay the $90 adoption fee (It cost over $100 to get everything done). They refused. Is our shelter wrong? We can easily adopt him for $90 to someone. The rescue will charge $250 for him and won't have to put a penny into him.
I don't want this to come across as snarky, because I am interested in the answer.
To the OP- Like someone else said, run! We try to be upfront about all dogs issues, before the person can walk it or fill out an application. We do this to prevent people from falling in love and getting into a situation they cannot handle.

 

[misticaleclipse]

To OP: run from a shelter or rescue that plays coy about its animals, and tell everyone you meet about it. Bad shelters and rescues hurt the reputation of all second-hand pets by adopting out sick or aggressive animals, and by making bad matches (snotty terrier to family with infant, for example) and deserve to be blackballed out of existence. In my opinion, getting a pet from a lousy shelter or rescue has the same effect as buying from a pet store; you save one poor animal from a bad situation, but your action helps the problem continue.

For anyone who was going to adopt this dog the vet was going to sit down and speak with them and tell them everything. The problem was and is they need to be more upfront about the medical issues. If they had a) posted info on there web site B) posted info on the papers on the cage of the dog c) had a file that the secretary cold access with this info, or d) offered this information to us this would not have been an issue.

I do not have the time to wait in line asking the vet questions when its very clear that this animal has something majorly wrong that could have been told to us upfront.

 

[misticaleclipse]

Road Dog, I have a question for you. Our shelter has a purebred Dalmation that we pulled from a kill shelter. We vaccinated him, neutered him, heartworm checked him, everything. A dalmation rescue contacted us about him and wanted him. We asked that they pay the $90 adoption fee (It cost over $100 to get everything done). They refused. Is our shelter wrong? We can easily adopt him for $90 to someone. The rescue will charge $250 for him and won't have to put a penny into him.
I don't want this to come across as snarky, because I am interested in the answer.
To the OP- Like someone else said, run! We try to be upfront about all dogs issues, before the person can walk it or fill out an application. We do this to prevent people from falling in love and getting into a situation they cannot handle.

Rescues many times take a dog in that is going to be put to sleep. They usually then put the dog in foster care, pay for there food, extra vet check ups and then go through a thorough adoption procedure. In my opinion rescues have much better adoption procedures that most humane societies.

That being said. I agree with what you did. The dog clearly was not in danger of being put to sleep and they can save another dog that is truly in need.

It's the humane societies that are about to put the dog to sleep that day, but they still require an adoption fee that I do not agree with.

 

[Paige]

Rescues many times take a dog in that is going to be put to sleep. They usually then put the dog in foster care, pay for there food, extra vet check ups and then go through a thorough adoption procedure. In my opinion rescues have much better adoption procedures that most humane societies.

That being said. I agree with what you did. The dog clearly was not in danger of being put to sleep and they can save another dog that is truly in need.

It's the humane societies that are about to put the dog to sleep that day, but they still require an adoption fee that I do not agree with.

I agree and disagree with you. That money for that adoption is probally going to cover some of the cost that dog, even though he was going to be put to sleep. Though I think it is crazy for them to ask that of someone who wants to save the dog's life, it is understandable why they'd ask you to pay an adoption fee.

 

[misticaleclipse]

I agree and disagree with you. That money for that adoption is probally going to cover some of the cost that dog, even though he was going to be put to sleep. Though I think it is crazy for them to ask that of someone who wants to save the dog's life, it is understandable why they'd ask you to pay an adoption fee.

If you had something you where going to put in the garbage but I came around and asked you if I could have it would you charge me? I don't think the average person would charge me.

That is the way I see it. Sure they put money into the dog, but they are loosing nothing more in cost because they where going to euthanize anyway. (which depending on there method of euthanasia it many times is more expensive than the adoption fee I have been told) They would actually save the money from euthanasia in many cases by giving the dog to a rescue.