And they wonder why they can't rehome - rant

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BBH

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Ok we hear an awful lot in the media about rescue homes being overrun and unable to cope with demand so............


When someone genuine rings up to enquire about adopting why don't they get back to you. This has happened twice to me now, firstly I e-mailed to say i couldn't get through on the phone ( unobtainable sound ) and could someone call me. Heard nothing.


Left a voicemail message on another centre 2 days ago, have heard nothing.

Its so disheartening to think dogs are languishing in these centres because staff don't get back to the public.

Never mind their ridiculous rehoming policies which is another story.

:(:(:(:(
 
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Not all me dear:p:D
I msut admit that if im on night shift my phone is on silent and I take most of our calls, so I phone people back in the evening, but I dont leave it days or ignore them:(
 
That's such a shame :(

I contacted our local centre last year to see if she wanted some help walking the dogs (my stepdad walks the dogs at their local centre every weekend, so thought I could do the same at our one).

I wasn't insisting, just offering -she was one of the most unpleasant people I have ever come across and said she would call me back to discuss my "suitability"..... never heard a bean.

Sod you then, quite frankly.
 
I contacted my local SSPCA centre last year as we were looking for a new companion that my OH could take munroeing/camping with him so we didnt want a puppy, but they told us that we wernt suitable due to the fact that both of us worked full time!! i go home at lunch time to let them out so the max that they are on there own is 4 hours/day being walked before work and after and then weekends are spent either out running beside the mountain bike or munroeing. Im sorry but i couldnt think of a better life for a dog, unfortunatly my old girl is too arthritic for it now so she stays with me at the tent sunbathing through the summer lol

in the end I contacted a private rescue and got a lovely american bulldog X who was looking for a forever home.

I dont know many people that dont work full time so no wonder the rescue centres are over-run if thats there attitude.
 
I phoned our local rescue centre re GSD's for rehoming. I called and spoke to someone who said she would get the owner to get back to me. I then phoned a couple more times but couldn't get through.
You would think they want to rehome them?
 
I, too contacted a home, inquiring about a lovely COLLIE X LURCHER (ideal!!). I waited 6 days for my answer, only to be told that she was being rehomed that day. :(
6 days is too long.
And on many many many sites, they won't 'touch me with a bargepole' because I have children under 8. I just wish they would give me a chance rather than dimissing me straight away. Oh well, maybe another year or 2??!
 
When i got Oscar from the RSPCA they told me they had a blanket ban on rehoming terriers with cats - then let me have a lurcher!!!!!! They also said I had to fence in my garden to a height of 6 feet (Oscar can jump 9 feet easily) and wouldn't have rehomed to me if I had a small child or if I worked away from home!

Not wanting to jinx current rescue but so far they are being very sensible despite us having a small child..........
 
Ok good news they rang me today but ..........

they say there website is hugely out of date and the animals on there are not available ( this must be a good think cos they've been rehomed )

but they will only rehome me a bitch as I have a boy dog. which is rather a shame as he gets on with either sex. I don't mind what it is but it may mean it limits my choice.

At least they rang and I'm on the waiting list for a small scruffy terrier type.
 
When I was looking for Henry I emailed about two greyhounds on a breed specific site - they took so long to get back to me that Henry was already installed on the sofa by the time they got round to it!
 
We wanted a dog from RSPCA when we lived in Surrey and were told even though I was at home most of the time and did not work. We could not possibly have any dog or cat from them as OH is in the Army. Did not give up contacted our equine vet who put in in touch with small rescue centre and we had most lovely dog who even came with us to Germany and back.
 
Spudlet said:
When I was looking for Henry I emailed about two greyhounds on a breed specific site - they took so long to get back to me that Henry was already installed on the sofa by the time they got round to it!
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LOL that so made me laugh,

Why use the floor when there's a sofa to be had, these dogs of ours sure know where's comfortable.

I think it such a shame, I posted on here not that long ago about a mastiff in a rescue centre near me and a HHOer rang and despite owning one already they turned her down because she worked part time ( I think that was the reason given) . Lord knows you'd have to be working to afford her food but no apparently a perfect home wasn't good enough. So really unless you're on benefits, have wealthy husband, won the lottery, a lot of dogs are gonna go un-rescued. Its so sad.
 
Guys... not all rescues are like this so please don't all jump on the bandwagon - also remember that when you talk to a lot of these small rescues, they are charities run by volunteers and are overrun with queries/people wanting to dump dogs on them/other charities trying to work out if they can fit another poundie in. Honestly if you want to understand what rescues go through then read the diary on Rescue remedies.org - and push to rehome a rescue. If you want to see what happens to those dogs left in pounds then log onto poshpuss.org. Pounds do not keep the dogs, they normally have a 7 day respite and its upto these charities that are being put down, who bust the proverbial to collect and pay for these dogs. Maybe you should try being included when one of these charities are literally ringing around to all to try to get a dog in that is on PTS list..

And no, I am not in any way associated with these charities. I have done a mercy run for one and helped on a stand for staffie welfare. That's it but I truly take my hat off to those rescues who try to make a difference and give up so much to do so. All 3 of my staffies have come through rescue...
 
We went to the Blue Cross when our dear little Lakeland died last summer: we had to act quickly as Jessie our other dog was very naturally pining, sooooo (sounds awful but we had to do it) we rang up and went over that same day, registered our details, and were then shown a portfolio of dogs in a folder. Unfortunately none was suitable, with a lot of them it said they needed to be in a home where they were the only dog, plus there were some which stated they had "behavioural difficulties" which we didn't feel we could ask our Jessie to cope with. So we left our details and they said they'd contact us asap if anything suitable came in.

Weeks came and went, months came and went, and we heard sweet FA. So some dear souls are out there, busting their guts to give their last pittance to an animal rescue charity, and they're basically not getting of their backsides to rehome the poor dogs, they're just raking in the dosh and not doing their job. Shame on the lot of them.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
We went to the Blue Cross when our dear little Lakeland died last summer: we had to act quickly as Jessie our other dog was very naturally pining, sooooo (sounds awful but we had to do it) we rang up and went over that same day, registered our details, and were then shown a portfolio of dogs in a folder. Unfortunately none was suitable, with a lot of them it said they needed to be in a home where they were the only dog, plus there were some which stated they had "behavioural difficulties" which we didn't feel we could ask our Jessie to cope with. So we left our details and they said they'd contact us asap if anything suitable came in.

Weeks came and went, months came and went, and we heard sweet FA. So some dear souls are out there, busting their guts to give their last pittance to an animal rescue charity, and they're basically not getting of their backsides to rehome the poor dogs, they're just raking in the dosh and not doing their job. Shame on the lot of them.
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Shame on you - you are adding to the bigotry and putting all rescues in the same pot. Why didn't you look at other rescues and stay in touch? why just rely on them - its upto you to search for your dog. I have a friend currently hunting for a doby bitch to keep her boy company - she helps with Doby rescue but isn't relying on them to find her a dog, she is hunting with all the rescues and staying in touch. When I wanted dogs I looked on the net and rang around till I found someone who could help and I stayed in touch - I did not assume they would always bear me in mind. As for "raking in the dosh" you have just GOT to be joking - I can't speak for the bigger ones (and lets not forget - the RSPCA is not going to be rehoming any more) but the smaller/local/specialist rescues are run on volunteers time, public donations and good will - and are nearly always in the red.
 
i hav just got a lovely rescue puppy (his mothr was dumped wheilst pregnant) from a rescue in south wales called many tears. their website is updated once or twice a day, the staff were very helpful and returned my call within 24 hours. usual protocol applies ie home checked, refs, agreeing to go to training classes and have to be neurtered/spayed by 6 months old , the older ones have been done, all are vaccinated and microchipped. shame some rescues are not so efficient, or are too rigid in their policies.
 
with my limited experiance with rescue centres i found the smaller private ones a lot better than the larger organisations such as SSPCA or Bluecross i think that the pre-requisites they state for rehoming are unrealistic, how many people do you know who dont work? Its just madness, we could have provided a good home for one of those dogs.

I know that when the time comes to replace my old girl (and i pray that doesnt happen for many years to come!) i will be contacting the smaller rescue centres as i would have to lie to the SSPCA in order to qualify.
 
i tried to set up meeting with a springer spaniel rehoming place and they seemed enthusiastic - i have already got a rescue springer - and lab... so i told them that - and told them that i work the dogs... then they seemed to go quiet and kept putting me off seeing dogs and when i read some rather ummm 'interesting' posts on their forum saying how bad shooters treat their dogs and dump them when they are no longer useful - talk about tarring everyone with the same brush!!! i even said i wanted a young dog as my old springer is now retired and living the life of riley!
tbh i'd not recommend or deal with them again... they really need to sort out their attitudes
 
There is a spaniel rescue site that specialises in finding working homes for dogs I think. You are not the first one to have trouble with springer rescue over the working thing.

Yet the Dogs Trust are totally happy for me to work Henry, although that wasn't what I originally had him for - their behaviourist's eyes lit up when I mentioned it:)

ETA here is it http://www.samsalin-dogrescue.com/
 
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Spudlet said:
There is a spaniel rescue site that specialises in finding working homes for dogs I think. You are not the first one to have trouble with springer rescue over the working thing.

Yet the Dogs Trust are totally happy for me to work Henry, although that wasn't what I originally had him for - their behaviourist's eyes lit up when I mentioned it:)
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that's good to know - i'll come calling on you when i want another! :)
i ended up with a rescue cocker who was going to be pts for aggression - someone who knew the dog called the local game keepers association and said pls can someone give him a last chance - they called us knowing we were after another rescue (for our sins!) and he's the soppyest dog i know now! and a fantastic steady worker
 
Oh of course, I remember now!:D

It's such a shame that some of the rescues tar everyone with the same brush, not all of them do of course, but I do think those that do are missing a trick:(
 
It can be the same over here but it is really worth it to keep persevering to find another one because not all shelters or rescues are the same. We adopted Willie from a local shelter after being turned down by another one when we said we were looking to adopt two dogs and when we told them we didn't have a garden. The shelter we got Willie from didn't care about either - they recognized that he would have a good home with us. We then went to a local rescue and got Bella a month later following a home visit and they didn't care either. Dakota was a foster dog we took in from the same rescue a couple of years later that didn't want to leave us so he didn't. I ended up volunteering with that rescue for a long time and we made sure that we didn't deny applicants for things like no garden or working full time, etc. as long as the applicants were prepared to make arrangements for the dogs to be taken care of if necessary. We did see some horrible things though and I think seeing that day in and day out sometimes leads some people to burn out and tar everyone with the same brush. It is a shame then, for the dogs that do get caught in those situations.

As far as I'm concerned though, not responding to people's enquiries is different - there is no excuse for that although it is like every other company that has customer service - sometimes the wrong people work/volunteer there and leave a bad impression with the people they serve and the company itself suffers and in this case the dogs too ...
 
I have had a very mixed experience of rescues. Both of mine are rescues.

One place (greyhounds) asked no questions, we took the dog end of - we could have been living anywhere.

Another place refused us because we work (although work around them not being left for too long), another place never returned our calls, another was quite odd in their manner and were quite obstructive. one place were so specific about the times you had to visit, calling us at the last minute and expecting you to be there immediately (10 miles away) that we gave up.

Our terrier is from somewhere i would say is a good balance. Home check done, questions asked and we took our greyhound to meetings and were offered follow up training. They were really nice, cared for the dogs but were realistic about peoples' lives and striking a balance. This is a larger private rescue run by volunteers.
 
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