Home Check for Rescue Centre

[paddy555]

have people been turned down by a rescue if they have horses, (a lot of horses) just curious.

 

[Moobli]

No - that would seem a bit odd, unless of course the particular dog I was interested in was known to be aggressive towards horses or livestock?

 

[Honey08]

Good luck. He looks like my rescue yellow lab, who was very high energy and had had three homes prior to us before he was 14 months. He needed to ruuuun! He has become an amazing dock diver.

I'm doing my first home check tonight. I'm a bit nervous too! This particular rescue has had four dogs returned in the last week, after only a few days, so perhaps they need to grill people a bit more! The dogs are even more unsettled if they keep having to change homes..

The case of the dog being nervous sounds strange. My last rescue took nearly a year to stop being nervous. She'd had quite a bad life, and is a submissive type dog.

 

[Tyssandi]

Hi ladies,

Just looking for some advice! Myself and my OH are in the process of rehoming a dog. We have reserved a lovely boy- a 2 year old yellow Labrador who we already love. We are just waiting to pass a homecheck which was supposed to be today but the lady coming has had to reschedule.

I'm incredibly nervous!

We live in an end of terrace split level maisonette so we have a front door on the ground floor and our own front garden, then go up the stairs to our lounge diner and kitchen. Then upstairs we have hallway and two large double bedrooms. One of which is empty in prep for it being dogs play room.

We have a garden but it's within the communal garden however only access route to the communal garden is via our front gate and only us and one other person has access to it really and they seldom use it. It's a large area, completely enclosed.

I work full time 9-5 however I am home every lunch time. I plan on taking our dog out every morning for an hour in the large enclosed field behind my house and then again for 1-2 hours of an evening down to the country park by me. At lunch times when I'm home for an hour I'll play with him loads too and check on him so he's only ever alone for a max of 4 hours a day. I rarely go out of an evening or weekend too. My local pub let's me bring dogs in too so he'd come along to the pub with me!

Also we are experienced dog owners. I used to grow up with my parents breeding Labs, have volunteered at a rescue kennels before looking after the dogs, and my OH has grown up with Labs too, raising them from puppies through to old age. We have so much love to give this dog, and I am trying not to get my hopes up TOO much in the case of being disappointed!

I'm so nervous. If you were doing a home check for a rescue dog would you approve? I've got so much love to give this dog already and so scared of being disappointed if we fail! Xx

Fostering for a cat charity the main questions I would guess would be


1. type of house
2. Security of the garden
3. How often would the dog be walked and for how long
4. would it get off the lead
5. Where would it sleep
6. Where would it eat
7. What would happen to the dog when you go away on holiday or weekends
8. can you afford the vaccines etc
9. Would you have ir insured
10. How do you come across as potential owners
11. What type of dog are you after as some don't mix with children would you take that into consideration when looking.
12. How long would the dog be on it;s own for if you work.
13. would you get a dog walker if you work all day.
Not Necessarily in that order but that is what they will ask

 

[Moobli]

No - that would seem a bit odd, unless of course the particular dog I was interested in was known to be aggressive towards horses or livestock?

Having said that, I only have two ponies but also have a multitude of livestock and I don't think any rescue has ever delved into species or number.

 

[paddy555]

Having said that, I only have two ponies but also have a multitude of livestock and I don't think any rescue has ever delved into species or number.

thanks, I had read somewhere someone had. My expected puppy may be falling through. If it does then I would be wondering about GSD rescues. Our horses live next to the back door so a home checker couldn't fail to notice them.

 

[Moobli]

thanks, I had read somewhere someone had. My expected puppy may be falling through. If it does then I would be wondering about GSD rescues. Our horses live next to the back door so a home checker couldn't fail to notice them.

Oh no, sorry to hear your puppy may not happen. How disappointing. I don't think having horses would preclude you from rescuing from GSD rescue.

 

[MurphysMinder]

thanks, I had read somewhere someone had. My expected puppy may be falling through. If it does then I would be wondering about GSD rescues. Our horses live next to the back door so a home checker couldn't fail to notice them.

Shame about your puppy. I think some GSD rescues are more flexible than others , when I was doing home checks I visited at least 2 homes with horses. Tbh there was nothing on the form I had to go through with the prospective owners mentioning horses, and as I have horses and GSDs I didn't see it as a problem.

 

[paddy555]

thanks MM & WorkingGSD

just my luck, bitch came into season end Nov, Dog came down to cover but season ended too quickly, dog didn't want to know. I now have to wait until May and see if she comes into season again or cancel and try and find either another pup or a rescue GSD.
There seem to be so many separate GSD rescues and so many rescue dogs apparently say "no" to cats. If we have no cats we will have rats!

 

[fankino04]

I do home checks for a national gsd rescue and we have no issues with livestock owners or cats so long as potential owner is sensible about management around the livestock and fencing is adequate etc, with regards to having cats it's just about matching the right dog to you as it is with so many other issues etc

 

[paddy555]

I do home checks for a national gsd rescue and we have no issues with livestock owners or cats so long as potential owner is sensible about management around the livestock and fencing is adequate etc, with regards to having cats it's just about matching the right dog to you as it is with so many other issues etc

thanks. Apart from a garden fenced to 5ft is there anything else to look out for on a home check? No kids and neither of us out at work so we are at home all the time. Own land to exercise a dog in. If you are asked for a vet reference (which is not a problem) would you have to pay the vet for a reference or do they normally just supply one? If you pass a home check for one GSD rescue does that cover all others or are they all separate groups? thanks for any help.

 

[Moobli]

thanks. Apart from a garden fenced to 5ft is there anything else to look out for on a home check? No kids and neither of us out at work so we are at home all the time. Own land to exercise a dog in. If you are asked for a vet reference (which is not a problem) would you have to pay the vet for a reference or do they normally just supply one? If you pass a home check for one GSD rescue does that cover all others or are they all separate groups? thanks for any help.

I have also volunteered for two National GSD Rescues and so can give my experience too.

Your home situation sounds ideal. Lots of rescues don't like rehoming to full time workers.
A 5ft fence is usually a must.
You have experience of the breed (which is a big plus)
References were usually taken up by telephone and the vet practice would be forewarned by the potential adopter that the rescue would be ringing. I don't think a fee was paid for this reference (it was literally a 2-3 minute phone call). A charge may be made if a written reference is required.
A home check for one particular GSD Rescue will not automatically cover any others, and usually does not in my experience - unless the rescues know each other well.

 

[paddy555]

I have also volunteered for two National GSD Rescues and so can give my experience too.

Your home situation sounds ideal. Lots of rescues don't like rehoming to full time workers.
A 5ft fence is usually a must.
You have experience of the breed (which is a big plus)
References were usually taken up by telephone and the vet practice would be forewarned by the potential adopter that the rescue would be ringing. I don't think a fee was paid for this reference (it was literally a 2-3 minute phone call). A charge may be made if a written reference is required.
A home check for one particular GSD Rescue will not automatically cover any others, and usually does not in my experience - unless the rescues know each other well.

thanks very much for that, really helpful to know how they do the vet ref bit. Hopefully we would pass a home check.

 

[fankino04]

I certainly wouldn't see anything in your situation to fail you on Paddy

 

[paddy555]

thanks