Rescue centre, Gutted and confused? help?

PingPongPony

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So me and my family have applied to a rescue centre to rehome a great dane. Both parents work full time but i'm in 6th form so i'm never out for more than 3-4hours. The centre told us we cannot have the dog because my parents work full time and they dont take children into account so despite me being home most of the time, we still couldn't have the dog. I'm also so angry at myself, i've never been good at talking to people on the phone so of course when they announced we cant have the dog, i forgot to add that my mum actualy works from home a lot, so the dog will really NOT be home alone much at all! I'm gutted! I just don't undrestand it? A great dane is a big dog, you need money to pay for it, surely not everyone that has a dog don't work?? I just don't undrestand why?! And its not like the dog had separation issues, she said non of the dogs get rehomed to homes where parents work full time despite someone being there most of the time. Could please someone explain to me? I'm really upset now, we've got knowlege of the breed, a big garden, current dog gets taken for walks and up to horses all the time. We can offer a really good loving home :(
 

lexiedhb

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This is one rescue centre...... either phone back and tell them your mum works from home alot. Or find another rescue centre. Some centres have blanket policies that are there to protect the dog- like kids not being responsible/ mature enough to care for one alone. Or maybe they are wondering what happens after your A levels? Uni? so you would not be there at all possibly.

Maybe try smaller rescues, they are often more accommodating......
 

MrsElle

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With all due respect, I would get one of your parents to contact the rescue centre and explain the situation.

I suspect they wouldn't take you seriously if you are 16/17.

Get your mum to ring, she might get a different response :)
 

PingPongPony

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Mum has rang them back, explained that she mostly works from home, there is one or two days which she goes to the work place but is back during lunch, and im there anyway, lady still wasn't happy. She said the dog is not to be left alone for more than 4 hours at all, ever, for the rest of its life. So i guess we've got to keep looking. :( gutted :(
 

FreddiesGal

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Mum has rang them back, explained that she mostly works from home, there is one or two days which she goes to the work place but is back during lunch, and im there anyway, lady still wasn't happy. She said the dog is not to be left alone for more than 4 hours at all, ever, for the rest of its life. So i guess we've got to keep looking. :( gutted :(

What rescue centre was this?
 

Merlin11

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I know rescue centres have to think of the dogs but this seems a bit unflexible. How many people are never away from their houses for more than 4 hours? It's a wonder they find any homes for the dogs. A neighbour of mine has just taken in a rescue dog and is away for longer than that. I would try another rescue place.
 

madmav

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Reminds me of years ago contacting a cat charity with a view to rehoming one. Was told on no account would they consider me because I had a young child. The non-rescue cat we subsequently acquired coped remarkably well with the child. Indeed, they rather liked each other.
I know they have to have rules to make sure rehomed animal are safe, but some are remarkably inflexible, to the detriment of the animals in need of a good home.
Agree that it would be a good idea to contact another charity and to get your parents to speak to them.
 

CAYLA

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First of all, was it you who made the enquiry by telephone and gave the information/or your parents?
With a big dog like that I too would be worried re the managing of such a big breed and as quite rightly suggested you will not be in a position where you are home all the time, you have to go to further education/uni/get a job/have a life..
If however it had been suggested that your mother works from home for a portion of the week from the very beginning and can get home at lunch time when at work (provide a walk) (and not added once told your position was not suitable);)for the dog I would find that acceptable (if your home check passed) how old is the dog? did they give reasons for it's hand in ad did they specifically tell you it has no separation issues?
Maybe they had a more suitable home come up in the meantime or is she still there?
Have you had a home check or did you fill in a form or speak to someone over the phone?

I absolutely agree some rescues can be very strict but others do it for the dog, they dont want a dog bouncing back and forth, and also people will say just about anything to get a new dog and will even ignore all the dogs behaviours that would be undesirable when informed, but they sharp hand it back in when the novelty wares off (it works both ways).
 

blackcob

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"you will not be in a position where you are home all the time, you have to go to further education/uni/get a job/have a life.."

Yes, this is probably why the rescue won't include children/young adults in the equation, 95% will be leaving the family home in the dog's lifetime so don't really count I'm afraid.

As Lexi said above, this is just one rescue, keep plugging away at it. Do great danes have an official breed rescue? Breed-specific rescues are generally the best at placing dogs in the right homes no matter where in the country they are, great network of fosterers, more interest in breed experience and knowledge than your working hours.

Some good news is that many of the bigger centres are now recognising that people have to work to afford dogs and changing their policies to match; I know the RSPCA centre nearest me will now rehome to full time workers if they can prove that they have a dog walker or somesuch, they will want to see a contract with the walker or do home visits to vet relatives who will dogsit etc. but it can be done. Dogs Trust also have a bit of flexibility in this regard where they perhaps didn't used to.

Agree that they do have to protect the dogs they are trying to rehome with what seem like stupid policies but you'd be amazed at what reasons people give for bringing dogs back when they appeared, at the time of adoption, to be the greatest most perfect owners ever.
 

s4sugar

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I turned someone away yesterday.
They let a few things slip while meeting one of the dogs here as we walked down the field chatting & no I didn't tell them why I thought they were unsuitable as I know their story would then change at the next rescue they went to. (It wasn't an easy fix like putting up a fence.)
 

s4sugar

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God knows how we manage to leave ours alone in the kitchen overnight when we're asleep!

So many people forget this but hopefully you would wake up if you heard a crash, bang in the night? I have known a dog pull a fridge freezer over, trapping itself & breaking a leg.
 

Camel

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My parents looked at adopting through Daneline, they are both retired, big fenced garden and have recently lost their old Dane through old age .... I can't remember why but I'm sure they were turned down for anything other than a 12 year old ex breeding bitch :( (who I hope found a lovely home)

They ended up adopting a Greyhound, their rescue societys are far more realistic and consequently a dog has now had a lovely stable home for the past 2 years

xx
 

Merlin11

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that's something that confuses me - many dogs must be left alone for 8 hours or so at night when owners are sleeping - but this is ok
 

emma21

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I was turned down by daneline because my old English cross is fully male and I said because he's never humped or fought that we couldn't have any dog not even a spayed female. She was quite rude on the phone even when I said I'd consider getting him castrated she said hed been full for too long so wouldn't do anything...? Ridiculous. So went and bought a fully male puppy and they get on perfectly :)
 

noodle_

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this is why we got a puppy..... we tried rescue centres and they were all really negative because we both worked!

as it happens.... i work full time but my dogs are never left more than 4/5 hours a day 3x a week.....

as for college/uni comment - i commuted because they were MY dogs - i dont reccomend sacrificing a good pint for living at home tho fr the dogs!! lol :D
 

Alec Swan

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.......

She said the dog is not to be left alone for more than 4 hours at all, ever, for the rest of its life. ....... :( gutted :(

Ask the lady to explain what is to happen to the dog at night, when you go to bed at 1100hrs and may not get up until 0800hrs. That's 9 whole hours, all on its own. Can you imagine? :eek::eek: :D FFS.

As someone else said, find yourself another rescue centre, and one that actually wants to re-home one of its inmates.

Alec.
 

CorvusCorax

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So many people forget this but hopefully you would wake up if you heard a crash, bang in the night? I have known a dog pull a fridge freezer over, trapping itself & breaking a leg.

Completely off topic but we once went into the garage and the old female was spreadeagled on the floor with the tumble dryer on top of her. It wasn't even on a height. No idea how she did it but no injuries, all the flubber must have protected her :eek:

Oh and we were at home at the time, just popped out to the garage to grab something, she had the run of the backyard/garage.
 

lexiedhb

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Surely a dog knows someone is in the house tho? Mine defo did. A dog being in a different room is very different to being 100% alone.
 

paulineh

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My dogs are left in the kennels from about 10pm until about 8.30am. They do not bark so I would not know if anything was going on.

I have had three Springers through their rescue centres and have never been refused. I have always worked full time although there has been people in the house during the day.

I have also had 2 other dogs through rescue centres and never been refused.

I have also never had a home check, maybe they just trust me.
 

Carefreegirl

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Lie -thats what we did several years ago when we went to a local RSPCA centre. We were told that they wouldn't rehome to 'full time workers' so we said I worked days and hubby worked nights. He infact worked four on /four off, the first two of the shifts were days. The dog would be left alone for a maximum of four hours at the most twice a week.
They turned up to do a home inspection a week later having told us it would be at least a month. The woman came in and looked at the garden through the lounge windows said "yeah fine" and went.
A few days later we picked up the most perfect little mongrel, 4 years old called Nimbus. Sadly died a few years ago at the age of 12.
He had a great life with us (I hope) everyday down to the yard for a few hours, days out at shows and I can't remember ever having to tell him off.
 

rockysmum

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I know its the modern way that dogs cant be left for more than four hours, but ours used to be. Sometimes circumstances change, like when I got divorced and our 12 year old retriever cross had to stay at home while I worked. Then when he died I wasn't going to get another one but my friend worked at the dog warden kennels and a lovely whippet bitch was going to be PTS so we took her.

Both dogs treated work time as their bed time. I know its gross but when I went out of the door they both ran upstairs and onto my bed where they slept all day. They would then come down the stairs yawning when I came in. Wherever possible someone would give them an hour in the garden at lunchtime (this was before dog walking services).

Honestly they were happy and didn't stress when left. That said I wouldn't do it with a young dog. They did get worn out with chasing rabbits at the stables morning and night, perhaps that helped.

Only slight problem was they then stayed awake all night chewing things at the bottom of my bed :D

I do agree with making sure rescues go to good homes, but if the centes are all so inflexible its no wonder there are so many needing somewhere.
 

HeatherAnn

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I hate these stories. I have the local kennels on facebook and they are ALWAYS saying they are full.
We went down last year when we were looking and filled out the forms and we were willing to take on any dog they thought suitable. They turned us down just from reading a form.
Both parents have experience with large breeds. Everyone in our house is 15+. There is ALWAYS someone at home, my mum doesn't work and only does shopping when there are other people in. We have a medium sized, well fenced back yard and live close to 3 different parks. They turned us down. So we bought our mutt pup. It's so silly.
 

Mince Pie

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I was turned down because I don't have a garden. Despite the fact that I live on a farm with a livery yard and full size indoor school less than 30 seconds walk from the door.
 

Cahill

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so,potential caring owners are turned down because they want to rescue and give a home to a dog,fill in forms,be checked out and pay a fee BUT any old tom,dick or harry can buy/swap/ sell/pass around on gumtree etc :(

when i looked on our local rspca site it said non available?????cant think this is true.
 

MrsElle

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We got turned down for both dogs and cats as ex OH was in the RAF and the rescues decided we would go overseas and abandon the animals. This was despite us telling them that in the RAF you have to apply to be posted overseas, and we never would as we already had a dog who we could never leave and therefore never applied for overseas postings.

I understand that some forces personnel might have abandoned their pets when they moved abroad, but surely you should take each case on its merrits? It's like saying 'oh, we had two abandonments recently, both were women in their 30's who worked part time in Asda'. Do you therefore not rehome to 30 year old women who work part time?

We ended up getting a lovely Springer pup and two kittens from the local farm, our existing dog died aged 14, the Springer was 12 when he died, one of the cats moved out and into the stables nearby and the other moved house with us several times until she died of kidney failure aged 16. A rescue dog or cat could have had a long and happy life with us.
 

PingPongPony

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Tbh, the woman sounded quite fed up and rude over the phone from the start, like she didn't want to speak to anyone and was doing me some sort of massive favour by speaking to me. I'm just gutted because the dog would have a lovely life with a lot of daily exercise whatever the weather with another dog too so have a playmate. Our neighbours and good friends from next door have got a hound x that is also a young dog, so they'd have a ball playing everyday and growing up together. Just really gutted :(
What i also dont understand is how they expect someone who doesn't work more than 4 hours per day to be able to afford to feed the dog, and the vets bills, which will be a lot for such a large dog ? How are you supposed to afford it?
Ah well, i'll keep looking :(
 

s4sugar

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I've just seen your post in NL.
Sorry but if you'd phoned me I'd have asked that one of your parents called instead.
No rescue is going to let a dog out to a teenager and you making the call calling suggests that the parents can't be bothered or don't want a dog.
You started on a wrong foot.

There are other Dane rescues.
 

Montmorency

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Try the Great Dane Adoption Society-GDAS.
My parents have had a couple of Danes from them over the years. Don't know if you'll be more successful but it's worth a phone call.
It's possible Dane rescues are more concerned with the dogs being left because there is such a high risk of bloat in the breed. And it needs to be spotted early if there is any chance of survival. No idea if this theory is true though!
 
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