No luck adopting - not even getting called back. Tips?

[Anonymous]

Drive to a rural area or a less-educated state. You wouldn't believe the dogs available for adoption in Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky etc with no wait time.

Great Pyrnees - Purceville, VA



https://www.petfinder.com/dog/kitsu-in-va-super-smart-girl-50123429/va/leesburg/national-great-pyrenees-rescue-ny695/

Bassett Hound - Savannah, TN



https://www.petfinder.com/dog/elihu-48018371/tn/savannah/horse-creek-wildlife-sanctuary-tn161/

American Staffordshire - Pineville, TN



https://www.petfinder.com/dog/kole-50090564/ky/middlesboro/east-coast-boxer-rescue-ky537/

Chihuahua - Rutledge, GA



https://www.petfinder.com/dog/samantha-48254306/ga/madison/humane-society-of-morgan-county-ga150/

[Anonymous]

PP above - seriously put in an application in any state, they'll approve you in the South in 48 hours because the kill shelters are overwhelmed, put gas in your car, drive there in 11 hours and then drive back.

Wham. You've adopted your first dog.

[Anonymous]

We were in the same situation so I contacted a friend who works in a vet office to see if they had any suggestions. She told me to find the Facebook and Instagram pages of a lot of these rescue organizations, because often times animals are posted there before they go onto the website or Petfinder, and so they get applications before they ever make it to the places I was looking. Sure enough, we found a dog on an Instagram feed and submitted her application minutes after they posted it. A couple weeks later we brought her home.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone this has been very helpful!

[Anonymous]

Try Homeward Trails. We got our pup from them after months of trying through PetFinder.

[Anonymous]

Forget the private rescues and go right to an actual shelter. The Richmond SPCA always has tons of cute hound mixes, Instead of pit bulls. You can go there an adopt your dog same day. Applying for dogs online isn’t a great idea anyway. You should go to the shelter, give up your preconceived notions of what you want, and adopt the dog with the best personality.

[Anonymous]

The problem is that many local shelters give certain desirable dog breeds to rescues and then keep the pit bulls and chihuahuas. Look online for animal shelters in the South as far as you are willing to drive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Forget the private rescues and go right to an actual shelter. The Richmond SPCA always has tons of cute hound mixes, Instead of pit bulls. You can go there an adopt your dog same day. Applying for dogs online isn’t a great idea anyway. You should go to the shelter, give up your preconceived notions of what you want, and adopt the dog with the best personality.

+1.

[Anonymous]

OP, a any rescues do not adopt out over the holidays in order to avoid placing a dog in an already holiday stressed home. In addition to that, and in part due to that, communications often fall short towards the end of the year. Also, as most rescues are volunteer based, there may be fewer people over the holidays to actually review applications, call, screen, etc.

Also, if you’re looking to eliminate shepherds, terries, and labs... well, that pretty much eliminates most mixed dogs.

[Anonymous]

OP -can you wait another few months? Eventually the eviction moratorium will end and there will be a huge wave of individuals and families becoming homeless. Most will need to give up their family pets and the shelters will be full of previously well cared for and loved pets that need homes.

[Anonymous]

OP, try Small Miracles Cat & Dog Rescue in Ellicott City, MD. I had a pleasant experience with adopting my dog from Small Miracles.
http://www.smallmiraclesrescue.org

[Anonymous]

I think Petfinder is either a scam or just totally ineffective. The dogs listed on there are through other adoption agencies—if you go to the origin organization, the dogs are almost never available. Like that Pyrenees posted above—petfinder is alwAys listing Pyrenees through a pyr rescue but i bet it’s already adopted.
You need to try a real adoption agency not a clearinghouse. The Humane Rescue alliance in DC is good. But with most things closed, it’s much harder to see actual dogs.

We’re another family that went with a breeder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP above - seriously put in an application in any state, they'll approve you in the South in 48 hours because the kill shelters are overwhelmed, put gas in your car, drive there in 11 hours and then drive back.

Wham. You've adopted your first dog.

Please share the name of an agency that will let you adopt a dog within 48 hours.

[Anonymous]

Maybe folks are on vacation?

My rescues will call you. Homeward Trails, Pet Rescue Alliance.

[Anonymous]

Getyourpet.com is a site for owners who need to re-home their dogs, and they had some adorable ones:

https://getyourpet.com/search#/pet-details/174674