So, you have to have a fenced in yard to adopt a dog?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many of the breed specific rescues are really strict. Others are not. Don't let that be an excuse to use a breeder. Wolf trap animal rescue is bringing up 80+ dogs this weeend from the south. They don't require a fence.

True. My coonhound required a fence. Hounds follow their noses and that how they get lost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear Op,

Rescues have rules because they know from experience that people adopt the dog and then find out how much time, work and money they are so they bring them back. Do you know how hard this is on the animal? How difficult do you think it would be to find a home for a dog that has been brought back a few times?

Look, we need to have rules so that rescues weed out the people who are not serious. It is the best for the animals. By all means go to a breeder but, the good ones will also have some rules too. After all, you get to know each animal wouldn't you want to give it to the best home?

It's a rule that cuts out an awful lot of families. And that's just one of the myriad rules they have. I'm a longtime dog owner and know what it takes.

Whatever. It's one more dog that will sit in a cage without a home.

So it is ok for the people to bring back the dog when it doesn't work out? There are lots of people willing to do what it takes to adopt a rescue dog. If it isn't for you, fine. But, don't go complaining about the rules because you don't like them. They are there for a reason. Would you say the same for adopting a child? I had to find homes for cats and believe me when you care for an animal you want them to go to a loving home and there needs to be standards. Sorry if you don't like it but, I think you are 100 percent wrong on this.

You do realize that making this comparison makes you seem either mentally deficient, a deranged lunatic, or a little bit of both?

I am the person you are quoting. I admit I should not have compared adopting a child to a dog. My point was only that we have rules for a reason. No need to be mean as I am not mentally deficient, or a deranged lunatic. Maybe you were looking at yourself when you wrote this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dear Op,

Rescues have rules because they know from experience that people adopt the dog and then find out how much time, work and money they are so they bring them back. Do you know how hard this is on the animal? How difficult do you think it would be to find a home for a dog that has been brought back a few times?

Look, we need to have rules so that rescues weed out the people who are not serious. It is the best for the animals. By all means go to a breeder but, the good ones will also have some rules too. After all, you get to know each animal wouldn't you want to give it to the best home?

Your rules are very short sighted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear Op,

Rescues have rules because they know from experience that people adopt the dog and then find out how much time, work and money they are so they bring them back. Do you know how hard this is on the animal? How difficult do you think it would be to find a home for a dog that has been brought back a few times?

Look, we need to have rules so that rescues weed out the people who are not serious. It is the best for the animals. By all means go to a breeder but, the good ones will also have some rules too. After all, you get to know each animal wouldn't you want to give it to the best home?

It's a rule that cuts out an awful lot of families. And that's just one of the myriad rules they have. I'm a longtime dog owner and know what it takes.

Whatever. It's one more dog that will sit in a cage without a home.

So it is ok for the people to bring back the dog when it doesn't work out? There are lots of people willing to do what it takes to adopt a rescue dog. If it isn't for you, fine. But, don't go complaining about the rules because you don't like them. They are there for a reason. Would you say the same for adopting a child? I had to find homes for cats and believe me when you care for an animal you want them to go to a loving home and there needs to be standards. Sorry if you don't like it but, I think you are 100 percent wrong on this.

I have a lot of experience in sheltering/rescue: these rules are crazy and harmful. There is always the risk of a pet not working out; that risk has to be built into the system. In the meantime, as OP is saying, having these rules won't stop people from getting a pet - but will stop them from adopting. Meantime, pets are dying in shelters. Surely a dog would prefer being in a home where their owner has to walk them instead of letting them into the yard, then to live another day/month/year in a shelter's kennel.

OP: try going to a shelter instead of a rescue, if you are finding the rules too onerous.

[Anonymous]

Don't bother with the rescue organizations. They are nutso and not always honest about their dogs. Breeders can be even worse. Go to the government run shelters. There are some great dogs there. We adopted ours from one and they didn't ask me anything. I have the best dog ever and my yard is not fenced in. We walk her and luckily she doesn't dash out the door or run away from us.

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of lazy people out there who may not have a fenced yard and when they first adopt a dog think it will be no big deal to always be taking the dog out on a leash. Aside from a year where I was between homes going through a divorce, I've always had a fenced yard. The year that I lived in an apartment, I didn't have my own yard or a fence. It was not fun in single digit temperatures having to walk the dog late at night. I can easily see people who don't subscribe to the "a dog is forever" theory just bringing a dog back. Cause they discovered it's inconvenient and hard work to raise it. I support this rule. I would rather see a dog wait a little longer for a home where it will stay forever than be adopted out to someone who just brings it back because it's not convenient to take care of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear Op,

Rescues have rules because they know from experience that people adopt the dog and then find out how much time, work and money they are so they bring them back. Do you know how hard this is on the animal? How difficult do you think it would be to find a home for a dog that has been brought back a few times?

Look, we need to have rules so that rescues weed out the people who are not serious. It is the best for the animals. By all means go to a breeder but, the good ones will also have some rules too. After all, you get to know each animal wouldn't you want to give it to the best home?

It's a rule that cuts out an awful lot of families. And that's just one of the myriad rules they have. I'm a longtime dog owner and know what it takes.

Whatever. It's one more dog that will sit in a cage without a home.

So it is ok for the people to bring back the dog when it doesn't work out? There are lots of people willing to do what it takes to adopt a rescue dog. If it isn't for you, fine. But, don't go complaining about the rules because you don't like them. They are there for a reason. Would you say the same for adopting a child? I had to find homes for cats and believe me when you care for an animal you want them to go to a loving home and there needs to be standards. Sorry if you don't like it but, I think you are 100 percent wrong on this.

You do realize that making this comparison makes you seem either mentally deficient, a deranged lunatic, or a little bit of both?

I am the person you are quoting. I admit I should not have compared adopting a child to a dog. My point was only that we have rules for a reason. No need to be mean as I am not mentally deficient, or a deranged lunatic. Maybe you were looking at yourself when you wrote this?

I adopted both a dog and a child. We were going through the process for the child when we decided to adopt the dog. DH and I did, in fact, roll our eyes at the ridiculousness of some of the rescues whose rules were stricter/more arbitrary than the child adoption agency.
We ended up buying some cheapo fencing from home depot and temporarily putting it up for the day when the rescue lady came to our house. (We had a fence, but the fence "wasn't tall enough")
And we were allowed to adopt a child even though both of us work full time.

Six years later, both the original fence and the fake-extension-fence are long gone, and both the dog and the kid are doing well.

Yes, some of these rescues absolutely drive people away and to pet stores/breeders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What rescue is doing home interviews? We had a 5 minute "interview" at a persmart. We do have a fenced in backyard but I'd have no problem saying I did if I did not.

A Forever Home dog rescue requires home visits

And I can think of at least a dozen northern VA rescues that do not.

Np here. We had a n hour long interview with lrcp prior to approval. They also contacted multiple references. They did a home visit after we adopted. We also were approved to adopt thru Ror (Reach out Rescue). They conducted a home visit that lasted about 45 minutes. They also conducted 3 ref checks. This is all pretty standard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of lazy people out there who may not have a fenced yard and when they first adopt a dog think it will be no big deal to always be taking the dog out on a leash. Aside from a year where I was between homes going through a divorce, I've always had a fenced yard. The year that I lived in an apartment, I didn't have my own yard or a fence. It was not fun in single digit temperatures having to walk the dog late at night. I can easily see people who don't subscribe to the "a dog is forever" theory just bringing a dog back. Cause they discovered it's inconvenient and hard work to raise it. I support this rule. I would rather see a dog wait a little longer for a home where it will stay forever than be adopted out to someone who just brings it back because it's not convenient to take care of.

I'm the shelter/rescue person - and that's a risk with every adoption. You never have a 100% guarantee. The studies show that more "open" adoptions rather than adoptions with many restrictions are just as likely to be successful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear Op,

Rescues have rules because they know from experience that people adopt the dog and then find out how much time, work and money they are so they bring them back. Do you know how hard this is on the animal? How difficult do you think it would be to find a home for a dog that has been brought back a few times?

Look, we need to have rules so that rescues weed out the people who are not serious. It is the best for the animals. By all means go to a breeder but, the good ones will also have some rules too. After all, you get to know each animal wouldn't you want to give it to the best home?

It's a rule that cuts out an awful lot of families. And that's just one of the myriad rules they have. I'm a longtime dog owner and know what it takes.

Whatever. It's one more dog that will sit in a cage without a home.

So it is ok for the people to bring back the dog when it doesn't work out? There are lots of people willing to do what it takes to adopt a rescue dog. If it isn't for you, fine. But, don't go complaining about the rules because you don't like them. They are there for a reason. Would you say the same for adopting a child? I had to find homes for cats and believe me when you care for an animal you want them to go to a loving home and there needs to be standards. Sorry if you don't like it but, I think you are 100 percent wrong on this.

No, they are not 100 percent wrong. Plenty of people in cities own dogs and they do not have yards. Their dogs are well cared for and happy. You do not need a fenced in yard to properly raise a dog. It is a ridiculous rule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't bother with the rescue organizations. They are nutso and not always honest about their dogs. Breeders can be even worse. Go to the government run shelters. There are some great dogs there. We adopted ours from one and they didn't ask me anything. I have the best dog ever and my yard is not fenced in. We walk her and luckily she doesn't dash out the door or run away from us.

I wanted to know about some puppies that a rescue had to make sure they didn't have any pitbull in them. I asked The lady who was fostering them and she looked at me like that was crazy and asked why wouldn't I want a pitbull bc they're such sweeeet dogs!!!!!! I walked away and didn't bother with anymore rescue organizations.

[Anonymous]

We have kids and have one side of our yard that isn't fenced - I tried to adopt for a year but was denied every time. I get the reason for rules but we now have a puppy and I walk her multiple times a day and our kids love her and it's great. We have given her a great home and it's too bad we couldn't have done that with a rescue.

[Anonymous]

It’s ridiculous many good people who are responsible dog lovers are being rejected because they don’t have a fenced in yard. They are buying a rescue dog it’s not given to theme. So it should matter a fence or not,

[Anonymous]

The rescue I volunteer with requires a fenced yard. We also do a vet check (to make sure other pets had routine vet care) and a home visit to make sure people live where they say they do, have a fenced yard and seem ready to provide care for a new pet. Pets are living creatures - too many people treat them like lawn ornaments. People swear they’ll never let them out off leash - only it was early/raining/they didn’t feel good and our dog is hit and killed by a car. A fence would prevent that. We don’t want our dog badly treated, dumped in a kill shelter or ending up dead because we didn’t screen carefully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

No wonder so many people go to breeders. I'm tired of all the rescue rules.

Totally agree.