Anonymous wrote:In my area there are several breed specific rescues that target their breed in shelters and receive surrenders of that breed. I know those people are passionate about that and people who love that breed will donate to the rescue but its no "money making" operation. Pet care, especially new pets with unknown medical issues, is expensive and this is done from the heart. I have even been bummed when they have gotten to the shelter before me. I would go to the shelter often when searching for the perfect dog and assumed I'd end up going through a rescue but my dog popped up in the shelter one day as a little puppy, won me over and I have been blessed with the world's greatest dog ever since. I think if you think rescues are a big scam you haven't really known people who do the work and shelters will have great dogs you miss out on because your perfect match just isnt in yet or you were meant to take a chance on something out of your parameters. Have a tiny bit of patience and open your heart.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The shelter just wants animals out. It doesn’t matter to them which ones go.

Mostly this. Every day a dog is in the shelter, its chances of being adopted out sane decrease dramatically. A shelter is NO place for an animal. I'm glad they exist, and I respect the volunteers who work so hard to help the animals they can, but they'll all tell you the same thing. Shelters are loud and smelly, with hard floors. They're stuffy in the summer/chilly in the winter, and full of scared, anxious animals who spend most of their days (sometimes ALL of their day) in a very small pen, without much stimulation or individual care.

Rescues with available foster homes will pull some of the easier-to-manage cases out of the shelter environment, leaving space for shelters to handle more complicated cases, including animals with medical issues. Some breed-specific rescues coordinate with shelters, know their "dropoff days", and yes, get "dibs" on whatever breed(s) they're working with. Why? Because those animal have a better chance going straight to a foster than spending even a handful of days in a shelter, waiting for a new owner who may/may not show. Those same owners (I'm @ing you, pekinese person) can search a little bit harder to find a breed-specific rescue if they really want a particular type of dog. Other owners may be fine with getting a "whatever" mutt from a shelter. There are options, and they're not hard to find.

The bigger problem is that people have confused animal shelters and rescues with bargain shopping stores. They only want an animal they can adopt right now, for cheap. It's a mentality that frequently leads to animals coming back to the shelters. Good, Cheap, Fast - Pick two. You want a purebred cocker spaniel for cheap? You'll need to put your name in at shelter and wait (you'll get queue advantage if you sign up to foster, volunteer a bit, treat the people there like people...). You want a cheap dog and fast? Go to the shelter. I've never seen one empty; there's a dog there you can take home today. You want a specific kind/sort of dog right now? Be prepared to pay for it.

Pets are a privilege, not a right. If the upfront cost of acquiring one is too steep for you, you might need to consider whether or not your budget can truly afford the animal and its ongoing care. Anyone needing a pet RIGHT NOW will raise major flags for any responsible/ethical shelter, rescue, or breeder.

Rescuses should be cheap or free, and not a sales transaction.

How would you suggest the rescues pay for food, medical care, kennel space, website with dog photos, and the multiple full time staff to run everything?

Honestly I am so tired of people who want every feel-good thing to be free. You presumably earn a salary for your work, but somebody who works at a nonprofit is supposed to take a vow of poverty? All the vendors are supposed to donate endless years of kibble and spay services? Come on.

DP. Well, why can’t the rescues let the most adoptable dogs be adopted from the shelter? And that will save all the expenses you’re saying are needed to care for them by the rescuers

Anonymous wrote:IMO these rescues are abusing animals for their own personal financial gain. It’s terrible. They take the adoptable animals and charge exorbitant fees and fundraise. They pay themselves a nice salary above what shelter workers make and pay their mortgage as an expensive. They rely on volunteer fosters and volunteers for labor. When they can’t get enough dogs that will yield their $700 fee they buy them at puppy mill auctions furthering the demand for puppy mill dogs.

It’s a terrible racket and really a violation of non profit and animal welfare rights that should be shut down.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The shelter just wants animals out. It doesn’t matter to them which ones go.

Mostly this. Every day a dog is in the shelter, its chances of being adopted out sane decrease dramatically. A shelter is NO place for an animal. I'm glad they exist, and I respect the volunteers who work so hard to help the animals they can, but they'll all tell you the same thing. Shelters are loud and smelly, with hard floors. They're stuffy in the summer/chilly in the winter, and full of scared, anxious animals who spend most of their days (sometimes ALL of their day) in a very small pen, without much stimulation or individual care.

Rescues with available foster homes will pull some of the easier-to-manage cases out of the shelter environment, leaving space for shelters to handle more complicated cases, including animals with medical issues. Some breed-specific rescues coordinate with shelters, know their "dropoff days", and yes, get "dibs" on whatever breed(s) they're working with. Why? Because those animal have a better chance going straight to a foster than spending even a handful of days in a shelter, waiting for a new owner who may/may not show. Those same owners (I'm @ing you, pekinese person) can search a little bit harder to find a breed-specific rescue if they really want a particular type of dog. Other owners may be fine with getting a "whatever" mutt from a shelter. There are options, and they're not hard to find.

The bigger problem is that people have confused animal shelters and rescues with bargain shopping stores. They only want an animal they can adopt right now, for cheap. It's a mentality that frequently leads to animals coming back to the shelters. Good, Cheap, Fast - Pick two. You want a purebred cocker spaniel for cheap? You'll need to put your name in at shelter and wait (you'll get queue advantage if you sign up to foster, volunteer a bit, treat the people there like people...). You want a cheap dog and fast? Go to the shelter. I've never seen one empty; there's a dog there you can take home today. You want a specific kind/sort of dog right now? Be prepared to pay for it.

Pets are a privilege, not a right. If the upfront cost of acquiring one is too steep for you, you might need to consider whether or not your budget can truly afford the animal and its ongoing care. Anyone needing a pet RIGHT NOW will raise major flags for any responsible/ethical shelter, rescue, or breeder.

Rescuses should be cheap or free, and not a sales transaction.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any dog that gets out of the shelter is a good thing. That allows more dogs, resources and time to go to other dogs. Why is that bad?

This. All those rescue dogs left the shelter ASAP, freeing up spacefor more dogs and minimizing the trauma to adoptable dogs. Leaving then in the shelter in case OP wants them is not actually best for the dogs.

The discussion is about dogs who can quickly be adopted so the shelters should adopt those dogs out and the recuses take the hard to adopt dogs. Its reselling.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The shelter just wants animals out. It doesn’t matter to them which ones go.

Mostly this. Every day a dog is in the shelter, its chances of being adopted out sane decrease dramatically. A shelter is NO place for an animal. I'm glad they exist, and I respect the volunteers who work so hard to help the animals they can, but they'll all tell you the same thing. Shelters are loud and smelly, with hard floors. They're stuffy in the summer/chilly in the winter, and full of scared, anxious animals who spend most of their days (sometimes ALL of their day) in a very small pen, without much stimulation or individual care.

Rescues with available foster homes will pull some of the easier-to-manage cases out of the shelter environment, leaving space for shelters to handle more complicated cases, including animals with medical issues. Some breed-specific rescues coordinate with shelters, know their "dropoff days", and yes, get "dibs" on whatever breed(s) they're working with. Why? Because those animal have a better chance going straight to a foster than spending even a handful of days in a shelter, waiting for a new owner who may/may not show. Those same owners (I'm @ing you, pekinese person) can search a little bit harder to find a breed-specific rescue if they really want a particular type of dog. Other owners may be fine with getting a "whatever" mutt from a shelter. There are options, and they're not hard to find.

The bigger problem is that people have confused animal shelters and rescues with bargain shopping stores. They only want an animal they can adopt right now, for cheap. It's a mentality that frequently leads to animals coming back to the shelters. Good, Cheap, Fast - Pick two. You want a purebred cocker spaniel for cheap? You'll need to put your name in at shelter and wait (you'll get queue advantage if you sign up to foster, volunteer a bit, treat the people there like people...). You want a cheap dog and fast? Go to the shelter. I've never seen one empty; there's a dog there you can take home today. You want a specific kind/sort of dog right now? Be prepared to pay for it.

Pets are a privilege, not a right. If the upfront cost of acquiring one is too steep for you, you might need to consider whether or not your budget can truly afford the animal and its ongoing care. Anyone needing a pet RIGHT NOW will raise major flags for any responsible/ethical shelter, rescue, or breeder.

Rescuses should be cheap or free, and not a sales transaction.

How would you suggest the rescues pay for food, medical care, kennel space, website with dog photos, and the multiple full time staff to run everything?

Honestly I am so tired of people who want every feel-good thing to be free. You presumably earn a salary for your work, but somebody who works at a nonprofit is supposed to take a vow of poverty? All the vendors are supposed to donate endless years of kibble and spay services? Come on.

DP. Well, why can’t the rescues let the most adoptable dogs be adopted from the shelter? And that will save all the expenses you’re saying are needed to care for them by the rescuers

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do shelters allow rescues to “save” dogs that clearly will be adopted rather than taking those who have been there for months? We went to PG county today to try to meet 2 dogs. One was in surgery and the other was being”pulled for rescue”. While there we saw a new dog that had just been posted on their site in the last hour - but the rescue was also pulling him. Both young, small dogs, up for adoption less than a week (or one day, in the one case). There is a list of about 25 dogs up for euthanasia - it seems like the shelter would do better adopting out the easy ones and giving rescues the harder cases. Do rescues pay the adoption fees? If they then ask a $500+ fee, how is that not reselling the dog?

It is reselling and they shouldn't allow it. The rescues should be taking true rescues and ones that aren't quickly adoptable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The shelter just wants animals out. It doesn’t matter to them which ones go.

Mostly this. Every day a dog is in the shelter, its chances of being adopted out sane decrease dramatically. A shelter is NO place for an animal. I'm glad they exist, and I respect the volunteers who work so hard to help the animals they can, but they'll all tell you the same thing. Shelters are loud and smelly, with hard floors. They're stuffy in the summer/chilly in the winter, and full of scared, anxious animals who spend most of their days (sometimes ALL of their day) in a very small pen, without much stimulation or individual care.

Rescues with available foster homes will pull some of the easier-to-manage cases out of the shelter environment, leaving space for shelters to handle more complicated cases, including animals with medical issues. Some breed-specific rescues coordinate with shelters, know their "dropoff days", and yes, get "dibs" on whatever breed(s) they're working with. Why? Because those animal have a better chance going straight to a foster than spending even a handful of days in a shelter, waiting for a new owner who may/may not show. Those same owners (I'm @ing you, pekinese person) can search a little bit harder to find a breed-specific rescue if they really want a particular type of dog. Other owners may be fine with getting a "whatever" mutt from a shelter. There are options, and they're not hard to find.

The bigger problem is that people have confused animal shelters and rescues with bargain shopping stores. They only want an animal they can adopt right now, for cheap. It's a mentality that frequently leads to animals coming back to the shelters. Good, Cheap, Fast - Pick two. You want a purebred cocker spaniel for cheap? You'll need to put your name in at shelter and wait (you'll get queue advantage if you sign up to foster, volunteer a bit, treat the people there like people...). You want a cheap dog and fast? Go to the shelter. I've never seen one empty; there's a dog there you can take home today. You want a specific kind/sort of dog right now? Be prepared to pay for it.

Pets are a privilege, not a right. If the upfront cost of acquiring one is too steep for you, you might need to consider whether or not your budget can truly afford the animal and its ongoing care. Anyone needing a pet RIGHT NOW will raise major flags for any responsible/ethical shelter, rescue, or breeder.

Rescuses should be cheap or free, and not a sales transaction.

How would you suggest the rescues pay for food, medical care, kennel space, website with dog photos, and the multiple full time staff to run everything?

Honestly I am so tired of people who want every feel-good thing to be free. You presumably earn a salary for your work, but somebody who works at a nonprofit is supposed to take a vow of poverty? All the vendors are supposed to donate endless years of kibble and spay services? Come on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The shelter just wants animals out. It doesn’t matter to them which ones go.

Mostly this. Every day a dog is in the shelter, its chances of being adopted out sane decrease dramatically. A shelter is NO place for an animal. I'm glad they exist, and I respect the volunteers who work so hard to help the animals they can, but they'll all tell you the same thing. Shelters are loud and smelly, with hard floors. They're stuffy in the summer/chilly in the winter, and full of scared, anxious animals who spend most of their days (sometimes ALL of their day) in a very small pen, without much stimulation or individual care.

Rescues with available foster homes will pull some of the easier-to-manage cases out of the shelter environment, leaving space for shelters to handle more complicated cases, including animals with medical issues. Some breed-specific rescues coordinate with shelters, know their "dropoff days", and yes, get "dibs" on whatever breed(s) they're working with. Why? Because those animal have a better chance going straight to a foster than spending even a handful of days in a shelter, waiting for a new owner who may/may not show. Those same owners (I'm @ing you, pekinese person) can search a little bit harder to find a breed-specific rescue if they really want a particular type of dog. Other owners may be fine with getting a "whatever" mutt from a shelter. There are options, and they're not hard to find.

The bigger problem is that people have confused animal shelters and rescues with bargain shopping stores. They only want an animal they can adopt right now, for cheap. It's a mentality that frequently leads to animals coming back to the shelters. Good, Cheap, Fast - Pick two. You want a purebred cocker spaniel for cheap? You'll need to put your name in at shelter and wait (you'll get queue advantage if you sign up to foster, volunteer a bit, treat the people there like people...). You want a cheap dog and fast? Go to the shelter. I've never seen one empty; there's a dog there you can take home today. You want a specific kind/sort of dog right now? Be prepared to pay for it.

Pets are a privilege, not a right. If the upfront cost of acquiring one is too steep for you, you might need to consider whether or not your budget can truly afford the animal and its ongoing care. Anyone needing a pet RIGHT NOW will raise major flags for any responsible/ethical shelter, rescue, or breeder.

I’m the OP - we went to PG county bc I saw on their website that the shelter is full and they need people to adopt. I still don’t agree with your argument. Yes, shelter environments are stressful and the longer an animal is there the worse off it is. Hence I would think rescues would take the animals who have been there for weeks to allow them to decompress and increase their chances of finding a home. If they are taking “highly adoptable dogs” how is that helping the shelter? The workers are saying they will be adopted quickly regardless. I also find your argument classist. Yes, pets are expensive. Both food and medical care, surgeries. But they should not be a luxury good, only for the wealthy, which is effectively what these rescues are doing by flipping high demand dogs. I can afford to purchase a dog from a breeder or pay the inflated rescue cost, but for those who can’t you’re effectively saying wealthy get a cocker spaniel and the poor can make do with a bully breed. Especially in PG county where the bully ban is in place until next month, this effectively means many people have even less chance of a dog.

Anonymous wrote:Why do shelters allow rescues to “save” dogs that clearly will be adopted rather than taking those who have been there for months? We went to PG county today to try to meet 2 dogs. One was in surgery and the other was being”pulled for rescue”. While there we saw a new dog that had just been posted on their site in the last hour - but the rescue was also pulling him. Both young, small dogs, up for adoption less than a week (or one day, in the one case). There is a list of about 25 dogs up for euthanasia - it seems like the shelter would do better adopting out the easy ones and giving rescues the harder cases. Do rescues pay the adoption fees? If they then ask a $500+ fee, how is that not reselling the dog?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The shelter just wants animals out. It doesn’t matter to them which ones go.

Mostly this. Every day a dog is in the shelter, its chances of being adopted out sane decrease dramatically. A shelter is NO place for an animal. I'm glad they exist, and I respect the volunteers who work so hard to help the animals they can, but they'll all tell you the same thing. Shelters are loud and smelly, with hard floors. They're stuffy in the summer/chilly in the winter, and full of scared, anxious animals who spend most of their days (sometimes ALL of their day) in a very small pen, without much stimulation or individual care.

Rescues with available foster homes will pull some of the easier-to-manage cases out of the shelter environment, leaving space for shelters to handle more complicated cases, including animals with medical issues. Some breed-specific rescues coordinate with shelters, know their "dropoff days", and yes, get "dibs" on whatever breed(s) they're working with. Why? Because those animal have a better chance going straight to a foster than spending even a handful of days in a shelter, waiting for a new owner who may/may not show. Those same owners (I'm @ing you, pekinese person) can search a little bit harder to find a breed-specific rescue if they really want a particular type of dog. Other owners may be fine with getting a "whatever" mutt from a shelter. There are options, and they're not hard to find.

The bigger problem is that people have confused animal shelters and rescues with bargain shopping stores. They only want an animal they can adopt right now, for cheap. It's a mentality that frequently leads to animals coming back to the shelters. Good, Cheap, Fast - Pick two. You want a purebred cocker spaniel for cheap? You'll need to put your name in at shelter and wait (you'll get queue advantage if you sign up to foster, volunteer a bit, treat the people there like people...). You want a cheap dog and fast? Go to the shelter. I've never seen one empty; there's a dog there you can take home today. You want a specific kind/sort of dog right now? Be prepared to pay for it.

Pets are a privilege, not a right. If the upfront cost of acquiring one is too steep for you, you might need to consider whether or not your budget can truly afford the animal and its ongoing care. Anyone needing a pet RIGHT NOW will raise major flags for any responsible/ethical shelter, rescue, or breeder.

Rescuses should be cheap or free, and not a sales transaction.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any dog that gets out of the shelter is a good thing. That allows more dogs, resources and time to go to other dogs. Why is that bad?

This. All those rescue dogs left the shelter ASAP, freeing up spacefor more dogs and minimizing the trauma to adoptable dogs. Leaving then in the shelter in case OP wants them is not actually best for the dogs.

The discussion is about dogs who can quickly be adopted so the shelters should adopt those dogs out and the recuses take the hard to adopt dogs. Its reselling.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The shelter just wants animals out. It doesn’t matter to them which ones go.

Mostly this. Every day a dog is in the shelter, its chances of being adopted out sane decrease dramatically. A shelter is NO place for an animal. I'm glad they exist, and I respect the volunteers who work so hard to help the animals they can, but they'll all tell you the same thing. Shelters are loud and smelly, with hard floors. They're stuffy in the summer/chilly in the winter, and full of scared, anxious animals who spend most of their days (sometimes ALL of their day) in a very small pen, without much stimulation or individual care.

Rescues with available foster homes will pull some of the easier-to-manage cases out of the shelter environment, leaving space for shelters to handle more complicated cases, including animals with medical issues. Some breed-specific rescues coordinate with shelters, know their "dropoff days", and yes, get "dibs" on whatever breed(s) they're working with. Why? Because those animal have a better chance going straight to a foster than spending even a handful of days in a shelter, waiting for a new owner who may/may not show. Those same owners (I'm @ing you, pekinese person) can search a little bit harder to find a breed-specific rescue if they really want a particular type of dog. Other owners may be fine with getting a "whatever" mutt from a shelter. There are options, and they're not hard to find.

The bigger problem is that people have confused animal shelters and rescues with bargain shopping stores. They only want an animal they can adopt right now, for cheap. It's a mentality that frequently leads to animals coming back to the shelters. Good, Cheap, Fast - Pick two. You want a purebred cocker spaniel for cheap? You'll need to put your name in at shelter and wait (you'll get queue advantage if you sign up to foster, volunteer a bit, treat the people there like people...). You want a cheap dog and fast? Go to the shelter. I've never seen one empty; there's a dog there you can take home today. You want a specific kind/sort of dog right now? Be prepared to pay for it.

Pets are a privilege, not a right. If the upfront cost of acquiring one is too steep for you, you might need to consider whether or not your budget can truly afford the animal and its ongoing care. Anyone needing a pet RIGHT NOW will raise major flags for any responsible/ethical shelter, rescue, or breeder.