I think Lost Dog is the best bet. Honestly the other rescue route can be over the top. You have a dog who needs a home and you make people jump through enough hoops it ends up being counterproductive. I get it, they want to make sure you are serious and you know what you are getting into. Guess what? Anyone fertile can decide to have a baby which I can tell you is MUCH more work (I've had a baby and owned a dog) and a large percentage of people who had no idea WTF they were getting into rose to the occasion.

I really think some research needs to be done to see if the long drawn out method is better. Even if Lost dog adopts out the same percentage as other rescues and the same percentage of adoptions work out, many more lives are being saved because Lost Dog moves quickly and does not get all up in your business. It's an interview and your done.

I pretty much agree with this. We hired a dog walker to come 2-3 times a week for the first 6 weeks while our dog was getting used to living in a home (she had been a street dog) and to crate training. She will now willingly go into her crate when it is time to leave, and the neighbors report they don't hear a peep out of her. She gets a long walk as soon as she gets home and spends a lot of time playing in our yard. Did we lie and tell the nervous nellies from the rescue that we would have a dog walker all the time? Yes. Sadly, you have to tell some fibs to get past their crazy requirements. Honestly, if we thought we needed the walker to keep our dog happy, we'd keep doing it - but we don't.

We should have thought about lying. We could not find any shelters that were willing to adopt out a puppy unless one person was home all day. We went through a breeder and hired a dog walker to come in twice a day until he was older. It worked great and I'm glad we got a puppy.

Yet another +1 for Lost Dog and Cat. They were great!

Anonymous wrote:

OP here - in the first instance, they felt that the dog was likely to jump our fence and run away. It was a mix, but mostly hound, and we have one section of fence that's lower than the rest. (I think they envisioned us letting the dog into the back yard and then ignoring it, which is not our intention at all. We would like to eventually be able to just let the dog out, but I assume that for a long time - maybe even a year - we will need to be right there with the dog when s/he is out in the back yard.)

The second time, they said that they have found that the particular dog is very unhappy when by itself, and that we were going to be leaving it alone too much, due to our work schedules. (Again, it's sort of a yes & no. We currently are gone from the house for up to 9 hours at a time, but starting in July it will be more like 6 hours)

Thanks to everyone for the feedback & suggestions - we are going to continue to look and to refine our expectations!

The problem is more that while there are plenty of dogs up for adoption each rescue group has a limited number. You almost need to work with multiple rescues to find the right dog but the process is so time intensive doing a home visit and all the interviews with 20 different places isn't pragmatic.

I'd suggest working with 304 rescues and choose ones that have a large dog inventory or that are breed specific to the type of dog you want. With the breed specific ones you have a better chance of a match if you know that the characteristics of that breed match your lifestyle.

In the end we just gave up on rescue as we couldn't find one in our area that would take a family with kids and 2 working parents. We ended going to a breeder. We absolutely love this dog and its worked out great. I had originally wanted to avoid the puppy phase but it was fine.

That is ridiculous. It's not like that everywhere. I've since moved from DC and in my new area rescues and shelters are far more focused on getting dogs into safe loving homes than they are about giving them the "perfect," pampered life. I love dogs, but come on - it is a DOG.

OP here - in the first instance, they felt that the dog was likely to jump our fence and run away. It was a mix, but mostly hound, and we have one section of fence that's lower than the rest. (I think they envisioned us letting the dog into the back yard and then ignoring it, which is not our intention at all. We would like to eventually be able to just let the dog out, but I assume that for a long time - maybe even a year - we will need to be right there with the dog when s/he is out in the back yard.)

The second time, they said that they have found that the particular dog is very unhappy when by itself, and that we were going to be leaving it alone too much, due to our work schedules. (Again, it's sort of a yes & no. We currently are gone from the house for up to 9 hours at a time, but starting in July it will be more like 6 hours)

Thanks to everyone for the feedback & suggestions - we are going to continue to look and to refine our expectations!

The problem is more that while there are plenty of dogs up for adoption each rescue group has a limited number. You almost need to work with multiple rescues to find the right dog but the process is so time intensive doing a home visit and all the interviews with 20 different places isn't pragmatic.

I'd suggest working with 304 rescues and choose ones that have a large dog inventory or that are breed specific to the type of dog you want. With the breed specific ones you have a better chance of a match if you know that the characteristics of that breed match your lifestyle.

In the end we just gave up on rescue as we couldn't find one in our area that would take a family with kids and 2 working parents. We ended going to a breeder. We absolutely love this dog and its worked out great. I had originally wanted to avoid the puppy phase but it was fine.

Anonymous wrote:Glad I found this thread. The dog adoption process is so much more emotionally difficult than I imagined and we have not even had a home visit yet. I understand that they might not want to tell you if a dog is close to being adopted for fear it might fall through, but I am sick of getting my hopes up. I have fallen for dogs in person and the foster is really enthusiastic about us adopting, but doesn't mention the dog is already in the process of being adopted. I've had fosters who liked us recommend dogs and then we contact that foster and hear nothing. I've been in touch with fosters where is sounds like the dog is a great match, but they don't have time for us to meet the dog or we get a call that morning that the foster decided to attend an event and we miss the call because we were out living our lives when we would have gone if we had known earlier. I have been to events where you can adopt that day and the organization is amazing, but I liked the idea of a foster who can share lots of info.

The downside is you are at the whim of a foster parent who probably works all day and is doing so much she/he doesn't have time to deal with all the people interested. I cannot fault a foster who is volunteering to help animals in need. I just think of all the dogs dying when there are plenty of families with the time, warmth, energy, and means to give a dog a great life.Also from reading up on this it seems like we need to focus on giving a dog a BETTER life than say death rather than the PERFECT life. We know a couple who had 2 recue dogs and they fostered. They were very opinionated about who deserved one of their fosters. Low and behold after having a baby one of their own dogs snapped at the baby and they gave the dog up. A few years and 2 more babies later (twins) they gave up the other dog they owned. I have no doubt they gave the dogs they owned and fostered beautiful lives, but things happen and you cannot prevent everything.

THIS. I understand rescue orgs wanting to be careful, but then it gets annoying when you see their pleas on social media to save this or that dog from death row, but yet you KNOW they wouldn't let you adopt it because your yard isn't big enough or something... so they die instead.

Glad I found this thread. The dog adoption process is so much more emotionally difficult than I imagined and we have not even had a home visit yet. I understand that they might not want to tell you if a dog is close to being adopted for fear it might fall through, but I am sick of getting my hopes up. I have fallen for dogs in person and the foster is really enthusiastic about us adopting, but doesn't mention the dog is already in the process of being adopted. I've had fosters who liked us recommend dogs and then we contact that foster and hear nothing. I've been in touch with fosters where is sounds like the dog is a great match, but they don't have time for us to meet the dog or we get a call that morning that the foster decided to attend an event and we miss the call because we were out living our lives when we would have gone if we had known earlier. I have been to events where you can adopt that day and the organization is amazing, but I liked the idea of a foster who can share lots of info.

The downside is you are at the whim of a foster parent who probably works all day and is doing so much she/he doesn't have time to deal with all the people interested. I cannot fault a foster who is volunteering to help animals in need. I just think of all the dogs dying when there are plenty of families with the time, warmth, energy, and means to give a dog a great life.Also from reading up on this it seems like we need to focus on giving a dog a BETTER life than say death rather than the PERFECT life. We know a couple who had 2 recue dogs and they fostered. They were very opinionated about who deserved one of their fosters. Low and behold after having a baby one of their own dogs snapped at the baby and they gave the dog up. A few years and 2 more babies later (twins) they gave up the other dog they owned. I have no doubt they gave the dogs they owned and fostered beautiful lives, but things happen and you cannot prevent everything.

Friends adopted from friends of homeless animals out in loudon after getting burned by 2-4 different shelters. They have a four year old and a six year old and were able to bring the dog he in a weeks time.

Won't get into the walker debate... But we do crate our pup and he gets a mid day walk. I'll always keep this up even after he's grown and technically doesn't need it. My husband disagrees but we can afford it and a tired pup is a good pup.

Another +1 for Lost Dog and Cat. We had a great experience with them.

We did have an experience similar to OP's with a different large organization mentioned on this thread, where the dog we were interested in was being fostered in a crated-during-workday situation but they would not adopt to us because we work outside the home and planned to crate. Instead they really pushed a much older dog that had growled at us when we met it. Ultimately I agree that the dog we were interested in was not a good fit, and we did end up with a slightly older dog from Lost Dog. So, I'm not unhappy about the outcome. But the impression we got at the time was that there was a double standard for acceptable care, that they were unwilling to work with us on solutions (like a dog walker) that might have made us a good fit for the dog, that they were "withholding" the dog we wanted in order to push a less adoptable dog, and possibly that certain dogs were not truly available for adoption but were de facto adopted by the foster home and would just stay there in perpetuity. It left a very sour taste and has come up in our conversations with potential adopters who ask our input.

Seriously come off it. Leaving the dog at home all day is not "inflicting" harm. Dogs just like kids need to learn to be alone sometimes and that life does not alway revolve around them. That being said, dogs can hold their bladders and if they cannot, they will not hesitate to piss on your floor. I think of it like me... I wouldnt ideally want to puke/pee/poop in public but if its coming out and i cant stop it....well..

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey, loser over-melodramatic dog defender, I hope OP's gotten what s/he needed from this thread since you've now hijacked it with your crazy. Go throw some paint on someone or something, and STFU already.

That's a lot of vitriol for the messenger.

How about responding to the substance of the above posts?

These topics are 100% relevant for OP, who is thinking about adopting a dog. Anyone who works outside the home and wishes to adopt a dog needs to think about these topics.

Several of us have responded to the "substance" of those posts. You can't argue with an extremist lacking common sense. I resent all of the busy-body judgmental people who claim working families shouldn't have a dog. MOST households in the US have working adults who are not home all day. So what are we to do with all of these dogs then? Euthanize them? YEAH, that would be so much better. My dog is perfectly happy, my vet is cool with our arrangement, and the PP can bite the big one.

Get a dog walker.

None of the links posted are "extremist" in nature. They are mainstream. The mainstream concurs that a dog should have a dog-walker at midday.

Says you. Who exactly is the "Mai stream?". Guessing my vet knows more than you. I care about her opinion. Yours - not so much.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey, loser over-melodramatic dog defender, I hope OP's gotten what s/he needed from this thread since you've now hijacked it with your crazy. Go throw some paint on someone or something, and STFU already.

That's a lot of vitriol for the messenger.

How about responding to the substance of the above posts?

These topics are 100% relevant for OP, who is thinking about adopting a dog. Anyone who works outside the home and wishes to adopt a dog needs to think about these topics.

Several of us have responded to the "substance" of those posts. You can't argue with an extremist lacking common sense. I resent all of the busy-body judgmental people who claim working families shouldn't have a dog. MOST households in the US have working adults who are not home all day. So what are we to do with all of these dogs then? Euthanize them? YEAH, that would be so much better. My dog is perfectly happy, my vet is cool with our arrangement, and the PP can bite the big one.

Get a dog walker.

None of the links posted are "extremist" in nature. They are mainstream. The mainstream concurs that a dog should have a dog-walker at midday.

No, I don't think the "mainstream concurs" about having a dog-walker midday. Everyone I know who owns a dog (a lot of people), with the exception of one person, works all day and does not have a dog walker. The one exception doesn't work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey, loser over-melodramatic dog defender, I hope OP's gotten what s/he needed from this thread since you've now hijacked it with your crazy. Go throw some paint on someone or something, and STFU already.

That's a lot of vitriol for the messenger.

How about responding to the substance of the above posts?

These topics are 100% relevant for OP, who is thinking about adopting a dog. Anyone who works outside the home and wishes to adopt a dog needs to think about these topics.

Several of us have responded to the "substance" of those posts. You can't argue with an extremist lacking common sense. I resent all of the busy-body judgmental people who claim working families shouldn't have a dog. MOST households in the US have working adults who are not home all day. So what are we to do with all of these dogs then? Euthanize them? YEAH, that would be so much better. My dog is perfectly happy, my vet is cool with our arrangement, and the PP can bite the big one.

Get a dog walker.

None of the links posted are "extremist" in nature. They are mainstream. The mainstream concurs that a dog should have a dog-walker at midday.

Try Lucky Dog!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hey, loser over-melodramatic dog defender, I hope OP's gotten what s/he needed from this thread since you've now hijacked it with your crazy. Go throw some paint on someone or something, and STFU already.

That's a lot of vitriol for the messenger.

How about responding to the substance of the above posts?

These topics are 100% relevant for OP, who is thinking about adopting a dog. Anyone who works outside the home and wishes to adopt a dog needs to think about these topics.

Several of us have responded to the "substance" of those posts. You can't argue with an extremist lacking common sense. I resent all of the busy-body judgmental people who claim working families shouldn't have a dog. MOST households in the US have working adults who are not home all day. So what are we to do with all of these dogs then? Euthanize them? YEAH, that would be so much better. My dog is perfectly happy, my vet is cool with our arrangement, and the PP can bite the big one.