I lost my Boxer Shelby about six years ago. Been on the fence about a new friend. Everyone says get a rescue,
which I wholeheartedly agree. Went to the county animal shelter, walked in and said Hi, I want to see if anyone likes me
and she abruptly said NO! No one can see the dogs. We changed that rule last year. She plopped a binder on the counter in front of me with pics of about 40 dogs
of which about 30 were Pit Bulls. She said if I see a dog I like I can schedule an appointment to see if we are compatible or whatever
I politely walked out.
I won't buy a pup from a pet store that comes from a puppy mill. When I got my girl it was from a woman who loved doing it to make a few extra bucks. I threw the AKC papers in the garbage. I got the last pup she had, said she was the runt. She turned out to be 80 pounds of pure muscle that was so loving to my grand daughter.
I'll find somebody to love. I'm sure there are other places I can find a rescue. Just a little disappointed in the county.

I volunteer at an animal shelter. My last dog was an alumni of the shelter. Last year they changed policy and no longer allow the general public on the adoption floor. The reasoning is the well being of the animals. I can understand the logic, when one walks onto the floor the dogs get excited. On a busy day that is non stop excitement.

Here is the shelters FAQ on the policy: https://www.thinkingoutsidethe...-floor-closure-faqs/

If you haven't gone to the site, Petfinder.com can help in your search. The advanced search capability allows you to limit the area and the type of dog you seek.

^ this makes sense.

OP, it sounds like they will let you visit the dogs, just one at a time and they make you narrow your selection down a bit first, is that correct? That sounds like how our local shelter does things as well. They keep their website updated, so if you watch and see a dog you're interested in you can go in and visit with that dog to see if it's a good fit. They just won't allow the public to walk through the kennel space.

Our last two dogs were from the local shelter. The first one was a shepherd mix who lived 17 years and was an absolute sweetheart. After we had to put her down I was back and forth about getting another dog. I finally decided to go visit the shelter, and was adamant that I wanted another shepherd and don't want a Pitt. Unfortunately, our area is full of white trash people who think having a pitbull is awesome, but don't know how to responsibly care for a pet (or anything, really), so the shelter is overrun with them.

As things worked out somebody had just dropped off a litter of puppies. They were 1/4 Shepherd and 1/4 Pitt, and a mix of other things. They brought one out for me to hold, then I went home and came back with the wife and kids and they let us play with the whole litter in one of their visitation rooms.

We've had Moose for a year now, and although he's a bit dopey, he's the most loving affectionate animal I've ever met. I never thought I'd be ok with a dog in my bed, but he sleeps with us every night, curls up with us on the couch, and is awesome with our kids and even our younger nephews. He's super friendly with other dogs, too, even when it's not reciprocated. He's also my walking buddy and we do 3-5 miles every day. I'm so glad I didn't write him off because of the breed.

We adopted a Chihuahua about six years ago . Poor guy had been surrendered to the same shelter twice .
Somebody really screwed him up . He was obviously abused . We're giving him a good life . He deserves it .

I usually just wait until a cat wanders by and decides to stay. But for my current cat, I went to the local rescue. At that point, the cat I was interested in was described as cute and cuddly. He was an older kitten. I was not able to spend any time with him as they would not let him out of his cage. I took them at their word about his cuddliness and adopted him. And it was all BS. The reason he was not allowed out of his cage? He was absolutely terrified and not socialized at all. Yowled like he was dying on the way home. Then he hid for nearly a month before he would even stay in the same room with me. He is now 5 years old and hides instantly the second someone stands on the porch. He trusts only me. And he is the only cat I have ever had (and I once had 13 - long story) who wont lay in my lap or sleep with me. I dont regret adopting him (And paying the fee) but some honesty is called for here. Now, regardless of shelter "policy", if I could not spend some time getting acquainted with an animal I was considering adopting, then its no adoption. And if the shelter people has told me his problems up front, I probably would have adopted him anyway!

The policy is acceptable understating their reasoning. Letting you narrow down the selection may be helpful. One can only look at wallpaper samples for so long...


Be forewarned, some "rescue organizations"* will grill you harder than Level 5 security background check or a wife if you come back from a fishing trip with glitter on your dirty laundry.



* Usually a collective of random people that are involved as "rescuers/rehabbers/fosters", and they are often too emotionally driven and not logically motivated to place animals. (Not the same as shelters.)

Yes, there are people that should not posses animals, but these people's efforts are beyond putting health and well being of pets needing homes and too much into controlling who they think "deserves" a pet.

This in a situation where there are so many animals and these folks eliminate some of the best chances some animal might have.

If it is easier to get "mill generated" pet, than dealing with Gestapo Inc., mills gonna mill.

We got our Golden 10 years ago last Saturday from As Good As Gold. She came from Puerto Rico and was living with her "foster mom" in Chicago. We drove up and spent time with her and my wife, the dog, and myself decided we wanted to live together. She is our 4th Golden over the last 50 years and it has been wonderful.

We had to fill out a large application and were interviewed by 2 ladies who came to our house and brought an older Golden with them as if we had never seen one. When leaving, one of the ladies said "We will let you know in a month if you meet our standards". I believe we could have gotten a baby easier.

A week later, we got an email asking if we wanted to wait until the holidays were over. We said "NO" and drove to Chicago the next morning. Many of our Christmas ornaments are Golden related and we couldn't stand the thought of Christmas morning without a dog to give gifts to.

Yeah, the shelters are getting weird. When I got my last cat, I went to the shelter and they told me there were no adoptions allowed in December because they didn't want anyone giving a pet as a Christmas gift. We went to visit MIL in the dementia facility shortly after, and the staff told us they had gotten a cat for the residents but it "didn't work out," and did we want her. Turned out extremely well, that cat slept on my head for 12 years. I'm reluctant to get another now that she has passed, I don't want to pre-decease a pet.

The shelter’s reason for not allowing general public to access the entire available dogs, is understandable I guess. Would be nice if that was allowed, but I can see people walking in, getting them all riled up over an over, and then not actually picking one, maybe. What I did was check their online available dogs, read the descriptions, and chose from that, then put in an app for one I liked. Our current GSD we adopted 4 years ago, and I had actually put the app in on another dog, which got adopted before I could see it. The shelter called me, and asked me the same questions as on the app, told me they had another dog that sounded like a match, and then agreed to hold her for us until I could make it there. Needless to say, with their evaluation of her temperament, and our first meeting, she came home with us! She’s been the sweetest, most loving dog, and we adore her. So, I would advise looking thru their list of dogs, pick a couple you are interested in, and take it from there. Good luck!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: m1009,

Had a lot of rescues over the years.(breed specific Labradors) My last 2 came from breeders. When the shelters started making me sign a form stating they had unlimited, unannounced access to my property, I stopped adopting.

quote:

Originally posted by pace40:
Had a lot of rescues over the years.(breed specific Labradors) My last 2 came from breeders. When the shelters started making me sign a form stating they had unlimited, unannounced access to my property, I stopped adopting.

Yeah, when we were getting our other dogs from a rescue, we had to be evaluated, etc. had somebody come out to talk to us, view the property, etc.
While I understand making sure the adopter wasn’t a poor choice for them, it was a pain to go thru. I was surprised when our shelter didn’t ask, didn’t come out to check our property, but was happy about it. We had taken out our fence a year before adopting our girl, so I worried that would be a turn away for us. But everything went well, and she does well when I walk her on leash, so she doesn’t run after the deer, lol.

quote:

Originally posted by pace40:
Had a lot of rescues over the years.(breed specific Labradors) My last 2 came from breeders. When the shelters started making me sign a form stating they had unlimited, unannounced access to my property, I stopped adopting.

You've got to be kidding. I know someone who rescued a Doberman and they inspected his home, property and interogated him.

I don't know what to say

quote:

When the shelters started making me sign a form stating they had unlimited, unannounced access to my property,

Yeah, I wouldn't put up with that either. Thankfully our county shelter isn't like that.

We went to look for a playmate for our Luna (bulldog & boston terrier mix), but the dollar store Caesar Milan ruined the entire experience for us. We wound up walking out.
I went back the next day and told the woman about our experience. The guy would walk the dog out and not allow us to interact with him. It was completely foolish behavior by the employee.

And we had adopted Luna from the same county pound a year earlier.

They never asked about stuff when we got Luna-but we had brought the other dog with us and explained what we wanted.

Try elsewhere

Don't let any games prevent anyone from taking in any critter what needs to be taken in.

For you, for the critter, or for the universe.

"Kid and starfish on the beach."


We can only do what we are able to do.
Do that.
And be blessed for doing what you can.


This world is full of hate.
Do not play into the "game of hate".
Listen to that still/small voice in your heart, and never look back into the darkness of the abyss you leave behind.


Children, Critters, and people who are broken, but not of their own doing- never, ever, give up on them.
Even if it seems to cost you.

But, do not sacrifice more than is required, unless you know, without question the sacrifice is worthy.

If it is, you will know...


From the smallest/most insignificant, to the greatest noble, all are worthy, or none are worthy.

Yeah, shelters and rescue organizations have gotten crazy. We adopted a kitten from a county shelter and had to sign a document saying we wouldn’t let the cat outside ever. Needless to say, as soon as we had the little guy in the car with us, I mocked that form by saying “didn’t cats evolve outside”? He later hung out almost all the time in our lanai when he wasn’t laying on us. We tried to adopt a Lab from a rescue organization, but we didn’t have a pool or a high enough fence! Like Labs can jump higher than the back seat of a truck. And we were looking for an adult dog to hang out with our old (10+ years) Lab, not some cute puppy. So we eventually got a puppy from a reputable breeder after over a year of dealing with rescue organizations.

Hang in there, rescues need you and you need a rescue.

Same here, shelter weirdness and grilling.

There is a bunch of rescue type services in the online world. Also many Vet offices have a board with rehoming pet information.

I haven’t been to the closest shelter in many years, yes a lot of pit mixes they labeled Lab mix.

We tried adopting a cockatoo from the local rescue and it was so difficult, I went and found someone who was going to surrender him and just paid them the $500.

THEN we went to one of the rescue's fund drives to show Pippin off to them. They are overwhelmed with birds and extremely under funded.

If you want a specific breed look at breed specific rescues. I work with two of them doing transports. Some do a really good job of vetting and matching dogs to families and then getting them there. I can recommend Echo dogs with no reservations, if you’re looking for a white German Shepard they also have some mixes. I also do yea sports for MADS but Malinois and Dutch Shepard’s aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. They do ok at screening dogs.

Breeders are another great source my wife’s Therapy dog that works in her office was a breeder return at 4 years old. He is a well bred an very stable dog!

https://www.echodogs.org


https://www.madrescueinc.org/

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
We tried adopting a cockatoo from the local rescue and it was so difficult, I went and found someone who was going to surrender him and just paid them the $500.

THEN we went to one of the rescue's fund drives to show Pippin off to them. They are overwhelmed with birds and extremely under funded.

My Sister owns a Kennel in North Georgia and recently had an adoption event. 6 birds I believe. Congo and Timneh African Grays looking for a loving, forever home.