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We lost not one, but both of our Jack Russells this year. 13yo and 16yo. They left a gaping void in our lives and I am now somewhat comfortable browsing rescues. Running into challenges however. I'd like a younger or even a puppy, mainly because I cannot stomach the thought of growing attached to a senior and going through the heart wrenching end of life ordeal within a (relatively) short span. Also want to keep it to a medium to small pupper, as while we have a large fenced yard, it gets brutally cold here, we have a limit on size our existing doggy door can handle. The issue I am running into is the agencies themselves. Each one has a form to fill out, and each one takes their good old time responding to applications and inquiries. I spend a good deal of time on a couple search sites (like adoptapet.com), and am willing to drive a few hundreds of miles to obtain the doggo. The frustrating part is while I am sending so much personal information out to the agencies, by the time they get around to responding, the doggo is gone. The holdup as I see it, is the applications and review of them. (not counting the slow as molasses inquiry responses) In a perfect world, there would be a standard database with one universal application, where agencies could immediately have a list of "cleared" candidates, getting animals moved out of the foster/rescue/adoption black hole smoothly and timely. Has anyone else had similar thoughts about the system? I understand that a lot of the folks in these organizations are volunteers, but it is getting really disheartening. edit: and don't even get me started about how heartbreaking it is to see so many pits/mastiffs and such on the rescue sites because of irresponsible boneheads. Hasselblad fucked around with this message at 20:14 on Oct 22, 2020 |
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Oct 22, 2020 20:04
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A lot of places are absolutely swamped with applications since covid in addition to having limited volunteers so I’m not surprised it’s been such a hassle. It might be more productive for you to find a rescue organization you really like, go through the application process and then tell them what exactly you’re looking for. They can keep that in mind as they get in new dogs and could potentially mean getting first dibs before they even get posted on petfinder or whatever. You also could look into people looking to privately rehome their dogs for a reasonable adoption fee on places like Craigslist or your local pet rehoming fb page. You wouldn’t be supporting a rescue directly and you’d have to do all the evaluation and vetting yourself but you could be keeping a dog from needing to enter the shelter system.
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Oct 22, 2020 21:51
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Instant Jellyfish posted:A lot of places are absolutely swamped with applications since covid in addition to having limited volunteers so I’m not surprised it’s been such a hassle. Yar, the welfare of the puppers is paramount to me. Just a little frustrated (no doubt residual grief is not helping). It is just so unhelpful that each and every organization is separate application/database-wise. A national application/database with prescreened potential adopters would be SO much better, especially for the animals. While I am venting, there are actually organizations that are charging over $800 to adopt. I get that many fees include neutering, chip and shots and such, but really? Upwards of a grand to adopt a rescue pupper? edit: Ugh, yet another doggo I inquired about and filled out an application for yesterday was scooped up at a public event today. Hasselblad fucked around with this message at 22:38 on Oct 22, 2020 |
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Oct 22, 2020 22:25
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3rd response today, same result in all cases. "We received your application, but that pup has been adopted". I am beginning to suspect the organizations simply post puppy pictures which generate applications and views of their other dogs, and then claim the one you showed interest in was magically adopted the same day. The 3rd one tried to get me to adopt a pit bull mix after I showed interest in a small breed puppy. 
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Oct 23, 2020 00:40
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I feel this post, pretty hardcore. We had guinea pigs for the past several years as my wife has never been a dog person before, but she's come around on them now. Our last guinea pig passed away in September and we've been looking for pooches ever since, and it's been impossible to get anywhere with the search. We've put in a bunch of applications, including one where I applied within 10 minutes of the dog being posted, and no dice yet. It's becoming really difficult to keep my spirits up. I don't trust any of the breeders near me, I've looked at their websites and they all give off...vibes. Worst part is, we're looking for younger dogs like you, but also hypoallergenic breeds, so that's an even smaller pool of potential pups. Good luck, hopefully it'll get easier here but for now I'm in the same boat. I hope you were able to find something in the past month!
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Nov 24, 2020 16:27
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Due to incredible demand for dogs, you basically don't have a chance at an adoption right now unless you get A) Pre-approved and B) Have a system set up that lets you complete applications for individual dogs within 5 minutes of them going online. To give you a reference of what you're competing against, one shelter that we had already been approved for told us they received over 400 applications for one litter. Have faith though, a lot of places don't even post puppies up for general adoption, they only show them to people who have been pre-approved, so there's more out there than you're even seeing. I didn't start getting call-backs for dogs until I had compiled a word document of the answers to all the common questions on dog applications, so that when a dog appeared up for adoption I could just slam-copy-paste all the answers, my personal info, references, ect. Once I got it down to a point where I could get an application completed in ~2 minutes I began pretty obsessively refreshing all the relevant shelter websites/puppyfinder/my e-mail. If I saw a dog that had been available online for more than 5 minutes I didn't even bother. Once I had this system in place I started getting callbacks immediately, so it was pretty effective. At the time it felt obsessive, but honestly it felt like I was shouting into the void before I set it up and well, now I have a dope dog. Fart Car '97 fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Nov 25, 2020 |
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Nov 25, 2020 20:18
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Don't know where you are located, but the rescue I foster with has a policy that your application is good for a year. Maybe look for a rescue with a similar policy? Before Covid they would have bi-monthly events at petsmart and a lot of adoptions happened there with our per-approved apps. Before I was a foster we adopted our dog from them..loved the rescue so much we decided to foster. Now we do all the cats/kittens they get lol. Don't give up! Your dog is out there. But yeah, we dealt with a lot of clunker rescues before we discovered the one I foster with now and your frustration is real.
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Nov 27, 2020 00:58
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Just buy a dog
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Nov 27, 2020 10:28
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Kiss Kiss Bang Bang posted:Don't know where you are located, but the rescue I foster with has a policy that your application is good for a year. Maybe look for a rescue with a similar policy? Before Covid they would have bi-monthly events at petsmart and a lot of adoptions happened there with our per-approved apps. I have filled out no less than 10 applications at this point. Basically tossing personal information of not only us but also our references to organizations that IF they even respond weeks later, it is a canned "we do not do out of state adoptions". At this point I am completely disgusted by the organizations across the board.
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Dec 16, 2020 05:36
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Lager posted:I feel this post, pretty hardcore. We had guinea pigs for the past several years as my wife has never been a dog person before, but she's come around on them now. Our last guinea pig passed away in September and we've been looking for pooches ever since, and it's been impossible to get anywhere with the search. We've put in a bunch of applications, including one where I applied within 10 minutes of the dog being posted, and no dice yet. It's becoming really difficult to keep my spirits up. I don't trust any of the breeders near me, I've looked at their websites and they all give off...vibes. Worst part is, we're looking for younger dogs like you, but also hypoallergenic breeds, so that's an even smaller pool of potential pups. Sadly I wasn't. One of the most promising was a pup about 50 miles from us, a private owner giving the jack russell up for adoption because of a (human) pregnancy. I jumped on it immediately, explained that we had multiple JRTs from puppy to old age to the end, that we have a large home, a dog door to a wooded half acre with fence, and both work from home. NOT EVEN A loving RESPONSE
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Dec 16, 2020 05:39
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I think you're seriously underestimating A) How many people are trying to adopt animals right now due to covid and being stuck at home and B) how hard covid has affected shelters' ability to operate. There's nothing malicious about it, there's just a shitload of people trying to get pets and the people who are responsible for finding those pets homes are operating at a significantly reduced capacity. They just don't have the time to talk to anyone that they aren't giving a pet to. What area are you in?
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Dec 16, 2020 06:21
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Fart Car '97 posted:I think you're seriously underestimating A) How many people are trying to adopt animals right now due to covid and being stuck at home and B) how hard covid has affected shelters' ability to operate. There's nothing malicious about it, there's just a shitload of people trying to get pets and the people who are responsible for finding those pets homes are operating at a significantly reduced capacity. They just don't have the time to talk to anyone that they aren't giving a pet to. Mountains of Utah. Easy drive to Denver area, yet the ones from there that got around to responding said no to out of state adoptions.
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Dec 16, 2020 16:51
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Are you searching salt lake? Yeah it's a drive but in all likelihood you're going to take the first dog you actually get a chance to visit with because most shelters aren't bothering with in-persons until you're at the stage where you've already been approved.
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Dec 16, 2020 22:42
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Fart Car '97 posted:Are you searching salt lake? Yeah it's a drive but in all likelihood you're going to take the first dog you actually get a chance to visit with because most shelters aren't bothering with in-persons until you're at the stage where you've already been approved. Been searching repeatedly in a 500 mile radius of our home, listed from nearest to furthest. It is frustrating that AKC breeders will sell CONUS, but adoption organizations (some) refuse to adopt out of state, regardless of references or living conditions. There is a specific pupper that has been used in one organizations "donate to us" ads for months now, and though it is still listed as available, nobody seems to be able to get the organization to actually transfer him to a forever home. Hasselblad fucked around with this message at 23:44 on Dec 16, 2020 |
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Dec 16, 2020 23:41
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OP it seems like rescues in your area are doing pretty well so maybe you can shift to contacting good breeders in good conscience. Rescue is great but supporting good breeders of a breed you like is good too! No one can say you haven't tried and you can always donate to rescues if it makes you feel less guilty. It sounds like filling out a million rescue applications is making you insane so at least filling out a breeder's application would be a change of pace! You'll probably still have some that ghost you because dog breeders are bad at the internet as a rule and there will probably still be a wait (my breeder had an older puppy available when I contacted her but that isn't the norm) but at least you would know that you would be on waiting list and there will be a puppy that fits your needs eventually. If you don't want a puppy breeders sometimes have dogs that have been returned or are looking for pet homes either after breeding or washing out of a breeding program. I have dogs from both places and they're all good dogs.
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Dec 16, 2020 23:55
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Instant Jellyfish posted:OP it seems like rescues in your area are doing pretty well so maybe you can shift to contacting good breeders in good conscience. See here's the thing. I would LOVE to purchase another JRT. In fact I had a breeder ready to give me pick of a spring litter, for $2000 (the parents won tons of rewards) but my wife for some reason doesn't want another "pure bred" from a breeder (she's weird). The JRTs we lost earlier this year to age related illnesses were champion bred Parson Russells, and I REALLY want to get one again. The personalities and intelligence were amazing. All that said, I felt that a rescue would help on the karma side of things, and heal my heart a bit after losing our fur kids. All in all, maybe this is the dog god's way of letting me know I am not ready yet. Hasselblad fucked around with this message at 00:09 on Dec 17, 2020 |
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Dec 17, 2020 00:05
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 and get a puppyjk, good luck on your quest OP! In my experience, the right dog shows up when you need it.
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Dec 17, 2020 00:11
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We had a great experience with our local county’s shelter. It was clear that they wanted to make sure that they placed the right animal with the right family, and they were very helpful in the entire process. Since the poor boy had been cooped up since November at the shelter, he was super high energy at the meet and greets. My wife took our daughter to meet him last weekend, then they wanted us to bring our almost 4yo twin boys to meet him once we decided to put in the application. Thankfully it went exceptionally well. One boy kept laughing and saying “I love him!!,” and the other was more timid but wasn’t terrified either for a dog that is as tall as he is. That was the calmest they had ever seen Pongo at a meet and greet after his initial excitement, so I think he knew he had found a good thing. Barely 24 hours later and it’s like he’s always been part of the family...though Pepper is still pissed. She’ll get over it! 
devmd01 fucked around with this message at 17:13 on Mar 11, 2021 |
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Mar 11, 2021 17:10
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Necroing this thread to say that I could have basically written OP's post today, eight months later. We lost our beloved 17.5-year-old mix, Stanzie, last Sunday after several years of slow decline and one week of extremely fast decline. I know at some point I'll stop glancing at where her bed was to make sure she's still okay. We want to honor her memory, in a way, by putting our love and care toward a new dog. Stanzie was rescued at 8 weeks from a local county shelter, and we found her on Petfinder. I've been looking around there and on Adoptapet (though they seem to have the same "inventory," by and large), but just like in October 2020, the puppies/youngsters go way too quickly. I wrote up a whole letter of introduction as requested by one organization and sent it within minutes of the posting going up, but never even heard back before the dog was marked "Pending Adoption" and then vanished from the site. Which is good! But frustrating. I've even expanded my scope beyond a 100-mile radius where possible, but still nothing. (And the dogs with Stanzie's markings just make me tear up.) I tried Craigslist, but so far all I've found are middle-aged/older dogs "free to a good home," complete with all their toys and leashes and bedding and food, and that just makes me even more upset. My heart breaks for that family. Our hurt is still too new to consider an older dog, and while we're open to some special needs (like deafness), the selfish part of us would like to start with a healthy companion, since Stanzie needed so much special attention and care for so long toward the end of her life. We're ready for a break/a different challenge. Where else can I look? I've asked my friends and parents to keep their eyes and ears open for potential adoptees, maybe posted on that very local neighborhood site (whose name I forget). Back in the day, you could take out a classified ad if your dog had a litter and you had puppies to spare. I half-expected SA to have a place, whether in PI or SA-Mart, for goons to post about pets available to adopt. Geography would be an issue, but not an insurmountable one. Meanwhile, I'll keep looking!
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Jun 6, 2021 15:16
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If there's a nearby shelter, do they have volunteer opportunities or a foster program? I started volunteering at my local shelter a while back, and last year, got approved to be a foster. I've never had a dog, so i figured this was a way to get used to having one, and a way to get in the door for adopting one. On my third foster so far. Haven't had any I wanted to adopt, but hoping. Dog ownership in the area is so high that the shelter is actually bringing in dogs from other shelters; there's a steady stream of new dogs passing through. There's 3 unofficial categories of shelter dog: category 1 (cute, well-behaved; gone in a week), category 2 (some behavioral/medical issues, usually gone in a month), and category 3 (significant behavioral and/or medical issues, usually there for several months-several years).
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Jun 10, 2021 10:22
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Well, one problem is that there aren't a lot of puppies available, period, so fostering instead of/as a means toward adopting isn't really relevant. Another problem is that the dogs I have seen "fosters needed" postings for are generally the kinds of dogs we wouldn't want, whether for a few weeks/months or a lifetime. If I'm not interested in adopting a pit bull, I'm sure as hell not going to foster one. Luckily, I looked extra closely at Puppyfinder.com, which is almost all breeders (and thus very expensive). A breeder's Lab ("an angel") was meant to be bred with a beautiful chocolate Lab, but apparently had "a secret love affair" (the breeder's words) with the Aussie/blue heeler mix down the street and whoops, what the hell kind of puppies are these? A glorious mix of pups, that's what. And at a more reasonable price since they're not purebred. The hardest thing is waiting: I put down a deposit on Thursday and have to wait till next Thursday to get her, when she's officially eight weeks old and ready to leave. She's a 3.5-hour drive across the state; that'll be a fun ride home. It's kind of strange to not really be able to sit down with a bunch of puppies (or even one) and choose the one who suits you best--this is more like taking your Tinder match directly to the wedding chapel for your first date. And even though the breeder was extremely pleasant in her texts, I didn't get the same third degree that I got from the rescue places: where would this dog sleep? What would I do with her when I went on vacation? Or if I moved? Etc. As far as she knows, I'm taking this dog home to feed to my piranhas. On the other hand, I couldn't shake the feeling that more than one potential adoption slipped through my fingers in the time it took me to fill out those long-rear end rescue applications. (And I never did hear back from the one I sent in last Sunday. That pup is still listed as available, too!) In any case, Josie is ours, and we can't wait to meet her. 
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Jun 14, 2021 17:59
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