My husband and I would like to adopt a dog. We’ve been looking off-and-on over the last several months for a dog that is fairly young (less than 3 years old), less than 40-45 lbs and not insanely expensive. We considered a couple of different purebreeds but quite frankly we are a bit put off by the concept of paying $1800 or more for a dog bred to have unpleasant genetic defects simply to improve their cuteness. Our requirement list is as follows:
Must be fairly young
Must be fairly small
Must be able to live in a house with cats and (potential) children
Must not be insanely expensive
Must not have significant health problems before adoption
We must be able to meet the dog and interact with it before we pay for it and take it home with us
Numbers 5 and 6 seem to be where we are getting tripped up. There are lots of dogs at the ASPCA we can go play with and get to know before bringing them home but if they meet our first 3 requirements they have some crazy heart problem that requires a lifetime if medication. There are lots of dogs that meet our first 5 requirements but are located in Ohio or North Carolina and we would be paying to have the pup shipped to us without ever seeing more than a picture. All the local shelters have been unresponsive to my requests to come and meet their dogs to see if we can find one to join our family. They want us to fill out applications and adopt dogs, sight unseen, over the internet.
We don’t want to buy a puppy from the pet store because we don’t want to support puppy mills of any kind but we are finding ourselves in a odd position. We appear to be forced to either adopt a sick or elderly dog, purchase a young, purebred dog or just not adopt a dog at all. Is there really nowhere in NYC to adopt a fairly healthy young dog?
Is it possible that the shelters want you to fill out an application first, so that they know you meet their requirements for the dog, before letting someone come down, only to find out that they don’t qualify? Of course they could simply say that, instead of not responding at all, but a lot of small shelters house the dogs in foster homes, and don’t have a lot of staff to set up meetings that are guaranteed to go nowhere. I can’t see a good shelter having a set up that let people take a dog that they adopted without meeting it first.
My husband and I wanted a companion dog for our maltese-poodle mix and put ourselves on the waiting list at our local Humane Society branch for specific breeds/mixes. They called us when they found a small stray maltese…Arabella has lived with us for 7 years (and is an ANGEL). No health problems other than the norm…although I will say that if you are looking to NOT have expenses involved with pet ownership, you might want to reconsider. Due to a minor scrape last month involving an eye-injury and an absess tooth, my husband and I spent over $4K on vet bills for two of our dogs (including a three hour drive each way to get the dog to an eye specialist).
I can’t point you at exactly where to go in NYC but I’m sure it works the same there as here: become a foster family for a breed rescue. It’s the perfect way to find the perfect dog. Do some research on breeds, figure out what breed you think will suit, then find the breed rescue organizations in your area and apply to be a foster family.
You can specify what kind of dogs you can’t foster (i.e., no dogs that are cat-aggressive). You take in dogs to be adopted out to other families and in the process you get a chance to meet and live with the dogs, getting a good sense of what the dog’s personality and temperament are. If you fall in love, as a foster family you are #1 in line for adoption.
It’s an excellent way not only to find a dog you really like, but to find out what issues you may be facing in being a dog owner.
Also, you are doing a mitzvah.
One of the big reasons I think this is very best way to get a new dog is because it’s almost impossible to get an accurate idea of what a dog is really like when you get it from a shelter or a rescue that has kept it kenneled. If you take this route you will generally find that the dog that walks in the door on Day One isn’t really the dog you are living with a week later, and that can be good or bad, but either way it’s a more accurate picture. Dogs in transition are insecure and will usually demonstrate some kind of extremes of behavior that aren’t really normal for the dog when she is settled in a secure home.
Also: Don’t necessarily reject big dogs if your reasoning is that you think they need more room and exercise! This is one of the biggest and sometimes saddest mistakes people make…many big breeds are supremely content to lie around on the couch with you all day long while mid-size or small dogs require TONS of stimulation and exercise or they will drive you batshit. I’ll take a big, mellow Great Dane over a nutjob Border, Australian, Beagle, Terrier, etc.
We currently have 2 cats and are plenty familiar with pet expenses. We want to avoid pricey dogs that cost thousands of dollars just to get them home because even though we are happy to spend the money to keep our pets happy and healthy we don’t have unlimited funds and can’t justify a $2,000 purchase price for a dog that will still require another $2,000 in day to day expenses over the next year. We are happy to spend some money on a dog but we aren’t incredibly wealthy.
A couple of years ago my cat Joey developed a serious urinary blockage and I paid $3k for his vet expenses. It was totally worth every penny and I would do it again tomorrow if I needed to but I don’t want to start out a relationship with a pet that is really ill. I would be heartbroken if we brought a dog into our home only to have it die 9 months later due to a heart defect or seizure disorder or something. I know we can’t have a guarantee of any kind and that things happen to pets of all ages but I don’t want to go into an adoption with that kind of thing looming over our heads before we even put a collar on our pup.
As far as the size requirement goes that isn’t our personal requirement. We would be happy with any size dog but our landlord only allows dogs up to 40-45 lbs.
Are you by any chance in (or near) Illinois? I could put you in touch with my aunt. She’s the president of one of the states rescues. The handle more then just their one breed. All their dogs, while may have had problems are adopted out healthy (and fixed) and sane. Also, regarding 6. I don’t think that would be a problem for them, but I do know they would never put a dog in a house that they don’t think it would match with. For example, it doesn’t matter how much you love this dog and how much money you’ll give them, if you have cats and they know that this dog is cat aggressive, you’re not getting it.
This makes no sense. No reputable shelter sends animals to people who’ve never met the animal. Besides, it would mean they haven’t met YOU, either. Are you sure the applications aren’t just as a get-to-know-ya initial step? So you can tell them “we have cats and plan on kids in the future” and all that sort of thing?
Also, why are you requesting anything of them in the first place? Around here, shelters are open to the public 5-6 days a week. You come in, walk around, look at all the critters, etc. Are NY shelters closed to the public or something?
I absolutely agree with Stoid. Do some research and then work with the breed-specific rescue organization. Not all purebred dogs have weird genetic issues, especially if you avoid the very extremely modified breeds like the brachycephalics, and choose a breed with a more sensible standard.
If you aren’t particularly fussed about having a purebred dog, many of the rescues also place mixes of the breed in question.
Personally, I only have experience with basenji rescue (probably not a good breed for you, as very few are cat-tolerant!) but know that their biggest breed rescue, BRAT, works nationwide with a network of volunteer foster homes. Most purebred rescues work this way, which would definitely allow you to meet the dog beforehand.
My suggestions for breeds to look into - generally healthy breeds, of about the size and temperament you’d like - includes bichon frise, Havanese, Affenpinscher, maybe a smaller bull terrier or Staffordshire?
Around here there aren’t many shelters, there are mostly organizations that have foster dogs living with random people. You have to email them and fill out applications to do anything but each application is for one specific dog so if I wanted to see 6 dogs all listed with the same organization I have to fill out 6 applications and hope that one of the foster families might get back to me. Even then you don’t have any kind of guarantee that after all of that effort you will even get a response and then all of your personal information and copies of your lease and stuff have just been dumped into a void and you don’t know who has access to it.
I found what I thought was a shelter in CT (that is how it is listed on petfinder) that I emailed to ask if they had a listing of hours and an address where I could meet their puppies and they emailed me back saying that they don’t actually have a location in CT, that they are located in South Carolina and they would have to drive the puppies to CT where I could meet them. It would cost $275 per puppy to just meet and play with the dogs and an additional $250 to actually adopt one. :eek:
I had another lady who had dogs up for adoption outside of Petco and we met the dogs and decided we’d like to consider a puppy named Luna. The woman really talked her up, saying she was kind of stand-offish but really warmed up to people and was good with other animals, etc. When we came back after having purchased dog food and supplies we met another guy who wouldn’t let us take her because she was apparently pretty violent and didn’t get along with cats. So this other woman either had no idea what she was doing or lied to us just to get this dog out of their resuce organization.
So far at least 3 adoption groups have told me if I fill out an app and give them a payment upon delivery they will bring me the dog I have inquired about without question. I don’t trust that kind of thing at all and I don’t want to adopt a dog that immediately has to be returned because they can’t get along with cats so this isn’t an option for us.
I’ve found what looks to be a reputable shelter in NYC where they don’t want you to fill anything out until you are there meeting with their staff. They tell you to bring a copy of your lease and a photo ID and then once they’ve spoken to you then you get to meet the dogs. This seems like it will probably work out pretty well but I’m leery of the whole process now. We will go there this weekend and see what we find. Hopefully we will have a new fuzzy member of our family by Sunday!
I’ll be honest, I got jerked around by a lot of shelters in my area too (and out of my area, even to surrounding states), to the point where I just adopted a dog off Craigslist. I definitely experienced the treatment where they get you really interested and then, kapow, here’s a terrible behavior problem or chronic medical condition we ‘forgot’ to tell you about. I also found it common to claim a dog was a certain breed online, then you’d call, make an appointment to drive out of state, and the last possible minute they’d say, “well, we think it’s a mix of breed X, Y, and Z dogs. Maybe.” Or there’d be huge adoption fees, long application processes to even get permission to see a dog, “lost” paperwork, unpleasant people to deal with, or other hidden nasty surprises.
I’m sure there are good shelters out there. I got my cat from a shelter and it was a fine experience. But all in all I was left pretty exasperated with the whole experience. Breed-specific rescues were, in my experience, the worst of the bunch – with application processes, requirements, and post-adoption rules on the borderline psychopathic side, or the dogs listed in your area are actually being fostered 3 states away and you’d need to agree to adopt before they’ll meet you halfway.
In the end, after watching Craigslist for awhile, I found someone who bought a dog from a breeder and it wasn’t working out with her existing pets. This was actually significantly less expensive than going through a shelter, and I got a complete medical history and the breeder’s information, too.
I work with rescue and have worked in shelters in the past. The rescue I am with now, we don’t have a facility and the dogs are in foster homes. The only way you are going to get the chance to meet with one of our dogs is if you fill out an application. It doesn’t bind you to anything, it is just our pre-screening method of matching potential adopters to our dogs. We are not going to waste the time of our foster parents (or yours for that matter) meeting people who aren’t qualified to adopt from us or we feel are not compatible with the dogs we currently have. We rescuers are a finicky bunch and will make you jump through hoops. It lets us know you are dedicated to finding the right match as we are.
I had a family with fairly strict criteria (they had a special needs child) who filled out an application in September 2008. The dog they were initially interested in turned out to not be a good match for their family. I kept their application on file and told them to let me know if they found a dog elsewhere. In January, I got a call about a cocker mix who was dumped at a kill shelter. Fabulous dog. Perfect size, friendly, young and eager to please. I took the dog into foster care and I called the family. I gave them first look at the dog and they ended up adopting her.
Often times, I will have an applicant fill out an application for dog A when dog B is much better suited to their situation. There is only so much we can put on the website about the dog and some places put very little info on the web. Unless you give me information about your requirements, I can’t help you in picking out a good pet.
Have you tried the North Shore Animal League in Port Washington, on Long Island? I’ve never heard a negative about them before and they have an open-to-the-public shelter up there.
I found my mutt on Petfinder. I had to drive nearly 4 hours to meet him, and then wait a week and a half while he got neutered, but he is perfect. Absolutely the most wonderful dog ever.
I also third the suggestion of North Shore Animal League. The LIRR Port Washington line goes very close to the shelter if you’d like to go out there to check it out and don’t have a car. We got our current dog from them (a black lab) and he’s such an amazing dog.
You might also want to look into Broadway Barks. They have an event each July in Times Square where Broadway stars come together to help get people to adopt dogs. It looks like their actual location is in Brooklyn.
The shelter where I got my cat lets anyone walk around and look in the cages, but to actually take out a cat or dog and hold it they make you fill out an application. I assume this is so that they can screen you to make sure that you’d be a decent pet owner before you fall in love with an animal and then possibly get rejected. It could be that the places you’re finding with online applications are similar.
And really, the application didn’t ask anything ridiculous. It was mostly checking that I either owned a home or had a landlord that allowed pets, and that I would be willing to spend money on vet bills.
