# I pit overzealous pet shelter rules **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 18, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130 "2011-01-18T22:10:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130/41 "2011-01-19T01:57:29Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Honestly if you get a dog from a reputable breeder the breeder will give you the third degree and make a decision if you are a worthwhile owner of one of their dogs. Any breeder who doesn’t should be regarded with suspicion. > > Pet stores just want your money. They could not care less who you are or where the dog is from or anything. Plop your money down and take the dog. Frankly you are asking for a bad result there. Puppy mill dogs tend to be highly inbred and can end up with all sorts of issues from medical to behavioral problems. Bingo. It’s frankly immoral that any idiot can buy a living thing for cash, without some form of determining if he or she can provide for the animal adequately. It’s immoral on the part of the seller and either immoral or shockingly ignorant on the part of the buyer, or both. To the OP: Did you just post this on other dog-related boards? I ask because a highly similar rant was _just_ posted on one of my dog boards and, of course, it immediately drew heavy fire. It’s not clear whether you’re confusing a private rescue operation with a publicly-funded shelter typically run by Animal Control or contracted out to a humane society, but the two tend to have different operating philosophies. Just for starters, if you think $200 is a lot to pay for a dog, it shows how unprepared you are. A breeder will charge a lot more than that – even a pet store will charge a lot more, for puppy mill output with serious health problems, without batting an eyelash. I’m talking $1500 around here for puppies without pedigrees and with visible eye infections. Medical care for your prospective dog will cost more than that, and the law requires you to provide it, here in the US, anyway. A $200 adoption fee serves partly to weed out anyone who can’t afford to spend what a dog will require or is wrongheaded enough to think that costs too much for “just an animal.” Some other bullet points: Puppy mills were commercially viable long before private rescues became prevalent, and were making money before I ever heard of home visits. Petland, which you specifically mention as a source of cheap puppies, is known to buy puppy-milled puppies (the one around here uses the infamous Hunte corporation to ship them in bulk tractor-trailer loads from the Missouri and Pennsylvania mills) and has been protested for years for exactly that practice. The local one here has been convicted – on two separate occasions – of failure to provide adequate care. They still charge much more than $200 for the puppies, and they’re getting them dirt-cheap under conditions that do not stand up to public scrutiny. That’s why the truck arrives in the wee hours of the morning, when no one will see. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130/42 "2011-01-19T02:01:44Z")
> [@Long\_Time\_First\_Time](#): > > It’s also beyond me how any rational person can be told that someone plans to occasionally put their dog on a chain and hear that they will probably have the animal rot outdoors for years as a too-small collar eats through his neck. Possibly because situation #2 is startlingly common, and, without fail, everyone _planning_ to put the dog in situation #2 _claims_ they’re going to put the dog in situation #1. So when shelter/rescue people hear “situation #1” they tend to suspect it’s really going to be “situation#2.” ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130/43 "2011-01-19T02:16:37Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Possibly because situation #2 is startlingly common, and, without fail, everyone _planning_ to put the dog in situation #2 _claims_ they’re going to put the dog in situation #1. So when shelter/rescue people hear “situation #1” they tend to suspect it’s really going to be “situation#2.” And what’s wrong with situation #2 again? ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130/44 "2011-01-19T02:59:44Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > I hope I’m not the only one who ‘rescues’ pets this way, but what about a Lot Puppy? You know, those people who give away free pets out of the back of a truck in some parking lot somewhere. No hoops to jump at all and the pet will probably end up in a shelter if they can’t get rid of them fast enough. My best dog ever came from one of those and I’d not hesitate to do the same thing again. Yeah, that doesn’t happen around here so much. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130/45 "2011-01-19T03:10:30Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > I want to point out, again, that the groups that have the most strict and noisiest and bothersome rules and guidelines about where to place the pets, _are the ones which are no-kill_, the ones where the dog/cat runs no risk of being gassed. They’re selective everywhere, they selected the animal, they provide a temporary higher standard of living than the local will-kill shelter, and they expect slightly more from the people going there than those at the county-run, animal-control shelter. Yeah, thats the thing. You go to the county pound and very few of the older dogs are very friendly and there are no puppies. The guys at the pound gave me a list of shelters that regularly stop by and pick up the dogs that are immediately adoptable but have run out of time or the dogs that need some rehabilitation. I went to a few of them and the shelters that were well run where the dogs seemed happy had these sort of requirements. You can apply to be a foster home for dogs to reduce the facility strain on the shelter but you probably need to be beatified to get that gig. BTW the ASPCA around here charges $325 to adopt a dog, once again money isn’t the issue but wtf? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130/46 "2011-01-19T03:18:59Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Yeah, thats the thing. > > You go to the county pound and very few of the older dogs are very friendly and there are no puppies. The guys at the pound gave me a list of shelters that regularly stop by and pick up the dogs that are immediately adoptable but have run out of time or the dogs that need some rehabilitation. I went to a few of them and the shelters that were well run where the dogs seemed happy had these sort of requirements. > > You can apply to be a foster home for dogs to reduce the facility strain on the shelter but you probably need to be beatified to get that gig. > > BTW the ASPCA around here charges $325 to adopt a dog, once again money isn’t the issue but wtf? This surprises me a lot. Different areas of the country and all, but for my area, adoption prices have been going down lately, not up. Have you checked out petfinder? They’re a phenomenally good website, and they can expand your search significantly. The other possibility is that this is a less-than-ideal time of year to be looking for a puppy. Check back in May. Oh, and **Karl** , the “Interesting” was for the division into no-kill humane society shelters and “kill” public shelters. We were a humane society “kill” shelter. (We preferred the terms “open access” for places like us that take every animal, and “limited access” shelters for places that turn animals away when they’re full or when the animal doesn’t meet their criteria). ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130/47 "2011-01-19T03:23:33Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Not being able to meet the dog’s minimum requirements could be deemed tortuous to the dog. Fido may be better off being gassed. > [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > Is it really your contention that putting a dog into a household with less-than-perfect conditions is tortuous and worse than death? It would only be [tortuous](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tortuous) if you had a hedge maze in your backyard. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130/48 "2011-01-19T03:23:37Z")
I hear you, OP. I gave up on our local Humane Society after they gave us (me and the 3 kids) a VERY hard time because my husband was not present when we picked out our cat. Unbelievable. I was pissed at that. The lady said she was “reluctant” to go ahead, but did against her better judgement. The kids were confused by this (as was I, but I was more ticked than confused). Luckily we picked an orange tabby and not a black cat, since this was October and ye gods, who knew what evil we would perpetrate on a black cat? Black cats were deemed un-adoptable in October. Simon lived for 5 years quite happily with us AND the scary “absent” husband. He died suddenly, cause unknown, but by god it wasn’t neglect or abuse. So, our next cat (obtained 6 months later) came from a different shelter. I was not about to put up with the Humane Society’s BS. They couldn’t have been nicer, plus our first vet visit was free! Natasha is a wonderful pet and I’ll go back to PAWS any time. Another Humane Society(downtown Chicago) told a friend (this was years ago, but still) who was a life-long cat lover and owner, that she had to adopt 2 cats because working and being single meant the cat would be alone too much. Huh? they would not let her adopt one. So, she went to a friend and got one of the friend’s older kittens. Then, a year later, she did adopt another cat–but not from the Humane Society. I support getting pets from shelters, but I agree that some go too far. No shelter has any way of knowing if the adopters will turn out abusive or not. I understand filling out basic info, if for nothing else so it can track how many adoptions are made by one person, but other than that–enough. Yes, abuse happens and it’s horrid, but most potential pet owners are not future abusers. Then again, some pet owners think we’re abusive of our cat because we only have one cat. Poor Natasha–no feline companion. How does she bear it? Oh, yeah–she does just fine. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130/49 "2011-01-19T03:27:00Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > dipshit, we’re not talking about mistreatment. we’re talking about getting _really_ fucking nosy into an adopter’s bidness with questions which have nothing to do with propensity for abuse. you respond claiming that not asking those questions, thus not making sure that the dog’s minimum requirements are met, such as keeping lassie in an apartment, is tantamount torture and then suggested that the dog is better off dead. You just cannot buy a clue can you? You keep ascribing to me things I did not say. If you want to go to Petland and drop $800+ for a dog so people don’t all get up in your “bidness” knock yourself out. You deserve what you get. If you go to the local no-kill shelter you agree to answer their questions if you want a dog. No one is forcing you though but you have no right to demand they hand over a dog without answering their questions to their satisfaction. You don’t even have room to get bitchy about it. So suck it up buttercup. That’s how it works whether you like it or not. Given how well you manage to thoroughly fail to track the conversation in this thread I suppose you’d have no chance of tracking the questions being asked of you at a shelter. Must be frustrating to be you. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130/50 "2011-01-19T04:16:52Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Another Humane Society(downtown Chicago) told a friend (this was years ago, but still) who was a life-long cat lover and owner, that she had to adopt 2 cats because working and being single meant the cat would be alone too much. Huh? they would not let her adopt one. The Human Society was likely afraid that a single cat would develop separation anxiety; could be that she was interested in one that had already bonded with another. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130/51 "2011-01-19T04:25:29Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > You just cannot buy a clue can you? You keep ascribing to me things I did not say. yes, you did. sorry that you realized that you made an asinine comment, and are now so very evidently desperate to retract it without coming off like a total asshat. i’m sorry… because you failed at your endeavors. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130/52 "2011-01-19T04:29:06Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > To the OP: Did you just post this on other dog-related boards? I ask because a highly similar rant was _just_ posted on one of my dog boards and, of course, it immediately drew heavy fire. Nope, just encountered this attitude over the weekend. I had always gotten my dogs from friends and neighbors. > [@](#): > > Just for starters, if you think $200 is a lot to pay for a dog, it shows how unprepared you are. A breeder will charge a lot more than that – even a pet store will charge a lot more, for puppy mill output with serious health problems, without batting an eyelash. I’m talking $1500 around here for puppies without pedigrees and with visible eye infections. I don’t know how many times I’ve said money wasn’t the issue. If I haven’t made that clear by now then you may be hearing what you want to hear. > [@](#): > > Puppy mills were commercially viable long before private rescues became prevalent, and were making money before I ever heard of home visits. Yeah, but in a day and age when people are more socially conscious about adopting dogs rather than getting that cute little purebreed puppy, I don’t think they would be viable if the adoption process was limited to an application and a contract that said you can visit my home to check up on the dog. These shelters are driving people to places like Petland and we end up with people who buy puppies for their kids the same way they buy roller blades and when the amusement value has worn off, they drop the 2 or 3 year old dog off at a shelter, then the shelter makes it so hard for someone to adopt that dog that they go and buy a puppy at Petland…rinse and repeat. I understand the that their heart is in the right place but they aren’t placing as many dogs in good homes as they could. I have no idea what the real numbers are like but if you could place 100 dogs a month and have a 5% return rate and a 1% abuse rate and 900 euthanizations or you could place 1000 dogs a month and have a 10% return rate and a 2% abuse rate and NO euthanizations, which would you go for? And as one of the posters have previously stated, a lot of the requirements aren’t about weeding out dog abusers or matching dog temperament to my home environment. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130/53 "2011-01-19T04:29:53Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > And what’s wrong with situation #2 again? What’s wrong with leaving a dog outdoors for years while a too-small collar eats through its neck? Seriously? ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130/54 "2011-01-19T04:31:36Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > yes, you did. sorry that you realized that you made an asinine comment\*, and are now so very evidently desperate to retract it without coming off like a total asshat. i’m sorry… because you failed at your endeavors. \*which, for the record, I will reproduce here yet again. Here it is. The first words in the relevant post. > [@](#): > > Not being able to meet the dog’s minimum requirements could be deemed tortuous to the dog. Fido may be better off being gassed. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130/55 "2011-01-19T04:33:26Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > What’s wrong with leaving a dog outdoors for years while a too-small collar eats through its neck? Seriously? Lol. could you have more aptly demonstrated **Long Time First Time** ’s post had you actually intended to? I really doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130/56 "2011-01-19T04:34:15Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > The other possibility is that this is a less-than-ideal time of year to be looking for a puppy. Check back in May. I’m looking for a dog that is older, housebroken and good with kids. I don’t want to benefit from someone else’s misfortune exactly but ideally it will be a dog from a family that is letting the dog go because they are having trouble affording the dog and their kids have largely outgrown the dog. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130/57 "2011-01-19T04:42:41Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > What’s wrong with leaving a dog outdoors for years while a too-small collar eats through its neck? Seriously? unless you’re referring to situation #2 as in the plan to put outside on a chain, instead of what I interpreted situation #2 to be - “A life worth living” ? In that case, I apologize for the confusion. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130/58 "2011-01-19T04:44:37Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > I’m looking for a dog that is older, housebroken and good with kids. I don’t want to benefit from someone else’s misfortune exactly but ideally it will be a dog from a family that is letting the dog go because they are having trouble affording the dog and their kids have largely outgrown the dog. Would you consider [taking in an animal while the owner is on active duty overseas](https://www.netpets.org/netp/foster.php)? ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130/59 "2011-01-19T05:07:00Z")
I don’t even understand why anyone pays for a dog or cat in the first place. Each week there are scores of advertisements in my city, at work, even at the supermarket, for “free kittens”, “free puppies”…sure they need vet checking, inoculations, fixing, etc., but then so does the $$$$ dog from the breeder’s too (or else the breeder throws that on the price with a 25% markup.) Are there not millions of fine, needy animals being sent to the gas chambers every year? I just checked Google, and it looks like that’s still the case. Hm. So when did the options narrow down to nothing else but “allow someone to ask you nosy and oppressive questions and to inspect your house, or pay $800 at Petland?” Or $1,500+ to a breeder? I’ve never paid a cent for any cat I’ve raised, not one cent (other than the shots and fixing, etc., let’s not be pedantic here). They’ve all lived long, happy, healthy lives, in loving homes where their greatest danger is getting too fat. I just checked right now, and there’s like 20 cats and dogs “free to good home” on my company’s electronic want-ad space. But I guess they must all be diseased, lice-ridden, and/or beaten like rented mules, since they didn’t come from a shelter, chain-store, or breeder. Right. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130/60 "2011-01-19T05:11:28Z")
> [@Damuri Ajashi](#): > > These shelters are driving people to places like Petland and we end up with people who buy puppies for their kids the same way they buy roller blades and when the amusement value has worn off, they drop the 2 or 3 year old dog off at a shelter […] :eek: Um, isn’t that kind of an argument in **favor** of the “overzealous” shelter rules there? Seems to me that if people who buy a pet because they got fed up with the red tape of the adoption process end up abandoning their pet once the “amusement value has worn off”, then the shelter was indeed justified in screening them out. Screening out potential puppy-dumpers is what the adoption process is **supposed** to accomplish. Yeah, I agree that the adoption process can be a pain in the neck, but you’re not offering a very persuasive argument here for making it less rigorous. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-overzealous-pet-shelter-rules/568130.md?page=4)