well apparently you were ready to hook fido up to the exhaust pipe last night rather than let him lead such a life.
Huh?
Have you read this thread? Guessing not since you apparently missed the correction on the word I used incorrectly earlier and you just repeated in your last post.
I guess I’m not surprised. Your ability to read and parse what people are saying to you is clearly lacking. No surprise you missed that one too.
would an assholish [sic] have been enough for you to get it?
and… nope… can’t find an instance where you actually corrected yourself.
I suggest you take the course.
Putting a “[sic]” after the fact does not save you and fools no one.
And “corrected” myself? Where in my last post was I correcting myself? I was admitting to an earlier mistake that someone else corrected. I caught it, I applied the lesson, you utterly missed it.
Once again your ability to read is in question (as if we needed more examples :smack:).
where did you apply it?
“torturous” does not appear in this thread.
go gas some puppies and save them from torture or being twisted around, whatever floats your boat. it may make you feel a bit better, knowing that they’re being saved from a shitty life of only average existence.
(Pssst—he applied it five posts ago, where he jokingly interpreted your (sarcastic) re-use of “tortuous” in its literally correct sense of “having twists and turns”.)
We don’t have the luxury in this country to turn away potential homes for unwanted pets. The key word here is “unwanted.” If you find someone who wants him, IMO, you take your chances that he’ll find a better home than the shelter. Charging $200 and interrogating potential owners is not going to help the situation.
they’re better off dead. haven’t you been following along? 
[SIZE=“1”]ok. this thread has now run its course for me. Rumor exits - stage left. [/SIZE]
I’m glad that you both did the research. I love Weims, if you couldn’t tell from my screen name, but they ain’t for everybody. Whoever named them “an exercise machine with fur” wasn’t too far off. A 10 month old, male or female, presumably without any obedience training, is going to be a handful for anyone.
FWIW, my dog came from a Weim rescue group and the process couldn’t have gone smoother, unlike the nightmares Damuri and many of you have related. Filled out an app, they asked a few questions, and I had an interview at the foster house, but nothing too intrusive. Quick, easy, and as a result I’ve had a delightful pet for the last eight years. OTOH, it seems many rescue groups try to find the ideal home for each animal, rather than just a suitable home. It’s too bad, as that attitude doesn’t help place animals. The result is that foster family space fills up, needy animals can’t then find space in rescue, and end up being stuck in kill shelters.
If a hoarder lives in a place that only allows, say, 3 dogs per owner unless they are a registered breeder or shelter, they will do what they have to do to be called a shelter. Otherwise the zoning board would make them get rid of their animals pronto. But since they have no intention of letting any of their animals go, they’ll find any odd reason to refuse adoption in the off chance anyone finds them and tries to get an animal from them.
To flip your logic around, one could say that it would terrible to ever give an animal up to a No Kill shelter or in any way encourage or give money to No Kill shelters because they just might be a hoarder front.
That’s ridiculous, you may say, only a teeny tiny percent of the No Kill shelters are actually owned by hoarders. Very few NO Kill shelters keep hundred of animals in horrible conditions until they die of starvation or disease.
To which, I will answer, “I could show you pictures.”
Well, I just worked with the people, I didn’t make the decision. But yes, given the individuals involved - both human and canine - it was a good decision.
I’ve heard back through the rescue person that the new family is thrilled with the new addition, and she is rapidly turning into a wonderful pet.
I didn’t get that far - when I got the message that they expected me to guarantee in writing that I was going to be super-human for the next 15-20 years, I left. I suppose there wasn’t anything they could do, but I am leery of signing something that I’m not sure I can fulfill.
I don’t know about cat adoption, but there are many dog rescue organizations staffed by people without a clue about normal dog behavior, so I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that there are cat rescue people that think cats are just “little fur people”.
You are right, the poor pup we ended up adopting is currently being tortured snoozing on the couch probably wishing he were dead right now. After all, the poor thing is deprived of CONSTANT pets and walks. And we don’t let him eat table food! We are so mean…
Wow, do I feel ya. (Long post warning)
I’ve also been given the run around by uber-picky shelter groups. I’ve applied for adoptions many times, and only got through once, despite being what many would consider an ideal dog adopter - I have a large house, huge backyard that is half fenced to 4.5’ and 6’ for the other half. My wife only works part time, and often from home. We are firm believers in crate training, and have superb references from two different veterinarians (She had cats before we met, and I had a dog in my last marriage).
When we first got together, my wife really wanted a cocker spaniel - she has owned them in the past and they are by far her favorite breed, both for their temperment and size. They also happen to be HIGHLY sought after for adoption - all the rescue agencies that had cockers locally (and by locally, I mean within 150 miles of my house) were asking a minimum of $400 in placement fees, and often upwards of $800. I didn’t have a problem with the price - I figured, knowing how sought they are, that the rescue groups subsidize the less desirable breeds by adopting out the cockers at a premium (hell, one of the agencies outright admitted it).
So we applied for one we liked, and waited. And waited. And waited. We made follow up calls several weeks later, often to be told that they were swamped and still processing applications - again, understandable. We waited, waited, waited. Finally, they got back to us to let us know the dog had just been adopted, and were we interested in resubmitting an application for a different dog? No thanks.
We tried another. After about a month, they finally contacted us, and said we were a perfect match, and would we like to arrange a home visit? Yes, please! My wife was so excited - the visit was on her birthday! The woman even called us on her way over and told my wife “I’m bringing you your birthday puppy!”
When she arrived, however, it was clear that she was VERY attached to the dog. She asked us a barrage of questions, most of which were reasonable, but some were off the wall. Did we intend to change the dog’s name? Well, yeah, we weren’t fond of her current name. That earned a frown. Had we ever had a pet die of other than natural causes? Well, yes - my wife had a pet that had been mauled by a neighbor’s dog which had broken loose while on a walk (a pitbull vs her jack russell, the pit bull won). I had a cat once that had gotten hit by a car when it had darted out of the house and into the street. Big frowns. Had we ever had a pet put down? I did…I had a dog once (best dog I’ve ever owned, and literally my best friend in life through my awkward preteen years) that developed an incredibly aggressive cancer. The vet said that they didn’t think she’d even survive the surgery, so I agreed to have them put her down (and cried for days. I’m a sap). Bigger frown.
Still, we seemed to pass every other criteria…until she passed the puppy to my wife, and the puppy began licking her enthusiastically. I kid you not, it was like it kicked off some jealousy instinct - the woman’s face sank, watching the puppy playing with my wife. I asked her for the paperwork, and the next thing I know, she’s packing up and leaving with the dog - I asked her what was wrong, and she hemmed and hawed. She made a vague reference to the neighbors having possibly violent pets, about expensive medical procedures that cockers might need (please not, I would have paid anything to have had the one dog I had put down live - the vet was the one who said she should be put down) before finally admitting that she had grown very attached to Daisy and that she didn’t realize how much until she had handed the puppy to my wife. And like that, she up and left, leaving my wife an emotional mess (she had really had her heart set on the puppy and is as much a sap as me).
We ended up getting a dog that I liked from another rescue place - a big, ugly (so ugly you can’t help but love him) Sharpei/yellow lab mix. He had been considered unadoptable because his hair had fallen out from abuse and he was half-starved…but now he is a healthy, ideal weight dog, incredibly happy, and with all his hair (save a 1" patch on his tail) grown back in. Our vet regularly praises his temperment (for a Sharpei mix, he’s outstandingly laid back and friendly) and the way we treat him.
Still, while she loves our big ugly dog, my wife still really wanted a smaller cocker spaniel, so this year, we started looking again - long story shorter, like before, the woman who was fostering the dog had grown so attached to it, she realized she couldn’t give it up. Her husband, who had come with us to the home inspection, assured us that it absolutely was not us - that our home was perfect, that Oz (my ugly dog) was great, that on paper we were the kind of family they hoped to find…but she couldn’t let the puppy go. She felt horrible about it, at least, and unlike the first lady, she continued to contact us with suggestions for other dogs - but they were not what we were looking for (none were spaniels, most had health issues) and at that point, we were totally burned out on the Cocker rescue process. We found a reputable breeder, and paid the extra money to get the dog we wanted.
I will be honest, I would have FAR preferred to get a rescue dog, but the hassle was too much, and getting worked up only to be denied at last minute sucked. I did try the regular city pound before going to a breeder, but the problem locally is that these rescue groups cherry-pick the animals brought to the local pound - they are there early, take all the highly adoptable dogs, leaving the ones with severe behavior or health problems. I don’t mind a “project” dog (Oz, as mentioned, was in rough shape when we got him, and I am still going to shell out around $1200 this year for surgery on his eyelids), but we really just wanted a relatively healthy puppy. The insane hoops, invasive clauses (one group demanded surprise inspections for up to 5 years) and the emotional attachment some of these rescue groups have with their dogs just makes it too much hassle to go through.
Granted, if you have no preference for breed and are willing to adopt larger, less well behaved dogs, the process is probably a lot easier…but I don’t think it’s wrong to want to adopt a dog of a breed you are familiar with and fond of.
Good luck. We found a different rescue agency that was just grateful we were willing to take a dog. It was enough that we seemed like reasonable decent human beings when we picked him up.
The cat came from the local Humane Society. They were perfectly reasonable as well.
I think MOST rescue agencies and volunteers are reasonable and do their best. There are a few judgmental nitwits out there and if you hit them first, you start to think “what the hell am I doing?”
Woeg, my heart goes out to your wife to have the rug pulled out from under her. Part of the reason I’m so bitter about my “bad rescue” experience is that I had my kids involved in looking at puppies on petfinder. Once we’d made the decision to get a dog, and had the kids involved in getting a dog - I really didn’t have a lot of tolerance for disappointment.
The problem I see with the shelter I went to is that they all got too attached to the dogs and it almsot seemed like they wanted to keep them. The woman showing us the dogs seemed to have a personal relationship to all the dogs there and its almost like they were more of a petting zoo for dogs than an animal shelter. They were very nice and obviously cared about the dogs (many of the dogs had been rehabilitated) but I think their attitude was very short sighted.
Note to Whack a Mole: I am also near Chicago and the unreasonable people were at the Chicago Heights Humane Society. It was there as well that the woman told me that they don’t allow adoptions of black cats in October–due to the “cats use in Satanic rituals” ( her words). We’re weren’t interested in black cats, so her comments were a bit off. I had gotten our first cat from there with no problems at all (even though I worked 12 hour night shift, my husband worked days, no kids then etc. And there was no questioning of inside vs outside cats or pressure to adopt 2 cats when we got our first one. But that was 1987).
Going to P.A.W.S. was so much nicer (a friend volunteers there). There was a sign on one of the cages–these 2 cats must be adopted together. I’m fine with that kind of thing. With my friend I mentioned in the previous post, neither cat had been socialized that way–she thinks (and I tend to agree with her) that the lady was either trying to get 2 cats adopted or she was projecting a POSSIBLE future need onto the current situation. And of course she shot herself in the foot, since NO cat got adopted.
Frankly, while the vast majority of people involved with animal shelters and rescue are truly caring, there are a few whack-jobs present as well. It really shouldn’t be harder to get a pet than have a child, but depending on where you go, it seems it can be.
Anyway, I will now go to PAWS for all my pets, until and unless they get weird on me as well and demand a home visit or references or promises that I will never bring an animal back to a shelter-which is another bugaboo of mine. the HS told me flat out that IF I were to return Simon (the orange tabby I got with our kids), I would NEVER be able to adopt a pet from them again, ever ever. They were quite vehement about it.
This puzzles me no end. I get they don’t want a revolving door to the shelter and all, but no one can predict how pets and kids or even adults will interact. And yes, sometimes the aggression IS the pet’s fault (I’m way tired of the school of thought that says that all kids=bad; all dogs/cats=good therefore any hurt suffered by child must be child’s fault). NOBODY knows when they leave the shelter with that pet if things will work out. I didn’t realize that shelters were so spoiled for choice in their clientele that they could just make blanket policies that deprive themselves of the very market they hope to capture.
I’ve only seen free kittens at the vet’s office once here. I consider that a GOOD thing–perhaps people around here are taking spaying/neutering seriously.
I had that same experience at Tree House. I told them I couldn’t commit to 2 cats, and they told me no dice. That, and all the annoying invasive questions eventually made me give up and buy a kitten from a pet shop. (I didn’t have a car then, so I wasn’t about to take a taxi all the way down to the pound on 26th Street.) That was in 1994, and said kitten is now a happy, affectionate almost-17-year-old who is currently sprawled on my bed, purring.
Now that I have a car and the Internet, I’d probably make more of an effort to deal with shelters, etc. if I were looking for another cat, but there are plenty of people who can provide perfectly happy, loving homes for pets who justifiably don’t want to deal with some of the invasive crapola that some shelters want to submit them to.
Exactly, Eva. And yet for some reason, this is sensible position is frowned upon and even condemned. :rolleyes: