Eh. I see no reason to waste energy on a lie, or to attempt to educate her. You owe her nothing at this point so you’re not beholden to spare her feelings or to teach her anything. A single sentence will do it: “I can’t in good conscience adopt a puppy to someone with such unrealistic expectations of what caring for a dog is like.” After that, whether she gets it or not isn’t your problem.
You should give all the puppies to ME. They is so cute! Puppy puppy puppy!
My cat would love them, too.
Dead puppies aren’t much fun.
Yeah. They don’t come when you call; they don’t chase squirrels at all.
I decided to let it go. Just told her he went to someone else. When it comes down to it, I’m not much of a lecturer. Thanks for the advice, all.
While I agree with the sentiments expressed above in that you can’t fix stupid, and trying to educate her will fall on deaf ears, I also have to say I think pet adopters frequently go overboard on who they’ll let their orphaned pet go to.
Using myself as my example: I wanted to get my daughter (and our family) our first pet, and was basically given the cold shoulder from a pet adoption day in front of one of the major animal store chains because I wasn’t a previous owner! Furthermore the paperwork I had to fill out was insane! We got denied for an unknown reason, just vague answers were the best I got. We subsequently went to the Atlanta pet shelter, or humane society, or whatever it’s called and got Louie; who’s been in our family for about 7 years now.
Yeah, I agree, which is why I wasn’t really screening at all until this girl. It’s one of the problems I have with the rescue organization I foster for–the pre-adoption questionnaire is, in my opinion, an invasion of privacy, and the contract states that they can do a home visit at any time to check on a pet. I wouldn’t sign it, but people do.
But then we get people returning puppies because they both work the same 10-hour shift and have found having a puppy inconvenient. Well, yeah. Puppies shouldn’t be alone for 10 hours at 8 weeks old. It’s frustrating.
But I do agree that most rescue organizations need to realize they don’t have a monopoly on dogs and cats, and that their practices can sometimes drive good owners to pet shops.
It did me. Well, not to a pet shop, but to a reputable breeder for a not-show-quality puppy I agreed not to breed. (Didn’t want to breed him anyway.) For the same amount of money – a couple hundred dollars – I got a puppy without having to fill out an intrusive questionnaire, agree to a surprise home visit, and be made to feel like I was the supplicant (being “allowed” to adopt a homeless pet) instead of a good person trying to do a substantial favor to the dog and the organization. This was the attitude of cocker rescue, BTW, which is why unfortunately I’ll never get a dog from them.
I realize responsible adoption organizations have to take steps to insure puppies go to good homes, but IMO those steps should be reasonable. It shouldn’t be harder or more expensive to get a dog from a rescue organization than it is to get one from a pound, much less from a vendor.