"Want to Adopt? Prepare for an Inquisition."

Yeah, you don't even have to show ID at my shelter. I am normally the volunteer showing people the animals, so what normally happens is:

Person walks in.
Person signs in at the front desk.
I ask what they are looking for.
I bring them to the appropriate room (cats/kittens, puppies, small adults, or large adults.)
I answer any questions they have about any animal, and take out animals for them.
They pick one.
I bring it, along with its cage card, to the desk while they fill out a short form consisting of name, phone number, and address.
I give them the animal.
Onto the next person.

As long as you have money, you can get whatever animal you want, no questions ask.

We have a surprisingly low return rate, so I guess it works for us?

Well the Human Society usually has a few applications and interviews. That's not too bad. But the one in the only city in north Oklahoma has some issues. I passed everything but when I said I didn't really know what breed Yoshi was they basically accused me of hiding information. I even provided them a picture of her and they said no because a responsible owner could identify the dogs breed. They have some God complex issues.

The kills shelters in the county have a smaller application. Half of them will have the dog spayed or neutered before sending them home. Others have you pay an extra 20-50 that will be refunded if you get them fixed. They use to adopt out a dog and that was it. If it didn't work out they asked for the dog to be returned there. Now most of the ones around here have someone who does follow ups and checks up to make sure it is working out for everyone.

They aren't too different there is just a lot fewer hoops to jump through and the dogs at the county shelters are put down after a certain period of time if no one adopts them.

That's always been my impression. I can see the faults with that, of course, but I personally found a dog recently in the AC shelter that I LOVE. I wish I could go get him right now.

Ahem

How cute is that face?!

Yeah. I'm not going to go to a rescue. Some day in the future I'll get one or more dogs from a shelter for sure! Go in, have a look around, take the dog out for a bit, make a decision, fill out basic form, talk to workers, pay and leave with your new dog. Yes please!

This is why, when I adopt, I plan to adopt from someone independently fostering or go to animal control.

I've also been through circuses trying to adopt. I've been turned down for ridiculous reasons, including racism. Sad, but it's true. I went to a rescue event from a group in an affluent, predominately white neighborhood. There was a particular puppy I wanted to adopt. The volunteer looked down her nose at me and turned me down flat, saying they didn't adopt to apartment dwellers. There was a white girl my age talking to the rescue volunteer RIGHT NEXT TO ME who said she lived in an apartment and hoped she could still adopt. The volunteer said, "Oh, that's not a problem. We do it all the time."

Uh huh. Yeah.

I have no problem adopting from Animal Control. They have what I think is a very reasonable questionaire: Do you have landlord approval if you rent, how much time can you spend with your pet, can you provide shelter and attention if the pet will be primarily outdoors, do you have small children, what are your current pets, and what happened to your past pets. That's about it. I've seen the volunteers do some very good work based off that simple questionaire. For example, one volunteer steered a family with three preschool aged children away from an 8-week-old chihuahua mix and towards a year-old retriever mix. Worked out perfectly.

There are some good rescues, there are some sh*tty rescues. There are some sh*tty workers in good rescues. A friend of mine just had her adopted horse taken away from her because she was "abusing the mare." And by "abuse" she meant "used a snaffle bit".

A snaffle is abuse?! So 99% of broke horses are abused? Common now!

I am really put off by rescuces due to this kind of treatment. I think private rescue may be a better choice for me due to having a small child, a dog and a cat already in my home BUT the local pound sounds a lot better to me if they aren't going to give me a ton of crap. I'm not going to jump through hoops to get a pet. I treat my dog well. He lives a great life. I will answer questions within reason and that's it. If not, sadly I will move on and find another dog in need of a home.

Yeah I've never had this problem with a rescue. Although my dad said that when they applied to adopt Wilson (one of our fosters with the ACD rescue) he was a little taken aback by all the questions they asked. I didn't think it was that bad - they asked about fences, previous dogs, vet reference, how many people in the house, etc etc but maybe it's because I've been exposed to it for awhile now.

I don't know, maybe it's because I've fostered but I don't have a problem with most rescue applications/processes as long as the people I'm working with are pleasant and flexible. Our first foster (an ACD) was adopted to a guy that lived in a condo. Most rescues wouldn't have even considered him but the guy was a long distance runner. He had all these plans for hiking and running and having fun with his dog, they were a fantastic fit. So the rescue made an exception for him.

The problems and hurt feelings come around when rescues don't make that exception. I get that, I really do, I just think it must be a much worse problem in rescues in other areas because I haven't seen it here. I'm really glad - I feel like the places here actually do want to help dogs and they don't treat people who want to adopt like idiots about it.

My dogs have all been easy to adopt. Not once have I had a home check, not once have I even been asked about fences.

This! I really wish that this was the approach more people would take (breeders and rescues alike). I understand there are bad apples to be weeded out, but it would be nice if they started the process with the thought that hey, maybe some decent people want a nice pet. I'm sure sometimes that's the case but others it's certainly not.

A friend of mine applied for a gorgeous Newfie/BC mix. She lives in an apartment and doesn't have a "yard" per say but she's a grad student and there's TONS of gated land around her to run/walk a dog (and the campus has no policy against that). She could bring the dog to some of her TA work, too. She was turned because of not having a fenced yard. I'm sorry, I do think that's silly. It's their loss, in the end. She went and found a lovely young dog on Craig's List who is her best friend now.

I adopted a cat in November and had to lie about Keeva's uterus to get him. A neutered male cat. I went to Chicago AC, which is by no means swimming in dough, and still had to lie about my intact bitch. Come ON.

That said, it was a pretty good experience on the whole. The volunteer we met had written up his little personality blurb ("Very calm and loves to be pet" indeed) was super friendly and really wanted him to go home with us. In fact, we forgot to bring a copy of our lease. When they called our landlord, we explained that he's a teacher and wouldn't be able to call them back until school got out. Our adoption agent (who was actually an AC officer who got roped into helping us, LOL) disappeared, came back out, and said, "Oh he called, he said no problem!"

We found out later they'd never talked to him. LOL Classic example of "busy shelter worker goes with gut instinct". And now he has a beautiful home. I'm glad we went with AC, and and our cat is the BEST EVER.

I'm generally not looking for rescue dogs anyway, but if I ever am, I don't imagine I'll ever be looking at private rescues, really. I just can't stomach the home check business and the third degree. Knowing that allows me to steer clear of them in the first place, but I do feel bad for those who fall in love with a particular dog and are denied, like my friend.

I think this is the bottom line. They're a bunch of animal hoarder nuts who don't want to part with their animals. They justify their pathology with calling themselves rescue organizations. 25 %! It's probably a lot more than that...but many may not be reported or discovered that they're NOT rescuing, but instead, hoarding.

They're ridiculous with some of those "reasons." I'd never go along with repeated home checks and rules about re-homing, keeping up on vaccinations, where I decide to re-locate, or any ongoing intrusion into my life. Other animals in the house, kids...I'd have none of it. They're not out for the animals. They're feeding their own hoarding illness.

My niece adopted a dog about 11 years ago from the county animal shelter. She had none of that. She was a nice, responsible gal, they could see. She did not have a fence and she worked. That was when she and I both lived at Priest Lake Idaho where the dogs got to run off leash on our daily hikes on trails in the woods and go swimming in the lake. She has given him a nice life. I'm sure there were a few key questions and that was that.

Yep, that about explains my stance on it too. I didn't have anywhere close to the interrogation when I got my purebred dogs from reputable breeders...nothing like any of that! If I want to save a dog, I'll find one off the street whose owners can't be found. Or I'll try a county shelter. Forget rescues if there are that many that are animal hoarders in disguise. Yeah, yeah, yeah....I know. They're not ALL like that. If a shelter is that picky, I'll find a woops litter. I can totally understand why people go to byb and pet stores. Totally. It's not a problem to get a dog and it's probably cheaper. And people have the nerve to criticize good breeders and people who purchase dogs from them? Unreal.

Having worked with rescues I don't think these sorts of rules when they are held hard and fast are weeding out the bad apples.

One of the worst homes I have ever had the misfortune for a foster dog to go to sounded perfect on paper. Some of the best homes have not. I think forms should have a part where you can explain.

Ie if the form says 'do you have a fenced back yard?' if no please explain how you intend to make sure your dog gets enough exercise. Then people could go on to explain that they are avid hikers, or into agility or even go for a 2 mile walk most evenings...

It doesn't take that much more time for the rescue, a lot less time than finding extra foster homes when they get over full...

Oh, I absolutely agree.

I do understand to a certain degree how rescues/fosters can be more picky on where their dogs go. If I had a dog living in my home and got to know him/her, sure I would ask questions of the prospective adoptee, you bet. I would feel responsible for that dog. But a home doesn't have to be "perfect" to be a good home. Doesn't even have to be better than my home. But yeah I would want to know that the adopter has a realistic idea of dog ownership, has a vet or one picked, and that they aren't a mismatch for the dog in question.

It's when, as another poster said, the adopting agency/individual becomes rigid or perfectionistic that the problems occur. I'm not buying a new pair of shoes...it's not cash & go. But at the same time I'm not dealing in nuclear arm...and after a point red tape, excessive requirements, and inspectors are just over the top.

Exactly. Well put.

I tried to adopt a beautiful little white "pit bull" who was deaf. I figured my years with the breed(s) plus the fact that I've previously owned and trained 4 other deaf "pit bulls", well, that all would be well.

NOT

I was denied because I had/have children. I was denied because I owned 2 intact dogs. I was denied because I didn't fawn all over "pittie" and "pibbles" nor buy into their description that this dog had been a bait dog because she was deaf (I don't buy into the "bait dog" mania, but the kicker was that this dog had nary a scar or even a single hair out of place).

I wanted to give this dog a forever home to be loved and cuddled and with which to do some more PR work.

Instead the rescue euthanized the dog because "no one was interested in her". I was sooooo angry reading their pathetic sob story on how there was no home for her.

I'm pretty sure Cameron and Duncan both have contracts stating that the shelter can seize them for any reason.

My family was also denied for 3 dogs that we applied for, and so my mom went to the shelter when she heard they had puppies, and she waited all day for the puppies to be health screened and available. Somebody came out to tell her they would be available in half an hour, so she came and picked up my brother and I from school and brought us up. When we got there, we were told there were only 3 puppies and they had already received applications via fax. My mom lost it and said we would just go to a breeder.

We left with Cameron that day. Oh Cameron. We almost got your brother, but he was too chill, and you were the life of the party. Knocking your brother and sister over, chewing on our shoes, running around us while he slept.

I can't believe I almost didn't get Cameron,

We were turned down for one dog, a Golden Retriever, because he had mange when we put in the application for him. We filled out the app, and then we waited, and waited. My mom called, and they said he was still being treated. She waited a day and then called again, and they told us that he had been adopted out to somebody else because it was against policy to accept applications on sick dogs. My mom would have re-applied had she been told such, and she should have been informed. She called about this dog at least 3 times.

Years ago, they used to have this policy that they waited until they got in at least 3 applications before adopting the dog out. I suppose it was so that they could pick the best out of 3, but in the end an unwanted dog could have been waiting for months and a family could have moved on, and 2 people would have still been crushed.

Um...I find home checks and applications and interviews for adopting fun.

But I'm a bit strange