So I follow the facebook page of the dog rescue we adopted Tucker from (PAWS New England) and they've been recently informed by petfinder that there is going to be a change in how they list their dogs.
Anyone who lives in New England and tries to adopt a dog quickly finds that many, in fact I'd say the majority, of dogs on petfinder for the area are not actually in new england. They are usually in a southern state lots of MO and TN dogs. PAWS has a few dogs up here in foster homes but the vast majority of their dogs are in the states they were found in down south (they pull their dogs from a high kill shelter in TN). After you adopt the dog they get brought up on a truck and you take them home. This is how we got Tucker, he was being fostered in TN. Usually you get your dog a week or so after you are approved, the price is already figured into their adoption fee, it was really simple. Anyone who watched the mini-series "Last Chance Highway" would know what sort of thing I'm talking about.
But petfinder has received complaints from people who don't like dogs showing up on their searches if they are not in the actual state/area that they typed in even though these dogs would be transported to them and are in fact intended to be transported to them (these dogs are posted in New England for a reason, they get adopted much faster). I do understand the frustration to an extent, we were not aware Tucker was in TN until we filled out his adoption papers and heard back from the foster because it was not made evident in his description, so for someone who wanted to meet the dog before adoption this would have been very frustrating and perhaps a serious emotional let down. I understand that.
PAWS, and I'm sure other rescues in the same situation, have asked that they still allow their southern dogs to show up in new england searches but just make them have to list the current state location in the dog's name/title so that people who want to meet the dog prior to adopting will know not to click on them. Petfinder has rejected this idea, not sure why. So PAWS and other rescues have already had to go and change the locations on all the dogs. This means 57 PAWS dogs, all of which can EASILY be brought up north and were in fact intended to be brought up north will not show up on our searches. The dogs that are up north are scattered in RI, MA, and NY. Previously all PAWS dogs showed up as being in RI.
There are rescues up here that don't have a single dog in new england but adopt nearly all of their dogs to new england residents, their adoption rates are going to plummet and they will not be able to pull nearly as many dogs from the high kill shelters where they acquire them. I feel that petfinder is going against what they stand for by doing this, they are going to make it harder for dogs to get adopted.
So I'm writing this in hopes that those of you who agree could maybe send an e-mail to petfinder about the issue and see if we can get them to change their mind. It's sad to think of how many dogs won't get homes because of this, I wouldn't have Tucker that's for sure. I have no problems with them asking for the real locations of the dogs to be more obvious, in parentheses after the name of the dog or something, but to forbid them from being listed at all is only going to harm the animals.
Anyone who lives in New England and tries to adopt a dog quickly finds that many, in fact I'd say the majority, of dogs on petfinder for the area are not actually in new england. They are usually in a southern state lots of MO and TN dogs. PAWS has a few dogs up here in foster homes but the vast majority of their dogs are in the states they were found in down south (they pull their dogs from a high kill shelter in TN). After you adopt the dog they get brought up on a truck and you take them home. This is how we got Tucker, he was being fostered in TN. Usually you get your dog a week or so after you are approved, the price is already figured into their adoption fee, it was really simple. Anyone who watched the mini-series "Last Chance Highway" would know what sort of thing I'm talking about.
But petfinder has received complaints from people who don't like dogs showing up on their searches if they are not in the actual state/area that they typed in even though these dogs would be transported to them and are in fact intended to be transported to them (these dogs are posted in New England for a reason, they get adopted much faster). I do understand the frustration to an extent, we were not aware Tucker was in TN until we filled out his adoption papers and heard back from the foster because it was not made evident in his description, so for someone who wanted to meet the dog before adoption this would have been very frustrating and perhaps a serious emotional let down. I understand that.
PAWS, and I'm sure other rescues in the same situation, have asked that they still allow their southern dogs to show up in new england searches but just make them have to list the current state location in the dog's name/title so that people who want to meet the dog prior to adopting will know not to click on them. Petfinder has rejected this idea, not sure why. So PAWS and other rescues have already had to go and change the locations on all the dogs. This means 57 PAWS dogs, all of which can EASILY be brought up north and were in fact intended to be brought up north will not show up on our searches. The dogs that are up north are scattered in RI, MA, and NY. Previously all PAWS dogs showed up as being in RI.
There are rescues up here that don't have a single dog in new england but adopt nearly all of their dogs to new england residents, their adoption rates are going to plummet and they will not be able to pull nearly as many dogs from the high kill shelters where they acquire them. I feel that petfinder is going against what they stand for by doing this, they are going to make it harder for dogs to get adopted.
So I'm writing this in hopes that those of you who agree could maybe send an e-mail to petfinder about the issue and see if we can get them to change their mind. It's sad to think of how many dogs won't get homes because of this, I wouldn't have Tucker that's for sure. I have no problems with them asking for the real locations of the dogs to be more obvious, in parentheses after the name of the dog or something, but to forbid them from being listed at all is only going to harm the animals.