Adopting a dog?

[Battis]

Since 1983 we've had 9 dogs, the last one dying a year ago. So we decided to adopt another one. It's not like it used to be. There are very few shelters with very few dogs that you can visit. It's mostly done online, and most of the dogs come from the south (I'm in MA). So I filled out a few applications (not the ones that charge a fee). You have to have a specific dog in mind that you pick from their online site. They require references that they do check - that's OK. Some want a home visit - why not. One asked if I had a fenced in yard - nope. Will you install a fence? nope. Why not? they ask.
How much are you willing to spend per year on a doggie trainer? Zero. Why not? they ask. One site won't even process your application if you say you won't hire a trainer.
Anyways, I made it through the approval process on one site but each dog that I wanted has already been adopted, even though they keep the dog's pic and info online. But we have these others...Bait and switch.
Oh yeah - they charge from $500 - $600.

[dverna]

Plenty of dogs at our shelters here....or at least there used to be. I know a guy who used to have to put some down they had so many.

No way I will pay $500 for a dog.

[Ithaca Gunner]

That's the same we found when our girl died in 2018. We never had a shortage of dogs here though, people would call from people people that know us and know we can't turn a dog in need down. We don't pass em along, they have a home when we take em in, we have two now that came here some 10-12 years ago in need of a home and they're as welcome as the two I bought from breeders. Everybody at the Legion and Vets knows I won't turn down a dog in need, word gets around. Little over a month ago on our way back from the store we saw a poor looking dog along the road drinking out of a puddle, we stopped, she was very skinny showing ribs, and was nursing pups somewhere. We spent nearly an hour with her, feeding her and trying to get her to take us to the pups, but no use. We left her with a full belly at least, and look for her every time we round that corner to the store where we saw her. Our daughter called early this year asking if we would part with one of the dogs for the same reason you gave above, we let her take a big male, ''Muttley'' looking dog. He goes to work with her husband and relaxes all day at the upscale fly fishing store he has, good life for him, he gets to meet and greet people in the store and lay around most of the day.

Put the word out in your circles and sooner or later a dog in need will show up asking for nothing other than you.

[hoodat]

Around here, you can get whatever kind of dog you want as long as it is a pitbull or variant of. :roll:

I'm not a rich guy, but I don't consider paying decent money to be a waste, for ten or fifteen years of love from a good dog. jd

290962

[Battis]

I picked 3 different dogs from a site and as soon as I showed interest, I got an email saying that the dog has been adopted, or will be adopted, but there are others I can adopt. There are a few shelters not too far from me, but they're not open for in person visits, just ZOOM visits. I know 3 people that recently got dogs online from down south and each dog had heartworm when they arrived. Treatable but expensive. There's alot of pitbulls online but I'm not interested.
I thought it would be a simple process - it was for my last 9 dogs. Go to a shelter, pick a dog and leave.
Hire a trainer? No way. Install a fence? Nope.
But, it is true - the right dog will find us.

[Geezer in NH]

At 5-600 bucks I would find a breeder of the dog I want and pay his price.

[StuBach]

Keep an eye on the local classifieds and Craigslist. There are still breeders doing face to face sales.
Our shelters in Michigan are open, weve been debating a puppy for our kids so we go and look but never find the right one. Local pet stores also have adoption days around here.

I had great luck with our local PAWS shelter program a few years ago, maybe they have a location nearby?

[MrWolf]

At 5-600 bucks I would find a breeder of the dog I want and pay his price.

That is what I did with my pup in my avatar. From a farm in Virginia about four hours from me. He was and still is worth it.

[contender1]

I hear you about the pains of trying to adopt. The current attitude is HORRIBLE when it comes to shelters & such. They refuse to allow you to visit,, see an animal,, how it reacts to people, see what's actually available, etc. Then they demand certain things like fenced yards, trainers, home inspections, etc.
Talk about an invasion of privacy!

But I also understand the other side of it,, to a degree.
Liability.
Some folks would go to a shelter,, "adopt" an animal, & use it for fighting. Or a cat to be used as coyote bait. Or abusive people,, trying to make a dog aggressive by cruelty. Sadly,, not everybody is a "good home."
BUT,, those same shelters fail to understand that the "bad" people out there,, are a small percentage of the people who adopt.
And they do all the crazy stuff,, to avoid liability issues,, AND bad press when an animal is abused or whatever.

Yet,, they constantly beg for people to "adopt from a shelter" or "Please donate to a shelter."

I know that there are good people working at shelters & even doing foster pet care until adoption. Yet,, the process is WRONG when you can't visit & see which animal might pick YOU! A Zoon (or Zoom) whatever video isn't the same thing. NOT by a mile.

We recently did our first, AND likely last shelter adoption. The process was stupid! We had to gamble on how the pet would be in our home. NEVER again! And if it hadn't been for the fact my Miss Penny wanted to do it,, I would have given those folks an earfull.

They want to blame covid or staffing or whatever,, but the fact remains,, their process is HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!

[Battis]

If I had to pick a certain breed to get from a breeder, it'd be a Weimaraner. I had a purebred once and they're great dogs. I did an online search for breeders and they're out there, for alot more than what the shelters are asking for mixed breeds, but the wait times are months.

[marlin39a]

I was in the market for a shelter dog back in the summer of 2018. Visited the local shelter in Prescott, and found nothing but pit bulls. I started looking online, and found my new dog there. I liked her pictures, so off I went to Cottonwood. They brought her out and let me take her for a walk. She was very friendly, and I had to have her. She was estimated to be about 1 yr old, and they just spayed her. My cost was $100.00, which included a license. She’s around 4 now, and a great friend.

[Thundarstick]

I have a neighbor that would probably give you a couple if you drove down and picked them up!

[Battis]

Tennessee, North Carolina, Mississippi - that's where the dogs are coming from. I could use a road trip.

[gwpercle]

If you would like an easy way to get pet ... sit on your back porch with a bowl of cat food on the floor , read the newspaper and every now and then proclaim ... I don't like Cats ... I don't want any Cats ... I have no use for Cats ...I hate Cats ... stuff like that ...
Pretty soon you will have at least two Cats , they move in and make themselves at home and they're all yours and you can't get rid of them !
This is how my wife got "Shadow " and lil black "Samboo" she claimed not to like black cats and both are coal black ... she did her best to run them off telling both she didn't want or like black cats ... I would slip them a little food ... that's all it takes ...They stayed and she loves them ...sorta!
Gary

[nvbirdman]

A number of years ago my female black lab got old and I had to put her down. About a year later I decided I needed another female black lab so I started looking on Craigslist. Took me about two weeks and someone was giving one away. At my age, when she goes she won't be replaced.

[megasupermagnum]

It really is a crying shame how things have turned out. I once got into an argument with one of the workers at a shelter that I had no afflation with, only that she was distraught that nobody was taking these animals. Come to find out they are asking $600 plus all these strings attached.

I'm not the biggest promoter of pure bred dogs. To be honest, I think even "responsible" dog breeding is a little sickening after seeing the process first hand. And that's coming from a guy who grew up on a hobby farm. But when it comes to simple economics, you can buy a pure bred dog for $600, some fancy breeds more than others. This is a a dog supposedly well bred, (pay attention to which breeds consistently have horrible disabilities later in life), so you kind of know what you are getting. You get to meet the breeders, play with the litter of puppies, and pick out which ever one you want. I'm sure every breeder is different, but for the most part as long as you are not a donkeys butt, they will take your money.

Now these shelters are taking the strays, that's the nature of the beast. Most are mutts, a lot are strays for a reason. Almost all starving, with now learned behaviors to survive. You can't see them, you get videos, or descriptions. It's a whole TSA search process to even be approved, and they are asking pure breed prices.

So $600 gets you a pure bred labrador puppy you get to choose and play with, or a stray taken from somewhere they were not wanted, and it's an insane process to even get one. It's a sad situation, but not one that is hard to understand.

I'm very disappointed with the animal shelters today. They really need to get their act together. I recently worked with one, and it is asinine what those people are doing. Good hearted people, but when it comes to simple logic, dumb as a box of rocks.

[Battis]

I had to put down two dogs last year. My neighbors moved and decided that they didn't want their 13 yr old Tibetan Terrier. Imagine walking away from a dog you had for 13 yrs? I took her and she lived to be 16. The other dog was one that I rescued from a shelter that, in my mind, abused the dogs. The workers left at 4PM and returned at 8:30AM. No one checked on the dogs at all during the night. He was the perfect dog. Unfortunately, I had him wear a Seresto flea and tick collar. He developed a sarcoma (tumor) under the collar that eventually killed him. Come to find out, there's been reports of 75,000 dogs (and many people) made sick by those collars. I can't prove that the collar caused the tumor, but...
Anyways, watch out for those collars. And, he still got Lyme disease.

[waksupi]

Try a site like this.

https://www.adoptapet.com/dog-adoption

Our local shelters usually have dogs on hand, for a reasonable fee. Mostly for spay or neutering. I see lots of pit bull crosses here, no way would I adopt someone else's problem.

[Battis]

That's one of the sites I checked out. Some of the dogs on that site are also on the other sites I looked at.

[Ithaca Gunner]

As for adoption price, our local ASPCA shelter is somewhat reasonable. I think the average fee is $160.00. All these private, ''shelters'' can be very silly, it's like they don't want you adopting. Must be a racket of some sort.

[Winger Ed.]

Except for two, all our dogs have been 'pound puppies'.
The SPCA shelters around here charge about $150. and that gets you a dog with all its shots, 'fixed',
and a small bag of food to mix in with its new diet so it doesn't get sick from a new brand of food.
It's no hassle either, you go to the shelter, find a dog that likes you, and they're glad to find them homes.
They get so many, that every few months they ship a bunch up North.

We have rescue groups that charge about the same, but they are breed specific.
They take in abandoned or sickly dogs, usually from the city dog pounds, and get them back to health.
We got a great peranise from one of them in 2002, and they wanted to come see the dog's potential new home,
see us interact with the dog, and more or less interview us, but it was a 'once and done'..

[tankgunner59]

As I have posted elsewhere here, we had to have our baby girl put down last October due to cancer. After 6 months we went to the local Humane Society in May to adopt. When we went in we started talking about our dog
Sidney, half border collie and half Australian shepherd, how long we had her and her personality. We looked at a few dogs, most were either spoken for or too rambunctious. We found a little Pitbull mix that was very laid back, he barked once and laid down. We picked him and everybody there was real happy we picked Butters. After filling out the application we went to Wally world about 1 1/2 miles away to get some food, treats and toys. As I pulled into the parking lot I got a call and they said we could come get Butters. That was only about 10 minutes after we left the Humane Society. He had turned 2 years old 2 days before we adopted him. With Pits people, including us, wonder why he was in a shelter. We found out that a young couple had gotten him as a pup and he was too rambunctious for their toddlers, I agree a pit is a pretty rough playing dog. They took him to the ASPCA who transferred him to our Humane Society and that's why they were all excited when we adopted.
He is still a little wound up but with repetitive training he is calming down. BTW this is the second pit I have owned and neither one is/was ever mean or worse.

[Hogtamer]

“ he gets to meet and greet people in the store and lay around most of the day.”
I might be available!

[rancher1913]

all mine have been "dropped off in the country to fend for themselves" dogs. if they are friendly they get a home but if they are aggressive or mean they go to the local shelter via the sheriff. the one I have now is kind of an exception to that rule, the local brand inspector had an "oops" with his dog and ended up with a puppy they did not want so muttly came to live with us and he is the best cow dog I have ever had, took a lot of training though.

[bayjoe]

Adoption people that have dogs around here are fanatics. They wanted to call my boss, know how much i made and if i would spend $5000 dollars in vet bills on a dog. And that was just a few of the more outrageous questions on a 50 question questionaire.
They were to far off the chart for me to deal with. So i am without a dog for now.

[poppy42]

My wife and I were volunteers for the American Bullmastiff Rescue. We Foster dogs, did home inspections and interviews, among other things. I’ve posted this story before so I won’t repeat it in detail. Let me just say that Max was the last dog my wife and I fostered. About 7 hours after I saved him from the needle he saved my life by waking my wife and I up as I was having a heart attack. That was in 2013 he’s been with us ever since.
Now about the fees that are charged. I can’t speak about other shelters but the ABA Rescue was none profit! The fees that were charged were for vet bills, food, medications, and anything else that the dog might need! Most of the Bullmastiff’s that we rescued were malnourished, weren’t spayed or neuter, some required heart worm treatments, etc. Those things aren’t cheap! No one received any monetary compensation for being a rescue volunteer! Our soul purpose was to find forever homes for these dogs that in some cases were severely abused were they could be loved and cared for for the rest of there lives. And yes we made sure that whoever adopted a dog could afford to care for a dog that typically weighed in excess of 120 pounds. That they had a secure place for the dog to live. The last thing we wanted was to adopt a dog out only to have to take it back into rescue because the people couldn’t care for it or weren’t capable of keeping the dog in a secure place . The fee was generally around $500 to adopt a Bullmastiff. Now do a little research and see what the average had a green Bullmastiff puppy is sold for. I just hope some of the folks that I’ve been complaining about adoption fees and the process, would stop and think about what those fees are used for. If anyone has any specific questions about why adoption shelters do some of the things they do like require the dogs to be spayed or neutered before they’re adopted send me a PM and I’ll be happy to attempt to answer any questions you have.
Poppy42

[Battis]

I don't have a problem paying the fees. I paid $500+ for my last dog. My sister fosters dogs in FLA and I know about the work she does, the money it costs, etc. In fact, I'd rather adopt a dog that's been fostered in a home than from a shelter after I saw the conditions in the shelter where I got my last dog. Even then, I know that sometimes the shelters are swamped with pets.
But I don't like certain requirements to adopt: why won't you put up a fence and why won't you pay for a trainer.
Dogs don't have to be trained - the owners do. Dogs are pack animals and once they know who is in charge, everything else falls into place. And dogs can outsmart a fence. But I do get it - some people shouldn't have dogs, or cars, guns, kids.

[Handloader109]

we've had dogs our while life, never one inside while I was growing up, first one was one my wife got while at college. Since then a lot of good dogs. We've been gifted several, a couple of others were strays. last was dachshund who made it about 12 or so years. We tried a cat way back once, who had reoccurring virus lesions, probably a form of herpes that would prevent her from eating. We finally had her put down, why the shelter didn't do it in the first place is beyond me. But we're down to a pair of old girls who are 14 plus, but in decent health. Kind of wanted a younger pup to keep these girls going and when one goes the other one is not too lonely. Looked online at two of our local shelters and the varieties are somewhat there, but fees are stupid. $500 to 600 for 12 year old dachshunds that were dropped off by elderly person. No, I'm sorry, that ain't happening. And i expect similar on line application with little to no visit. They are all liberal idiots running these shelters here.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

[William Yanda]

If you would like an easy way to get pet ... sit on your back porch with a bowl of cat food on the floor , read the newspaper and every now and then proclaim ... I don't like Cats ... I don't want any Cats ... I have no use for Cats ...I hate Cats ... stuff like that ...
Pretty soon you will have at least two Cats , they move in and make themselves at home and they're all yours and you can't get rid of them !
This is how my wife got "Shadow " and lil black "Samboo" she claimed not to like black cats and both are coal black ... she did her best to run them off telling both she didn't want or like black cats ... I would slip them a little food ... that's all it takes ...They stayed and she loves them ...sorta!
Gary

That's just.....devious!

[Ithaca Gunner]

“ he gets to meet and greet people in the store and lay around most of the day.”
I might be available!

Think you could fit in to living next to a trout stream at the base of a lush mountain near a small town about 20 miles north of Gettysburg? Tough life, I know, but somebody has to do it.

[BJK]

Battis, we're looking for a pup (ideally) also and have run into some of the strict rules also. It's as though the folks at the rescues think everyone lives in the city or suburbia. We live on 45 acres in rural Maine. Am I going to fence it in? I don't think so. It hasn't been a problem for 6 Rotties, 1 Cane Corso, an AmStaff and a mixed terrier.

The other problem is that our requirements are narrow, and it's looking more and more like we'll need to contact a breeder. Finding what we want in Maine is going to be close to impossible. (female Staffordshire Bull Terrier, or a mix would be OK)

[Battis]

I got an email today asking if I was still interested in a certain dog. I said Yup. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

[Winger Ed.]

Pretty soon you will have at least two Cats , they move in and make themselves at home and they're all yours and you can't get rid of them !

It's more like,,,,,,,, 'they move in, and tolerate you being there also'.

[redriverhunter]

one of my co worker was telling how he got dog and the adoptions agency, took the dog. They left a note stating his fence was not high enough. He told me that, he could not get his money back either. I am glad that did not happen to me I would have upset.

[David2011]

one of my co worker was telling how he got dog and the adoptions agency, took the dog. They left a note stating his fence was not high enough. He told me that, he could not get his money back either. I am glad that did not happen to me I would have upset.

Without knowing the rest of the story, that sounds a lot like theft.

We adopted a little girl that was almost 4 years old this past summer. She’s the dog that prompted the dog/possum discussion; a Jack Russell/Yorkie mix. We found her listed on NextDoor by a family that could no longer keep her. We were fortunate to get her. Facebook has low cost/free dogs sometimes as well.

[Bmi48219]

There’s a Leader Dogs for the Blind campus in Rochester, Mi. You can interview to become what I guess would be called a preliminary trainer. They place a young dog with you and you raise him/her according to the protocol for 6 months or so. Then they test the dog to see if they’re a good candidate for the actual training. If the dog washes out and doesn’t get assigned to some other program (K-9, CBP etc) you can sometimes adopt it. But while the dog is with you the training is focused on how well they can handle the environment he’d live in -‘on the job’, not being a pet. Although it’s not the same as your own pet dog, it is rewarding and a way of giving something back to the community.
I’ve seen several ‘to a good home’ dogs on Craigslist. But with three of our own already there’s no sense looking.

[BJK]

Not adopting, buying this one. We're getting older and want to downsize. Right now we have an AmStaff that weighs 80+ lbs. We want to go smaller but still have a dog with the (I know they aren't all related) Rottie, Cane Corso, AmStaff mentality. I think 30ish pounds would be fine. I just described the Staffordshire Bull Terrier and ever since we had our "was male" AmStaffs sister put down I've been looking. I contacted a few breeders but nothing clicked until I contacted a family whose female just recently had a litter. We talked and I knew I wanted one of those pups. The owner decided that we are the perfect people for one of her pups.

Somewhere in this dog pile is our future female SBT. That'll happen no sooner than 5 more weeks.
https://i.postimg.cc/L4cn701L/IMG-3526.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[marlin39a]

I click on the above link and get pornography. Anyone else?

[ShooterAZ]

I click on the above link and get pornography. Anyone else?

Nope, all I see is a photo hosting site.

[Scrounge]

As I have posted elsewhere here, we had to have our baby girl put down last October due to cancer. After 6 months we went to the local Humane Society in May to adopt. When we went in we started talking about our dog
Sidney, half border collie and half Australian shepherd, how long we had her and her personality. We looked at a few dogs, most were either spoken for or too rambunctious. We found a little Pitbull mix that was very laid back, he barked once and laid down. We picked him and everybody there was real happy we picked Butters. After filling out the application we went to Wally world about 1 1/2 miles away to get some food, treats and toys. As I pulled into the parking lot I got a call and they said we could come get Butters. That was only about 10 minutes after we left the Humane Society. He had turned 2 years old 2 days before we adopted him. With Pits people, including us, wonder why he was in a shelter. We found out that a young couple had gotten him as a pup and he was too rambunctious for their toddlers, I agree a pit is a pretty rough playing dog. They took him to the ASPCA who transferred him to our Humane Society and that's why they were all excited when we adopted.
He is still a little wound up but with repetitive training he is calming down. BTW this is the second pit I have owned and neither one is/was ever mean or worse.

I've known a bunch of Pits that were sweet, and laid back, and a few that were absolutely nuts. When I was a kid, I spent most summers, and dropped in unexpectedly fairly frequently, at my dad and step-mom's place. Next door neighbor raised and fought pit bulls. One, his favorite, Bo (or perhaps Beau) was particularly vicious to anyone but Johnny. He had to be muzzled to breed him, because he would kill a female dog in heat. Though he was also a coward when he was off his property. We had some kittens, and a beagle/mutt cross we'd named Patches, and Patches thought those kittens were hers. Bo came after them one day when he got out of his cage. Patches tore him up, and ran him home. Some other neighbors the other way down the street raised papered German Shepherds. Somehow all their dogs got loose one day, and wound up chasing kittens in our yard, and again Patches ran them all home. Those neighbors called the cops on our "vicious" dog. When they arrived, they looked at Patches, and the pack of Shepherds, and told them they ought to be ashamed. Might not have hurt that all the cops in the neighborhood dropped in for a beer with my dad, and played with Patches on a regular basis. Patches was pretty special. I think she may have had a bit of some sort of bulldog in her. I went into the USAF out of high school, and when next I dropped in on the family, I could see something that looked kind of bulldogish in her head and shoulders, though she had the beagle coloring. She lived for 18 years, and was loved for every minute of her life after my little sisters and I brought her home.

The whole neighborhood threw a party the day Johnny came home from a fight that Bo lost. He didn't survive, and Johnny was super despondent. Everyone else, including his wife and kids were happy, though.

I think what matters most is how a dog is treated. Since they are the only Love that money can buy, IMHO they should all be treated with love.

My current love is a border collie/greater pyrenees cross. He is black and white, with a kitty blaze on his face, and lives in a house full of cats. He wants to be a cat when he grows up. He's about 90lbs, and 9 years old. The folks we got him from told us he was pure BC, but he was already too big at 8 weeks for that to be true, though I didn't know it yet. They'd called him Finnick (from the Hunger Games) but watching him bound through the tall grass he looked like a killer whale, and has been Orca ever since. Very protective. When someone knocks or rings the door bell, his voice drops an octave or two, and he sounds like he's part bear. He's the only one here who is glad to see me whenever I come in the house. ;)