Ranting about stupid dog ownership

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Some Humane Societies are very strict about requirements for adopting animals.
I had to give THREE references and answer tons of questions, plus they said they might 'check up on me' later. (!) When I adopted my new Suki kitty last month, they said two other people had applied to adopt her before me...but were REJECTED. I got lucky.
The society tells everyone who adopts that if things don't work out well for any reason they should bring the animal back- that they'd much rather have the animal returned to them than have it live with an inappropriate match for an owner. There will always be people out there who don't take their adopting as seriously as they claim to, and who misrepresent themselves or their situation. It's impossible to know what goes on in these people's minds, but the reasons aren't as important as the animal's longterm wlefare. Best to make sure people know they can bring the animal back no problem- best for the animal.

[sfa]

Some Humane Societies are very strict about requirements for adopting animals.
I had to give THREE references and answer tons of questions

We had to do all of that and have a home visit where a volunteer came to our house and checked us out, made sure the place was safe, interviewed us about training and obedience, etc. At the time I thought it was a crazy amount of work to adopt a dog, but I can see why they need to be so careful. Not only does it reassure them that our home is safe but it let the potential adopter know that this is for serious and not something to take on lightly.

I know it takes a lot of volunteer power to carry out that level of inspection, but I think more animal rescue groups are headed in that direction.

Sarah

[GLC1968]

Yes, we went through a lot of inpsection and paperwork with all of our pet adoptions. For my first one, I had to get a signed letter from my landlord that pets were allowed because I was renting (and didn't own the place).

For our last adoption (our dog Charlie), we had to consent to a visit from the shelter because he was the third animal we were adopting in less than a year. They thought something was going on! Little did they know that we were just building up our little herd.

All the shelters are different though. The first one made me sign an agreement to bring the dog back if my situation ever changed and I couldn't keep her anymore (not gonna happen!). The place in NC told us that if we ever brought an animal back, they'd take it, but that we'd have to wait a minimum of a year before we'd be allowed to adopt again.