Look again…that was a good adopter

Recently a woman came in to adopt a dog to be a companion to her other female dog because she works long hours.  Until recently her dog had a cat to be her friend and before that another dog that both died of cancer.  She spent a lot of money on surgeries and trying to fix the problem but unfortunately they both succumbed to the illness.

She had always gotten her dogs from rescues and her current dog, Allie, was adopted from Campbell County Humane Society.  She brought Allie in with her to help her make the decision.  We found her a dog that was perfect for her, a black lab mix about 8 months old, who was a real charmer to the woman and to Allie.

I was helping her personally because I know this woman and her family really well. I had this dog picked out for her and helped her with the introductions. So here is her adoption profile: she works long hours about 10-12 hours a day but the dogs have access to a doggie door that leads out to a deck and a nice sized fenced yard. They can come and go as they please and would have each other’s company while she was gone. All of her animals are vaccinated and on heart worm prevention.  She has a wonderful relationship with her vet.  The dog will have full run of the horse farm when she is home caring for her horses and will be inside with her when she is home and at night sleep in her bed

 

Sounds like a great set up right? 

But here’s the sad part - she tried to adopt from a breed rescue a couple weeks before coming to us and they turned her down.

Any ideas why? 

Because she had a doggie door and she worked too many hours a day. They didn't like that her dogs have easy access to the outside fenced area while unsupervised.  And she worked too many hours during the day.  

I feel that each organization has the right to operate the way they want to and I try not to criticize them publically especially since we, LHS, have been so criticized publically for our owner surrender program without any consideration and without any real knowledge of our operations.   This has made me sensitive and I try not to judge.  Because we are each doing what we can to help the animals in our community and many of the rescue organizations are all volunteer, they have other jobs and responsibilities and they do what they can with the time and resources they have.  But every organization should stop and take a look at what they are doing from time to time to evaluate if there is a better way.

So I am not judging this situation and I am not telling anyone they should or should not adopt to a certain individual, but I am going to plead to these other groups to take a minute and just consider a different point of view. They can ignore this or not, their choice.  

Not every breed rescue or in home rescue operates this way but to those that do I am suggesting for you to reconsider how you do adoptions.   To those groups that do have  a very thorough screening process that may take weeks to complete, things like: Home visits, vet checks, no puppies or small dogs can go to families with kids age 3 or under, reference checks, every animal must be fixed in the household or your adopters must have a fenced in yard. Please consider how many animals could you have taken in from a high euthanizing pound during that process or how many people get fed up with the process and go and purchase a dog from a breeder or pet store.   

At the Richmond SPCA we had trouble with our adoption counselors declining good adopters or adopters we felt could be educated to become great adopters with a little bit of counseling or education.   Because we were a No Kill shelter and we hardly ever euthanized and they became complacent because animals were not dying at our shelter.  We made the entire group go over to the city shelter and take a look at all the dogs/cats that were over there and made them see their faces and show them that animals may not be dying here in our shelter but they are at the city shelter every day. So if you turn down an adoption or if you are waiting for the perfect home for a pet, another animal isn't being given an opportunity to come to the RSPCA.  You can decline adopters but be very aware of what that decision does in the broad picture and be very confident in your decision.  

After we began to make the city shelter tour part of the new employee orientation our adoption rates increased and the adoption staff came up with some great ideas themselves on how to get more animals adopted like only doing landlord checks on those adopters we weren't sure about rather than everyone because that would slow us down after hours and on weekends.  They began to trust more and help educate people.  You do better when you know better and we find that sometimes people just don't know that certain things aren't a good idea but when you explain it to them they can make a change in how they care for their pets and become better adoption candidates.  Unfortunately if you decline them they are going to get a pet somewhere so if you take a minute to educate perhaps one of these days they will hear the message.  

I ask you to please consider your adoption policies and process and consider making it a bit easier and quicker.  Imagine how many more animals can be helped.

The other thing I want to bring up is the idea of adoption specials and reducing fees. We do specials and promote adoptions when we are full.  We reduce our fees and try and move out animals to good homes when we need to make space. I know you all feel the stress of having to turn down animals when you don't have foster homes for them.  And many groups do specials so this is for those who don't.  Maybe do some occasional adoption specials during the summer months when everyone is overwhelmed.  We find that everyone loves a deal and a sale and we get some great adopters just wanting a new pet and find the specials an incentive to get a new pet.  We still do our normal interviewing and screening and 99% of the time the adopters are wonderful. So just consider the idea and do research on the no fee adoption idea.  You will find some great information from ASPCA and Maddie's fund on the research they have done.  They discovered that reducing the fee doesn't lead to an increase in returns or reduce the importance of the pet or significance and commitment the adopter makes. 

By working together and considering each other’s situations we can really make a difference and help more animals.  Thanks for all you do and for reading my ideas and thoughts.

PS.  In regards to the criticism of our surrender program for owners, it is working, it is making a real difference.  If you would like to learn more about our program we are always happy to have you visit us for a few hours and we can show you how it works and the statistical information on the program and how we feel it is working.