When Rules Get Ridiculous

[catstina]

My parents wanted to adopt this lab:



She is 6 years old, 80lbs and at a kill shelter. My parents thought she would have a hard time finding a home because of her size and age, they thought, "We have the room, why not give this dog a home?" So they sent in an application, hoping to save this dog's life. And give their yellow lab, KC, a buddy:


They hear back today and they were denied. Why? Because their 1.5 acre yard that is on a dead end road and has a State Forest behind it is not fenced in. The rescue won't even consider making an exception and my parents don't plan to spend the money that it would take to fence in their entire yard. Here are a couple of pictures of my parent's yard (the fence you see in the second picture encloses the pool, which the rescue found unacceptable, and the downed tree in the third picture has since been cleared out):




So this dog may now be PTS because my parent's yard isn't fenced in. I, for one, think that's ridiculous. Is this dog really better off dead than in the care of my parents?

[johnr]

It's frustrating. I know of an ACO who wanted to adopt a dog from the Animal Orphanage, where I was a volunteer long ago, and who was denied because she lived on a highway and the dog "might get out and get hit by a car". But the dog was scheduled to go down THAT NIGHT. How can "dead for sure in the euth room tonight" be better than "may be HBC some day"?????

That said, I also know a lot of people who talk about how much acreage they have and don't see why they need a fence who then admit that they've had multiple dogs hit by cars over the years. My fellow animal advocate and I once agreed to let someone with no fence adopt a high energy dog on the promise that he'd at least install an invisible fence. We had him bring in the hardware to show that he was serious. Well, he wasn't. He never put in the fence and the dog was killed by a car a few months later.

So, we unfortunately learn the hard way that assurances that all will be well don't always pan out. But if the shelter is reasonable, they will at least allow your parents to be a last resort, ie IF she isn't adopted and is set to go down, then at least THEN they'd be allowed to adopt.

Meanwhile, Bed Bug Acres sits on 3 acres, about 3/4 or so of an acre is fenced in. It DOES make life easier!

[catstina]

I would understand if you live on a busy road, but my parents live in the boonies and there are no busy roads for a few miles in each direction. They have had three dogs (all labs) at this home and not lost one to the roads.

[johnr]

May 23, 2012 20:24:44 GMT -5 catstina said:

I would understand if you live on a busy road, but my parents live in the boonies and there are no busy roads for a few miles in each direction. They have had three dogs (all labs) at this home and not lost one to the roads.

Tell them to try to become last resorts. I'd be curious to see what happens.

[catstina]

Thanks for the tip, I'll pass it along to them.

[perfectpit]

My mom wants a lab so bad since her lab went to the rainbow bridge and has a huge yard also that isn't fenced. If this is one of the new stipulations to adopt a dog, she won't be getting one any time soon On a side note, Saxon looks like he is having a fabulous time in the yard.

[adoptapitbull]

I had the same thing happen to a good friend of mine. She finally got off the breeder dog bandwagon and tried to adopt from the shelter. Denied, again, because she had invisible fence at the time. She, too, is a lab person and ended up buying one on craigslist. It wasn't a puppy, rather a 1 year old who they were going to take to the shelter if no one took him. So thankfully it was better than buying a pup, but it still didn't save that dog's life in the shelter.

I do see both sides here. I think it's hard for AC or the shelter to determine if the potential adopter is going to be diligent without a fence, or lazy without one. There are perfect examples of both, and I'm sure we could name a few people we know who belong to each category.

I think the problem is, once you make an exception, you get people saying, "Well ___ didn't have a fence and you let them adopt!" So unfortunately I think they have to hold firm.

Do they have any friends who could sign the papers for them? I don't like lying, but I also don't like dead dogs.

[RealPitBull]

Moving this to the rescue board because it is totally relevent....

[catstina]

Thanks, Mary! I actually have some good news on this!

I just got off the phone with my mom and she said that my step dad talked to the decision maker at the rescue for over an hour and they finally agreed to do a home visit! My parents are confident that they will pass the home visit and (depending on when she gets transported) Silver could come home in a few days!

[michele5611]

Glad to hear that they reconsidered and are coming out to do a home check.

[maryellen]

i was denied by numerous rescues due to living in an apt with no yard or fence.... sometimes shelters go a little overboard, it all depends. i am glad they are reconsidering for your folks..

[johnr]

May 24, 2012 15:48:05 GMT -5 catstina said:

Thanks, Mary! I actually have some good news on this!

I just got off the phone with my mom and she said that my step dad talked to the decision maker at the rescue for over an hour and they finally agreed to do a home visit! My parents are confident that they will pass the home visit and (depending on when she gets transported) Silver could come home in a few days!

Good luck. Make sure they remember to detail their prior successes with dog type animals!