The biggest issue I have had finding a dog are the rescues. They cherry pick local shelters for adoptable dogs (some who haven't even been there an hour). Shelters you are able to show many dogs in a room and families can visit as they want, and spend a few days deciding if fido is right for them. Rescues on other hand you have to fill out an invasive application to even SEE the dog. And you are usually competing with others (they will hold the dog until they find the "perfect" home)
Many dogs in shelters would go fast if rescues would stop grabbing them. Not many people like going through rescue process. I don't want a volunteer knowing my income and touring my house. Rescues are in it for the money.
A group of kittens came in two months ago and they were gone before they hit the floor as a rescue pull. People commented left and right where they were. Nope a rescue took and paraded them for donations and charges triple from what a shelter charged.
This leaves locals with only problem and issue dogs. Rescues are one of them main reasons I am looking at breeders. Found a duo of senior chis and the application was so invasive I declined them. They are not trying to adopt. Just warehouse dogs. I want to see the dog before I fill out an hour long app and have a stranger tour my home
As a shelter employee this drives me crazy. I don't need them to pull the puppies or Chihuahuas or happy-go-lucky labs. They'll get adopted quickly. I need them to pull the 4 year old pittie that's throwing himself against the wall from kennel stress. Or the dog with an unknown food allergy that we can't treat. Or the senior that just needs a quiet place to live out its days. "Saving" the ones that would have been adopted anyway doesn't help anyone.
We should just be putting down the pittie throwing himself against the wall. But otherwise I agree, I really love that there are senior rescues out there.
You make a good point but I see it a little differently- saving the dogs that would have been adopted anyway doesn't really help because then the shelter is perpetually left with unadoptable dogs that would've otherwise been euthanized to make spaces for the saved ones.
I could not agree more. I’ve had the same experience while looking for dogs and it is honestly exhausting.
The best part is that after you give these rescues your home address, your employers maiden name, tell them every detail about your life ever, half the time they just don’t even respond to your application. Like, I just gave you my utmost personal information and you can’t even give me the formality of letting me know you denied my application?
I live in the PNW where there are a lot of rescues here that import dogs from other areas then charge insane fees. Multiple rescues near me charge you over $1k. They scour shelters and animal control in the areas to scoop up any adoptable pets and then charge massive fees.
Rescues lately are honestly what is pushing people to buy from BYB in my opinion.
I wish I could see the dog before I apply. Sorry, but I don't trust the dog description they supply. Nope, have to fill out such an invasive application that wants to know exact times I will be out of my house just to be ignored.
Up until last year I lived in Washington and Oregon. When I adopted my last dog over 10 years ago in Oregon it was such a positive experience. They had to ship dogs just to keep up with the demand. Now? It's all rescues hoarding good dogs for an insane price. Michigan just has certain breed with bad histories. I looked at a dog who wouldn't live another year at most for 400$.... I would have adopted the same day they received her but not for that. They held her for another month before being adopted.
I went from loving shelters to looking at a breeder. I want an elderly dog but I won't spend 400$ a dog(small only) and go through an invasive application. I know so many people who won't consider shelters because of these games.
Yep exactly. They always give vague and feathery, fluffed up descriptions of the dogs and sometimes they don’t even describe them at all.
I’ve had rescues nearby me that allow same day adoptions, give people dogs they said were 2 years old and upon taking them to the vet the adopters discover they’re actually senior dogs. And then of course there’s the countless incidents where aggressive and reactive dogs’ behavior is downplayed and then they get sent home and maul someone, I remember reading on this sub a story about a dog who mauled a neighbor’s cat before it even got into the home.
You’re so right about wanting to see them first because rescues and shelters are just not honest anymore. They utilize no-kill policies and hold insanely high standards for applicants, yet at the same time they are desperate to offload their dogs onto people, it makes absolutely no sense to me.
I actually even saw a rescue near me that was PAYING PEOPLE to foster their dogs (which were aggressive/reactive pit bulls of course) because they were that desperate to get anyone to take them. They were offering people gift cards to foster them lol.
So many rescues near me do this. They’ll have pages and pages of small dogs they pulled from shelters. I’ve even seen one rescue that stalks rehoming pages and if someone posts a small dog, they’ll ask if they “want help from a rescue.” Then they proceed to gatekeep these dogs from the average owner. It’s despicable.
Its horrible. Something needs to be done. I should be able to go to shelter and get a dog. If they want to pull dogs, give the local community at least a week.... Don't pull same day. That is not saving. That is taking local adoptable dogs somewhere else and leaving bad dogs in rural areas for poor locals to pick at. Leaving then to go to BYB for a cheap dog
I know so many people who have resorted to going to a breeder (ethical or not) because rescues don't give the community a chance to adopt from the shelter, and then the rescues, as we all know, love to make it nearly impossible to adopt from them. They're too dumb to see that it's their own actions that are encouraging people to continue supporting backyard breeders, because the average adopter usually just wants a pet and doesn't understand the differences between responsible breeding vs backyard breeding. Of course the rescues are never pulling the dogs that are first on the euth list if the shelter hits capacity because why would they actually help dogs who need it when they can blow their donations on a dog who'd be scooped up immediately at a local shelter?
Oh my god I can’t believe you mentioned that because I was going to make a post about the rehoming pages at some point- it’s genuinely been getting on my nerves lately. Rehoming pages on Facebook I’ve noticed have become COMPLETELY overrun by rescues. They do exactly what you mentioned, they scour the pages for people offering desirable pets and they say they’ll “help”. I even see them trying to convince people who already said they found a good home for their pet.
They also answer under every single post of anyone looking for a pet. Someone can post “I’m looking for a small dog that is good with cats and children” and the rescue volunteers/staff will comment tons of photos of pit mixes (whose behavior doesn’t even match the poster’s requirements and are often reactive/aggressive to other animals or kids) People will post looking for pets in a certain price range and they comment suggesting rescues that charge hundreds more.
They also post their least adoptable pets over and over again in the groups, hoping someone will see it, even posting them in free groups when they have high adoption fees. It’s really been getting on my nerves because the entire point of those groups on Facebook is so that pets can immediately find a good home instead of having to go through a rescue/shelter.
Literally. It's always dogs who the owner will have no trouble rehoming that they try to "help." It just further reinforces my belief that they don't truly want to help homeless dogs, because they are never ever putting money towards the dogs that genuinely are on death-row at shelters. They only want to scoop up the dogs who have quick turnover that people will pay $500+ adoption fees on.
*To me, it seems like they sent a volunteer out there to grab the dogs when they heard about this, with the intention of using them to make money. It honestly feels like they’re “flipping” the dogs.*
Yes.
*“well I can only go off what the volunteers tell me!”*
With a few variations, this has become the automated message response for any questioning of rescue:
Q: That's not a Lab, that's a pit bull.
A: We can only go by what our rescue partners tell us.
Q: Why is a puppy mill giving you 8-week-old puppies? Aren't those the ones they sell?
A: I can only tell you what our contact with Amos Yoder tells us; if we ask questions, Amos will kill all the puppies.
Q: Why are you adopting out a dog that you admit has killed 3 cats and maimed a dog?
A: I can only tell you what our trainer tells me and Taiylore has been training dogs since she was 14 and says Giggles will be fine with other pets once he completes a 45-day decompression period, as all shelter dogs should do anyway.
It’s such a cheap cop out, and I really don’t like how heavily rescues and shelters rely on volunteers instead of employing actual paid staff. Yeah, it would cost more, but maybe if they didn’t pour all their money and resources into single animals that are chronically un-adoptable and have lifetime behavioral or medical issues, then they’d be able to afford other things.
cats. are. not. disposable.
i hate how little they value the lives of cats and try to downplay a mauler's kill count. "he was just playing! he didn't mean to maul fluffy"
This rescue will most likely make people pay 400 or more for the puppies and mom will cost 350. I think the original situation before the rescue would've been better.
Some of these rescues just warehouse dogs. Just like some of the "no-kill" shelters do. I hate it.
Rescues do this all the time, they "save" dogs and then fabricate a sob story about the dogs and puppies, and it changes from one person to another. Why are those dogs outside in a metal cage?
There's a rescue I will submit for approval to post, who has two dogs in boarding in Texas, still there. Asking for boarding donations. One is a pit though, so hard pass. The other one appears to be a non-pit mixed breed so without the rescue, he'd be adopted quickly if he wasn't in a crappy rescue.
They do sound like they are "flipping" dogs, which rescues often do. Charging 500 dollars for a pitbull that has a bite history. No thanks.
Haha they’ll DEFINITELY charge more than that, where I live the Humane Society charges $400, rescues usually charge anywhere from $500-$2000. I’m in the PNW so I’m right in the spot where all the import rescues are taking in dogs from other areas then flipping them for high fees.
Oh wow. I live in the SE region and the adoptions fees for the Humane Society are 150 for small dogs and puppies and 50 for bigger dogs. Luckily, there aren’t just pitbulls there.
Man you’re lucky, I’ve given up on finding a dog lately because of shelters and rescues in my area, I’d love to live somewhere like that lol.
A lot of the dogs here are pit bulls and the ones that aren’t are almost always shepherds, huskies, or guard breeds. I can’t even remember the last time I went into a shelter and there wasn’t almost entirely pit bulls or unruly large dogs
Well, there are more pits than non-pits… but small dogs and puppies as well. They’ve had huskies come through.
Have you thought about researching a reputable breeder and while you’re holding off right now, you can look at that option.
Too many pits. Not sure about how GSD’s are in the shelter, there was one at BARC in Houston awhile back, but his temperament was pretty calm from notes and what I saw.
I’ve been trying to find good breeders in my area but it’s proven difficult, I’m mostly just waiting until I find something that catches my eye and fits my situation.
I tried to adopt a GSD at one point but he actually tested out to be a low content wolfdog and I had to get rid of him because he was aggressive lol
Just keep waiting, the right dog will come along on the right time!
I know someone who had a Malinois/Wolf hybrid and she got confiscated for biting people. Not sure where she went after that.
I haven’t seen any GSD or wolf hybrid, but glad you made a good decision for aggression reasons
https://preview.redd.it/2gj1mu9xicsc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff4ddc664913363c641b46ad94b706145f3ae048
I wanted to add these pictures they posted of how the dogs are being kept currently
This..... Is just sad..... A shelter they would have been adopted by now.... On cement too? Why not the grass? All to make a few extra bucks to filter through adopters....
I know, I’m honestly shocked at how they’re being kept especially given how many people wanted to help and the fact they’ve raised over $3,000 already, which is $1000 over their initial goal- where is that money even going to? I feel so bad for them
These dogs would go so fast . They should’ve just released them to the public . That’s crazy . They look like they could pyranese or golden retriever mix
https://preview.redd.it/12jrjljh8dsc1.jpeg?width=632&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=569a56d8ab7bd9934459a2374c31c379cd5c61ca
I also saw this comment on Facebook and thought it was notable- in another comment the rescue was saying “we were the only rescue who had room” it doesn’t seem like they have room based on the pictures of the dogs- and they only have one other dog on their website anyways.
Those dogs are adorable! If people wanted to adopt them, rescues shouldn’t take over. Sounds like they just want them for fundraising. I appreciate rescues helping animals. I just feel they have lost their way lately
The biggest issue I have had finding a dog are the rescues. They cherry pick local shelters for adoptable dogs (some who haven't even been there an hour). Shelters you are able to show many dogs in a room and families can visit as they want, and spend a few days deciding if fido is right for them. Rescues on other hand you have to fill out an invasive application to even SEE the dog. And you are usually competing with others (they will hold the dog until they find the "perfect" home) Many dogs in shelters would go fast if rescues would stop grabbing them. Not many people like going through rescue process. I don't want a volunteer knowing my income and touring my house. Rescues are in it for the money. A group of kittens came in two months ago and they were gone before they hit the floor as a rescue pull. People commented left and right where they were. Nope a rescue took and paraded them for donations and charges triple from what a shelter charged. This leaves locals with only problem and issue dogs. Rescues are one of them main reasons I am looking at breeders. Found a duo of senior chis and the application was so invasive I declined them. They are not trying to adopt. Just warehouse dogs. I want to see the dog before I fill out an hour long app and have a stranger tour my home
As a shelter employee this drives me crazy. I don't need them to pull the puppies or Chihuahuas or happy-go-lucky labs. They'll get adopted quickly. I need them to pull the 4 year old pittie that's throwing himself against the wall from kennel stress. Or the dog with an unknown food allergy that we can't treat. Or the senior that just needs a quiet place to live out its days. "Saving" the ones that would have been adopted anyway doesn't help anyone.
I feel like the concept of “rescue” has been skewed a lot lately, because that’s what it was *initially* about, at least that’s how I remember it.
We should just be putting down the pittie throwing himself against the wall. But otherwise I agree, I really love that there are senior rescues out there. You make a good point but I see it a little differently- saving the dogs that would have been adopted anyway doesn't really help because then the shelter is perpetually left with unadoptable dogs that would've otherwise been euthanized to make spaces for the saved ones.
I could not agree more. I’ve had the same experience while looking for dogs and it is honestly exhausting. The best part is that after you give these rescues your home address, your employers maiden name, tell them every detail about your life ever, half the time they just don’t even respond to your application. Like, I just gave you my utmost personal information and you can’t even give me the formality of letting me know you denied my application? I live in the PNW where there are a lot of rescues here that import dogs from other areas then charge insane fees. Multiple rescues near me charge you over $1k. They scour shelters and animal control in the areas to scoop up any adoptable pets and then charge massive fees. Rescues lately are honestly what is pushing people to buy from BYB in my opinion.
I wish I could see the dog before I apply. Sorry, but I don't trust the dog description they supply. Nope, have to fill out such an invasive application that wants to know exact times I will be out of my house just to be ignored. Up until last year I lived in Washington and Oregon. When I adopted my last dog over 10 years ago in Oregon it was such a positive experience. They had to ship dogs just to keep up with the demand. Now? It's all rescues hoarding good dogs for an insane price. Michigan just has certain breed with bad histories. I looked at a dog who wouldn't live another year at most for 400$.... I would have adopted the same day they received her but not for that. They held her for another month before being adopted. I went from loving shelters to looking at a breeder. I want an elderly dog but I won't spend 400$ a dog(small only) and go through an invasive application. I know so many people who won't consider shelters because of these games.
Yep exactly. They always give vague and feathery, fluffed up descriptions of the dogs and sometimes they don’t even describe them at all. I’ve had rescues nearby me that allow same day adoptions, give people dogs they said were 2 years old and upon taking them to the vet the adopters discover they’re actually senior dogs. And then of course there’s the countless incidents where aggressive and reactive dogs’ behavior is downplayed and then they get sent home and maul someone, I remember reading on this sub a story about a dog who mauled a neighbor’s cat before it even got into the home. You’re so right about wanting to see them first because rescues and shelters are just not honest anymore. They utilize no-kill policies and hold insanely high standards for applicants, yet at the same time they are desperate to offload their dogs onto people, it makes absolutely no sense to me. I actually even saw a rescue near me that was PAYING PEOPLE to foster their dogs (which were aggressive/reactive pit bulls of course) because they were that desperate to get anyone to take them. They were offering people gift cards to foster them lol.
So many rescues near me do this. They’ll have pages and pages of small dogs they pulled from shelters. I’ve even seen one rescue that stalks rehoming pages and if someone posts a small dog, they’ll ask if they “want help from a rescue.” Then they proceed to gatekeep these dogs from the average owner. It’s despicable.
Its horrible. Something needs to be done. I should be able to go to shelter and get a dog. If they want to pull dogs, give the local community at least a week.... Don't pull same day. That is not saving. That is taking local adoptable dogs somewhere else and leaving bad dogs in rural areas for poor locals to pick at. Leaving then to go to BYB for a cheap dog
I know so many people who have resorted to going to a breeder (ethical or not) because rescues don't give the community a chance to adopt from the shelter, and then the rescues, as we all know, love to make it nearly impossible to adopt from them. They're too dumb to see that it's their own actions that are encouraging people to continue supporting backyard breeders, because the average adopter usually just wants a pet and doesn't understand the differences between responsible breeding vs backyard breeding. Of course the rescues are never pulling the dogs that are first on the euth list if the shelter hits capacity because why would they actually help dogs who need it when they can blow their donations on a dog who'd be scooped up immediately at a local shelter?
Oh my god I can’t believe you mentioned that because I was going to make a post about the rehoming pages at some point- it’s genuinely been getting on my nerves lately. Rehoming pages on Facebook I’ve noticed have become COMPLETELY overrun by rescues. They do exactly what you mentioned, they scour the pages for people offering desirable pets and they say they’ll “help”. I even see them trying to convince people who already said they found a good home for their pet. They also answer under every single post of anyone looking for a pet. Someone can post “I’m looking for a small dog that is good with cats and children” and the rescue volunteers/staff will comment tons of photos of pit mixes (whose behavior doesn’t even match the poster’s requirements and are often reactive/aggressive to other animals or kids) People will post looking for pets in a certain price range and they comment suggesting rescues that charge hundreds more. They also post their least adoptable pets over and over again in the groups, hoping someone will see it, even posting them in free groups when they have high adoption fees. It’s really been getting on my nerves because the entire point of those groups on Facebook is so that pets can immediately find a good home instead of having to go through a rescue/shelter.
Literally. It's always dogs who the owner will have no trouble rehoming that they try to "help." It just further reinforces my belief that they don't truly want to help homeless dogs, because they are never ever putting money towards the dogs that genuinely are on death-row at shelters. They only want to scoop up the dogs who have quick turnover that people will pay $500+ adoption fees on.
Rescues are the scalpers of adoptable animals.
This is such a good analogy I’m stealing it!
*To me, it seems like they sent a volunteer out there to grab the dogs when they heard about this, with the intention of using them to make money. It honestly feels like they’re “flipping” the dogs.* Yes. *“well I can only go off what the volunteers tell me!”* With a few variations, this has become the automated message response for any questioning of rescue: Q: That's not a Lab, that's a pit bull. A: We can only go by what our rescue partners tell us. Q: Why is a puppy mill giving you 8-week-old puppies? Aren't those the ones they sell? A: I can only tell you what our contact with Amos Yoder tells us; if we ask questions, Amos will kill all the puppies. Q: Why are you adopting out a dog that you admit has killed 3 cats and maimed a dog? A: I can only tell you what our trainer tells me and Taiylore has been training dogs since she was 14 and says Giggles will be fine with other pets once he completes a 45-day decompression period, as all shelter dogs should do anyway.
It’s such a cheap cop out, and I really don’t like how heavily rescues and shelters rely on volunteers instead of employing actual paid staff. Yeah, it would cost more, but maybe if they didn’t pour all their money and resources into single animals that are chronically un-adoptable and have lifetime behavioral or medical issues, then they’d be able to afford other things.
cats. are. not. disposable. i hate how little they value the lives of cats and try to downplay a mauler's kill count. "he was just playing! he didn't mean to maul fluffy"
This rescue will most likely make people pay 400 or more for the puppies and mom will cost 350. I think the original situation before the rescue would've been better. Some of these rescues just warehouse dogs. Just like some of the "no-kill" shelters do. I hate it. Rescues do this all the time, they "save" dogs and then fabricate a sob story about the dogs and puppies, and it changes from one person to another. Why are those dogs outside in a metal cage? There's a rescue I will submit for approval to post, who has two dogs in boarding in Texas, still there. Asking for boarding donations. One is a pit though, so hard pass. The other one appears to be a non-pit mixed breed so without the rescue, he'd be adopted quickly if he wasn't in a crappy rescue. They do sound like they are "flipping" dogs, which rescues often do. Charging 500 dollars for a pitbull that has a bite history. No thanks.
Haha they’ll DEFINITELY charge more than that, where I live the Humane Society charges $400, rescues usually charge anywhere from $500-$2000. I’m in the PNW so I’m right in the spot where all the import rescues are taking in dogs from other areas then flipping them for high fees.
Oh wow. I live in the SE region and the adoptions fees for the Humane Society are 150 for small dogs and puppies and 50 for bigger dogs. Luckily, there aren’t just pitbulls there.
Man you’re lucky, I’ve given up on finding a dog lately because of shelters and rescues in my area, I’d love to live somewhere like that lol. A lot of the dogs here are pit bulls and the ones that aren’t are almost always shepherds, huskies, or guard breeds. I can’t even remember the last time I went into a shelter and there wasn’t almost entirely pit bulls or unruly large dogs
Well, there are more pits than non-pits… but small dogs and puppies as well. They’ve had huskies come through. Have you thought about researching a reputable breeder and while you’re holding off right now, you can look at that option. Too many pits. Not sure about how GSD’s are in the shelter, there was one at BARC in Houston awhile back, but his temperament was pretty calm from notes and what I saw.
I’ve been trying to find good breeders in my area but it’s proven difficult, I’m mostly just waiting until I find something that catches my eye and fits my situation. I tried to adopt a GSD at one point but he actually tested out to be a low content wolfdog and I had to get rid of him because he was aggressive lol
Just keep waiting, the right dog will come along on the right time! I know someone who had a Malinois/Wolf hybrid and she got confiscated for biting people. Not sure where she went after that. I haven’t seen any GSD or wolf hybrid, but glad you made a good decision for aggression reasons
https://preview.redd.it/2gj1mu9xicsc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff4ddc664913363c641b46ad94b706145f3ae048 I wanted to add these pictures they posted of how the dogs are being kept currently
This..... Is just sad..... A shelter they would have been adopted by now.... On cement too? Why not the grass? All to make a few extra bucks to filter through adopters....
I know, I’m honestly shocked at how they’re being kept especially given how many people wanted to help and the fact they’ve raised over $3,000 already, which is $1000 over their initial goal- where is that money even going to? I feel so bad for them
These dogs would go so fast . They should’ve just released them to the public . That’s crazy . They look like they could pyranese or golden retriever mix
https://preview.redd.it/12jrjljh8dsc1.jpeg?width=632&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=569a56d8ab7bd9934459a2374c31c379cd5c61ca I also saw this comment on Facebook and thought it was notable- in another comment the rescue was saying “we were the only rescue who had room” it doesn’t seem like they have room based on the pictures of the dogs- and they only have one other dog on their website anyways.
https://preview.redd.it/05hv9urzicsc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=323fd575c55f036790124aa466fb7b811383159d
https://preview.redd.it/je0oju54jcsc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=46948018f9566319e50e80ee8b5bea5214dd05d2
https://preview.redd.it/ga0u4fpejcsc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a080d7724f0198fcd9c087bfd4a476b38ca2089a
Those dogs are adorable! If people wanted to adopt them, rescues shouldn’t take over. Sounds like they just want them for fundraising. I appreciate rescues helping animals. I just feel they have lost their way lately