Why oh why is adopting a dog so difficult?

are they not telling you why you are not being selected? have you asked?

Dunno. I was seriously contemplating a particular breed rescue... then I read the application. They can make up to three surprise visits within the first year and TAKE THE DOG BACK WITH NO REFUNDS if I'm not living up to their standards.

Another rescue wants two references from people who don't live with me AND I'm not related to. So that would be... all people who've never known me when I've had a pet.

That same rescue, and the county shelter, want a veterinarian reference (the rescue states it is going to CALL THEM). What the--? I haven't had a pet in twenty-five years. I don't have a relationship with any vet. I know I will need to find one, but I'm not going to preaudition vets when I don't even know if I'm going to have a dog!

They're not really doing a whole lot to dissuade me from a cash-only facebook transaction.

I gave up going through rescues decades ago. We are caring and dedicated pet owners, yet were turned down so many times for the most ridiculous reasons. Once because I 'neglected' to list my son's pet turtle on the form. Another time because the home visit person didn't like that my adult daughter's cat preferred to stay in DD's room during the *inspection* visit.

I think rescues mean well, but they get carried away and do more harm than good, I'm afraid.

ETA:  I go through vetted breeders now.  I wish I didn't have to make that choice, but rescues have made it a miserable process with a very low rate of making their approval.  So sad for all the animals that miss out on awesome homes due to outrageous requirements/judgments by rescue people.

oh that does suck. I would ask them about the discrepancy between what they are saying vs. what they are posting on fb. Maybe there is a good reason? I dunno what that could be - but I would think they would want to use the people who have already been approved. SaveSave

We always adopted from shelters. There was always paperwork, but nothing too bad or out of line.

I hope you can find a new puppy soon!

And what is funny is the rescue groups wanted upwards of $1000 for a dog! We got Sadie for $350. She was 4 months old. Came to us fixed with basic training. The breeder decided to keep the stud who was fixed. Mom was only bred twice.

Toby was $32 as he was already fixed.

Two of our rescues came from people that were “friend of a friend” situations, the third one came from the Humane Society. We’ve never had trouble finding pets to adopt.

There is a group here that wants your social security number. No joke.

Our dog was a freebie outside of walmart.

I don't doubt it at all.   Many won't let you even own the animal.   They still retain ownership and get to make the final decisions for things like euthanasia or surgeries over a certain amount.   So ridiculous.

We tried to adopt a Jack Russell a few months ago.  Their adoption application was longer than my clearance form at work.  No, really, it was.  12 pages.    They wanted to know who held our mortgage and our home and property insurance.   We had a good laugh.  I didn't fill out the stupid thing.   Clearly they had no desire to adopt anything out.

A couple of weeks before we bought our new horse I was looking around at rescues. Those ponies need homes and I'd love to give one a second chance.  A quick perusal of 3 local rescues contracts had me running to Facebook looking to buy a horse.

It's just sad that the requirements are so ridiculous. One rescue wanted the socials of everyone living in the house. Sorry, no way in hell that'd be happening. Another had super specific fencing requirements. Not re-doing my hundreds of feet of fencing when it's never been a problem for my existing horse. And the third wanted more money for a teenage riding horse than 50% of the Craigslist ads I saw and the Craigslist horses were much nicer and had better training.

Not to mention that nearly all the adoption contracts prohibited you from ever selling or re-homing the horse. Plus, they reserved the right to take the horse away without notice if they should ever swing by and decide they didn't like how it was being cared for.

It sucks, we're a good home and a good animal loving family. But that seems to be the last thing considered for some of these places.

Both dogs FH and I have owned have been from the local shelter. Both were really good dogs; my second one, who passed in June, was my best buddy ever.

Once I am ready for another dog (if I ever am) I will go to the shelter and look. It’s like they know they’ve ben given another chance.

Although we have two dogs from a rescue, I will never go that route again.

First off, our beloved first doggie has so many health problems that relate to no doubt being the product of a backyard breeder. He has cost us thousands. We love him dearly. But. For that much money, I could have gotten a champion AKC bloodline puppy with a health guarantee.

Secondly, we applied to SO many and got no response at all or were turned down for ridiculous reasons.

Thirdly, What soured me even more was that because my first rescue dog has had health problems requiring visiting 6 vets, ALL 6 of those vets have been very negative about rescues. All of them. They all told stories of rescues hiding health problems by getting the dogs shot up with prednisone, lying about the age of the dog, lying about the dog's history, etc. In fact, the first vet told us, "Assume everything a rescue tells you about a dog is a lie. Either the original owners lied or the rescue is lying to get rid of the dog." The vets all said they themselves would never get a dog from a rescue. I was shocked at first, but after the 5th vet had the same attitude, I got the picture.

The pounds around here only have pits, chihuahuas and very large dogs, so that was not an option.

The SPCA had always been great to us. Three family dogs came  from them.