Do you help private re-homing adoptions?

[Mudpups]

Does anyone help people to find appropriate homes for their BC that they need to relinquish, or do you only deal with dogs that you take control of, or pull from shelters?

 

How do you do this? Do you list those dogs on your website, or assess the dog, provide support to the owner? Are their situation that you won't get involved with at all? It seems to me that these BC's are in need of appropriate placement as much as the ones pulled from shelters (so they don't end up in a shelter down the track). What about an adoption fee? There are inherent problems with advertising a dog 'free to good home' and I don't want to promote dogs for sale, so maybe a donation to a rescue group instead, or an adoption fee to cover recent spey-neuter/vaccinations (proof required) might encourage owners giving up their dog to shell out for the surgery rather than re-home an unsterilized dog?

 

What about BC's from working homes that havn't worked out on stock?

 

I'd really appreciate reading other people experiences and thoughts about helping the dogs in these situations.

 

Thanks

 

Michelle

[juliepoudrier]

I'm not a recuer, but I know that a lot of rescues have what they call "courtesy listings" where people who are still in possession of their dogs they want to place can get exposure through the rescue's Web site. In these cases the rescue makes no claims about any dog listed--they are there as a courtesy to their owners trying to find them a new home.

 

J.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

If there is room, or the dog is in danger, or the dog really needs to leave the situation he or she is in, owner-relinquishments are a normal part of breed rescue, just as much as shelter rescue is. Most of my dogs are owner-relinquishments because I tend to take dogs that are really desperate for a place to go. Having the owner relinquish a dog formally makes it easier on everyone if the space is there for the dog.

 

However, if the dog is not in danger, or there just isn't room in the foster homes, or the owner isn't interested in immediate relinquishment, they can do an owner-foster. In such cases the rescue or rescues are more loosely involved. Usually the main service they provide is simply advertising the dog on their web site.

 

These are usually called courtesy listings. They are usually listed separately but must follow the guidelines of the group regarding immunizations being up to date and spay/neuter. Sometimes they must use the adoption contract used by the rescue group and the dog will return to the rescue if things don't work out in the new home.

 

How fees are arranged are usually up to the individual listing group - generally if it's just a family, and they use the resources of the group to find the dog a home (volunteers do home evaluations, applications go through the group, etc), the group will get the fee. The group either makes it clear that the dog did not come through them and thus they can't offer the same level of support on the dog that an adopter would get from a foster dog - or else they dedicate enough time to the "owner foster" to get to know the dog and feel comfortable making recommendations about the dog. Usuallly it's the first though.

 

Working dogs that are looking for homes are usually placed entirely by the trainer. Rescue rarely gets involved with these. Well, at least around here.

[Tranquilis]

We've taken some owner turn-ins, where time, safety, or resources are critical for the welfare of the dog. Mostly, though, I think the Boss makes connections between individual people, out of the public eye. I can't recall that we've done a public courtesy listing recently.

[MrSnappy]

Well, I guess we do things a little differently.

 

We take in owner surrenders all the time. We do not have huge kill shelters here (shelters do euth, but not en masse and not without some serious cause most of the time) so taking dogs from shelters so they do not die is not a priority for us. We would rather take an owner surrender than see it go to a shelter, as it will often end up with us anyway, and to spare the dog the shelter experience. Owner surrenders make up a good bulk of our dogs.

 

However we do NOT list owner rehomes, or do courtesy listings. The biggest reason for this is simply liability - we will not be involved in the placement of a dog we have not personally screened and evaluated in one of our foster homes. In my (considerable) experience, owners are not able or not willing to honestly evaluate their dogs and too many times in the past we have connected innocent potential adopters with real beasts that the owner was not honest about when they contacted us. The very last time we assisted in a direct owner-to-adopter placement we sent nice, screened potential adopters to the owner and the dog (whom we had not met) BIT THE POTENTIAL ADOPTER IN THE FACE. 19 stitches below and above her eye at the Emergency Hospital.

 

From then on, I have absolutely refused to assist in direct owner placements. As my legal counsel says - we can put all the disclaimers we like on the website when doing courtesy listings, and certainly in any incident that happens we can be considered "absolved" by having a disclaimer that says we are not responsible for and blah blah at your own risk blah blah but in a lawsuit, someone who was seriously bitten is going to trump our disclaimer every time. So it's not worth it.

 

It's also a pain in the ass - chasing down owners to get their information to keep the listing updated; the dog gets adopted and the owner tells no one, and other applicants get no response, get mad, take it out on me; the owner flakes on applicants who get mad, take it out on me; potential applicants can't understand the concept of "TDBCR does not have the dog" and when we tell them we can't answer their questions, get mad ... and take it out on me. Etc. This is my hobby, not my job, and I make my hobby as pleasant as possible for me.

 

RDM

[Tranquilis]

Well, I guess we do things a little differently.

 

We take in owner surrenders all the time. We do not have huge kill shelters here (shelters do euth, but not en masse and not without some serious cause most of the time) so taking dogs from shelters so they do not die is not a priority for us. We would rather take an owner surrender than see it go to a shelter, as it will often end up with us anyway, and to spare the dog the shelter experience. Owner surrenders make up a good bulk of our dogs.

I'd say that the simple majority of our dogs come from potential shelter-kill situations. The rest seem (from what I know) to be a pretty fair mix of all other sources, including owner surrenders. I guess the regional economy is still moderately stable.

[lrayburn]

I have helped in several private rehomings - generally for dogs that I have worked with but who are not good matches for their current situations. In these cases, I have worked with and know the dogs and screen potential adopters to make sure they understand the needs of the dog in question and will be suitable matches for the dog. Beyond that, I leave the ultimate decision to the owner. While I suggest that the dog be listed with an adoption fee (mostly to screen out people who wouldn't be willing to put out that expense), generally the dogs are adopted without a fee simply because the owner is happy to have the dog in a more compatible situation. Most of the dogs that I actually send to a rescue group come from a shelter setting.

Lisa

[Mudpups]

Thanks everyone for all of the responses, its great to hear different opinions and experiences. I totally lost August with everyone here being sick with the flu and then trying to play catch up, and still not getting there:(

 

As much as I hate the whole idea of it, legal issues are a real concern - seeing as I am doing this pretty much alone, risk of legal implications is a serious issue that I need to consider as it would actually affect me personally, my family and our house if it went that far. My understanding is that to remove that personal risk involves incorporating and the costs of that are currently prohibitive, so I am making enquiries to all breed rescue groups to see if I can volunteer with them with the BC's that come through their doors, and compiling resources and information for BC owners needing a bit of help. I know that if I can start with a stable foundation, its going to be a lot easier to manage long term, and even though I havn't been able to take in any dogs, I have been able to help with a couple already, so thats a start.

 

LOL I just need another 15 hours in the day to get everything done!

 

Michelle

[MrSnappy]

LOL I just need another 15 hours in the day to get everything done!

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of rescue ;-)

 

RDM

[Bo Peep]

Now, that I'm not involved with rescue through any venue, I do my own. I take in unwanted BC's or BCX's and train them to be service dogs. I also have a long list of "pet homes" that want a well trained dog - just for a pet. So, I take in the dog and train it in manners 101 and give it to someone I "know and trust".

 

I meet people that see my SD, Usher and want him- NO WAY- but I can help them, with time to have one just like him. So, that's what I do. One dog at a time. Nothing noble about it, just passes the time and saves one simple dogs life. We can't save them all.