Dog Rescue Rant II

My last pooch passed in Nov. after 15yrs of good health, hiking, camping, frisbee catching and squirrel murdering. (he was a puppy mill puppy, btw) I have decided to get another dog and who wouldn't want to rescue one that has had a bit of a bad deal? We had a thread on this subject recently so some of you are aware that it is a completely insane process.

Home visits, contracts, invasive questionnaires. Essentially - you have to beg these people to obtain their permission to provide a home for an animal and while they spend entirely too much effort trying to prevent you from doing just that. If you are one of these people READ THIS: NOBODY LIKES PUPPY MILLS. THEY BUY FROM THEM AS A LAST RESORT BECAUSE YOU PEOPLE ARE IN-berkeleyING-SANE.

So berkeley you. berkeley you and your obsessive bullE36 M3. berkeley you and your filthy tumble down shack full of dogs you can't let go of to live on my huge expanse of open land because it isn't "fully fenced". berkeley you and your "mandatory home visit" you smelly berkeleytard shiny happy person. You aren't coming to my house because you look like a stalker. berkeley your "process". I can get a kid with a cleft palate from Russia with less paperwork. berkeley you.

The pet store and local breeders are chock full of dogs that need a home - they might be from a puppy mill or of questionable lineage or completely awesome - but they are cash and carry and I look it at it this way - I'm saving them from having to live with you.

Ahhhh. I feel better. If any of you folks have a happy, healthy, young, midsize , high energy dog like a smooth fox terrier, border collie, aussie shepard, brittany spaniel or ... than needs a good home no strings attached ping me.

Try the Humane Society instead. And I agree 1000% with your rant.

No dogs here, but we haven't adopted any more cats, because they make it so insanely difficult.

Really? Three personal references and a vet letter of recommendation?

Geez.

I've never had a problem with the good old Humane Society.

But yeah, i've read many horror stories about those people, and even experienced similar with a cat shelter. I told them i'd just go to the Human Society and save TWO cats on a BOGO deal for $99.99 instead of paying them $300 for a cat that they thought MIGHT have a tiny bit of Siamese in it ($150 markup awwwwwww YEAH! Oh, and it didn't.) with a side of anal probing.

Humane society FTW. Rescues are a frickin JOKE. Walk in, give money, walk out with awesome new critter. I got my last low mileage cat from there. He's passed out under my office chair as I type.

We have had very good luck with Red, that we just adopted off the streets. Thought we were going to have to get rid of him for a while, but that has happily passed. (Happy for me, at least) We also have had very good experience with Humane Society, although they can be a bit inaccurate on breed descriptions. Last one we got was supposed to be a small terrier mix. Sweet Sadie got up to 70 pounds. Not a small terrier mix.

cwh wrote: We have had very good luck with Red, that we just adopted off the streets. Thought we were going to have to get rid of him for a while, but that has happily passed. (Happy for me, at least) We also have had very good experience with Humane Society, although they can be a bit inaccurate on breed descriptions. Last one we got was supposed to be a small terrier mix. Sweet Sadie got up to 70 pounds. Not a small terrier mix.

On the flip side of that... my last trip to the Humane Society yielded a normal orange tabby that grew up to not be so normal. Well.. it's still a normal orange tabby, but not normal sized. He's HUGE.

And a legit Egyptian Mau. Not entirely sure how that one happened. They said they found her in the streets, so i'm guessing she just got out and never came back or something.

Try Craigslist or Kijiji. I got my last Siamese critter from Kijiji for $100 - what a character! He was raised with a family so he's 100% well-adjusted and thinks he's god's gift to the feline world. Never met a more affectionate critter.

My other siamese came from a breeder via the pet shop. Paid almost $300 for him because he was a dead ringer for my recently departed 20-year old fellow. He's the equivalent of an emotionally disturbed child from an abusive household – needy, kleptomaniac, pathetically grateful for attention, and has separation anxiety so bad that I have to keep my bedroom door shut and hide the couch pillows when I go away or he'll pee all over them.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: On the flip side of that... my last trip to the Humane Society yielded a normal orange tabby that grew up to not be so normal. Well.. it's still a normal orange tabby, but not normal sized. He's HUGE.

I have one like that. You can see one of the same breed (I like to call them Orangepuss Giganticus) in Aliens:

I got my cat from a humane society type place, extremely cheap. She appears to be a Bombay.

We have 3 cats currently, 2 from the Humane Society (Einstein and Porshae), and 1 from Paws-to-Adopt (Lrrr), which was really just a crazy old cat lady with literally 100 cats in her house. The first 2 are perfect pets, Lrrr is a sweetie, but is always in trouble. All future cats/dogs/chickens/jackalopes/lobsters will come from the Humane Society.

My local rescue group is a good bunch, not obsessive in the slightest. I have my current dog from them, and had to drop off a kitten who developed a limp and a liking for my daughter. The cat and the dog didn't play nice, so we dropped the kitten off.

GameboyRMH wrote:

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: On the flip side of that... my last trip to the Humane Society yielded a normal orange tabby that grew up to not be so normal. Well.. it's still a normal orange tabby, but not normal sized. He's HUGE.

I have one like that. You can see one of the same breed (I like to call them Orangepuss Giganticus) in Aliens:

Mr. Peach @ 8 months i think...

Full-size beer bottle..

Christmas kitty!!!!

6 month old Mr Peach next to 2 year old Lilah.

Egyptian Mau from the Humane Society. WIN!

Are those ENELOOP batteries? If so, berkeley yeah!

Not real sure to be honest.... they're Dolica rechargeables of some kind. Use 'em in the camera. I should make a new thread for camera batteries.

The shelter we got our dogs from wasn't anything like that. The only kind of lame thing they did was you had to give a $50 donation to the shelter to get a dog, no big deal really.

Our dogs are both awesome though

Here's Louie, that's the foot of an ironing board he's leaned up against. He has orange eyes like Mr. Peach too.

Funny enough we named his apparently twin brother Nugget because he was the fat one when they were kittens, but Nugget grew up to be a normal-sized cat.

GameboyRMH wrote:

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: On the flip side of that... my last trip to the Humane Society yielded a normal orange tabby that grew up to not be so normal. Well.. it's still a normal orange tabby, but not normal sized. He's HUGE.

I have one like that. You can see one of the same breed (I like to call them Orangepuss Giganticus) in Aliens:

Me too me too! Mine's not quite as boldly colored as Peach is- (In fact he looks perpetually dirty.... we call him dingy cat sometimes) but he's large, probably 30lbs, He's a polydactyl, so I even got extra free toes with purchase! Wife suckered me with that one, she hit all 3 requirements for the next cat in one shot. Poly, orange, and huge.

when we first got him- scared, half bald, freshly neutered

To this character. He's my shadow.

Red, now a healthy 65#, is currently wrapped around my feet, under my desk. Affectionate? Um, yeah. They do help the blood pressure.

OK, so, a little perseverance has led me to a rescue that has potential as a non-asshat org looking to place a pair of terriers. To be continued after 7pm..... maybe only 90% of them suck donkey nads.

ALL the rescues are so certain, anymore, that any pet you "save" is going to wind up as fodder for some dog fight event that they think things like home visits will weed out the pet abusers. So from that standpoint, I can't help but defend them. But why paint all potential adopters as bad?

BTW, I also vote for the local Humane Society. I volunteered for the one in Memphis and at the time they were "housed" in an old gas station. They had lots of folks "dump off" pets, but few takers. Very sad situation.

Too bad you're all the way in PA, GPS. My foster group would have no problem having you adopt a dog. Hell we even give trials, so people can see if the dog is compatible so it doesn't end up back at the shelter.

I would like to know who these shiny happy people are who can't find homes for dogs because of stupid bullE36 M3 like no fences and what not.

That home visit bullE36 M3 is bullE36 M3.

cwh wrote: We also have had very good experience with Humane Society, although they can be a bit inaccurate on breed descriptions. Last one we got was supposed to be a small terrier mix. Sweet Sadie got up to 70 pounds. Not a small terrier mix.

I remember being at the HS once to have a pet spayed. There was a young woman there, maybe 5'-2" and 110 pounds. She had a GIANT black dog (maybe 5'-2" and 110 pounds) with her and I struck up a conversation.

Turns out she had adopted it as a young puppy from that same HS. When she adopted it they told her it was a Labrador. It was actually a Newfoundland.

Meh, they're both places in Canada, right? Close enough.

Dat damn, enough with the cats!

Here are some $62 pound hounds:

Ok that's not a good picture of the poor thing:

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: Too bad you're all the way in PA, GPS. My foster group would have no problem having you adopt a dog. Hell we even give trials, so people can see if the dog is compatible so it doesn't end up back at the shelter. I would like to know who these shiny happy people are who can't find homes for dogs because of stupid bullE36 M3 like no fences and what not. That home visit bullE36 M3 is bullE36 M3.

Shame indeed. I am not opposed to traveling but - I gotta believe there are reasonable humans closer then IL... although that is a pretty damn good idea for a road trip.