Denied by local humane society:(

[lizardz]

Meggers,
Sorry you and your family went through this. It is hard to understand how they can be so nit-picky about things. They are always clamoring about how they need new foster homes for the animals - how about being a little more forgiving of potential owners not having the "perfect" set up. I know you'll find the right one for you, but it is hard to be told that you're not "worthy" when they don't even know you.

On a side note - My cousin and her family live in Mt. Vernon. It's been years since I've been up there, but it's really nice!

Good luck finding your new family member.

Liz

 

[meggers32]

Thanks for the support you guys. I needed to hear these things, to know that it's not just me. I have never in my life been examined like this, not even when we bought our first house. How do they possibly get any animals adopted with this process! Taking a full week to make a decision, and picking apart my entire application. My word, these people should be in the Child adoption process, not animals. As far as talking to them and asking them why or what I could do in the future, I did ask. I asked calmly and nicely which was really hard at that time, and didn't get a great response. She said that she was sorry that it did not work out but they could keep our app on file for the future. Why? I thought. What dog are they going to let me adopt without a fence? I guess I can't prove how responsible I am, my word is nothing. My experience with dogs my whole life and the fact that I have kept my current dog safe for the last two years on our property is not enough. No matter their reason, I will never go there. I feel sorry for the way they do things, how are these dogs and cats going to ever be adopted out in a somewhat timely fashion, and what impact are they creating in this homeless animal crises when they hold onto them for so long. I support the proper placement of animals and doing what we can to find good homes, but this is rediculous.

 

[PQ4evr]

alot of rescues do use petfinder.com as well as individuals larger cities from my experiance aren't as nit picky since they are over crowded we have 3 Labradors all rescues in some form or fashion the first one is a hurricaine rescue he is my sons bed buddy any lays around the second was company for my mother in law his failed hunters training and was going to be put down we drove all the way to WV for him and my sons dog was too hyper so they sent her packing. They have all turned out to be wonderful and my son couldn't be happier another thing you could do is look in the classifieds people give there pets up to people before resorting to the shelter.I do hope you find the right puppy/dog for your children.

 

[nzpouter]

Do they actually come out and visit your property for suitability?

 

[meggers32]

nzpouter, no they don't come out and visit unless you are "our of district". Whatever in the world that means. They didn't look at our place, just judged it based on where they think all of the predators are. What did they think I was gonna do, use her as coyote bait?

We are up at a higher level and rarely have coyote sightings up here, just down where the livestock are and the other farm animals. I told them this, but I think they had already adopted her out when they gave me the bad news, so it was irrelevent.

 

[Kanchii]

You should REALLY write a letter about your experiences and quote some others experience from this forum, and send it to your newspaper.

 

[meggers32]

All of you who said to write in to the newspaper, I think you are right! I feel a cause coming on.......

 

[kobesmom81]

I have heard alot about people having issues adopting animals due to the humane society having the whole "screening" process. We have yet to deal with the issue but have started looking for a house to buy and decided that we would get a puppy once we were moved and settled. I started looking on petfinder just to see what was out there and noticed the outrageously high prices some of these places charge. I found one that was charging $200 for a dog. Mind you, the dog was not even a purebred. I don't understand how they get away with this. It's not like eveyone can drop $200 on a dog and for the people who can, why not just go to a breeder and get something pure? Basically it says to me, if you can't afford to drop $200 (or $100, $150, etc.) on a dog then you wouldn't be a good owner anyway. That's not right. 10 years ago I adopted one of our cats for $30, today he would cost me $75 or more. Plus, I had to have him neutered before I could bring him home. He was barely 6 weeks, too young to be neutered. I know alot of people go and get animals with no intention of taking care of them properly but they can afford the fee and make it look like they will take care of the animal so they get picked. It's really not fair to the rest of us who love animals and treat them as family memebers.

 

[b'hamPeeps]

Meggers--
Were you at that humane society near I-5 near the Camano exit? I haven't been there but have heard that they are ....um...more like "alternative humane societies".

We were just at the Baker Creek site of the Bellingham Humane Society yesterday. I think they are much more open to actual adoption. There were several nice dogs including the sweetest St. Bernard mix who was not so big but very quiet and calm. You might want to check it out....

I think you can see their dogs on Petfinder (Whatcom Humane Society)

Good luck!

 

[birdnutz]

I go 50 miles to Casper. It is a kill shelter run by the city. My thoughts are the ones in a rescue are safe. But then again I drove around 900 miles to adopt a parrot from a rescue. Great bird and great experience. See if there are any kill shelters around and adopt from them. I believe they have a little more prospective on people adopting animals. Plus the fee is more in line for most people.