Help! Dog Rescue and Psycho perspective owners!

[redhen]

Okay..i'll get yelled at again..*sigh* but here it goes...

Just because the guy was a little unsure about the dog ONE day..does that make them bad dog owners? Maybe he was just unsure that day.... it happens to all of us. WHY is that a BAD thing? I dont think you gave them a fair chance at all..
And if you say that you've never had second thoughts on anything as important as taking in a dog..then you shouldnt EVEN have a dog to begin with. Its NOT a decision to take lightly...
See..THIS right here is WHY i will NOT adopt from shelters/rescues.... its just crazy. Sounds like these people want to HELP this dog by giving it a better life.... and they are denied? because they waffled ONE day??
Wow... Frankly, i find its the shelters/rescues that are the ones that are a bit Psycho and over the top.
Yeah... i'll stick to breeders and puppys, thanks. Too much hassle to "adopt" a dog and give it a good home.. ...

That being said... the guy should NOT have hung up on you.... and for THAT reason..and that reason ONLY, i WOULD go get the dog back. Just cause i'm a witch and i dont like when people hang up on me..

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

Anyone that is **that** unsure about dog ownership shouldn't have a dog at that time. They adopt a dog, then in one day feel "defeated" by it?? Come on! If a dog can make you feel that defeated and bad then you really need to go get a mental health evaluation. Either the person is dilusional or the adopter didn't screen well and the adoptee's didn't really want a dog in the first place. Something is screwy here. Might be that they just bit off more than they could chew...but they should just say that and cut their losses.

Again watch this:

 

[redhen]

I dont know... its honestly hard to say..
they just sounded a bit eccentric to me..(talking about the op's situation).. i know lots of folks like that. Doesnt make them bad animal owners..
Just my opionion..
Either way..i wasnt there.

All i know is..i have this dang little terror yorkie terrier..and i AM defeated by her at this point.
My 2 saint bernards are angels compared to this spoiled monster my mother created...

So yeah..i can see someone being overwhelmed a bit by a new dog in the house..

We do love her though...

 

[welsummerchicks]

I read through what happened several times, and I have to say that I am really shocked by people's reactions here, and to the O.P.'s reaction. I have seen very odd extremely defensive responses to dog situations here before, maybe I shouldn't be shocked.

I was thinking for a while, wow, I must have missed something really major, so I go back and read the whole thread three times. Three.

The whole thing reminds me of the scene in 'High Anxiety' where Mel Brookes starts screaming, 'I beeped! I beeped! Send me back to Auschwitz!'

But the idea of getting the cops involved and many of the reactions here, I think are very, very extreme overreactions to the facts of the situation.

Unless something else happened that she didn't mention, I REALLY do not think anything so terrible is apparent. I agree with a previous post that people do waffle back and forth on things, and I mentioned this before myself. The peope may have been confused about what to do with various behaviors and got some advice/help from their friend, vet, got a book, a video, who knows.

 

[claud]

I've felt defeated by my dog several times. LOL

No, seriously, I would try to arrange a meeting with them with an open mind to try to figure out what the real problem is. Tell them you want to help them have the best match and if they are having a particular problem with the dog that you could help them deal with that.

I would guess the situation is this: Wife does not want a dog, husband wants a dog. Dog pees on the floor(or something), wife makes husband call to give dog back, husband talks wife into giving it another try, tells you, you insist to get the dog back - now husband feels a bit stuck - has wife talked into but now is going to have an issue with you.

Just a thought but it fits doesn't it?

If you let them know they can return the dog at any time the wife might feel less pressure and give it a chance.

 

[Diamond Wire Farms]

UPDATE: Hi everyone. I reread the thread too. And I can see why people might think that I was jumping to an extreme solution. I think what was getting discussed was a worse case scenario plan that I was trying to avoid. The reality of the situation is the family had the puppy for 3 days on a trial. During which time they made about 7 phone calls to me. Two of these calls involved crying and feeling "defeated & disappointed" in the dog. Then the turn-around on the morning of Day 4, saying that they had decided to keep the dog again. This call culminated in the man hanging up on me. I am not saying that this family could not be good dog owners. I am just saying that they seem to be in a highly volatile decision tree over this dog at this time, and I am confident that I could find a better home for the puppy. This dog has already been rehomed twice! To place him in an if-y situation just to see if they can eventually work out sounds cruel.

So now the update: I did wait until the wife got home from work, and then called her cell-phone. I explained the situation with the husband's phone call from earlier that day. She agreed that she still did not believe they were ready for a dog. She also added that her husband wanted the dog, but has not been spending time with it. Leaving her to take care of the puppy that she didn't want in the first place. I felt much better about the decision to have the dog returned after this discussion. And it validated "that funny feeling" which was the reason I wanted the dog returned in the first place. In the end, we have an agreement to meet today and return the dog.

Thank you everyone for the advice. You helped me not do anything rash (even thought my blood was boiling when he hung up on me,) and gave me avenues to be prepared if, if, if the spiral continued. Hopefully everything goes swimmingly at the exchange today. I will be updating my adoption contract to reflect this sticky situation for future adoptees.

Thanks again!

 

[chickbea]

Yay! I hope it all goes smoothly for you from here on out.

 

[SilverPhoenix]

I'm glad you got the situation straightened out and that the puppy will be back with you.

It's not good when there are family rifts about an animal... It can just lead to bad feelings and often it's not in the animal's best interest either. It's good that nothing ended up being extreme or difficult, and it sounds like having the puppy on a trial ended up being good for the family as well because it helped them determine that they are not ready for a dog. That's what trials are for--either things work out or they don't! I foster puppies and dogs myself so I understand your concern about the phone calls you received and being hung up on. I'm just happy that things worked out okay for everyone.

 

[welsummerchicks]

Oh! So the guy wanted the puppy but wasn't taking care of the dog and dumped it on the wife!

Geee! Where have I heard that story before - well - Lots and lots of places!!! For a very long time. Glad you're getting the pup out of there. I didn't know the guy hung up on you, or that the wife had the dog foisted on her. Good on ya for digging just a little deeper and finding out what's going on.

 

[Diamond Wire Farms]

He's back! Thanks everyone. There's a happy puppy sleeping soundly under my desk while I write this! He doesn't seem to be offended by the goings on of the last few days. Happy to see me, happy to get to ride in the truck!

Thanks again, everyone! I knew the Fowl-crowd would pull through for me!