NationStates Jolt Archive

My mum runs a flea market once a month at a place near my house called The Factory. In The Factory, there is a pet rescue organisation called Happy Tales Humane. Every Saturday, they have a dog adoption day during which the foster parents of the dogs bring the dogs in for the general public to meet, as they don't have enough room at the facility to keep dogs all the time.

Yesterday, Saturday, I walked my dog Bellamy from the back of The Factory up to Happy Tales to visit the other dogs because he lives with cats, not other dogs, and he likes to meet other dogs from time to time. He was just happily going around sniffing the other dogs and such, and I came across a little English Springer Spaniel. She was just the most lovely little thing and I was instantly drawn to her just like I was drawn to Bellamy when I adopted him back in October. I took her to meet my grandparents, who were back at the flea market, and they said that they'd like to adopt her because she was just the sweetest little thing.

I went back to Happy Tales and started filling out the application to adopt her, and one of the volunteers looked over my shoulder.

"Are you Judy?"

"No, that's my grandmother. I'm adopting her for my grandparents because their dog just died."

They insisted on meeting my grandparents, and I said that they were back in the flea market. They asked who the third person was on the list and I explained that he is my uncle who lives on my grandparents' property in a seperate house. They then said that they needed to meet him too. By this time, my grandfather and my mother had come up and they started drilling them about how the puppy would be living. Pa said that she'd have complete run of their sixty-acre farm, but would sleep in their bed at night, and when she couldn't be watched, she'd be put on a run in their yard. The woman tut-tutted and said that the dogs that they were putting for adoption were to be inside only and that if they wanted a dog for "that sort of thing" they'd be better going to animal control.

After a long conversation, my mother and grandfather left and I stayed behind to pet some of the dogs. As I sat there not ten feet from the women who were volunteering, they started badmouthing my family. "I should have asked them how many coyotes are on their sixty acres." (Well, we wouldn't know, and she wouldn't be out at night anyway. They're nocturnal, dumbass.) "Do they think that we're just trying to get rid of these animals?" (Um... you are an adoption agency for animals and are constantly having too many animals to care for, so yes.) And so on.

Long story short, we sent a friend to adopt her for us. Her name is Kathleen, and she's precious.

So here's my beef:

1. I think that it's about the love and attention you lavish on the animal, not where it lives. My Bellamy spends all day outside and sleeps in a crate at night, and he's a happy, well adjusted therapy dog. My grandparents are retired and spend all day caring for the animals on their farm, so why should these people say that they can't have a dog? It's the owner, not the house.

2. OMFG Kathleen is so sick! According to her records, she's had all of her first round shots including bordetella and things like flea care, deworming, et cetera. Considerind that Kathleen was throwing up worms last night and has been shitting them out all day today, I'd say that she hasn't been dewormed. She has ear mites, an ear infection in one ear, oogy eyes (which probably is because she has...), kennel cough, and fleas. What kind of care are these people giving her that she's so ill? How could they possibly miss the spaghetti-like worms that she's crapping everywhere?

3. Since when have people been so rude that they think they can talk about someone with the person still sitting there? What do they know about us? They just know that my grandparents live on a farm and like raising their dogs the way that we all did before the world started insisting that dogs should be rolled around in strollers and carried in tiny purses.

So my question is... do you call bullshit on how they behave? Do you think that this vetting process is going a little too far? Or do you think that they have the right idea on denying perfectly good applications on the basis of where they live?

I would have to side with you and your grandparents and call bullshit on the adoption place.

I say call them on the bullshit, and the illness's to if the paperwork doesn't match, and if it does go up and complain about how they didn't say this dog has such in such.

And then raise hell, about the women who were talking bad. Lol thats my oppinion.

Since Kathleen was in such poor condition when you acquired her, you might want this adoption organization to be thoroughly vetted by the Humane Society. Sounds like they're guilty of neglect and hypocrisy.

Yeah call in the US version of RSPCA on them for animal cruelty.

You sat there while they badmouthed your family and did nothing at all about it. It's not what's wrong with them but what's wrong with you? I'd have told her to apologise straight away and if she refused, well all the little doggies would get a lesson in how to be top of the food chain.

You sat there while they badmouthed your family and did nothing at all about it. It's not what's wrong with them but what's wrong with you?
My only excuse is that I'm a wuss ass, and that's a pretty piss-poor excuse. I mostly cried to whole time the fiasco was going on, so I wasn't much use at all to anyone D:.

Well there's a place for wuss ass types. It's called court. Have the loudmouth done for anmal cruelty and neglect. If you took the dog to a vet get them to put the details of what was wrong with the dog in a letter and have her closed down. It's the legal eqivalent of bitchslapping her. Even if the case comes to nothing make sure the local paper finds out, they'll publish anything mildly salacious.

I remember when my youngest daughter was about 1 and a half, and hubby and I went to one of those adoption fairs, to look at animals, I found a cat that I wanted and started asking about adoption and was told

"we don't adopt animals out to teen mothers because they aren't responisble"

nevermind the fact that I was 20, or that I was married, or hey... that it was none of their damn business.

I decided not to adopt from them, after they started talking about home visits, and a "trial period" and you know random home checks.

These people are crazy.

Dogs not for outdoor use? Wouldn't keeping a dog indoors 24/7 be cruel?
Ours spends most of his time outdoors of his own volition.
Poor doggies. Stupid humies.

Shit these people sound like a right bunch of nutters, you are completly right and thgey wrong, but as to your 3rd pont, shit people do that everyday, hehe it has always been like that, err umm 'specialy the wimmin folx!:eek:

What the hell? Dog only for indoor use?

Man, if I could let my dogs run outside (and I can't, because the garden isn't completely closed off so they end up running on the street >.<) then I would, because the dogs would be much happier outside.

Bah, those guys were plain nutters. I can understand wanting to be sure they get adopted by good people, but how far are you willing to be paranoid?

You need "Lady Punch (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc6Z88oymEU)", just click your heels three times and she will appear.

They're crazy.

Then again, all animal lovers are. But I voted "they're crazy" because they're crazier than you. By a long way.

your grandparents are probably taking care of this right now

but talk to them about it to make sure

they must have taken the dog to the vet today to be treated. if they didnt talk to the vet about how they got her, you should recommend to them that they DO. the vet will then go to the authorities about these people.

1) they dont know anything about dogs--a farm with a retired couple who would keep it indoors at night is perfect for a spaniel. spaniels will never be happy being kept indoors. few dogs above the miniature/toy size will.

2) they are forging the dogs' health records. this is probably a crime and at a minimum it jeopardizes the dogs' health.

3) they dont have enough money to do what needs to be done for these dogs. even puppy mills worm the dogs they sell. they are taking in more dogs than they can care for and so are not really caring for them at all.

this organization should be shut down and the people running it should face stiff fines for animal abuse.

Since Kathleen was in such poor condition when you acquired her, you might want this adoption organization to be thoroughly vetted by the Humane Society. Sounds like they're guilty of neglect and hypocrisy.

Neglect, fine. Unfortunately, u can't investigate someone for hypocrisy :( *sigh*.

they must have taken the dog to the vet today to be treated.

I took her to the vet on Monday and was stunned because my vet looked at the pills they gave us for her to take and had no idea what they were! He gave us some pills for worms (two a day for ten days) and a salve for the conjunctivitis I began to notice (twice a day for ten days). I'm starting to worry that she may have kidney or bladder problems because of the frequency of her drinking, but it's summer, so I'm going to give that a few days.

I decided not to adopt from them, after they started talking about home visits, and a "trial period" and you know random home checks.

These people do the same thing! We looked over the contract and it says that they can come unannounced to your home to check up on the dog, and they'll keep track of your vet appointments! They also say that if you decide you can't keep the dog, it needs to be returned to them instead of given to family or friends. If room isn't available at the shelter, then you have to keep the dog.

What the hell? Dog only for indoor use?

Yeah, that was my reaction. We have an eleven-month-old Golden Retriever, and if he wasn't allowed to go traipsing around in the forest around our house, he'd lose his mind. He loves when he goes to visit my grandparents because they have huge fields for him to roll around in -- he even realised we were visiting without him, so he jumped into my mother's lap in the car and tried to act all nonchalant about being there so we wouldn't notice he was putting all of his sixty pounds on the bony lap of my 120 pound mother. Ah, good times. (And Kathleen loves the outside world too -- she follows Bellamy everywhere.) Both sleep indoors in crates, and they can come in during the day if they're too hot (especially Bellamy because he's not shaved), but they love the outdoors too much to keep them in.