Can you tell us what led you to become so involved in, and to devote so much time and energy to Rescuing? Which rescue you work with? What do you do to help this Rescue? Time to boast about your favorite Rescue.....
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Michelle Starr, Kathleen Marie Sělóover and 2 others like this.
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Courtney Bryson Renee Ussery started by looking to adopt a special needs Boston, and we found Bocephus through Southern Cross Boston Terrier Rescue. Once we learned how many Bostons were in Rescue we started fostering with BTRET, then when we saw how few people know a...See More
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Mary Pratt I began volunteering after reconnecting with my old friend Renee Ussery and new friend Courtney Bryson. I adopted my Yoshi who was one the the pups from the hoarding case Courtney mentioned above and that is what got me interested in helping.
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Jannessa Stein Force I had a friend of mine that brought me a boston who her family member didn't take care of. I started looking for a place for him and found rescue. I had no idea there was a need for rescue w bostons. I was put in touch w BTRET and met some of the greatest people and dogs....have been involved as much as I can since. Failure foster mom now and plan to do more when I get back to the states but will continue to support rescues w donations and money...my heart is in GA @ the rescue ranch!!
First, it turns out the 7-day trial is just a fancy name for a return policy. They can return the dog in 7 days and still get their money back. So instead of being able to test the dog for 7 days, and evaluating the adoption in a guilt-free way along the way, they had to pay the $350 adoption fee and can return the dog within the 7 day period. It’s a subtle difference, but a big enough one to get them stuck with a terrible match. Rather than dating before marriage, they’ve already married the dog and have 7 days to admit defeat and get an annulment.
In pretty much all cases, it’s not so much, “Is this a good or bad dog?” but rather, “Is this a good or bad match?” As in, will this dog bring more or less happiness into their lives and vice versa.
The family’s needs & situation as I see it:
- Both are friendly, social people who like to have frequent parties at their house.
- They will be having children in the next several years.
- They are moving across the country soon and don’t have an apartment in their new city yet.
- One is starting graduate school, which is HARD and TIME-CONSUMING. This is the one who wants the dog most.
- They have 2 cats.
- They want a running buddy for marathon distances.
- They have not had a dog before as adults.
One of the reasons that they’re adopting a dog while they’re still in Seattle, my friends said, was that they’d have me nearby. Oddly, I wasn’t actually asked to come help them pick out this dog, which would be the single biggest contribution I could make. So I invited myself over to the meet-n-greet. Mea culpa.
I should know, by now, that unless people ask for your advice, they won’t be ready to take it – friends and family least of all. So I’m blogging, in the hope that maybe I can at least keep you, dear readers, from making their mistake. These are not dumb people, but rather they are making a mistake that’s all too easy to make. Here’s what I found.
The dog:
- 11 month old female dog.
- Skin problems that require medication and weekly bathing (she also smells…seems minor, but to people who want friends over and who have not had dogs before, this can be bad). Full-body Demodex at this age (no longer a puppy) can also indicate overall poor health.
- Very shy. Social with the foster mom, but only a tiny bit social with us. Shy dogs need stability and owners who are patient about not being able to have friends over, who will take the time to rehabilitate them.
- Fear Aggressive. She failed a simple test where I walked a little funny, in an impression of a toddler. Not a huge version, just a little stompy. She growled at me and stood her ground, staring. She didn’t snap, but I also didn’t do the full test, since she was off leash. This could be all she does, but my guess is that it’s the tip of the iceberg, as you rarely see a dog’s worst behavior in just one go. It’s just statistics!
- Poor socialization history, coupled with the stand-offishness / natural tendency toward aggression to people and other dogs in this breed means that this will take a LOT of work to fix, and she may never be a really easy dog. It will severely limit their social lives for quite a while.
- Says “NO CATS” right on her adoption advertisement on Petfinder, as she and her brother use to chase down and pin cats. Extremely interested in their cats upon meeting, but was *fairly* good. But once she gets more confidence, they could end up with a dead cat. Or two.
- Has never really been on walks, and so it’s hard to tell whether she’ll be good for jogging, since the dog’s breed can have trouble with overheating.
Remember, this is their first dog as adults, so they’re going to need some help with these fear issues. The $90-$200/hour it takes to meet with a dog trainer about the dog’s fears will be very expensive in their new city.
