03/23/2019
A truer word was never spoken 👏
I think people need to stop looking at rescuing a dog as if they’re doing us a favour. Rescuing is a great thing to do don’t get me wrong, but it’s also a privilege to be able to do it. You are taking on the responsibility of a life, a living creature that’s been through stuff and seen stuff or is simply a product of its inherited genes. I am increasingly frustrated whilst talking to prospective adopters with hearing comments like “we want one that just fits straight in with us” or “we’ll know when we meet the dog if it gels with us straight away”. Seriously? No you won’t. Any relationship in life needs some work and some compromise. Rescuing a dog isn’t about getting a cheap dog and it isn’t about the dog being eternally grateful to you for the selfless act you’ve undertaken. Every dog should have a home but remember you want a dog, you’ve taken the decision to go out looking for a dog and you have to try your utmost to make it work. This morning I called someone who emailed us about one of our dogs, as the conversation went on he told me he’d just returned a dog to the rescue because it wasn’t right so had to go back. It was a lovely dog but was too young, not house trained and had no recall. I waited thinking he would go on to tell me something catastrophic this poor dog had done but that was it. So I asked in what way was the dog too young? I mean it hadn’t got younger since the day he’d signed his adoption form had it? So he said well it was just into everything. So I asked why he didn’t train the dog rather than return it to which he replied he didn’t have time. Actually if you didn’t have time for that dog you don’t have time for one of my dogs either.
This is not a game. We’ve got half the population telling us it’s too hard to get a dog from rescue because we’re too strict and the other half returning dogs for being exactly what they’re supposed to be. We’ve invested in these dogs, not just financially but far more emotionally. Whilst they’re with us we treat them as our own and when we let them go it is a massive leap of faith in the person taking them. Every reputable rescue will take their dog back if it’s really not workable but give them a chance to settle. We’ve had the same dog returned twice in two weeks less than twenty four hours after adoption for not being house trained and having separation issues..... you cannot possibly say that in less than a day you haven’t even started to get to know each other!
I know I rant a lot but I’m seriously tired of these kinds of attitude. If you want a dog to slot instantly and tidily into your perfect life go to Argos and get a stuffed toy. If you want to give a home to a dog that hasn’t had it easy and you’re prepared to nurture that dog with love and kindness to show it the way you live and teach it what it needs to know to achieve a mutually beneficial and lifelong relationship then, and only then, should you start contacting rescues!
