A tiny vent about APL's

coasterqueen wrote: I know a few of you warned me a bit about being patient with the APL while we are looking for a cat and dog. This weekend was definitely not our luck with them whatsoever.

Friday night the APL was having a kittenfest at the local Petsmart so we went and looked at kittens. We fell in love with some but decided to look some more before making a decision. So Saturday morning we went to the kitten/dog fest at the local Ace Hardware and we got to see Morty, the older dog we had fallen in love with online. While we were still in love with him after seeing him, we decided against him for various reasons - he just wouldn't "fit" with us. We looked at some other dogs and then the kittens. We fell in love with two kittens right away, gave the lady our number and told her we'd contact her if we wanted the kittens. DH decided that we should go out to the APL to look at more dogs. So we went out to the APL, and while trying to find out if the puppy we really liked as well was there. They had told me the day before he would be there. Come to find out they were wrong. He wasn't there, but told me to fill out an app and they would call the foster family to get in touch with me. So then we decided to go upstairs and look at the cats....just for fun. Well after seeing HUNDREDS of cats, we decided we couldn't get a kitten because there were just too many cats that needed homes. I fell in love with two right away and wanted them. After much time of waiting to find out if we could take them home, we found out one was already adopted (why can't they put something on them so you know ahead of time? ) and the other one was not good with dogs. Sooooo there were two other ones Ryan and the girls instantly fell in love with. I played with them awhile and fell in love with them too, so went downstairs filled out another app and proceeded with adoption. They told me we could pick them up the next day after they were caged for 24 hours to check stools, etc. So we were super excited, went home then went shopping Saturday night for all kinds of new cat supplies anxious to bring our two new family members the next morning. Sunday morning comes, we get a call around 10 am that they didn't cage the cats (basically forgot ) and we couldn't take them. I was devastated and knew the girls would be too, plus I'd have to take off of work to get them on Monday. So Ryan called them back and said we wanted them anyways, they should be fine. They said ok, come at noon. So we do our errands, about 20 minutes before we were going to pick them up we got a call that one of the cats had a bacterial infection in its stool and they were calling the vet, but should be able to take both of them home with meds. Ok. So we waited to hear back and they said nope, can't take them home until they are medicated for two days - come back and pick them up Tuesday. Made NO sense to me, since they said we'd also have to bring them back in 10 days to medicate them. Why couldn't we do it at home, if they are going to let us do that again in 10 days????? So we were so sad yesterday.

While we were there we looked at a dog that Ryan had fallen in love with on Saturday. Big dog, somewhat aggressive, just needed training. So we played around with him more on Sunday and found out he had an app already on him, but we could fill one out and if they other people didn't get to adopt him we could. Well after playing with him awhile they said they wouldn't adopt him to us anyways because we are going to have underground fencing done instead of an actual fence. Um, why? We can't afford that type of fencing and after speaking with a company who does the underground and are coming out tonight to estimate and everything it just didn't make sense. Plus with the underground we get training and everything. Ok, fine, you are making it VERY HARD to ever adopt a dog and we aren't terrible people, we love this dog and will give it an EXCELLENT home.

So then we decided to drive 1.5 hours away to another APL place to look at another dog. These people were SO RUDE to us. I know we got there 10 minutes before close, but it's because the directions we were given were horrible and we came an 1.5 hour away to see the dogs and don't you want to adopt them???? Plus there were already another couple there and they only stayed 10 minutes less than we did, so why be rude to us??? They wouldn't even let us touch a dog until we filled out the app. Weird. So I rushed to fill out the app, they brought us the dog to interact with us telling us he has to stay muzzled, don't take it off. Ok, but this dog was freaking out about the muzzle so we couldn't even tell how he'd normally react - he was freaking out. He actually got the muzzle off himself and calmed down a bit so we could see how he was like. After we were done I told the lady he took it off himself and she gave me this look, like yeah right lady. SO RUDE!!!!!! We knew we couldn't adopt him that day and wasn't ready and that was fine. Those people were so rude I don't know how they'd ever get animals adopted.

So between the first APL being very forgetful, not very forthcoming with information on dogs, etc...and I bet my life that they've forgotten to call the foster family on the puppy because we haven't received any kind of call and I honestly don't expect to, seriously -- I know they've forgotten. And then the rude second APL........I am so turned off by them. Now I see why people go to breeders!!!!!!!

I know they are trying to find right homes for animals and are picky, but come on....I'm not sure some people would be as patient as we've been (we honestly have been).

I'm sorry, I just needed to vent. We are so frustrated and we really tried not to be, but we just want to give an animal a home and they make it so difficult.

my2monkeyboys replied: I've heard the same sort of stories about the one around here, too. It's kind of like having a baby.... most anyone can do it on their own, but for those who choose to adopt a child in need of a good home and family, they make it entirely too difficult, expensive and time consuming.

cameragirl21 replied: Karen, write to PETA and complain, I'm serious. I'm not a PETA member but have written to them on a numer of occasions and they always respond and always come through for me.
Tell them exactly what you told us here, give details, such as the location and phone number of the APL, etc. They will do something about it.
I have to say, as someone who has 2 purebreds who both came from a breeder, one was given to me from the original owners who paid the breeder and then I called the breeder (they gave her to me with the papers with the breeder's info) and bought another kitten, there is NO way I'd wait and if I fell in love with an animal and couldn't take it home at an agreed upon time and they gave me grief for no reason, there is just no way I'd go for that. I feel guilty about going to a breeder but let me tell you, reading your story has given me pause for thought...the breeder gave me no trouble, all she wanted was an application and a deposit and we were done.
If I had to go through all that I'd be just devastated if I couldn't get the animal I wanted. I hate to say it but I am starting to think the reason so many don't get adopted is because the people there don't seem to be eager to get the adopted...I get that they want to make sure they go to good homes but denying because of your fencing is imo just absurd and forgetting to cage an animal and forgetting to call the foster of the animal you want...I seriously hope PETA has a field day with those people.
And I get that they're busy, that they're just volunteers and blah blah blah but if you really want to put animals into good homes and a family comes that wants to adopt and seems like a good home then why give them a hard time?!
Idk, imho, I think the desire to keep animals in good homes and from overbreeding is going about in the wrong way and in the wrong direction...there should be greater efforts for neutering animals and perhaps more low cost clinics to avoid these sorts of situations, especially if the staff can't be bothered to enable an adoption instead of blocking them. So many people want kittens and so few want adult cats that if you have someone ready to take two and they seem like nice people then I think one has to be really lowly to fail to make every effort to make it happen.
Sorry you're having such a hard time doing the right thing, Karen, much as I hate to say it, your post makes me feel a lot less guilty about going to a breeder.

mom21kid2dogs replied: Maybe you could try a different rescue organization or shelter. Most shelters do very little in the way of both apps & fees. The trade off is, they also do very little screening wise and vet wise~it's up to you to do. Most will take the animal back if it's not a good fit. My sister in law has adopted twice thru 2 different cat rescues and has never had that much hassle. Apps & fees, yes, but she had cats with 1-2 weeks after applying. Most won't show animals that aren't vet cleared so that seems strange that this one did. One rescue did bring the wrong cat to them, though, and had to return the next day with the right one. I told her to make sure they didn't just spray paint that calio and make it the "right" cat!!!

coasterqueen replied: Yeah, I know that these shelters are overcrowded and understaffed, I totally get that. But they are never going to get these animals adopted if they don't try harder. I'm sure others would have not gone through what we did this weekend, especially about the cats. Because we could have adopted the kitten right there on the spot and went home. It was obsurd.

We are going to try other shelters as well, but trying two didn't bring us any luck so far. They also wouldn't let us have a dog if it was going to be outside for 9 hours while we were at work. They said it had to be crated for that 9 hours or they wouldn't agree to an adoption. Um, a HUGE dog crated for 9 hours instead of roaming a large amount of land w/an underground fence OR we also agreed to putting in a huge kennel to put the dog in while we are gone and it would be under a massive shade sail so it would be out of the sun....but they said nope, has to be crated inside or no way. HUH??????

I give. I guess I'll stop nagging them and wait until tomorrow to ask if they ever contacted the foster family on the puppy - when I go to get the cats.

mckayleesmom replied: karen...have you tried to adopt a pet from someone off craigslist? Alot of foster families post on their.

coasterqueen replied:
I've only seen one we were interested in on Craigslist.....in our local and surrounding areas. But we did look there.

Boo&BugsMom replied: Karen, it took us forever to find a dog. SO many places make it very difficult to adopt. It's like they want someone home 24/7 with the dog and want the dog to have every luxery on the face of this Earth. One shelter wouldn't adopt to us because we didn't have a fence. Another shelter wouldn't adopt to us because I was running a daycare out of the home and didn't want the kid's to trample over the dog...never mind worrying about the kids!!! Not to mention, that dog was no smaller than our 25 pound Lucy...the lady who came out from the rescue even commented on how well behaved all my kids were.

In the end, we finally found this wonderful little rescue. She is a small dog rescue but also will do adoptions for people while their pet stays at the owners home until adopted out. The thing I liked most about this woman was that she used common sense. She understood not everyone has a fence. She understood that people have to do what they have to do. She also does a trial basis, where you take the dog for a few weeks to make sure the pet will mesh with your family, and if it doesn't you can bring them back and get your money refunded. In all, this woman was SO patient with us and I am so grateful for it. We went back and forth a few times wondering if Lucy would fit in, and in the end, she did and she's doing great.

My point is, it may take some time. There were quite a few dogs we hoped to go home with within a year's time, and each time we were bummed when it didn't work out. BUT, there is a perfect dog for you out there. In a way it's like buying a house. You see so many that are "perfect", but then when you put in an offer it falls through. Same with adopting a pet sometimes. I would keep looking at different rescues and shelters. You will find some that you really do not like, and others that are great to work with. We have one here that is wonderful, and another one that sucks. I don't want to adopt from some place that just hands out the pet's to anyone, but I also want to adopt from a place that uses their common sense. Once you find a place like that, you will find your perfect pet!

TheOaf66 replied: Karen,

have you looked on Pet Finder...that one goes by region

coasterqueen replied: We adopted one at lunch today!!!!!!!!!!!!! See my post in GD.

Oh and Dh even said we can still get a puppy once we get acclimated with Gavin and the cats.

mom21kid2dogs replied: I totally second the idea that the process might take longer than anticipated. I also support "interviewing" rescues as they are interviewing you. Many have websites that outline their parameters. Perhaps you could check them out that way before you get your hearts broken again. That way, if they restrict adopters to indoor homes, must have physical fence, no children under 5, etc you'll know not to even bother with them. Most shelters and rescues photolist their pets. This was how we found Parker. It took us 6 weeks of searching Petfinders for Ohio shelters and breed rescue sites daily for animals that interested us before we found Parker. We made lots of follow up phone calls on dogs that were no longer available and some that had already been euthanized In the end, we found the best dog we've ever owned. Doing alot of the work online as opposed to on foot, allowed Stephen and I to look at the dogs before Olivia got involved in the process, saved us alot of time & grief in the long run trying to track down dogs we couldn't have, and helped us get a much better picture of who we wanted to bring into our family. In fact, Olivia wasn't involved until we made the final appt with the shelter to go get Parker.
In case you don't have it, here's the resource Troy mentioned
http://www.petfinder.com/index.html
They have an extensive search engine that allows you to check out dogs by breed, size, sex and geographic area.
Keeping my fingers crossed for you that your perfect furry family members come your way soon!

mom21kid2dogs replied: Just saw your update after I posted! Excited for you guys!!!