It should be such a rare occurrence. Sometimes it’s not the person’s fault. Adoptions can and do legitimately go south, and it’s always better to return the dog than dump him or her in the road.
I got this video via email from a friend and colleague yesterday. It seems to mesh well with yesterday’s story on shelter Dalmatians making good, and how they are not to be adopted without serious consideration; they are not your average family dog. Also, the beginning of the busy “adoption season” nears, and that will last until August when people go on vacation and get kids ready for school. Now is a good time to remind those planning to add a four-legged furry one to the family to do some homework on breeds before they go to the shelter.
The video may also help answer the question what’s wrong with animal shelters and some of the common complaints people have about staff at shelters and how rude they can seem, especially with all the personal questions asked. I’ve heard people say it’s easier to adopt a child than it is a dog in some places. Hyperbole, yes, but I understand the sentiment and have wanted to explain that for some time, although the time never seemed right…here’s an opportunity at last:)
(Note: “rroc” listed in credits = Retriever Rescue of Colorado)
And now you see why all those intrusive questions are asked. Every time a dog is returned, the adoption agent questions what s/he might have missed. What questions didn’t they ask in the right way to help the adopter understand the nature of the dog they chose, individual quirks, exercise and medical requirements. And they promise themselves to do better the next time…and you walk in the door.
What do you think is the main reason dogs and cats are returned to shelters? Lack of personal responsibility? Lack of guidance on choosing the right dog? Lack of training? What would you like to see shelter’s do that they may not be doing? What’s been your experience with shelters? Here’s your chance–get it off your chest!
I think it's a combination of not matching the right person to the right dog and a lack of training for the dogs.
The ASPCA's "Meet Your Match" program tries to address the former. ( http://www.aspca.org/adoption/meet-your-match/ ) It's a great program, but I think that since some people are so against any sort of evaluations for animals and others are so busy bolstering themselves by throwing rocks at the ASPCA that it doesn't get the attention it deserves.
The latter is more difficult to solve. Shelters don't have the space to train every dog, and many people refuse to spend $$s training the dogs after they get them.
Hi Eric! Yes, Lake Shore, and I suspect many other shelters, have specific mandates to discuss the family's lifestyle and make the right determination on the type of dog that work for them. Lake Shore's tag line has been "matching people with pets since 1966" It slashes returns. And I agree that the ASPCA program deserves more coverage. It's so much smarter to be proactive!
As someone who worked in an animal shelter for over 10 years, I'm all too familiar with the "I'm sorry" syndrome, and a video like this should be a must-see for all potential adopters.
Welcome, Ellen, and I agree whole-heartedly. Maybe all shelters should have this video running in the waiting room before each adoption counselor takes people in to interview and meet and greet.
It should be harder for people to adopt a dog than a child, because people who adopt a child are a different breed. Usually, because they really want a child, they have the patience and dedication required to properly care for that child. People who want to adopt a dog or cat aren’t usually in the same frame of mind… of desperately wanting a pet. Most people who go to adopt a pet are doing it because they just think it would be nice – like buying a couch or a lamp.
Yes, it's the inanimate object comparison that people have had in their heads for decades–thank dog inroads have been in this regard and more people are treating pets like part of the family. Thanks for stopping by!
I guess it's better to return a dog to a shelter than to leave a dog behind when you move or are involved in some of the other scenarios outlined in that amazing — and, yes, must see — video but, frankly, I think some people just lack a compassion gene. I can't begin to fathom how you can spend your life with a dog and then give him up because he's too old. And there's no way to ask the right questions to determine whether or not a person is DNA-defective in that area. ("Are you or are you not a heartless jerk?" perhaps…).
That being said, I think that in some cases shelter staff can do a better job in explaining the reasons for what might seem like a third degree to potential adopters. It's easy for the staff to be totally animal focused to the point that they forget that many adopters, who feel like they're doing a good thing by going to a shelter rather than a pet store, don't understand why they're being given a hard time. I agree with Ellen that the film should be required showing at all shelters; it would go a long way to explain why shelter staff are wary.
Hi, Edie! Lack of compassion has been an issue for years. It's why shelter people can seem to be so cranky and frankly suspicious. Experience has shaped them. I agree that this is the point at which they need to remember that *all* people are not the same, and even if families haven't checked if the type of dog they think they want is going to work in the long term, it's just an opportunity to inform. And yes, the first greeting people should get at shelters is a strong message of "welcome, thanks for choosing us!" After all, we want the motherlode of adoption market share, rather than the pitiful, what 8-12% shelters currently have?
I have heard that shelters can be difficult, and I actually appreciate it because of the return volume. Adopting a dog or cat is a commitment, and either training the pet yourself or hiring someone to work with you and your pet makes total sense. Thanks for posting.
Each shelter is a different experience for people, and return ratios are certainly important, both as a measure of successful matching people with pets and protecting dogs from experiencing a permanent break in the human/animal bond. Older dogs don't deal well with being returned after years with a family and can get seriously disheartened. We've seen dogs with broken hearts, and senior cats dumped unceremoniously at a shelter deciding to curl up and die. I thought the video an important one to show, especially now. Thanks for stopping by, Michele!
Just my opinion. People fall in love with the idea of having a pet and imagine how much fun it will be. And when they get the pet, they experience the work … the responsibility … of actually taking care of the animal. If it's more than they bargained for … more than they can handle … the pet gets returned. Seems very difficult to train for most of life's more challenging experiences – owning a car, turning 21, getting married, having a baby, adopting a pet.
This video breaks my heart! I totally understand why shelter employees need to ask the tough questions. The job they do is a hard one and they should be appreciated.
Hi Vanessa – I just got done talking to twitter pal Kim Halligan who also cried when she saw this…it's truly one hellofa job they have, isn't it? Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I remember when we adopted Buster – it was overwhelming. He was a large (65 pounds) dog with a puppy mentality and no manners. He pulled at the leash, he jumped all over us, he ran around the house like it was a barn! It wasn't his fault – he just needed to learn the rules. I'm more stubborn than your average person, so I wouldn't give up, but I imagine that a lot of people don't give the pet enough time to adjust from shelter life to living in a home before they give up on them. It took a few months and the help of some very good trainers and Buster learned quickly. He's a great dog – it's funny to think back to how he used to be because he's so different now – and so am I.
I love that observation, Amy! While we are busy thinking we are changing *their* lives, they are quietly changing ours:) Ha! They are such a wonderful gift in this world, aren't they? So many people don't know what they are getting into with a big puppy…it's a lot of work, time, and effort to get through those first four, five months! Thanks for sharing your story.
I agree that the world is full of fickle, irresponsible people. Our malamute was raised as an only child , then chucked out when her first owners had a baby. However, I don’t think this excuses the attitude of shelters. On one hand we are told that it’s wrong to buy a breeder’s puppy, then we are judged by the very people that ask for our patronage. I accept responsibility for my pets for life, but I understand life is about accepting risks. Shelter people need to do the same.
Hi Sue, welcome, and thanks for joining in. In truth I think most shelter workers would agree that they need to be adopter friendly in order to do the best possible job for the animals.I also think if shelters take the lead at the first meeting with the family, educating them about dog breeds traits and exercise requirements if they haven't done their homework, it helps to dissuade them from making a bad decision.
Hello,
My name is Becky Carlson and I am the creator of the Apology Video for the Retriever Rescue of Colorado. It is great to see so much discussion all over the internet on the meaning and validity of the video.
We entered this video in the national Youtube contest held by the HSUS in October 2009. America voted the video #1. More important than the win is the overwhelming support we have received over the past few months for the video.
The voices you hear on the video are our own volunteers who all fostered dogs who were given up for those reasons. Our goal was not to say that giving up the dog in ALL cases makes someone a bad person.
These are the excuses our volunteers chose out of the hundreds we get a day. With that experience we have found that 99% of the circumstances could have been avoided if those picking out the cute puppy had taken a moment to evaluate what they really had time, finances and patience for.
I encourage everyone to send this along. If you are embedding our video onto your webpage we also like to ask that credit is noted for the Retriever Rescue of Colorado. Thank you again for all of your support in spreading the message.
Yours in rescue,
BC
Multimedia Cooridinator and Webmaster
http://www.therroc.com
Hi Becky, thanks for dropping in. The credit has been clarified so people will understand what the rroc at the end of move refers to. And as I just commented to a reader, I think shelters have to help people make the right decision based on their interview and lifestyle needs, too, so they don't get enchanted by a pretty face that will never be a good fit. The video is a really good one; it's helped us start an important discussion! Thanks.
It’s easy for rescue folks to throw-up their hands and place the blame on irresponsible people. Quite frankly shelter/rescue have done this for way too long.
I’m not saying they shouldn’t be frustrated. However, it’s up to rescues and shelters to do a better job of educating people and providing the necessary programs to help keep dogs in homes. For example, many shelters run a low cost or free training program to help owners overcome difficulties. Some shelters even have a free behavior help hotline.
A rescue should never hear the excuse ‘My landlord just found out I have a dog’ –which was mentioned in the video. Before an adoption, the person should show a letter from his or her landlord saying that pets are allowed, or better yet the rescue should call the landlord directly. Again, this is already a requirement (and rightfully so) at some shelters.
Rescues and shelters need to move away from painting themselves as the victims of an uncaring society and start fighting back with powerful, educational programs that will keep a heck of a lot more animals in homes. It's already being done by forward thinking shelters. And it's working.
I agree with most of your points and I think most shelters and rescues would too. The victim thing is very stale and ineffective approach. But it's also true that such dispassionate excuses are shocking, and it's not a bad idea to remind the public that it's a tough job that's being done–community involvement is needed for success.
No one message attracts all possible volunteers, so varying approaches from humor, my personal fave, to heartstrings helps reach the broadest possible audience. It is never a good idea to go all in on the heartstrings, heart attack, or victim message. It begins to grate and loses its power. But that is how I see it, maybe not so with others.
I'd be interested to hear from RROC if they've kept up with newer programs available so they are not mischaracterized. Some of those questions were shocking…not having copies of the lease or contacting landlords. But some people lie, many move and life changes. I don't know the circumstances surrounding that landlord return, and can't make a judgment.
Thanks for joining in, Maryann, good to hear from you!
In response to Maryann Mott’s comments-
This is Becky Carlson again from the Retriever Rescue of Colorado. While I will leave a few of your Maryann’s comments out of my response, to be specific, NONE of the dogs in the video were previously dogs of the Retriever Rescue of Colorado.
They were ALL surrenders. Some from different states and some within our own. We created this video in response to the top reasons in which we have dogs SURRENDERED to our rescue. We have had a wide variety of excuses and the voices you hear are actually of our own volunteers who have all fostered dogs surrendered due to these reasons.
Yes, like all organizations that adopt out pets, we have had returns but they are extremely low, currently at 1 in 50. Ex. The family of 5 who is very active and wants to adopt a puppy or dog gets a phone interview, home visit, consultation with profile matching, a series of meetings with the foster family and then adoption.
That family who makes it through our very stringent process could very well be the same who returns the dog 5 months later because it has too much energy or plays rough with the kids. This is unforeseeable no matter how much “education” you attempt to share with your constituency.
Please visit our website for more information. RROC does not partake in any “painting” and like anything else, beyond saving dogs, attending events, hosting fundraisers, garage sales, running social media sites, creating videos, fostering and more, the educational part is built in with our interaction with the public.
No one is paid in our organization like so many others so along with only have foster homes and a goal of obtaining a physical location in the future, educational endeavors in the community will ultimately cost more money if your end results strive to be viable sustainable programs that work.
Education is BUILT into all of our other programs and those few who slip through the cracks and surrender their pet or return their dog, 99% of the time, would have done so even without the courtesy seminar or lecture. Thank you for reading.
I don’t think there’s any single reason why dogs and cats are returned to shelters. And I don’t think the responsibility lies with just the shelter or with just the animal’s guardians.
One refrain I hear a lot from shelter staff is that they a potential guardian advised against adopting a particular dog because the dog would be inappropriate for the person’s lifestyle or required a great deal of attention. But the person went ahead with the adoption anyway.
Perhaps you could blame the problem on the animal shelter. From reading the comments about shelters’ having hot lines and training programs, I got the impression that those particular ones had a lot of staff and resources. But some shelters don’t. The one no-kill shelter where I live is small, with little space, and has just a few volunteers. It certainly doesn’t have the resources to institute any kind of training program and might not even be able to afford a TV to show a video unless someone donates it.
Being guardian to a dog or cat is an awesome responsibility and a serious commitment. Some people go into an adoption thinking they can handle the commitment and responsibility, but later realize they can’t. Others adopt a certain kind of dog because it’s the “in” thing to do — without thinking about the long-term consequences. Still others don’t want to spend the time dealing with the dog they adopted. For example, just down the street a family adopted a puppy for their small child. The puppy, in its youthful excitement, jumped on the boy and knocked him down. The father decided he didn’t have the time to spend training the dog. So guess what happened?
My wife and I are guardians for a dog we rescued, named Faith She was abused and abandoned in the woods when she was two months old. After a month in the woods, she showed up at our house half-starving. It took us awhile time to realize that she’s a fearful dog. But we took her in because we knew that no one would want to adopt a dog like her. And if we called the animal control officer to get her and take her to the municipal shelter, she would be put down after three days. She deserved a better fate than that.
Faith is a high-maintenance dog who has changed our lives. Last year we adopted a second dog from a foster home to be a companion to Faith and to help socialize her. We had to go through a thorough screening process, including meeting Faith’s prospective companion, Mac, on neutral ground and later having the person fostering Mac bring him to our house to see if both dogs would get along. (They did.) Plus we had to fill out a long questionnaire and have an interview. We appreciated their thoroughness.
What disturbs me more than returning a dog or cat to a no-kill shelter, though, is returning one to a kill shelter . . .
Honestly it isn't always the adopters that cause problems too. Sometimes it's the people working at and running the shelter.
I am a vet tech and I have adopted 6 dogs from one of our local shelters. I have returned 5 of them – not to be re-adopted out, but to be euthanized, because they have had severe aggression issues. There was only one that I kept for less than 2 months, and it's because he bit my husband and I very badly more than 10 times in 3 days. I told the shelter they were lucky he had just lost his canines (he was ~6 mo old) or he would have ended up tearing my shoulder open and my husband's wrist apart. That dog was back on the adoption floor in a week. I repeated my story to the director and asked if they really wanted to deal with someone who had a child and that dog bit the child like that.
Unfortunately a lot of the shelter staff don't seem to want to accept that there ARE poorly bred, unsociable, badly-tempered dogs out there. There are dogs who are too unstable, or too psychologically damaged by the shelter environment to be pets, even if they were suitable when they were first evaluated.
The dogs who go out to foster homes or breed-specific rescues…unfortunately at this shelter, they are often subject to being "shelter staff favorites" as to who gets more publicity, more help…the others who aren't favorites? Well, they wait for someone to notice them, someone to walk them, or someone to take them back to be euthanized when staffers want to buy a "favorite" more time.
The one dog we kept had been in the shelter for over a year. He took about a month to get his pent up energy out…and he has been one of the most mellow dogs I've ever owned.
And no worries about asking what shelter it was so you can make a phone call – I was banned from the shelter when I took back the last dog when she killed one of my other dogs.
This also happens to be a shelter that the local SPCA has been trying to get shut down…but it's the city shelter…so they just keep chuggin' along.
Oh, and the "my landlord just found out I have a dog" – There are several shelters here that "help" the landlord find out because they don't call before the dog is adopted out, they call anywhere from a week – 6 weeks after the dog has gone to it's new home. Maybe adoption should be reserved until a landlord can be contacted…and if the number isn't valid: no dog.