Animal Rescues v. Shelters

What is the difference between an animal rescue and a shelter?

Apparently, I am banned from all animal rescues because I accidentally stated that the dog will be living outdoors in one application. Though this is not true because my current dog stays indoors.

This is frustrating because I spend all my time searching for the right pet only to be rejected and no volunteer will take the time to educate me.

I just want to save a life and they are making it so difficult!

 

I dont know where in socal you are at, but check out Helen Woodward. That is one of the best shelters in so cal. They are a strict no kill and they team up with a ton of rescue orgs from all over the country. They are in North County (san diego).

 

Rescues tend to take only certain breeds of dogs (There are Lab rescues, and pug rescues, and etc etc etc). That means they tend to get more specific with where they get their animals...specifically abused or neglected animals from that specific breed. They also tend to be private organizations.

Shelters tend to take any old animal that comes in. Lots of folks will drop unwanted pets in or drop strays off. Most of shelters are "publicly" owned..ASPCA or local municipal animal control.

 

As stated above, rescues are usually private run and are no kill. They take in a specific group of animals, test them for signs of aggression, spay or neuter, give them some basic training (if needed), and are very selective with their adoption policies. Shelters can be kill or no kill. Usually, city or county run facilities are kill shelters. Some shelters are run by organizations, such as ASPCA, or local animal protection groups. The animals in kill shelters are usually put up for adoption for 3 days, and if not taken are euthanized.

 

I had to chime in here, not far from me theres a place called 4 paws kennel & they are an animal rescue center also, 2 years ago we had to put down our weimaraner (Lexy, best fuckin' dog I've ever had)

So after a few months of the grieving process (still going thru it) we decided to help out by taking in another Weimy that they "rescued" For those of you who don't know about Weimaraners, these dogs are hands down the most inquisitive, introverted & intelligent breed I've ever encountered, but they also require the patience of Jobe, & are totally family based meaning that they are best suited for indoors/outdoors or wherever the family is . That said, this place handed me an application to fill out.. HOLY SHIT !!! You should have seen the size of this document, it was 6 pages of the most obscure line of questioning I've ever seen, I've filled out loan apps that were less invasive, I get that they need to know about the prospective owner & what kind of home you'll provide , they even came out to my house to see the conditions that my loving home would provide, we sat, we talked, had some good laughs about the antics that these dogs provide. While we were talking to one of the 4 paws reps, the other one wanted to know if it was ok to "have a little more looking" around our property, of course we had no problem with that so we talked & she looked around some more, after about 10 more mins. they said "Everything looks good" & with that they said "we'll have a decision in about a day " So about 2 days later we get a letter in the mail with our application with a giant DENIED, UNACCEPTABLE stamped on the front. Needless to say this really pissed me off, after wasting our time, providing personal info (including financial) I couldn't believe what I was reading, my wife was in tears , insulted by the fact that our intentions & ability were in question, especially since all indicators were a "green light " so to speak. I called, wrote etc; & those chicken shit bastards didn't even have the decency to respond with cause or reason for the denial, needless to say I'll never go to one of these bullshit "Animal Rescue " places again. & for the record our Lexy lived better than most people, sleeping about 90% on my side of the bed using my pillow no less, these places are well intended I understand that, but its all up to management & their skewed vision of what constitutes a good loving home...

 

My wife and I worked with an animal rescue in Tennessee for four years. Eventually my wife wound up as the president. Shortly thereafter we quit. People in animal rescues can be pretty "unique." Politics became a problem and we got very frustrated because we just wanted to help animals. Some were like us and realized that some animals were not adoptable. These would be very old, sick or aggressive animals. Yet if we focused on young healthy animals we could get them in, screened and adopted in a month or two. Thus saving a lot more animals. Others would take any and every animal that came along. These people imo were crazy and often times had 15+ dogs in their homes. And would have animals that were up for adoption for years.

Many rescues have a list of requirements readily available online or from a volunteer. Every one I have seen looks for fenced yards and people that have animal experience. A letter from your vet stating you took care of previous pets and had regular visits carries a LOT of weight.

As others have stated most rescues do focus on a particular breed. I suggest you research what breed you want and in the interview with a representative show that you did research by saying why you want that breed. IE... I want a border collie to play frisbee in the park.

Or go to a shelter and save a dog with a lot less headache. The main advantage to a rescue, and the reason to put up with their craziness, is the screening. The volunteers will be able to tell you what kind of personality the dog (shy, hyper, smart, cuddler) has and you have a much better chance of getting a healthy friendly animal.

We have gotten our personal dogs from both. Our first from the rescue we ended up working with, our second (my baby) from the shelter and the third was one we got adopted that ended up coming back to us do to a family problem... and us not being able to let him go again. All are great dogs. If you do a shelter just ask the workers there about the dogs personality, they have seen hundreds of dogs and can give you insight.

And I doubt you are banned as most rescues have little to no interaction with others... and just get a new application or talk to a rep. Good luck.