Rescue the good and bad

[SmoothCollieluver]

Does anyone else have a problem with rescues chargeing 300-500 for a dog? I sure do. I thought the whole point of rescue was to help the dogs find loving homes not to resell them. And I espically have a problem with rescues determining the price of a dog based on the dog. Example: I was just looking on pet finder and found a really pretty purebred pug puppy. They are asking $350 another pug is $200 and it varies more and more as you look. I think that is criminal. And also so many shelters are now only allowing people with no children to adopt supposedly because of legal issues. I'm not trying to attack any of the hard working rescue people out there because i know first hand the good far outweigh the bad but there needs to be some control on this issue.

(i'm leaving on vacation in the morning so i hope to come back and debate)

[SmoothCollieluver]

O and here is the shelter i was looking at. Even the cats aren't all the same fee. It's any where between 50 and 95 from what i saw but i didn't look at all of them.

http://www.petfinder.org/shelters/OH152.html

[k9teacher]

We just recently adopted a Papillion from a rescue group and paid $450. He is a young dog (2yrs +/-) and had all his shots and was neutered before we got him. He has some behavior issues that we are working on, but all in all a great little dog.

He fits our family like a glove (we all have some issues too !). He would have been cheap at twice the price !

We felt we adopted from a group that had a trustworthy reputation and had been around for a while. The did check our references and did do a home visit. The group was very pleasant over the phone with the references I gave and the home visit could not have been nicer. I never felt my home or family was under the microscope looking for bad things. I know they do not "resell" dogs. Reselling give the impression that they would be making money on the deal. Money is something this group needs to function but is not its driving factor. They charge on a sliding scale - more for a healthy young dog, way less for an older special needs case.

Most of their labor force is all volunteer, but vets, meds etc...do take money. Their foster parents pay for all the dogs care except vet bills. The volunteers who pick up and transport the dogs pay for their own gas too.

I also feel that if someone pays nothing for something, then nothing is the value of that something.

I also realize that the money we spent on our guy was not spent by the rescue group on our guy (he was already neutered when he was rescued from the shelter) but on the dog that needs surgery before it can be adopted, or for the dog that is on lifetime meds.

Bottom line is I think there are bad apples in any bushel and that includes "breeders" and "rescuers". Most good breeders and good rescuers don't make money off the animals backs but there are some not so good ones out there that do.....just think puppy mill but thats a totally different can of worms.

I would send pics of our boys (lab mix and Papillion) but I am a computer spaz and cannot figure out how !

Also one last note......last time I posted on this site I got reamed rather rudely for my opinion and have not been back to this site for months. Please be aware that this is my opinion on my set of circumstances....please JBN (just be nice)

[ClarkFarm]

Many small, purebred dogs do have higher adoption fees though the total price is still much lower than actually paying the provided vet services out of your own pocket along with the purchase price of the pup. These fees can help balance out the funds spent on the other dogs (larger dogs, older dogs) and/or the injured or those requiring extra treatments.
Because the demand for small dogs is higher than large dogs, those fees kind of keep the whole in check. A $200- 300 adoption fee for a small, purebred dog is actually a great deal and you can always think of it as helping more than one dog at the same time.

Now, as far as the rules concerning adopting to families with young children, I have mixed feelings on this. As a mother to young children myself, it is disheartening to hear of a good family turned away from adopting a puppy only because their child(ren) is deemed too young. The perfect adoption world would have the time to evaluate each family independently and not lack the finances or space in order to do this but alas, it is often not this way. Some children are great with puppies and act much more mature than others. My youngest son, who is about 2 and a half years old, is the gentlest of my three children.
On the flip side, I think too many families are ill-prepared for typical puppy stages and in the end, it is the puppy who is given up. I have known of families who have gotten a puppy, claimed it was so good with their children and 6 months later, it was tossed away because apparently, that puppy chewed up too many shoes, a favored toy doll, somebody's pants they left laying about. A puppy has some time-consuming demands as well and keeping all satisifed can be hard to do.
Also, children pose a much higher risk of being bitten in the face since their height is shorter. Everyone seems to be sue-happy anymore. I don't blame a rescue for limiting adoptions to older children due to fear of some lawsuit brought against them.

About the cats... I had a few barn cats spayed. The spay surgery itself cost me over $100 ($125 to be exact). That didn't include the vaccines or initial exam or any other tests commonly done (feline leuk is one).

[GSP4619]

Also take into consideration that these are non-profit. They get no help like the SPCA's do. They use that adoption fee to be able to spay/neuter the animal. Also vet bills and taking on new rescue's. I think it's a small price to pay especialy for a purebred dog that can cost thousands. When their are ones out their that need homes.

Thats just my take on it.

[Sweettuth]

About not adopting to people with young children, The rescue group I work with generally dosen't adopt out to families with children under 7. We do make exceptions depending on the dog. If you look at statistics most dog bites occur in children under 9, I think it is. One of the main breeds we take in are lhasas, which are known to not be good with children. About the adoption fee are base price is $225, $150 if the dog is over 8 years old, sometimes less. For puppies we sometimes ask $300 if it's a purebred, and that does help out with the older dogs that need medication or surgery.

[SmoothCollieluver]

I understand most shelters have a price set for different ages and mixed/pure. But this shelter that I listed prices every animal differntly. And i have seen this a few other times as well. Just something that concerned me.

[Stark]

Most of you know my opinion regarding rescue groups. I myself find it totally ridiculous charging more than $100.00-$150.00 for any dog regardless of age or breeding (pure or mixed). If you're going to be involved in rescue then suck up the expense and deal with it. If you take in a dog for absolutely nothing and it's sold for $200.00-$300.00 there is some profit in that dog, I'm sorry.
ClarkFarm I understand your view but I don't believe any newcomer to owning a dog is really prepared for what's to come. There have been times when I have felt overwhelmed with a new pup because of being spoiled by some of my others. I also believe a rescue group should take the time to make sure things will work out for a family whether they have children or not. If someone is truly dedicated to their cause they would do this. There is no easy answer or solution to the problem. All I can suggest is education and easy to afford training. I remember in the 80's the kennel club in Tampa offered classes to the public for just a few dollars. That was the first formal training class I ever attended, not being an advocate of group classes something is better than nothing.

[NMAR]

Firstly, I totally agree with the person that said that was reasonable. Why don't the people that are finding a 300.00 adoption fee for a pug(ecspecialy a puppy), look in the paper and see how much they cost. My adoption fee is 145.00 to 175.00, it doesn't change because I am trying to "sell" purebreed dogs, it changes because that extra 30.00 makes a big difference for us, so we have to get it when we can. As was mentioned, rescues don't make money from any where except donations and adoption fees. My shelter currently has around 60 dogs, all of which we have payed for to be spayed or neutered, vaccinated, microchipped and about 15 of those, we have put through 600.00 heartworm treatments. We currently owe 3000.00 to the vet and have a 1000.00 a month food bill. We also have about 10 dogs that will live with us until they are 12, so we have to foot the additional cost of the little extra things they need. We are trying to get enough money saved up to build a new indoor facility, which is going to cost several thousand dollars that we don't really have, but having a building is a neccesity for a rescue. As the co-owner of the rescue, when there isn't enough money to make ends meet, which there rarely is, we put money in out of pocket.

Don't even let me get started on the cat adoption fee, we charge 90.00 and we are taking a loss. We spend about 60.00 getting them altered, they almost always come in with URIs or eye infections that make medication and a vet visit mandatory(usually some where in the range of 20.00 for visit,60.00 for medication). We spend 30.00 getting each one vaccinated, they go through a mandatory 10 day quarantine(as do dogs), to ensure that the people adopting from us do not get an unhealthy pet. So, even with out the food included, we have already spent the adoption fee on them.....

Plus, when you pay that 500.00 for a pug puppy out of the paper, I would like to see the breeders response when you ask if that includes all the shots, dewormings and spay/neuter. I know that I am coming across as bitchy, but it is very upseting for me when people have no idea about the debt that always lies on a rescue and the people involved.

If you go back to the rescue that you got the pug from and ask to see their vet bill, or just ask to see how much money they spent on the dog you got, I gauruntee you that you won't have as much to fuss about with the adoption fee.(150.00 for spaying/neutering,100.00 for vaccines and check-up,30.00 for heartworm preventative(for six months), 20.00 a month for food,etc.)

[GSP4619]

I would not adopt a dog if I had young childern and did not know this dogs background. It would be crazy to risk harm to a child or even a dog for that matter. Their are tens of thousands of dogs out their with no homes. Each dog has it's own story. Now on the other hand if they know this dogs story like you said Clarkfarm and is good with kids etc and they won't adoupt out. That is just crazy. That dog would miss out on a good home. So I agree their.