Minneapolis/St. Paul Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Another dog adoption question
Hello! I'm basically a lurker who posts very infrequently! I've been reading all of the recent posts about adopting dogs as my husband and I are wanting to adopt a dog. We have looked (and applied) at a couple of different rescues but both times the dogs we were wanting to meet had other interested families before ours. On a whim, I looked at Craigslist this past weekend (never thought we would adopt this way) and came across a dog that seems perfect. I seem to remember one of you ladies saying you went the Craigslist route for your dogs. Just wondering if you would do it again? I've already asked the owners to provide his vet records. Is there anything else I should ask for? Thanks!
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Re: Another dog adoption question
I bet you're thinking of Kizdoodle who got her dog Boston from craigslist. I can't speak for her, but I know she's said a few times that they got a dog through craigslist "before they knew better", so I'm guessing she would recommend other options first.
Here are some things to think about ...
If you get a dog from a shelter or rescue, you know the dog has been temperament tested and seen a vet. You're not going to get a dog that isn't safe or healthy. If you get a dog from a random person on craigslist, they might be dishonest with you because they're trying to get rid of a "problem dog" with major behavior issues or an unhealthy dog. This isn't going to be the case every time, but it's a possibility.
If you adopt from a shelter or rescue, your adoption fee is going to an organization that will take the money and save other animals. Not the case when getting a dog from some person on craigslist.
Mr. Sammy Dog
Yep, that was us. I found Boston on Craigslist. While it has worked out fine for us, we will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS adopt from a reputable rescue/shelter from here on out. I would rather have my adoption fee go to supporting a place that helps animals and not pad a random person's pocket. Private adoption *can* be risky as the PP said.
In some Craigslist cases people are trying to dump unwanted puppies from litters that they had no place breeding in the first place. Some are probably "oopsy" litters. I wouldn't want to support anyone in that case because it could make it "ok" in their mind since they made a buck off of it.
SO....I will never go the Craigslist route again. I think it's a great tool for selling furniture, cars, etc. but living breathing creatures should not be bought/sold on there in my opinion.
- Martin Luther King Jr.
MrsKizdoodle - Can I ask...did you pay a rehoming fee on CL?
Here's the backstory...basically they are a young family and she travels alot. She said that the dog has been spending more time at doggy day care than with them and that she knew that wasn't fair to the dog. I offered her a small amount of money and she said she didn't really care about the money, but rather that he goes to a good home. I'm still going to pay her what I offered because she is going to give him to us with all of his stuff (kennel, toys, leashes, food, etc). Do any of you see any red flags in this?
I completely understand that going through a shelter is a safe bet. I also can't help to think, if we don't take him, that's where he is going to go anyways!
Thanks for your input. I really do appreciate it.
I would ask what Doggy daycare the dog usually went to and do a follow up with them on the animal's behaviour and his training.
We adopted ours from a family member that said she was an inside dog but was put outside due to shedding. Turns out that was a big lie and they turned her out because she was never fully house trained.
Even family members lie.
If you're absolutely set on getting this dog I would give the rehoming fee to a rescue or shelter as a donation and not give the people any money. It is their choice to surrender their animal and I don't feel like they should be compensated.
We did not pay any sort of rehoming fee for Boston. Like PP said, that was "before we knew better." It turned out to be a unique/strange adoption arrangement but in the end we have Boston so it's hard to regret the decision. Going forward though we will not be doing that again.
But ... if you adopt directly from someone looking to dump their dog, you're condoning that decision. You're making it way too easy for someone to give away their pet because they don't want to find time to take care of it.
I'm sorry, I know that sounds harsh. It's just that I think people need to take their commitment to a pet more seriously, and they should not get off easy by "rehoming" their pet on craigslist. There are more people going to craigslist to get rid of pets now because the biggest shelters in the area (Animal Humane Society shelters) now require people to schedule an appointment, have a counseling session, and pay a surrender fee before they can dump their pet. Some people don't want to bother making an appointment, they don't want to sit through a counseling session where shelter staff suggests ways they could keep their pet, and some just don't want to pay the surrender fee (which is all of $30 or something ridiculously low). All they want is an easy way to dump their pet on someone else without feeling too guilty.
There are over 2,000 dogs listed for adoption on petfinder.com within 100 miles of Minneapolis. There has to be one of those that would also be a good fit for you.
But, as Kiz said, if you're really set on this particular dog, don't give money to the person giving up the dog. He/she should not profit from the decision to dump their pet. Donate to a shelter/rescue instead.
Mr. Sammy Dog
I would never adopt a dog from craigslist for the reasons sjb gave. Furthermore, people who put their pets on craiglist are risking that their pet is adopted by someone with less than honorable intentions. IMO, this isn't much better than driving your dog to the middle of nowhere and pushing him out the door.
Also, why get a dog from craigslist when they already have a home? Why not get a homeless dog from a shelter or rescue so that spot can be opened for another dog who might otherwise be euthanized?
Tired after a long morning of hiking and swimming.
Yes, here's a great article on evaluating shelter dogs, you can adapt the techniques to evaluating the CL dog or others you might be interested in:
http://www.petfinder.com/before-pet-adoption/choose-shelter-dog-adoption.html
A couple of thoughts, please do consider making an appointment to see the dog and possibly waiting a day before making a decision. As you've probably seen on this board, DH and I have been actively looking for a dog, and we have found dogs that have sounded great based on their description and picture online, but that were not a good fit once we met them in person.
When you meet the dog, we recommend taking it out on a leash. This was a very telling experience for us, some dogs "pulled" too much and I thought it would be hard to control them. Also, play with the dog a bit, then ignore it, and see how long it takes to calm down.
I also highly recommend the book, "The Adopted Dog Bible", which is an awesome resource for not only evaluating dogs, but also for telling you how to help them adjust once you bring them home. Whether you get a dog from CL, a rescue, or anywhere else, it's going to be a big adjustment for the dog, and you want to be in a position to make it as easy as possible on him/her (and yourself!).
Instead of focusing on just 1 dog, you might also consider making a list of a few dogs from Petfinder or other places that you find interesting. This way, you might feel less obligated if you meet the CL dog and think he/she might not be a good fit. We started our by going to an adoption event and just looking at the variety of dogs available, and that was a great way to start for us. There were dogs we would not have otherwise considered, who were pretty cool when we saw them in person. We also found that it was just fun to see the dogs. Although we recently had a disappointment in our search, we have overall enjoyed the process of looking. Not sure if you're in a hurry, but for us it has been worth it to spend time with different dogs before making a decision.
Sadly, this is happening more often, likely because of the new surrender policies at big shelters like the AHS. I live in Rosemount, which isn't really in the country, but it's on the far outer edges of the metro area. I know the city impound has received about a dozen stray dogs that are microchipped, but when they contact the owner (not Rosemount residents in most cases), the owner doesn't want the dog. Turns out the owners just went to a somewhat remote place where they could drop a dog on the side of the road without anyone seeing it. That's awful.
The facebook page for the city impound in Maple Grove implies that a similar thing has been happening there.
I totally get why AHS made the change in their surrender policy, they were just getting over run with people dumping pets and they don't have the resources to take care of all of them. I believe wholeheartedly that anyone trying to surrender a pet should have to go through a counseling session to try to find a solution to keep the pet rather than surrendering. Unfortunately, this policy change seems to have resulted in people just dropping off dogs & cats on the side of the road because they can't be bothered with the surrender process.
Sorry. That got a little off topic. I get so worked up over these things.
Bottom line: it's better to adopt a homeless pet from a shelter/rescue than take a "free to a good home" pet on craigslist.
Mr. Sammy Dog
Tired after a long morning of hiking and swimming.
Wow, it is amazing that this isn't a crime.