Fur Baby Advice

Moiramab

So BF and I finally decided to start looking at dogs to adopt (yay!). We don't live together but I'm 100% on board with joint custody, I live alone and work 40+ hours so furbaby would be at his place. Sunday we went to an adoption event and found the perfect pup. We filled out the application and let the foster mom know that we would be paying the adoption fee this week because we wanted to make sure the apartment was completely dog proof and get confirmed consent of BF's roommate.

Waiting was our first mistake.

Yesterday I went on to pay the adoption fee (which foster mom said would "hold our place") only to see that he was removed from the website as adopted. I'm trying to keep a positive attitude, that this was a preemptive to move on their part to our benefit, but I emailed the rescue last night and I've been frantically refreshing waiting for a reply.

For you guys with adoption experience (or if you fostered before) is it in the realm of possibility that between Sunday and Monday afternoon someone else was able to adopt him? Even though we were on the same page with foster mom? I know their responsibility is to find the best forever home, and it was our fault for not crossing all our T's before looking, but I'm in denial that it could happen so quickly. Any words of encouragement? :-/

Dignity100

Puppies (and kittens) tend to be adopted quickly.  I volunteered for an evening shift at a shelter and it was RARE by the time I made it in that there were puppies still available. 

Most popular dogs that went for adoption:  puppies that would stay under 30lbs.
Hardest dogs to adopt out:  black older dogs.

The shelter I worked through required very little to adopt.  They would take a donation to HOLD a puppy for a 24 hour period, but that's the best they could do.

When I adopted Loki, I went through a breed specific rescue, their procedures were a little bit more intense.  They did a home visit and after I decided on a dog, there was a 2 week 'cool off' period before they would allow me to adopt the dog.  They had been burned too many times in the past with people saying 'OMG PUPPY!' and then not realizing all the work that was behind the puppy.

Just after reading your first post - is your BF is a true apartment building?  And you did double check on their pet policy?  Are there security deposits that you guys are willing to lose?  I just mention it because puppies chew and puppies make piddles.  Just based on my own experience, if I had an apartment and was getting a pup, I'd probably shoot for somebody 18-24 months old that wasn't as active.

Moiramab

Thankfully he is not a puppy (6 years old, I just have a tendancy to call all dogs pups) and an owner surrender, so house and crate trained. He is a popular breed though so that makes me worry (I use the word loosely) more. This rescue does have a two week foster-to-adopt option, to make sure the dog fits with the household, any other pets and so on, and I love that and it's what we were planning on doing.

As for all the valid last questions, I made completely sure with bf that he understood all of that before I agreed. He's not irresponsible, he just...doesn't think of all the responsibilities. We've been talking about it for a long time, the only thing we didn't do before going this weekend was pay the pet deposit and make sure the apartment was dog prepped (space for food and bowl, garbage cans behind doors etc).

phira

Unrelated to everything, but @dignity100 My bird's name is Loki!

luckya23

I work with 2 rescues, and they don't approve applications the same day.  Neither does home visits, either, though, and only one does adoption events.  Sometimes multiple applications are received for the same dog, and then they consider which is the best fit. 

As a foster mom, I've also not had say in which home my foster went to, that was decided by the people who ran the rescue.  The first one I had, I had a woman who I really liked come to meet the dog and she was fairly sure she wanted him, but had to have her husband and daughter meet him first.  She let the rescue know that because of our schedules that wouldn't be possible until the next weekend, but the rescue wouldn't hold the dog, and in fact had me bring him to another potential in the meantime.

Another possibility is that once you stated your interest, the foster mom may have decided she wants to keep the dog... That happened to me and also my mom!

Those are all worst case scenarios though, and trust me, there are plenty of needy dogs out there if this one doesn't work out!!  Most likely the rescue is just swamped - they are usually volunteers with other jobs.

 

psychbabe314

Unfortunately, in my experience I would say yes. I was never told when a potential new parent popped up and if someone approached me I could not put a dog on "hold" they had to go through the adoption agency and everything. I had not say in the matter, but if you filled out an application, they may have pulled him because you are interested.

good luck!