Just head to any shelter and grab a dog right?

By Grace and Aria Keilbach

So you read last week’s newsletter and learned the difference between reputable and irresponsible breeders (and hopefully will now never support the latter). However, what if you don’t need to buy a dog and are interested in adopting instead? Easy right, just head to any shelter and grab a dog? Maybe not.

Although we fully support adopting (obviously haha) some rescues and shelters are just as bad as unethical breeders. You’d like to think that anyone with the heart to rescue/operate a shelter are automatically trustworthy and ethical but, even with the best intentions, there are plenty of practices that are counterproductive to working towards actual widespread and long-term solutions for animal welfare.

Here’s what to look for and what to avoid so that you can ensure you’re adopting/ supporting responsible, ethical rescues and most importantly are going home with a pet that is right for you.

Much like ethical breeders, responsible shelters’ & rescues’ goal adopting out dogs is to prevent them from being a reoccurring shelter resident or contributing to stray animal populations.

To help accomplish this, rescues/shelters should be very intentional when making decisions regarding “adoptable” dogs.

What to look for

Honesty

This starts with animal evaluations and most importantly, honesty. Ethical rescues/shelters take adequate time between intake and adoption to accurately get to know their dogs, not simply taking in and turning dogs over as quickly as possible to pump out more. They want to adopt out good dogs to good homes, limiting the chance of their animals being discarded or ending up back in shelters.

They will be performing thorough evaluations of dogs’ behaviors, temperament, possible triggers, health, and relationships with other dogs, people, kids, cats, etc. to determine whether they are safe, mentally stable and adaptable enough to go into the majority of homes.

Unfortunately, not all dogs are capable of physically or mentally thriving in the average family home and with hundreds of thousands in need, there is no room nor moral justification to allow un-adoptable dogs to hold space or be adopted out and risk people’s safety.

Therefore, ethical rescues/shelters will practice behavioral euthanasia AND be transparent about doing so.

They will also not provide long-term housing. Think about all those heart-wrenching posts you may see begging for adopters for dogs that have been at shelters for YEARS. Although that specific dog deserves a loving family, the reality is not receiving any interest for such a long period of time implies they are an un-adoptable dog that has now been mentally deteriorating in a kennel for years on-end and is most likely not ready or capable of handling home life at this point. Holding onto dogs like this and retaining hope that against all odds they may at some point find a happy ending sacrifices hundreds of currently adoptable dogs that could have used that kennel spot and opportunity.

One of my own personal dogs, Lady, was a behavioral train-wreck who spent five years in a small kennel at an animal shelter untouchable and un-adoptable.

I was specifically looking for a problem dog to improve my training and overall dog skills so I asked the shelter to let me adopt her but if I hadn’t, she would have continued to rot in a kennel and further deteriorate for the rest of her life. Lady absolutely loves life now and has an owner able to manage her safely. However, if I had the choice of her enduring her past and being with me now or having her be behavioral euthanized a few months after initial shelter intake, I would choose BE and spare her years of mental torture and in the process freeing that kennel for hundreds of others who desperately needed it.

Is an apartment really worse than living in a kennel?

Sometimes it’s harder to adopt a dog than bring home a newborn baby from the hospital. Although very particular regarding their own dogs, rescues/shelters should not need to hold unreachable standards for adopters. Of course they should do their best to sort through and find loving homes prepared to care for their animals. However, making adopters uphold incredibly high standards such as having thousands of dollars in savings in case of a pet emergency or blatantly refusing to adopt out to anyone living in apartments is simply unnecessary and irrelevant. Ethical rescues will not let the height of someone’s fence or the presence/lack of a yard determine whether a family is capable of loving and caring for a dog. I have seen many apartment dogs absolutely thriving with all their needs met and dogs with access to massive backyards lack basic care. What determines someone’s ability to be a proper pet owner is that person’s willingness and ability to provide that care.

More honesty

One of my personal biggest shelter/rescue pet peeves is the lack of honesty they extend adopters/fosters. I see this in the most basic form of false breed labeling (slabbing a breed label on any rescue dog that slightly resembles them) quite often. Example: “check out our new Dalmatian Mix!” points to spotted mixed breed puppy

There are so many dangers to this seemingly innocent lying. To start, it puts the dogs that are labeled as random breeds they coincidentally resemble into a box, their new family adopts them with the understanding they will exhibit this breed’s characteristics. When it is inevitably revealed the dog does not act “it’s breed” the adopters are left to address the resulting issues. Owners who have researched and are prepared for a certain breed’s behaviors, wants, needs, medical issues, etc. are then tricked into taking a dog that is going to have an entirely different set of genetics.

On a higher level, not being completely honest about a dog’s past, health, & behavioral issues or downplaying these to seem more manageable is absolutely unacceptable.

We have heard plenty of horror stories regarding dogs adopted by excited families who received no warnings about behavior or medical issues. Families then traumatized by their dogs attacking others or cases like sudden and common seizures only to find out after the fact that the shelters were aware of these problems all along and neglected to share.

Dogs are then returned, dumped, or kept by disappointed owners who went into an adoption agreement with expectations that were purposefully taken advantage of by rescues trying to pawn off dogs however they can. This may cause them to never adopt again in the future.

It is not okay to advertise mixed breed dogs as something they’re not and let unknowledgeable adopters face the consequences. Whether they learn to love their dog regardless of breed or behavior or not, it’s still an unnecessary process where everyone involved could be spared trouble by the rescue organization simply being honest.

Every rescue, us included, has been at a point where adoptions and interest are so few that we start to get desperate. It may make you want to cut corners and tell “harmless” lies or half-truths to get more dogs adopted, but doing so only puts your morality at stake and the rescue community back on any progress we’ve made to be more ethical, responsible, and trustworthy.

Support

And lastly also in standing with reputable breeders, a rescue/shelter green flag is guaranteed support before and after adoption. Whether it be by providing foster homes with supplies, all the information they may need as well as being a resource for any help, or after adoption by accepting back all animals if unwanted by their adopters in the future.

Overall, it is important to do your research before making any decision but especially those involving living, feeling animals. If you’re going to bring a new pet into your home, for the wellbeing of animals and people alike, hold each potential source accountable and to a moral standard. Adopt or shop responsibly.

Learning as we go

When we first started Boonie Babies (without any intentions of actually founding and running a rescue full-time), we were 16 and 18. Now 22 and 24, we have made every mistake listed in this newsletter and will continue to find new ones to make. In rescue, it is easy to let your heart take the lead when it comes to making decisions. We work to be better for our dogs and community every day by always being open to learning new things and becoming a better, more efficient, and ethical rescue.

Spreading holiday cheer

This holiday season, please consider sharing a little holiday cheer and love with our Boonies! Although we might not be able to get all of them the first thing on their list, a home, we can provide as many Boonies as possible with life saving care (food, vaccines, and spay/neuter surgeries). Because Santa is a little busy this time of year, we need your help to make their wishes come true. Donate $5 or more to Boonie Babies via PayPal the month of December and receive a special thank you in the mail, just don’t forget to leave your name and address in the note of the donation!

P.S. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and can provide the proper documentation for a tax write off for larger donations! Just send us an email @islandrescue@booniebabiessaipan so we can make sure you have what you need!

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