{"id":3120,"date":"2014-05-04T20:57:24","date_gmt":"2014-05-04T10:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/?p=3120"},"modified":"2021-08-02T17:47:00","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T07:17:00","slug":"how-to-choose-a-rescue-or-shelter-to-adopt-from","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/rescue\/how-to-choose-a-rescue-or-shelter-to-adopt-from\/","title":{"rendered":"How to choose a rescue or shelter to adopt from"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Purchasing a dog or puppy: What to look for in a rescue or shelter<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Congratulations on choosing to add a new dog or puppy to your family.<\/p>\n<p>It is great that you are considering adopting a pet from a rescue or shelter. However, not all rescues\/shelters are created equal &#8211; indeed, some facilities are merely posing as rescues and are more like an animal-broker than an animal-rescue.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not a &#8216;black and white&#8217; matter, but here are some suggestions that will hopefully help you when you&#8217;re looking at adopting a pet.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4198 alignright\" alt=\"Green traffic light\" src=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/photo_31057_20140319-367x1024.jpg\" width=\"176\" height=\"491\" srcset=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/photo_31057_20140319-367x1024.jpg 367w, http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/photo_31057_20140319-107x300.jpg 107w, http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/photo_31057_20140319.jpg 861w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 176px) 100vw, 176px\" \/>Necessities<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Do not purchase a dog from a shelter unless the facility:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Shows concern and regard to the physical health of their dogs and puppies<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Shows concern and regard to the psychological well being of their dogs and puppies &#8211; either in providing enrichment on site, by frequently taking their dogs &#8216;out and about&#8217;, by using Dunbar&#8217;s methods of raising puppies (with <a href=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/puppies\/long-term-confinement-area-for-puppies\/\">toilet area<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/puppies\/praise-kongs\/\">kongs<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/puppies\/puppy-socialisation-dunbar\/\">socialisation<\/a>), and by providing training to dogs with behavioural problems<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Is willing to provide life-long support to you as a purchaser, and is willing to take their dog or puppy back if things don&#8217;t work out. (There should be a trial period of anywhere from 1-12 weeks where a refund is provided.)<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>You feel comfortable approaching the rescue or shelter for advice, and feel they would be supportive and give you clear advise you can understand.<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Sells all dogs and puppies microchipped, vaccinated and sterilised (or on contracts to have these procedures performed at a latter date, or with a medical certificate exempting them from these procedures)<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Gives you some time to &#8216;think about&#8217; adding the dog\/puppy to your household<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Niceities<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s &#8216;nice&#8217; if a shelter\/rescue does these following things, but not a deal breaker.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The rescue\/shelter asks you lots of questions about your household and what you&#8217;re looking for<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>There is a sales contract<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The rescue\/shelter seems to have a great deal of knowledge about dogs<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The rescue\/shelter uses foster carers so they know what the dog is like in a house (instead of just living in a kennel)<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The rescue\/shelter has had the dog in care for at least 10 days, to serve as a quarantine period<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Friends, family, or other shelters and rescues have heard of this rescue and have positive things to say<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Identifies as &#8216;no kill&#8217; or &#8216;out the front door&#8217; or as &#8216;saving 90%&#8217;<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Red Flags<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Have some concern about the shelter or rescue if any of these events take place.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The rescue\/shelter seems overly concerned about the purchase price<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The rescue\/shelter puts the hard sell on &#8211; &#8220;I might sell her next week if you don&#8217;t take her today&#8221;, or &#8220;I&#8217;ll give you 10% off if you buy her now.&#8221;<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The rescue\/shelter sells puppies together to the same pet family<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The rescue\/shetler is willing to sell a puppy\/dog to you without you even meeting the dog\/puppy to assess it for yourself<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do Not Buys<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If the shelter or rescue does any of the following things, then walk away and source a dog from an alternative source.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You cannot meet the dog or puppy before sale<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>Dogs\/puppies are not microchipped &#8211; in most states of Australia, this is a legal requirement<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The dogs or puppies seem unhealthy or in poor condition (dirty, matted, skinny, fat)<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>There seems to be no plan to improve the socialability\/behaviour of dogs that have problematic temperaments<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<li>The rescue\/shelter is not willing to show you all the dogs in their care<br \/>&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is there anything you would add to the list?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Further reading: See <a href=\"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/dog-breeding\/how-to-find-a-good-dog-breeder\/\">How to Find a Good Dog Breeder<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So you&#8217;ve made the decision to add a dog to your household, but how do you go about finding an ethical rescue or shelter? This post hopes to give you some guidance. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[358,33],"tags":[977,979,339,981,980,982,12,11,21,20,976,978,34,983,984,986,985,822,41,168],"class_list":["post-3120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-to-guides","category-rescue","tag-adopt","tag-adopting","tag-adoption","tag-choice","tag-choosing","tag-choosing-a-dog","tag-dog","tag-dogs","tag-puppies-2","tag-puppy","tag-purchase","tag-purchasing","tag-rescue-2","tag-rescue-dog","tag-rescue-dogs","tag-rescue-puppies","tag-rescue-puppy","tag-rescues","tag-shelter","tag-shelters"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3120"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3120"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4865,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3120\/revisions\/4865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}