Adotping from shelter/rescue group questions

Thanks for responding.

We've talked to the landlord and he said dogs do too much damage. We offered a hefty pet deposit + pet rent and references about our ability to train a dog, and he just won't get back to us (months) which we take to mean "no". We have plenty of other people, including dog trainers who will vouch for us as pet owners and bosses who will attest to financial stability. Also, the owner is very lazy and doesn't want to find new tenants so he likely would just let us ride out to the end of the lease or even stay.

(Our leases have written in "no dogs' and "no w/d" but the person above us obviously has a washing machine as it has flooded our place many times and ruined much of my stuff over the past year, but the landlord hasn't done anything despite saying they do more damage than a dog.)

When I worked at shelters (in another state) they only called landlords to ask about the pet policy.

Has anyone else ever had a new landlord contact an old one? Out my 6 apartments since college, none has called the previous one.

What I'm more interested in, is how the rescue orgs will respond to the situation. I want to just tell them what's going on and have them not call the LL, but I'm worried that they won't approve us despite our abilities and willingness to care for a dog, even moving and loosing our deposit if necessary.

I'm very unfamiliar with the rescue groups around here. Does anyone have an opinion on any of them? Bobbi and the Stays, Stray from the Heart, North Shore?

I'm really picky about the dog we get (I want a great match for us) and prefer to go through a group rather than craigslist (petshops and breeders are definitely not a consideration for me).

Thanks for reading, guys.

Anyone looking for the *best* apartment in Park Slope? Seriously it's pros outweigh it's cons. It's huge, in a great spot, and the temperature is actually liveable (above 75 degrees). Biggest kitchen you'll find in NYC. Plus, we've niced it up quite a bit...

It does have mice, an absent landlord, and wiring as old as Brooklyn and the occasional flood of dirty laundry water from above but it's so big you just go sit somewhere else!

Anyone used a good real estate agent in the hood recently? Or do you live in an awesome big building and know of open places or what agency rents them? Or a duplex in a brownstone with a yard? We're not really finding what we want on craigslist and if we're choosing to move, we're going to find somewhere worth staying a while.

The LL won't fully say "no" to a dog, so we want to know his terms--what would he actually do (ie, just not renew our lease next fall, which seems to be the worst this guy would do...this is just a building he inherited and doesn't like to worry with.)

Poor cattle dog. I love heelers but they do have a face only a mother could love. We don't want to do the foster thing now...just want to have our own dog. A young one, preferably a BC or Aussie mix, maybe some sort of retriever mix. I love herding breeds including the fact that they aren't over bred and have longer lifespans and fewer health problems in general. Plus, we need an agile pup who can shimmy up rocks and ladders with me upstate in the woods

sorry for so much writing...that's the problem with the internet for me..I can just go on and on!

Oh, and does anyone has any opinions on any of the rescue groups and shelters? I know they all mean well, but I don't agree with the methods of all.

pitu wrote:
You might want to be more specific about what you don't agree with...
Are you talking about the policy of checking into the new home? I think all the good rescue groups do that, and I have to say it's mostly fair.
I adopted a dog that had been returned a couple weeks after being adopted, and I don't think the extra step in getting moved around did the animal any good. I mentioned fostering the older dog because it doesn't appear to have any good chance, and fostering can help both the fosterer and the fosteree figure stuff out. Guess that's not your situation.

Some of the individual breed rescues have particular rules -- for instance I've heard it's very difficult to get Frenchie rescues in the city. They don't realize we have Prospect Park, and it's better than having a back yard.
If you already have rescue/shelter experience, and a vet that will vouch for you, you shouldn't have any problems. They just need to be able to screen the people somehow.

I liked the NYACC (NYC's pound) - I fostered from there.

I'm glad they screen, do home visits, call ref and such. But, in some cases it's one or very few people trying to run a rescue and they aren't organized and can be a little too emotional about it all.

My Dad went through a local group like this where he lives and after jumping through tons of hoops and paying a very large adoption fee (before they would even let him see the puppy he had to drive hours to see), they screwed him over with the health stuff. His fee (by contract) was supposed to cover spaying and some more vaccinations but he was supposed to wait until the puppy was older to take her back to the specified vet where the group made an appointment. He takes the dog in where he was sent and the vet won't let him have her back until HE pays the vet a far more expensive than normal for what was done (he should know, with all of our well-cared for pets over the years, my folks put that vet's son through school.)

I went to a no kill shelter here to look around a while back. Come to find out, some of their dogs had been there for 3+ years in small cage kennels and had serious behavior issues that made them hard to place in the city. I actually saw a small terrier (JRT, maybe) latch onto a puppy and have to be pried off, leaving gaping wounds. Apparently the staff knew very well this dog did this whenever it had the chance but there were no signs or information about this on his kennel and the volunteer who was told to walk him was not told how dog aggressive he was. I could rant for pages on why this stuff upsets but but this is enough. I just don't want to support this kind of group. No kill is fine with me, but they need to be more responsible about it.

Places like the ASPCA, Bide-a-Wee and breed rescues in general seem to have good policies and practices. The CACC is fine by me though they seem a little understaffed/underfunded to help adopters much with dogs, though that certainly won't keep me from watching their adoptables.

So, I'm happy to prove my ability to care for a dog. I appreciate that they care about these animals. That being said, I'm from a rural area and most of our dogs were "found" pets. My folks favorite child now is one I picked off the interstate a couple of years ago while visiting them. In some ways, it's weird to do all the paperwork, but I get it.

I just want to know if people have had good/bad experiences with any in particular. This board seems to have so many pet lovers, I thought some of you might have adopted from local groups/shelters.

Loving all the feedback :?

Oh, and any word on rescues and shelters?

We'll be looking at the ASPCA and CACC but a few small groups have some dogs we're really keen on. I've tried contacting a couple and gotten no reply!

Thanks for all of your words of wisdom, folks. It's good to get outside opinions.

Why is everything so hard in NYC?? This is getting bizarre. This is just a spot for me to rant a little now, I think.

While I'm off signing the new lease (which was a great drama in itself as all kinds of BS was thrown at me, luckily I had on my waders and fought my way out), our current landlord sent us a response to our email saying we were going to sign a new lease saying "don't go". He has decided to accept our proposed pet fee and is being incredibly nice and accommodating. So now, we're working with the broker who showed us the new place to rerent it and get our $ back.

Our current landlord has never been a jerk, or misled us I just wish he had figured this dog thing out sooner! That said, he actually emailed and called both of us to say we're good tenants and "we want you to stay". I think the we might be his rather wobbly grandmother who actually lives in the building and seems to like us.

So, this place isn't up as of now, but thanks for asking A much more expensive, but nicer place on Plaza St is up through Alta realtors, FWIW.

My mother has convinced my dad one of their dogs (one my bf and I adore) needs to leave their pack and if all goes as planned, we will soon have a dog after several years without!

Pictures will shared once we have a four-legged friend.