Posts
I believe in rescuing animals.
Every pet I've ever had (except my kitty, Tiki), has been a rescue.
Rescues are the best.
Except when they're not.
We recently expanded our family to include a new furface. And she has been amazing! Seriously, we couldn't have asked for a better dog. She is absolutely awesome in every way. Companion would disagree with me and say that her slobber is far from awesome, but I digress. Sadly, the journey to find our dog, had not been so magical.
Let me start by saying that I understand rescues are run by volunteers. I understand that volunteering takes time and is hard work. I admire these people, despite they can be a bit overzealous and judgemental, and totally make it difficult for you, when it comes to adopting their foster.
Let me tell you, Last Day Dog Rescue (LDDR) is horrible.
(also not linking because they deserve no love from me)
After no contact and a no call/no show scheduled home visit, we were finally able to start meeting dogs to potentially adopt. It seemed that every dog we were interested in was either already adopted or "not a good fit" for us. They denied us pretty much every dog we were interested in. We were looking for a med/large sized dog (preferably a Golden or Lab), that's good with kids and cats. That was it. We couldn't find any Goldens (yes, I tried GRRoM), and LDDR deemed all the Labs "too hyper" for us.
They described a very sweet dog, Bennett, who was good with cats and kids. He was a sweetheart. He loved everyone he met. He was desperate to get out of the kennel he was in because he has severe kennel anxiety.... they kept pushing him on me, and assuring me he was perfect for us. My heart started to break for poor Bennett, and we decided we would love to adopt him. We were so excited! We drove over an hour and waited 4 hours just to meet him. I almost cried when I saw him, I was so happy.
Fast forward.
We didn't even have Bennett 24 hours.
Within hours of being in our home, he became overly protective of Companion, and would "guard" him from the rest of the family. He growled and postured at my sister. He bristled, growled, and lunged at Jaysen (thank baby Jeebus Companion was able to hold him back). He would posture and track Rylan. He was showing aggression toward the kids, and I just could not accept that.
I contacted LDDR. I was told to "ignore him. Don't show him any affection for 72 hours".
Uh...okay.
They wanted to know which kid he was showing aggression to.
Does it fucking matter???
Bennett kept going. That night, Companion slept in the living room with the dog, while I slept in my bedroom with the cats. The boys slept in their rooms with the doors closed. Needless to say, we were terrified of what would happen if one of the kids woke up first and came out of their bedroom. It would have been different, had I been without kids. But I'm a mom, and that usually means you have children of some sort. I am in no effing way going to put my kids in danger like that.
We decided to return Bennett to the rescue.
They were pissed. Their argument was I didn't give him time to adjust. My argument was I couldn't put my children in a situation like that with a dog that has aggressive tendencies. They didn't care.
They picked Bennett up in the morning.
They didn't want to hear about anything, and I made her take a written description of what happened, and how I didn't think he should be in a home with children.
They were pissed, and banned me from the rescue.
Ha.
So... I got blacklisted for being concerned about my children's safety?
Interesting. I'm fine with that, and I guess it just speaks to what kind of "rescue" LDDR really is.
I understand that rescue people only care about the dog's well being. I get that, you crazy motherfuckers. But isn't part of the dog's well being, to find the right family? If a dog has a taste for children, it should not be in a house with children.
Don't get me wrong- Bennett was a great dog. Very smart, fast learner, good companion.....just not for a house with kids. Yet, he's still on LDDR's website as being good with kids. That's totally irresponsible and someone's potentially going to get hurt.
I wasn't able to get a straight answer about anything. I had one person saying I was a bad dog-mom, and another saying I was great, just "the board" was being unfair and she was going to help me on the side, to adopt a better dog. She later turned out to be a huge two-faced, backstabbing, spineless jackass, but that's just par for LDDR apparently. I had them saying my adoption fee check was in the mail, but it never showed, so I put a stop payment on my check (c'mon, we had the dog less than 24 hours). They sure didn't like that because it cost them $30 when they tried to cash it. Haha bitches.
This isn't a butthurt post either. I was denied by another rescue (my cats were late on their vaccines- don't tell Jenny!), and although I thought that was BS, it was handled much differently and professionally.
In not-so-short, Last Day Dog Rescue is run by a bunch of daft volunteers, who have no freakin' clue what a "rescue" is. I'm sure David Arquette would disagree, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume we didn't get the same treatment.
I'll tell you all about the rescue that we ended up working with (who ironically branched out from LDDR because they couldn't stand LDDR's politics), in another post. I don't want to even associate the two, plus I still have to upload pics. *lazy*
Bottom line is-
Even though our experience was horrible, please consider rescuing. Just not from LDDR. They're deceitful and really don't care. About you, or their dogs.
Stay tuned for an awesome post on adoption!
8 comments:
This is a personal response to this irrationally thinking person’s statements and is not a Last Day Dog Rescue response.
This is obviously written by someone not thinking rationally, just look at the language being used. I am a volunteer with Last Day Dog Rescue, and while not perfect, it is one of the better rescues I have seen. I do know a bit about this irrationally thinking person’s interactions with Last Day Dog Rescue and will only comment on what I know.
She states “Let me start by saying that I understand rescues are run by volunteers. I understand that volunteering takes time and is hard work. I admire these people, despite they can be a bit overzealous and judgemental, and totally make it difficult for you, when it comes to adopting their foster.” I would agree that can happen.
She states “It seemed that every dog we were interested in was either already adopted or "not a good fit" for us.” The rescue receives multiple applications on many dogs, and marks them as adopted or removes the dog from the web site, as adoptions occur. There are many times when a person or family’s situation is not good for a particular dog, such as needing a fenced yard (and they don’t have one) or maybe the dog is not good with small children or maybe a dog needs an experienced owner and situations alike. That would be deemed as “not a good fit” and the rescue would not adopt that particular dog to that person or family for that reason. In most cases, it would just result in a bad experience for the adopter and the dog, and they would end up returning the dog.
She states “they kept pushing him (meaning Bennett) on me, and assuring me he was perfect for us.” This was one of those “not a good fit” cases, where she was told so, but she kept pushing and pushing to adopt Bennett until the volunteer caved in. She states “We drove over an hour and waited 4 hours just to meet him. I almost cried when I saw him, I was so happy.” Does that make sense for a dog that was being “pushed” on her?
She states “So... I got blacklisted for being concerned about my children's safety?” Ah, no, you got blacklisted for threatening to blackmail the rescue with statements of misinformation, half-truths, and innuendo’s if your adoption fee wasn’t returned immediately (Hmm… kind of sounds like what you are trying to do here).
Those are all the facts I can comment on. I can’t comment on any of this irrational person’s other statements, but I would take them with a grain of salt.
Hmmmm....let me see....I hear a disgruntled, angry, unhappy person who finds it appropriate to swear (such a role model for your children) and blame others. You stated you didn't have the dog 24 hours - how did you know what the dog was like? Did you ever stop to think that the dog might have been scared? Dogs pick up on the energy of people - sounds to me like I would not want to be a dog in your home. You contradict yourself every which way in this blog. "He was a smart dog - I cried when I saw him." Sounds to me that you picked this dog based on your emotions not on what was best for everyone. And, you stated that every dog you looked at was either adopted or not a good fit. Ok? I don't get the point of that statement. If a dog was adopted, were they supposed to go and get that dog away from that person just so you could have it? And if a dog was not a fit, then I would rather them tell me that then have the dog, such as Bennett, not be a good dog for your household. Perhaps you were the one not listening?
I would also be curious to know how much volunteering time you put in every week. Most rescues are run by dedicated volunteers who put in hours and hours of their own time. I'm sure they are not perfect, especially if you are talking to them the way you are talking to them now.
No, I think you are bully and a coward and a lousy role model for your children. I would not be proud to show my kids what mommy wrote on a public blog. As for calling someone a two faced spineless jack---, hmmmm...pot calling the kettle black, perhaps?
At the end of the day, the dog was immediately returned, you found your forever dog and the fact that you can't seem to let things go leads me to say two words to you: "anger management".
Dear Anonymous #1,
Blackmail?!? That's laughable. What would I even possibly have for leverage to use as blackmail? You are obviously a simple, petty, fool to even believe that drivel. I have physical written proof of my communications and how things went with the "rescue". I can prove my end of it. Can you say the same? Sorry, sweetheart. I have facts. You have butthurt speculation. In fact, your "rescue" still isn't on the same page in regards to the issue way after the fact. But feel free to say I'm the irrational one.
Dear Anonymous #2,
I love you. You're hilarious. You know even less than anonymous #1 does. If you actually read the post above, your questions would have been answered. How did I know what the dog was like? He was aggressive toward my children. I don't need to know any more than that. Period. Done. Maybe instead of spending all of this time harassing me and defaming my character as a mother (which you clearly know nothing about)...that energy would be better spent finding your dogs "furever" homes, as that is supposed to be the actual focus of your said "rescue".
My experience still stands that LDDR lacks a certain level of professionalism. The above comments obviously speak to that.
Wow, the folks who have commented here from LDDR need to know how much damage they are causing to their mission. We in the special needs community know how to document, and we do it as though our lives depended on it- often because, our children's lives ARE dependent on it. Be sure to have your ducks in a row before taking us on.
Also, it sure makes me not want to go to your rescue even MORE, because to make such comments is petty, unprofessional, and nasty. Why would I want to adopt any animal from people who would make such comments on a blog?
In fact, it would make me think twice before going to any rescue. Why would I want to be subjected to this kind of harassment, especially after clearly having such a negative experience to begin with? I think I'd much rather either do a direct rescue (ie, wait to find a dog in the street), or go through my own social channels (call friends and say I am in search of a dog) than deal with this kind of treatment.
When posting on someone's blog, keep in mind that golden axiom: watch your mouth. It isn't your space.
Hmmmm.....I think that a public blog is everyone's space.
I'm starting to think Anon #2 is sweet on me...
It is very disturbing the way Last Day Dog Rescue handled this situation. After spending an hour with Bennett at Melissa's house, it was very clear that he had insecurity issues, which he expressed with aggressive posturing. The response my sister received after notifying LDDR, was to withhold affection, which in my opinion, was ridiculous. Having decades of experience training both horses and dogs, earning numerous awards and titles from AKC Canine Good Citizen through UKC UCDX, it was clear to me that LDDR should have done a more thorough evaluation of Bennett before advertising him as a family pet. "He has never met a person or animal he doesn't love," is still posted on their website, even after he has shown aggressive tendencies toward both children and adults. I'm not saying Bennett doesn't have the potential to be a good adoption candidate, perhaps it just wasn't a good match. However, from the behaviors I observed in the time I spent with him, Bennett requires an experienced owner/handler to properly socialize him (not the type of animal for a first time dog owner).
When I lived in Northern Virginia, I was a volunteer and foster for Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation, so I also know what it's like to be on the other side of the fence, trying to find animals homes with so many in need. Nevertheless, it was appalling to read the comments from people associated with LDDR. Safety is always the first priority, and if my sister felt that her family was at risk, LDDR should have picked the dog up immediately and refunded the adoption fees, especially since the dog was only with them for 24 hours and displaying aggression. If LDDR is committed to working with the community to find suitable matches for their animals, they should have at least applied the adoption fees toward another dog better suited to a home with young children. Any reputable rescue would have done just that.
First off, I'm not anonymous I'm Colleen.
Second and more to the point what the heck are LDDR staff/volunteers doing trolling this blog and attacking this woman as a Mother? I'm shocked and appalled to read the responses from LDDR. I can't fathom why you think that a person on their own blog page is not entitled to describe their own experience in their own words, without having their character questioned for it.
This Mom does not have to have a professional persona here but i think in general the public would expect a business, even a not for profit, to behave in a professional manner when speaking about that business, it's clients and even it's ex or "blacklisted" clients. What that tells me as an animal lover, an animal rescuer, a consumer and a mother is that you have ulterior motives and something to hide. Your defensiveness lacks facts or reason. That alone is enough for me to encourage others to not support your rescue but sadly you went beyond that. You crossed a line by attacking a mother on her parenting and brought her children into it. I can't imagine anyone reading this and not concluding that you do not have either the animals or the potential rescuers at heart. I am very sad for these animals in your care.
Post a Comment