# Strange but true reasons some adopters get turned down



## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

From DallasGold's suggestion in another thread.

The one that popped into my head was one that happened recently. We had a lady who applied to adopt from us in January of this year. In the application, she indicated that she had gotten rid of a dog recently. Actually, it was in July of last year. 

I was pretty familiar with the dog since she had turned him into our rescue and I was his foster. She bought him for her kids. He was 6 months old, had never been allowed in the house, she complained that she had to put in an underground fence because anytime they tried to drive away from the house, he would follow. He was totally out of control and jumped on them all the time (according to her). When she dropped him off at the rescue's vet, she walked in, signed the papers, handed him over and never spoke to him or petted him or anything. By the way, he was an adorable little guy who was adopted to a fantastic family.

Jump forward 6 months and I guess her kids wanted another dog, so she applied to our rescue........


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## coppers-mom (Jan 9, 2009)

I just have no words for that. At least no printable ones.


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

coppers-mom said:


> I just have no words for that. At least no printable ones.


Yeah, I'm pretty flabbergasted. That woman's an idiot.


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## Noey (Feb 26, 2009)

...this is a "logical" reason not to adopt to her. But not comparable to reasons people who would make wonderful parents get turned away.


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## spruce (Mar 13, 2008)

can't believe she came back to your rescue.
too bad she is what she is - - with her "temporary" need for a dog, she could be a foster.


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## AcesWild (Nov 29, 2008)

I believe I was turned down to a rescue because my rabbit is now in the possession of a friend who has a farm and more room for him. She asked to use him for her breeding program and by the time she was ready to give him back her 7 siblings were attached. How can you say no to 5+ kids under 10 who play with him all day (they're home schooled) and made him a huge "play area"! If he lived with me he would be in a cage with 1 hour daily romping time! Now he's part of their 4-H project. I love hearing the updates from them and keep the drawings the younger ones have done.

I also had a cat with my boyfriend and it is my names on the papers so I was honest in saying that my boyfriend has custody of the cat, but I was sure to add that he won't give the cat back to me. The cat of course is well taken care of. However I would be more than happy and able to have him live with me. He is required to send me monthly updates otherwise I would take him to court to get the cat back. (He knows this)


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## AndyFarmer (Jul 9, 2007)

One word comes to my mind:

DENIED!


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## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

We had a young family apply who had never had a dog. They had cats. They wanted a dog for their 8 year old daughter who wanted one and they wanted to teach her "responsibility" It was very obvious just from talking to them on the phone that the adults were not really very into having a dog, knew nothing about it and didn't seem very interested in learning either, by their attitude. They were extremely concerned about how the dog would be with their cats. 

Also the dad originally was planning for the dog to live outside. When told we don't allow that, he said "Oh yeah, OK, he can live in the house" Yeah RIGHT!!!

These people had red flags all over the place! I was dreading their home visit. Luckily they got smart and realized they were not really ready for a dog. Thank God.


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## S-Dog's Mom (Jan 9, 2009)

Wow... This is turning into a very interesting thread!


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Had one that had an intact male and *told *me they intended to breed him, just because they liked him and wanted another one from his bloodline. This was a pet with no papers, no intention to do clearances, no competition of any kind, and no breeding experience, and they didn't care about the number of dogs just like him in shelters. They wouldn't budge.


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## avincent52 (Jul 23, 2008)

I feel sorry for this woman's kids.

allen


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## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

This is a case of a denial but is relevant. I actually wrote a thread about it here.
We had a woman who was surrendering their sweet 10 month old golden pup because she was allergic. She hadn't made many attempts to treat her allergies and to allow her son and husband keep the dog (those two LOVED the pup) When I went for the assessment, the dog was running loose in the unfenced back yard!!
She said she needed him gone NOW!!! It was very obvious to me this woman (who had never had a dog before this puppy) did not like the dog at all and couldn't wait for us to take him even though she made it sound like it was all about the allergies.
What really floored me was when she said "maybe in a year or two when my allergies are under control, we'll adopt from you guys"

I didn't even bother to tell her there would be no way we would consider allowing them to adopt from us when they had surrendered a puppy to GRRIN. But I doubt we will ever hear from them again. I feel very sorry for her son though. : (


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## Rob's GRs (Feb 25, 2007)

The only one I remember was a family that had a thing for electrical underground fencing. I do not have any issues with it as an outdoor fencing system, and it was around the outside of their yard, but they brought it inside the house and ran it in certain areas on the basement ceiling. These areas on the basement ceiling lined up to rooms above that they did not want dogs going into, which included the dining room, the living room and the stairway that went up to where their bedrooms were on the next floor. They had a thing about not wanting hair all over the house and wanted spaces only humans can enjoy.....:no:


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## Ashivon (May 3, 2008)

Years ago I worked for a vet, and became the unofficial adoption agent. Since I took care of them the front office (lLeyda) would ask me to come up front take them down and give the "interview". 

Lady came in with her daughter and asked about some kittens. As we were showing them my red flag hackles were up (instinct). T

I asked the telling question "What happened to your last cat?"

"They keep falling out of the window." she said.:doh:

"They?!" , I responded in a strangled voice.

(I really didn't want to know more)

"I know my son threw the last one, cause I saw him, but he said he was just mad cause the cat got hair on his hoodie."

DENIED!!!!

I'ts a shame but I've got tons of these stories.


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## 3 goldens (Sep 30, 2005)

On down the line we hoped to adopted a senior goden, but now I am wondering if we would be disqualified because we gave up a dog 20 years and anther one about 8 years ago.

BUT neither started out as our dog. The first one--we were going to go fishing in the ship chanel and as we started down the enbankment we say a dead dog. Only thing, she opened her eyes when we got near here. I had never seen anything so skinny be alive. We always carry water and we found a tuna type can, rinsed it out in the chanel and then with fresh water, and I gave her wate, a few laps at a time. Hubby knew where a convinece store was just up the road and he went and got a can of dog food. He was telling the folks about fining this little brown dog and they said they bet they knew it. Folks lived next door had moved off and left heir little brown female dog. She had hung around for a couple of weeks, sitting in driveway, but finally left. (why didn't they do something about her?)

Well, i fed her just little licks of food, give her a couple of laps of water, etc. We did this over a period of probably 2 hours. She was covered in ticks, I do not think you could touch her ears with a pin without touching a tick. I would say she had thousdans of those little seed ticks plus some o the big brown dog ticks.

Since we often took our Irish Setter in the car, we had a blanket in there. We wrppaed her up, took her home and put her in th bathtub--with the blanet--and dipped her with paramite. The tub was FULL of ticks. Put her in the garage--did not want her near Boots--and it was a couple of days before she could actually get up and wak on her own. Would fiid her just little bits every couple of hours and after the first day id let her ave all the water she wanted.

We wer renting at the time and was in our lease we could only have the one dog. So we kept the little brown girl, we called her Girl, hidden for a couple of months til she was fat and sassy and in good health again. Then we did take her to a no kill shelter in Corpus. 

Then about 8 years ago a young pointer with no collar showed up here. We had the 3 goldens and did not want another dog. He had stuff in his eyes, so I took him to my vet and he had that conjuntivitis, so I got the meds for hsi eyes and Ricky also just gave me a heartworm pil for him. Checked him out and did heartworm test and he was in great health except for the eye problem. Rickey also gave me a couple of heartworm pills for him.

I put up fliers, watched paper, nothing. We were hutning for a good home for him since it appeared his ownr was not looking for him. And we found one. The mother of the dispatcher at hubby's job lost her old hound and was so depressed. Jerry told Toy about this poiinter and Tony asked him Mom and she wanted him so bad--she did keep herdog up to date on all vax, heartworm, had a huge fenced in yard where dogs could ge exercise, etc. So we took him in to Tony's Mom. And Tony has always kept Jerry informe on all the antics Knucklehead does that keeps his Mom laughing.

So I nevger thought about it before, but we may be disqualified for having given up those two dogs inseadof keeping them for ourselves....tho both came into our lives by accident.


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## HovawartMom (Aug 10, 2006)

I'm glad,she was turned away and I wish,people would remember that dog are dispensable!.


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## AcesWild (Nov 29, 2008)

Rob's GRs said:


> The only one I remember was a family that had a thing for electrical underground fencing. I do not have any issues with it as an outdoor fencing system, and it was around the outside of their yard, but they brought it inside the house and ran it in certain areas on the basement ceiling. These areas on the basement ceiling lined up to rooms above that they did not want dogs going into, which included the dining room, the living room and the stairway that went up to where their bedrooms were on the next floor. They had a thing about not wanting hair all over the house and wanted spaces only humans can enjoy.....:no:



I had a friend who did this for the kitchen area, a more expensive fix than baby gates.

Moxie is NOT allowed in my brother's room. My brother will get sick if he has too much dander/hair. She knows the boundary because she gets banished everytime she steps over the threshold. so she lays outside his room with her paws on the doorjamb.

Moxie has been in the past banished from offices because she likes to sleep under desks and she tends to turn off whole power strips during important term papers.

So boundaries I can understand, the method, I agree, not one I would use.


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## Faith's mommy (Feb 26, 2007)

oh, gosh i have so many! i think it'd be even more interesting to also give examples of "wonderful" pet owners who haven't turned out quite the way they presented themselves.

the people who filled out an application saying they had a 3 bedroom home on 1/2 an acre.... home visit person shows up and it's an apartment building with a large NO DOGS sign right in the lobby.

guy who didn't agree with the rescue's policy of requiring heartworm medication. he lied on the application, saying he used it on his current pets. when the rescue called to verify with his vet, the vet said they've never sold it to him for his other dogs. he said that his vet said it was unnecessary and when the person handling the application told him she'd spoken to his vet and his vet does not believe it to be unnecessary he got beligerent and did a bunch of "how dare you check up on me!" kind of comments.

i was trying to arrange a home visit with some folks and they didn't seem interested in returning my call or email. i called one last time, got someone live and said "look, i won't be offended if you've changed your mind about adopting the dog, just let us know" he said that the rescue had lied to him and that they didn't tell him the dog wasn't in CT. i let the dog's rep. know and she was uber-annoyed. she says, "he's called the foster family literally dozens of times asking all sorts of crazy questions - again, he's called them, he has their number in TN, and he's asked multiple questions about the transport. he knew **** well the dog was still in TN."

the weirdest home visit one for me was when i asked the question "what will you do if the dog gets ill?" and the guy went on this rant about how he just knew that the rescue was trying to pass a "defective" dog off on them. his wife was asking me "is the dog sick already?" and i said "no, but, it's normal for dogs to get sick from time to time. " they didn't seem to get it.



as for those "wonderful" homes who've gotten through the process...

we had a woman who was approved, and she had good vet references for her last dog. but, she emailed the rescue the night she picked the dog up (had him about 8 hours by then). he had pooped on her rug and she threw him outside. yup, outside, by himself to wander her neighborhood. the folks at the rescue had to race out there to try to find the poor dog. they finally found the poor dog on the side of the road, after he had been hit by a car.

oh, and the lovely woman who returned a dog after having him 15 hours because "he won't stay out of the good living room" - again, someone who had nice vet references and seemed completely normal during the interview.


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

3 goldens, that isn't giving away your dog. That is doing independent rescue. That's a huge difference!

My dogs aren't allowed in the kitchen when we are fixing food. Our kitchen isn't big enough and my husband has a tendency to step on them accidently, so I just plain made it a rule. Even my foster puppies follow that rule. And I didn't need an electric fence to teach them that!

There are many more who get approved that I just wouldn't adopt my fosters to. I have a personal belief that dogs should not be left outside while the owners are at work. I think it's too dangerous, plus we had a rash of goldens being stolen from peoples' yards about 5 years ago. We think they were taken as bait dogs. So I don't adopt my fosters to families who will be leaving them outside during the day.

I told one woman that (back then it was a policy of the rescue, then it got changed) after she told me she didn't need a crate because she was leaving the dog outside. I explained that we didn't adopt our dogs to outdoor homes and she said, "well, I'll cut a hole in the side of the shed and he can go in there if it rains or gets too hot". That foster went to his forever home a week later (an indoor home).


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## AcesWild (Nov 29, 2008)

I truely worry Moxie has ruined me for all other dogs. Because....she's so low maintenance.

A rescue wouldn't even look at my application because of my age. 

When I was approved for Moxie the fostermom tried to fight it, then dragged her feet. I send monthly/bimonthly updates/pictures to the application coordinator, FM, and other FM who had moxie. I hear back from the application coordinator after every e-mail. Sometimes I heard from the FM, but she never actually admitted Moxie had a good home until she was a service dog and accepted into college. 1 1/2 years after I'd gotten her.

I guess this is why I'm so frustrated I haven't heard from any of the local rescues.


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## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

I really think this thread is such a good idea because it shows why rescues need to be strict and "picky". To protect our dogs from more of what they have already suffered.


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## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

Fostermom, Our rescue is very strict about our dogs not being outside while the family is not at home. If I get any feeling this will occur: denied!!!

Actually, we have very few applicants who are denied. 9 out of 10 families are wonderful and turn out to be great golden lover/families!


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

I do have to say that I have fostered almost 40 dogs and puppies, so I obviously have had some really great people who were approved, otherwise I wouldn't have adopted to them. 

One was a man and his two sons who had come to almost every adoptathon for 2 months. I was fostering an 11 year old male who had gone through HW treatment and had chronic diarrhea. Every time they came to the adoptathon, the boys would wind up next to Bear, rubbing his belly. They were so sweet with him. Their dad could not get them to leave him each time they saw him. Finally, he and his wife (who had not ever met Bear) and the kids came to the house to meet Bear. They took him home the next day. A few weeks later they found out what was causing the diarrhea. He lived for another 4 years with a family that adored him!

The next dog they adopted from us was a dog with a level 4 SAS. I think the third dog they adopted (after Bear passed away) was normal and healthy. LOL


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## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

That is a wonderful success story!!!


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## nixietink (Apr 3, 2008)

I have a question regarding adopters..

For those of you who work in rescue, how do you feel about adopting out to a 23 year old college student who lives with her boyfriend in a dog friendly apartment/townhome?

I've been playing with the idea of adopting/getting a puppy in the future. I do feel like at first glance rescues would probably deny me. But, I know I would be able to provide a wonderful home to another dog. I've always been curious how rescues view a situation like mine.


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## missmarstar (Jul 22, 2007)

I'm sort of in the same boat as you Nicole. I wonder if my "situation" would be less than ideal for a rescue. Granted, I have a large fenced in backyard (though part of the fencing is less than 5 feet tall), but I do work full time, and am fairly young, and do rent a house not own. I have always wondered if I were to apply for a rescue dog, if I would even be looked at.


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## Ardeagold (Feb 26, 2007)

I was turned down by rescue because I had an intact female. She hadn't been shown yet, but she WAS a conformation show dog. Sometimes you have to wait a bit before they're ready to show. They told me to re-apply after she had been shown.

HOWEVER, they did contact me and ask if I would be a foster. WTH??? Made zero sense to me.

But, it didn't matter. By the time Molly was shown, we already had gotten TWO rescues from another organization. They came as a pair, and are still with us.

This all happened almost 3 years ago.


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## Maggies mom (Jan 6, 2006)

missmarstar said:


> I'm sort of in the same boat as you Nicole. I wonder if my "situation" would be less than ideal for a rescue. Granted, I have a large fenced in backyard (though part of the fencing is less than 5 feet tall), but I do work full time, and am fairly young, and do rent a house not own. I have always wondered if I were to apply for a rescue dog, if I would even be looked at.


You would be considered with our rescue, with your current situation.


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## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

In our rescue, Marlene would be accepted because of her fence. Nicole, our rescue requires a fenced in yard. many don't though. In your area, you may pass!

Renting,(as long as we have a landlord's OK) age (as long as you are an adult) , working full time are all a non issue in our rescue. 
: )


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## AcesWild (Nov 29, 2008)

I've moved a lot so probably would be why...


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## nixietink (Apr 3, 2008)

Debles said:


> In our rescue, Marlene would be accepted because of her fence. Nicole, our rescue requires a fenced in yard. many don't though. In your area, you may pass!
> 
> Renting,(as long as we have a landlord's OK) age (as long as you are an adult) , working full time are all a non issue in our rescue.
> : )


I might be in luck!! We might have a yard!!  Does yard size matter? One of our prospective rentals has a little bitty backyard!!


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## AcesWild (Nov 29, 2008)

It's been 2 months is it rude to e-mail them and say hey I haven't heard anything here's a copy of the e-mail I've already sent?


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## Romeo1 (Apr 19, 2008)

Faith's mommy said:


> we had a woman who was approved, and she had good vet references for her last dog. but, she emailed the rescue the night she picked the dog up (had him about 8 hours by then). he had pooped on her rug and she threw him outside. yup, outside, by himself to wander her neighborhood. the folks at the rescue had to race out there to try to find the poor dog. they finally found the poor dog on the side of the road, after he had been hit by a car.


OMG, that's so sad. What in the world is wrong with some people........


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

> with her "temporary" need for a dog, she could be a foster


Uh, I wouldn't trust this woman/family with a stuffed dog toy, much less a foster dog!


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

Our rescue doesn't have an age requirement, other than the fact you have to be old enough to sign a legal contract. We do not have a fenced yard requirement, either. Matter of fact, we have a couple of fosters who live in apartments. It's not a problem for us as long as it's not a problem for them.


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## AcesWild (Nov 29, 2008)

Do you adopt to out of state?


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## Griffyn'sMom (Mar 22, 2007)

Debles said:


> We had a young family apply who had never had a dog. They had cats. They wanted a dog for their 8 year old daughter who wanted one and they wanted to teach her "responsibility" It was very obvious just from talking to them on the phone that the adults were not really very into having a dog, knew nothing about it and didn't seem very interested in learning either, by their attitude.


Teaching and 8 year old responsibility with a DOG? I hope the rescue told them to buy her a Goldfish! 

Rule in my house is no pets until 10 and I'm talking fish, rodents or reptiles. (And of course if the child falls down on the job Mom takes over and doles out the punishment.) 

My youngest is not quite 8 and when my oldest reached 10 I told him he could have that hamster he had been asking for - he decided he didn't want one because he was afraid he would kill it. (ADHD/Forgetful, etc.)

As far as the woman in the OP's post, it really sounds like she didn't want a dog and this was an assured way of being denied.


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

AcesWild said:


> Do you adopt to out of state?


We have been known to adopt out of state. Usually not puppies, though. Don't ask me, I don't make the rules! That's why I am a foster instead of a coordinator.


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## AcesWild (Nov 29, 2008)

I was just curious I'm so on the fence about puppy/adult still so I just check everywhere, there's no deposit down yet because of timing. I may wait until may to graduate.


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## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

Griffyn'sMom said:


> Teaching and 8 year old responsibility with a DOG? I hope the rescue told them to buy her a Goldfish!
> 
> Rule in my house is no pets until 10 and I'm talking fish, rodents or reptiles. (And of course if the child falls down on the job Mom takes over and doles out the punishment.)
> 
> ...



That's why I was SO grateful they changed their mind!! I hate having to deny people.


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## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

nixietink said:


> I might be in luck!! We might have a yard!!  Does yard size matter? One of our prospective rentals has a little bitty backyard!!



No, our back fenced in yard is small. I actually think it's a dumb rule but it is for the safety of the dog. 
It really is all about the people and what they are all about.


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## mullietucksmom (Mar 22, 2009)

I had a neighbor that dumb...if one dog doesn't work give it back and try another. 
I'd give my dogs part of my liver if I could of...but it's a dog. You have to be smarter then a 5th grader to rise a good dog.


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## Ashivon (May 3, 2008)

I'm not sure if being in the military would be a disqualifier for a rescue adoption, but (as a military spouse) I would be able to understand why.

Here in Germany, Americans are almost never given a chance to adopt a pet from the Tierheim (Animal Home), mostly because we're the ones responsible for putting them there in the first place. 

I swear, if I had a dollar for every military family who comes over and gets a pet (dog,cat,rat or bat) and then decide that because they don't FEEL like PCS'ing (Permanent change of station=moving) with an animal or because it would cost them money for a plane ticket, I'd be a millionare. 

(okay rant over)


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

3 goldens said:


> On down the line we hoped to adopted a senior goden, but now I am wondering if we would be disqualified because we gave up a dog 20 years and anther one about 8 years ago.
> 
> BUT neither started out as our dog. The first one--we were going to go fishing in the ship chanel and as we started down the enbankment we say a dead dog. Only thing, she opened her eyes when we got near here. I had never seen anything so skinny be alive. We always carry water and we found a tuna type can, rinsed it out in the chanel and then with fresh water, and I gave her wate, a few laps at a time. Hubby knew where a convinece store was just up the road and he went and got a can of dog food. He was telling the folks about fining this little brown dog and they said they bet they knew it. Folks lived next door had moved off and left heir little brown female dog. She had hung around for a couple of weeks, sitting in driveway, but finally left. (why didn't they do something about her?)
> 
> ...


I don't think you'd be disqualified at all! You rescued and found homes for two dogs, that would a plus in my book.


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## Jackson'sMom (Oct 13, 2007)

Ashivon said:


> I'm not sure if being in the military would be a disqualifier for a rescue adoption, but (as a military spouse) I would be able to understand why.
> 
> Here in Germany, Americans are almost never given a chance to adopt a pet from the Tierheim (Animal Home), mostly because we're the ones responsible for putting them there in the first place.
> 
> ...


The humane society where I worked for 8 years wouldn't adopt to an active duty military person for just those reasons.


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## nixietink (Apr 3, 2008)

Debles said:


> No, our back fenced in yard is small. I actually think it's a dumb rule but it is for the safety of the dog.
> It really is all about the people and what they are all about.


I completely agree. Vito rarely plays in the backyard actually..


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