LuckyNumber7
05-15-2007, 04:03 AM
I apologize in advance for the length of this post - the last few days have been so, so hectic, and I need to vent, so thank you to anyone who bothers to actually read the whole way through this.
The end of last week, I got an email from the rescue group that I work with. A dog in my area who was adopted by an older (71 yr old) woman, was being surrendered because he was "too much dog" for her. They asked if I could foster him for a little while until he was found a home, I said yes. I spoke to his current owner, asked all sorts of questions, including whether he was good with other dogs. She informed me that she had a 15lb Lhasa Apso, and that they were "just starting to bond to each other". Never said anything about any issues. So, I drive 1 hour to go meet this woman and get her dog - so far, so good. He's a nice, wiggly puppy who seems to LOVE people. Licked me and my fiance the whole way home. As soon as we got to the house, before even getting inside, I knew there was a problem. As soon as I got him into the backyard and he heard a dog bark inside, he panicked. Tail went between his legs and he got very low to the ground, it was clear that he was terrified. I should mention that my dogs are both very, very submissive, and love other dogs - but they are very wiggly and like to say hello. I brought him inside, and let them come over to smell him. As soon as 1 of them got close, he lunged and tried to bite her. My fiance tried to intervene and scruffed the dog to make him lay down, and he tried to bite my fiance. My fiance then decided it would be best to bring our dogs outside while he settled down, and as he walked by to open the door, the dog lunged and tried to bite his leg. The poor pup had some serious, serious fear aggression issues that I was completely unaware of when I agreed to take him. The more the night went on, the more I realized that I could not adequately care for this dog without putting my dogs, myself, and my fiance in danger of being bit. I called the lead rescue coordinator, who arranged for the woman's daughter to come pick the dog up at my house. When she got here, she was very nice and understanding about things. I told her that we were more than willing to continue to try to find this dog a home, or try to locate a foster home with no other dogs in it. She thanked me, and left, after agreeing to touch base the next day, when some more people would be awake, and figure out what to do. This morning, after repeated attempts to contact her, she emails me and informs me that her Mother dropped the dog off at a shelter. I forward the email to the women that I work with, and they email her to request the name of the shelter, so they can go get the dog and we'll even pay to board him until we can figure something else out. Then my home phone rings. It's the 71 yr old woman, and she FREAKS on me. Tells me that I'm lying about the dog trying to bite my dogs and my fiance, and that this entire situation is my fault, as I "failed him". I tried to remain professional and polite, but it was just too much. I asked her if she ever socialized her dog, in the 4 months that she had him (yes, she had him for FOUR MONTHS before surrendering him!). She said that she hadn't but that she was "going to get to that soon". Un-friggin-believable. So it's MY fault that she didn't ever, once, introduce her dog to another dog, aside from her 15 pound lhasa apso. Finally, after the 3rd time she called me a liar, I hung up on her. I do this on a volunteer basis, and was trying to help this woman out of a situation that she had gotten herself into, and she thanks me by insulting me on the phone and calling me a liar? I don't think so.
Now on to the next story, which may be even MORE ridiculous.
This past Saturday, I was meeting a transport, along with 2 other volunteers with my rescue, to pick up 5 dogs that were being sent here to foster homes in the area. The transport was supposed to be there at 6pm. Then it changed to 7:30pm. Then 9pm. Then 9:30. Then the driver calls at 9:25 and says it's going to be another hour and 1/2. So we're all a little pissed at this point, but whatever, traffic happens I suppose. We're the last stop for this transport, so I can see how things could have gotten a little behind. The lady finally gets there at almost 11, and pulls up in a friggin van. I'm thinking to myself "how are there dogs crammed in to that thing?" She opens the back of the van, and I'm appalled - the crates are stacked on top of, next to, and in front of eachother. You couldn't even see into any of the crates. She starts digging out the crates that our dogs are in, and handing them to us. Then she hands me 2 boxer puppies, and another woman I was with 2 boxer puppies. We tell her that these are not our dogs. She shrugs, and doesn't care. Tells us that we are the last stop, and that "they must be extras". That "she has been driving for 2 days, and doesn't get paid to bring these dogs back down south with her". She won't put take these dogs back, and won't take responsibility for getting them to their rightful owners. I say that I'll take 2 of them, and the other women I'm with each take 1. Then we realize that 1 of our dogs that is supposed to be there, isn't. We point it out, and she says he's not in the van and that our vet must have not put him on the transport. After a bit of arguing she goes to double check, and lo and behold, there he is, buried in a crate under other crates - she didn't even know he was there. Makes you wonder when the last time he had food, water, or exercise, huh?? Then I started to realize that one of the dogs that we've been given doesn't look like the picture I've seen of him. I mention it, but we figure that it's 11pm, dark out, and that we're probably just crazy. So, I bring these 4 dogs (2 of which were the puppies who are not even ours) back to my house and look online at the website. Yeah - the dog we were given is not our friggin dog. We call the driver, there are no other dogs on the van, she double checks. Then she remembers that there were 2 dogs with the same name on the van, and oops, she must have dropped OUR dog off in CT, and we had the dog from CT at my house. Along with 2 boxer puppies who were just randomly given to us.
Luckily, things are squared away now. On the pups medical paperwork was info for the rescue who they were SUPPOSED to go to. We got in touch with the woman and got her the 4 dogs today. Turns out, upon meeting with her and speaking with her - there were SEVEN puppies for her on that transport. 3 are missing. She's completely beside herself, obviously. And Tomorrow, someone from our rescue has to drive to CT to get our dog and give them their dog.
Needless to say, we will not be using this transport, ever again.
I must say though - it was hard to part with the 2 puppies! I only had them here for 2 nights, but they were so much fun, and SO damn cute. They were about 12 weeks old, brindle coats....adorable. I took a bunch of pictures and I'll add them later. :p
Thank you for reading my rant. I hope I didn't put anyone to sleep :o
The end of last week, I got an email from the rescue group that I work with. A dog in my area who was adopted by an older (71 yr old) woman, was being surrendered because he was "too much dog" for her. They asked if I could foster him for a little while until he was found a home, I said yes. I spoke to his current owner, asked all sorts of questions, including whether he was good with other dogs. She informed me that she had a 15lb Lhasa Apso, and that they were "just starting to bond to each other". Never said anything about any issues. So, I drive 1 hour to go meet this woman and get her dog - so far, so good. He's a nice, wiggly puppy who seems to LOVE people. Licked me and my fiance the whole way home. As soon as we got to the house, before even getting inside, I knew there was a problem. As soon as I got him into the backyard and he heard a dog bark inside, he panicked. Tail went between his legs and he got very low to the ground, it was clear that he was terrified. I should mention that my dogs are both very, very submissive, and love other dogs - but they are very wiggly and like to say hello. I brought him inside, and let them come over to smell him. As soon as 1 of them got close, he lunged and tried to bite her. My fiance tried to intervene and scruffed the dog to make him lay down, and he tried to bite my fiance. My fiance then decided it would be best to bring our dogs outside while he settled down, and as he walked by to open the door, the dog lunged and tried to bite his leg. The poor pup had some serious, serious fear aggression issues that I was completely unaware of when I agreed to take him. The more the night went on, the more I realized that I could not adequately care for this dog without putting my dogs, myself, and my fiance in danger of being bit. I called the lead rescue coordinator, who arranged for the woman's daughter to come pick the dog up at my house. When she got here, she was very nice and understanding about things. I told her that we were more than willing to continue to try to find this dog a home, or try to locate a foster home with no other dogs in it. She thanked me, and left, after agreeing to touch base the next day, when some more people would be awake, and figure out what to do. This morning, after repeated attempts to contact her, she emails me and informs me that her Mother dropped the dog off at a shelter. I forward the email to the women that I work with, and they email her to request the name of the shelter, so they can go get the dog and we'll even pay to board him until we can figure something else out. Then my home phone rings. It's the 71 yr old woman, and she FREAKS on me. Tells me that I'm lying about the dog trying to bite my dogs and my fiance, and that this entire situation is my fault, as I "failed him". I tried to remain professional and polite, but it was just too much. I asked her if she ever socialized her dog, in the 4 months that she had him (yes, she had him for FOUR MONTHS before surrendering him!). She said that she hadn't but that she was "going to get to that soon". Un-friggin-believable. So it's MY fault that she didn't ever, once, introduce her dog to another dog, aside from her 15 pound lhasa apso. Finally, after the 3rd time she called me a liar, I hung up on her. I do this on a volunteer basis, and was trying to help this woman out of a situation that she had gotten herself into, and she thanks me by insulting me on the phone and calling me a liar? I don't think so.
Now on to the next story, which may be even MORE ridiculous.
This past Saturday, I was meeting a transport, along with 2 other volunteers with my rescue, to pick up 5 dogs that were being sent here to foster homes in the area. The transport was supposed to be there at 6pm. Then it changed to 7:30pm. Then 9pm. Then 9:30. Then the driver calls at 9:25 and says it's going to be another hour and 1/2. So we're all a little pissed at this point, but whatever, traffic happens I suppose. We're the last stop for this transport, so I can see how things could have gotten a little behind. The lady finally gets there at almost 11, and pulls up in a friggin van. I'm thinking to myself "how are there dogs crammed in to that thing?" She opens the back of the van, and I'm appalled - the crates are stacked on top of, next to, and in front of eachother. You couldn't even see into any of the crates. She starts digging out the crates that our dogs are in, and handing them to us. Then she hands me 2 boxer puppies, and another woman I was with 2 boxer puppies. We tell her that these are not our dogs. She shrugs, and doesn't care. Tells us that we are the last stop, and that "they must be extras". That "she has been driving for 2 days, and doesn't get paid to bring these dogs back down south with her". She won't put take these dogs back, and won't take responsibility for getting them to their rightful owners. I say that I'll take 2 of them, and the other women I'm with each take 1. Then we realize that 1 of our dogs that is supposed to be there, isn't. We point it out, and she says he's not in the van and that our vet must have not put him on the transport. After a bit of arguing she goes to double check, and lo and behold, there he is, buried in a crate under other crates - she didn't even know he was there. Makes you wonder when the last time he had food, water, or exercise, huh?? Then I started to realize that one of the dogs that we've been given doesn't look like the picture I've seen of him. I mention it, but we figure that it's 11pm, dark out, and that we're probably just crazy. So, I bring these 4 dogs (2 of which were the puppies who are not even ours) back to my house and look online at the website. Yeah - the dog we were given is not our friggin dog. We call the driver, there are no other dogs on the van, she double checks. Then she remembers that there were 2 dogs with the same name on the van, and oops, she must have dropped OUR dog off in CT, and we had the dog from CT at my house. Along with 2 boxer puppies who were just randomly given to us.
Luckily, things are squared away now. On the pups medical paperwork was info for the rescue who they were SUPPOSED to go to. We got in touch with the woman and got her the 4 dogs today. Turns out, upon meeting with her and speaking with her - there were SEVEN puppies for her on that transport. 3 are missing. She's completely beside herself, obviously. And Tomorrow, someone from our rescue has to drive to CT to get our dog and give them their dog.
Needless to say, we will not be using this transport, ever again.
I must say though - it was hard to part with the 2 puppies! I only had them here for 2 nights, but they were so much fun, and SO damn cute. They were about 12 weeks old, brindle coats....adorable. I took a bunch of pictures and I'll add them later. :p
Thank you for reading my rant. I hope I didn't put anyone to sleep :o