Gail Fisher, All Dogs Gym & Inn - The perfect place for pets and their people

We had a dog abandoned at our boarding kennel. The dog was brought to us by Help Save One, a rescue organization in Rhode Island, for “just a few days.” That was two months ago. They kept assuring us they would be sending payment and placing the dog. After two months of empty promises, we have—as required by law—notified them that we’ll be placing the dog.

Sadly, abandoned pets are an occasional fact of life in a boarding kennel operation, but that’s not my topic in this column. I want to write about what feels like scams—so-called “rescue” organizations that solicit donations, list pets on the Internet, and have changed the face of pet adoption in the Northeast. Help Save One takes donations on their website, proudly bragging about how much they raise. They also list 47 dogs (yes, forty-seven!) on Petfinder,com—but not the dog they abandoned with us.

I honestly don’t know how to separate the wheat from the chaff when dealing with Internet adoptions. We used to work with a local rescue, New England Doglift, whose Executive Director went above and beyond to meet the needs of both the dogs and the adoptive owners. But they ceased operation after nine years and over 400 successful placements because of the explosive growth of New Hampshire “rescue” organizations—over 70 at last count.

Rescue services are usually started by caring people who want to save dogs. But there are often unintended consequences to their “good works.” I have heard from countless people who have adopted through seemingly legitimate “rescue” services that the dog they got was not what they were told they were getting—arriving with serious health or behavior issues, often made worse spending days in a truck being transported from another area.

The best intentions do not obviate critical knowledge, replace temperament assessment or provide awareness of dog behavior. Seeming to care doesn’t mean a rescue organization takes responsibility for the dog’s health or is truthful about potential problems with the dogs they transport to New Hampshire. And while I hate to sound cynical and suspicious, I fear that some are simply scams.

I received a voicemail message from someone claiming to represent a rescue organization looking for a discount to train a dog she was “fostering.” We offer a discount to adoptees from local organizations, so I returned her call, leaving a message asking her for information, including specifics about the organization’s non-profit status. I heard nothing further. I can only conclude that she had adopted a dog, and wanted a discount.

While I am sure many readers have had successful and even wonderful adoptions from rescue organizations, many of our friends and clients have had the opposite experience. A dog listed as “friendly, good with children” was painfully shy, and reacted aggressively when the kids approached it. At first, the rescue service didn’t return the family’s calls or emails, but eventually gave them the name of a “behavioral counselor” in New York City (not helpful and potentially expensive). Ultimately they had to make the decision not to keep the dog. The “rescue” wouldn’t take it, local shelters wouldn’t place the dog, so they had to make the worst decision any of us ever has to make. They wanted to save a life, and after hundreds of dollars, and months of emotional upheaval and stress seeking solutions for the poor dog, they had to euthanize it.

We in the Northeast have done a wonderful job addressing and eliminating pet overpopulation to the extent that there are few locally born adoptable dogs in shelters, and loads of dogs available in other parts of the country. With the best intentions, New Englanders adopt dogs from other regions. But please deal with a legitimate rescue organization or shelter—one that works hard to both minimize the stress the dogs experience and to make successful placements—healthy, appropriate, placeable dogs in well-prepared, loving homes.