Hoping to adopt a rescue... but is it hopeless?

Each resue organization has their own criteria. Why the even ask the euthanasia question I have no idea but IMHO it is far better to euthanize a dog than let it suffer through an illnes etc Far better to euthanise a dog than to have one killed because you let it roam loose in the neighborhood So I do not think it would be in anyway a disqualifier but I am not the rescue.


It is becoming the norm to have a two working parent/owner household so that in itself is not an issue what can be an issue is who the dogs are kept during that period. and also the Facilities of the home ie fencend yard etc that is why most rescues with new client will perform a home check when besides check out what facilities you have for the dog will involve and interview etc/
I have fostered for rescue and am single and work so the fact that someone is not there all day in not a disqualifier but it may limit the dogs avaiable because some may not do so well in that environment. It is a matter of matching the right dog with the right home. Just like a dog that may not be great with kids is prefect dog for and older couple. A lot of the question are not designed to qualify or disqualify by to create a good match.

Actual the fact that you have basset and clearly demonstrate a passion for the breed and the capability of providing for them should be an asset. It can seem like the process of adopting you have to jump thoough a lot of hoop but it is done for two reason. 1 is to provide the best match of dog and owner. Many if not most problems are the result of incompatibility between the dog and owner an active dog in a household looking for a quite laid back one etc.

2. unrealistic expectation about the breed. Many new to the breed have the sterotypical coach potato when they think basset and get a crazy 2 year old and are quite disapointed

they are just trying to make sure the dog does not end back up in rescue again.

Howdy Flower Girl

Love the name by the way – get a happy image of tie dye and flowers when I see it

First let me say how sorry I am to hear that your girl has advanced cancer. Please believe me when I say I know what you’re going through and it hurts like hell. From the little you described of her condition I can only pray that she is pain free and enjoys everyday till her last. And for you to have the strength for what you face in days ahead.

On to your rescue. I currently have one and had one before Lucy I’m sorry to say had rage syndrome and had to be given back to the rescue and ended up being put down. My experience with both working with rescue organizations and having one is the following.

From what I understand they also do home visits. I can’t speak to this personally because we didn’t get one. My vet must have given them such a good report we really didn’t have to do anything but drive out and pick up our Lucy that we fondly refer to as the Tank.

The rescue will ask for your vet’s phone number and they’ll call the vet themselves – they don’t just take what we tell them for fact.

The rescue also has the bassets in foster homes so they’ll at least have a good idea what would be the best forever home to place said basset in – i.e. with kids, other dogs, cats and so on.

Personally when I bring a new dog into the house I use a crate for the new one until I know in my heart of hearts that they love each other and they wouldn’t fight. As I’m sure you know, Bassets can do a lot of damage to each other and if you both work outside of the house that’s a lot of hours for trouble to happen if you know what I mean.

Another thing to keep in mind is just because your healthy basset has never been alone and you don’t want her to be lonely doesn’t mean she will like having this new family member. I just lost my Flasher two weeks ago yesterday and Lucy doesn’t know life with us without Flash. I have a new basset puppy in the house and let me tell you Lucy is looking at her like lunch. She’s not hurting her in anyway but I’m also not giving her the chance. I have three gates up and two crates so no one is ever alone without my supervision. When they are together for introductions everyone is on a leash. Even if this was an adult basset I would do the same thing. They both would need to know the pecking order and be happy with it before they could be alone. At least in my house. I also feed the “new” hound in the crate for a long time – even after I see they have bonded. I prefer to error on the side of caution and set them up for success. Everyone is much happier that way.

Also when you do your introduction try not to do it in/at your house. A neutral location would be best and take them for as many walks “together” as possible to help aid in the bonding.

Hugs and prayers for you and your girl and good luck in your search for your new rescue hound.

Jen~

Thank you everyone for your kind words. We ended up having to put our sick girl to sleep last week and our survivor is okay, but because she's extra-excited when we get home, we think this means she's lonely during the day so we're hoping to add to the family *soon.* In fact, we have someone coming to make a home visit tonight.

Mikey T said:

It is becoming the norm to have a two working parent/owner household so that in itself is not an issue what can be an issue is who the dogs are kept during that period. and also the Facilities of the home ie fencend yard etc that is why most rescues with new client will perform a home check when besides check out what facilities you have for the dog will involve and interview etc/

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The woman who is fostering the dog now (not the person who will do the home visit) said she'd want to check the fence, and meet us and our other pets. Any thoughts on what they might be looking for? Our fence is in good condition and our gates are kept locked, we have an above-ground pool but it's in a separate fenced area, there's a nice doghouse (never used, crazy dogs!) and a shady patio for times when they're outside... what else might be an issue?

houndmomma said:

Personally when I bring a new dog into the house I use a crate for the new one until I know in my heart of hearts that they love each other and they wouldn’t fight. As I’m sure you know, Bassets can do a lot of damage to each other and if you both work outside of the house that’s a lot of hours for trouble to happen if you know what I mean.

Another thing to keep in mind is just because your healthy basset has never been alone and you don’t want her to be lonely doesn’t mean she will like having this new family member. I just lost my Flasher two weeks ago yesterday and Lucy doesn’t know life with us without Flash. I have a new basset puppy in the house and let me tell you Lucy is looking at her like lunch. She’s not hurting her in anyway but I’m also not giving her the chance. I have three gates up and two crates so no one is ever alone without my supervision. When they are together for introductions everyone is on a leash. Even if this was an adult basset I would do the same thing. They both would need to know the pecking order and be happy with it before they could be alone. At least in my house. I also feed the “new” hound in the crate for a long time – even after I see they have bonded. I prefer to error on the side of caution and set them up for success. Everyone is much happier that way.

Also when you do your introduction try not to do it in/at your house. A neutral location would be best and take them for as many walks “together” as possible to help aid in the bonding.

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Thanks for the advice. The dog we're looking at now is young (9 months) and I hope this means she'll be more likely to bond with our existing dog. We're also hoping to take our dog when we meet the new one, so they'll meet at the foster home (which currently houses 12 dogs so surely she's used to meeting new dogs, right?) and we'll have an idea of whether they're likely to get along. Our dog has never met a dog she didn't like, so if there's some tension between her and the new one, that would be a bad sign, I think. (When my sister got her second dog, she just took her dog to the shelter and picked out the one he liked best! )

Also, we've applied to adopt two dogs, both of which were housed with what I consider a very large number of dogs (this one with 12, and another one we didn't end up visiting, because we were rejected for what I consider a pretty stupid reason, but that's another story, and she claims she has all of the 24 dogs listed on Petfinder on-site at her house). Where does one cross the line between devoted rescuer and crazy pet hoarder?

Well, this is the history of our rescue attempts so far:

Dog #1, outside of our state (about a 4 hr drive). E-mailed to ask the rescue if they accepted out-of-state applications, they never responded.

Dog #2, inside our state (2.5 hr drive). Applied, had some e-mail conversations back and forth with the current owner (this is apparently a one-person rescuer who keeps all of the animals on site). She e-mailed to say she'd found a person to do a home visit and that person would be contacting me. I responded and said great, I happen to be out of state today so it will be a couple of days before anything happens. Never heard from the home visitor. Contacted the owner and she said oh yeah, since you were gone the day the visitor was available, it's not going to happen, sorry about that.

Dog #3, outside our state (3 hr drive). Applied, haven't heard anything (almost 2 weeks later).

Dog #4, inside our state (1.5 hr drive). Advertised on website as being purebred basset. Applied, spoke to the foster owner on the phone who said she's "actually only 3/4 basset but looks and acts exactly like a basset except her ears are a little short." Subsequent conversations revealed that she is food aggressive, toy aggressive, and is kept crated all day because she's a chewer. Had the home visit, went to meet her, and she is obviously 1/2 basset at most (short ears, long legs), sweet as she can be but not what we're looking for, has bad habits, and our dog didn't like her.

Dog #5, inside our state (1.5 hr drive). Housed at a humane society that shares space with animal control. Either the smallest 2 yr old basset I've ever seen (about 25 lb), or her teeth are bad enough that they age her prematurely (most likely malnourished). Hasn't been heartworm tested and "oh, we forgot to tell you, she has an upper respiratory infection." After she's already met our dog. Seems sweet but I worry about her health and our dog didn't like her.

So, I'm getting more and more discouraged. Especially since our dog didn't like either of the dogs we met this weekend, which was odd, because normally she loves other dogs. The settings probably didn't help. One was outside of a shelter with a lot of dogs in outside runs, and there was a lot of barking and ruckus. The other we met outside the foster owner's house at first, but then inside the house where there were other dogs around (it's been in the 100s and it just wasn't a good idea to sit outside for an hour and let them get to know each other).

Augh! I'm feeling like we might have to buy a puppy, which isn't what I wanted to do!

FlowerGirl said:

We're in Oklahoma. One problem is that Oklahoma doesn't have its own Basset rescue organization - there are a couple in neighboring states, but the dogs are all quite a drive away. And I assume dog #2 is no longer an option for us, since the rescuer's last e-mail to me was something along the lines of "sorry it didn't work out, but maybe it's for the best."

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You don't need to go through a breed specific rescue in order to rescue a basset. You should be able to find plenty of available bassets in general rescues. Anabelle came from a no-kill shelter with all breeds, and cats for that matter. I don't think breed specific rescues are any better or worse than non-breed specific. You have a great resource here with this site for any breed specific questions or information.

Here is one basset at a veterinary clinic looks like in Park Hill, OK: Petfinder Adoptable Dog | Basset Hound | Park Hill, OK | Bella Sue
She doesn't look totally purebred necessarily but definitely at least half basset if you ask me.
This one and another one in the same rescue do look pure basset in my non-expert opinion:
Petfinder Adoptable Dog | Basset Hound | Shawnee, OK | Floppy

I don't know what your budget is like but there are some national rescues that will adopt to anywhere in the country but you may have to fly to the rescue to meet the dog, like Best Friends.