Could this potentially risk my adoption process?

[Cerulean]

Hey everyone,

I've been patiently waiting to adopt a dog named Rocky from a GSD Rescue since the end of January. I met Rocky on the 17th of February, and the rescue allowed my family and I to wait until March to adopt Rocky. Reason for this was because my father, who is a basketball coach and teacher, has his last basketball game in March and wanted to be around with more free time for when Rocky came to the house. We would have had a yard check weeks ago, but our fence was 4.5 when they required minimum 5 feet. We arranged to try to get it changed, but it was too much money... so the rescue gave in and allowed us to keep our fence as long as we never let Rocky loose out back alone. That was amazing news for us. And we definitely agreed to not allow that to happen, as we don't believe in letting our dogs loose in the backyard without our supervision anyhow.

So, we would have finally had our house check last weekend, but something came up and we had to reschedule AGAIN for this weekend. Well, now we have the dining room of our house getting worked on (new carpet, new drywall due to a leak which damaged a corner of our wall causing signs of mold) and so the dining room table and hutch were moved into the living room. And the process of this won't be done until Monday. I don't want to postpone AGAIN. But could this potentially ruin my chances of adopting Rocky? If the lady walks in and sees the dining room closed off with no carpet, a section of the wall getting replaced, living room looking like a cluttered catastrophe? I have a feeling she might be scared off thinking "Oh, I haven't seen the house when everything is back in place... I don't know if this would be a good situation for Rocky..." Maybe I'm over analyzing. Thing is, we wouldn't pick Rocky up anyhow until the process was over on Monday... I just wanted her to see where we lived, see the back yard, and sign the contract as well as pay the adoption fee.

Any feedback would be appreciated. I'm just extremely nervous as I don't want ANYTHING to go wrong because this dog would mean everything to me. Thanks.

[Zeeva]

From what I know, different rescues require different 'prerequisites' in order to adopt. IMO a 4.5 foot fence IS too low :c. Ours is about the same height and my two can easily scale it. Adoption agencies do make exceptions (?). But their 'prerequisites' are usually to protect both you and your pup. I hope they make an exception for you and you figure out a way to keep your potential pup from hopping over.

[Jax08]

I really doubt it. Basically a home visit is to verify you live where you say you do and that you have the fence installed as you stated. It's a "truth check". I would not think that redoing a room would go against you. That is all a part of every day living. You simply explain that the work will be completed by Monday and it was due to damage.

[Stevenzachsmom]

I agree with Michelle. The person doing the home visit can certainly tell you are doing work on the house. In most cases, the home visit is the final thing that needs to be done. if you have been approved in every other way, the HV shouldn't be a problem.

If there are other pets in the home, I want to see how and where they are kept - be they other dogs, cats, rabbits or guinea pigs. I want to see that other pets are healthy and living in acceptable clean conditions. If there is another dog, I will note it's behavior. I want to know if the new dog will be crated and where it will be kept when you aren't home. If there are children in the home, I want to see how they interact with the resident dog, or one that I would bring. I think rules should be bent depending on the dog being adopted and the people doing the adopting. My fence is also not high enough. My GSD could have easily jumped it, but didn't. Unless your house looks like one of the homes on "Hoarders", I'm not that concerned. I actually prefer to see a home that is lived in, so I know the dog isn't going to get into trouble for every little thing he does.

[Rangers-mom]

I volunteer for a rescue and have done several home visits and I can assure you that what you described would have absolutely no influence on my evaluation of the home. For me it would be worse if you postponed the home visit again. When I go to a home I am looking at the yard and fence and basically that the adopters have a plan for how to house the dog. Have they thought about where they will feed it, how they will exercise it, where it will sleep. Basically I am checking out whether they have really thought seriously about what having a dog in their home will mean and that they are likely to provide a safe home to the dog.

[Stevenzachsmom]

Originally Posted by Rangers-mom

I volunteer for a rescue and have done several home visits and I can assure you that what you described would have absolutely no influence on my evaluation of the home. For me it would be worse if you postponed the home visit again. When I go to a home I am looking at the yard and fence and basically that the adopters have a plan for how to house the dog. Have they thought about where they will feed it, how they will exercise it, where it will sleep. Basically I am checking out whether they have really thought seriously about what having a dog in their home will mean and that they are likely to provide a safe home to the dog.

I absolutely agree with this. Rescues are run by volunteers. They want to get the home visit done. Keeping Rocky in foster care is taking up space for another dog in need. Postponing may make the rescue think you don't really want to adopt. Please go ahead and allow the visit to take place.

[Cerulean]

Thank you all for the amazing advice. You have made me feel a lot better. I just didn't want to scare her with the living room filled with all the stuff from the dining room (like a game of tetris), and the dining room empty and...life-less at the moment. The people working on our house don't work on the weekends, which is why it won't be completely done until Monday.

Now, I'm excited!

Zeeva, you make a great point about the fence. We were so happy and extremely thankful for the rescue allowing us to be an exception. Rocky is still recovering from having both his hips replaced, so we hope to have in the very near future, either a lattice put up... or our fence worked on again. I would never allow him to be alone in our yard. My family and I used to have two yellow labs (brother and sister, they passed away from old age and cancer over a year ago) and they were never allowed out back alone unsupervised.

Thanks again, everyone!

[Magwart]

Volunteers who do rescue work are humans who likely own homes, have experienced some kind remodeling, been through repairs in their own homes -- just explain what's going on when they come see you, and that it will be done when the dog arrives.

By the way, there are sometimes some inexpensive ways to raise a fence, depending on how much there is. One of my adopters installed panels of heavy framed redwood lattice panels to the chain link securely, so they stick several feet up above the fence, and planted vines at the base. It looked terrific, and it didn't cost a fortune (and could be done as a weekend project). Even for a dog that isn't going to spend unsupervised time in the yard, it's better than the shorty-fence as it's just enough deterrent to keep the dog from running and hopping over in pursuit of a cat or squirrel.

[Stevenzachsmom]

Originally Posted by Magwart

Volunteers who do rescue work are humans who likely own homes, have experienced some kind remodeling, been through repairs in their own homes -- just explain what's going on when they come see you, and that it will be done when the dog arrives.

By the way, there are sometimes some inexpensive ways to raise a fence, depending on how much there is. One of my adopters installed panels of heavy framed redwood lattice panels to the chain link securely, so they stick several feet up above the fence, and planted vines at the base. It looked terrific, and it didn't cost a fortune (and could be done as a weekend project). Even for a dog that isn't going to spend unsupervised time in the yard, it's better than the shorty-fence as it's just enough deterrent to keep the dog from running and hopping over in pursuit of a cat or squirrel.

I love that idea. Thanks for the tip.