[oregongsdr111]

I am thinking of doing something and wondered how you folks work.

We have looked for the longest time for a perminate building to hold adoptions out of. Our dogs do not seem to show well at all in a public setting. To distracted, and I think it hurts their chances for adoption.

Currently I show them after work at the shelter because all of my dogs are used to comming back and forth with me. Dave shows his at his autmotive shop as the dogs he has go back and forth as well.

I am considering setting up the lower half of my house to run adoptions out of. It has a separate entrance, and a private yard.
We could accomidate volunteers, and dog walkers.

My worry is having strangers come to my home. Do any of you allow people to do the meets at your home?
Have you ever had any negitive experiences?

Thanks in advance : )

 

[BowWowMeow]

I have hosted a number of meet and greets at my home here in Buffalo and I also used to host them at my home in Madison. In Madison I had a large fenced in yard and my house was in a convenient location so lots of volunteers used to use my yard for meet and greets. I never had any problems but we only allowed meet and greets after an application was approved so we had already checked up on the people.

 

[Amaruq]

I am not involved in rescue per se but another thing you might want to look into is insurance. You know how sue happy people can be if they get bit or scratched. Regardless of the situation it *could* happen or even worse "allege to have happened". Exhuberant young dog forgets his manners and jumps up and accidently leaves the tiniest of scratch marks froom a toe nail can roll into a "vicious attack involving a bite". It is something that is likely to NOT happen, however, it has, it can and it might. Will your insurance cover it?

I personally would be leary of something like this, however, I am not the most trusting of people. I would make sure you are covered from anything and everything people can come up with. It could be done but there is always the possibility of potential lawsuits with someone looking for a quick buck.

 

[RebelGSD]

Absolutely not.

One big aspect is the liability issue that was addressed earlier.

I do not want applicants to know where I live. People change face quickly when things don't happen their way and we have had cases when our volunteers were threatened by angry applicants who ended up getting declined at some point of the application process. The more dogs you foster and adopt out, the more likely it is that you will run into someone who is superficially nice but in reality pretty crazy. If you only foster 2-3 dogs over 3-4 years, this problem is much less likely to hit you, after you foster 50+ dogs, you realize that some of the people wanting them are not very nice. Sometimes you can figure this out during the screening process, but some people lie very well.

Also quite a few people chose to believe that rescue volunteers are paid big bucks to serve them 24/7 and if your address becomes known, you will not be able to prevent it from being shared. You may have to deal with people wanting a dog immediately popping up at your house whenever they please. Some area rescues that have a shelter building keep the address secret as they had pets being dumped on the property in large numbers.

Also, my family is very generous by donating time, love and resources to the foster dogs day in - day out. They feel they have the right to privacy and do not appreciate strangers parading through our home. I feel this is their right. We have been fostering 2-3 dogs at a time for years, and this can mean a lot of traffic through our home.

Our volunteers meet applicants on neutral territory in a public place, for example a park, and take the dog(s) for a walk.

 

[onyx'girl]

Our local SPCA has weekend adoptions held at a restaurant that went out of business. There is a huge greenspace for walking or people to get to see the dogs outside and play a bit. The SPCA has a small bus full of crates to transport the dogs, and the dogs get to know the routine, )the unfortunate ones that haven't been adopted yet( The ones who are fostered come in as well and usually there are about 40 dogs including a side room for puppies and then another room has the cats. Is there anyway you could get with other volunteers(fosters) and hold an event together? The drawback is that the dogs can be crate aggressive, barking, so people pass them by. When they are out, usually they are the sweetest things, and alot of them are pit-bull mixes. There are so many empty buildings around, it would be nice to put one to use!

 

[4dognight]

I have had potential adopters come to my house to see fosters. I was a bit worried but all seem nice and I have not had a problem. I have had all my dogs the fosters and the PO dogs in my yard at one time!! I have never had a bite and two of the rescues I work for have bite insurence . I know it could be a bad thing and have thought about problems but so far so good.

 

[Jazy's mom]

I usually either meet at a public place or I take the foster dog to their house and do a home visit at the same time. This is only after they have submitted an application and I have spoken to them over the phone to get a "feel" for them. Also want to add, that I always tell someone where I am going before I do a home visit and usually have them call me 20 minutes after I get there to make sure everything is ok. Always better to be safe than sorry.

On a few occasions people have come to my home, but I usually don't have them come in the house.

 

[raqqasa]

Hi, we use a facility called Animal in Raleigh for general adoptathons. Its a great big open space with very few items for retail. It is mainly there for rescues so it gives us the opportunity to spread out ... granted its still a mad house

As a foster, I almost always take my foster dog to someone's house or meet them half way so I can see how they react with one on one attention. I do not typically invite adopters to my home.

 

[Prinzsalpha]

LOL, who would want to mess with robbing or anything to anyones house who has a ALOT of GSD's in it.