Suggestions for reasonable place to adopt dog in NY

[Big_Grey_hunter]

As morbid as this sounds, I’m beginning the search for a dog rescue to get our next dog when our old (13.5) dog dies. Our younger dog is needy and doesn’t cope well alone, so when old lady passes, we don’t want to be rushing around filling out applications, but want to be ready find a new dog from a rwscue we’ve already approved/been approved by. Hopefully it will be years before that happens, but realistically she’s aging rapidly

Most of the rescues I’m looking at are so unreasonable. $500 for an adult mix with issues? No thanks. Requires a 6 ft fence? No. Wants to check up on dog every 6 months for the rest of it’s life? No. Dog can’t be home alone for more than 4 hours? No! Mandatory obedience classes for first 6 months, NO!

We have 40 acres, 2 acres of which has invisible fence (
lots of experience in teaching dog about IF). Dogs go on daily off leash walks (30-60 minutes) to local parks with ponds, streams, fields, and forest (as soon as they have reliable recall). Stay at home mom so dogs aren’t alone all day. Our dogs are impeccable well trained, so a dog with zero training is totally fine.

The ONLY reason we are looking at rescues instead of shelters (who are way more reasonable) is that the dog 100% needs to be good with cats other dogs and people. Everything else is trainable, but a proven good temperment is non negotiable.

So where in NY are the non crazy, reasonable rescues?

[Superminion]

Elmore SPCA. Hands downs. We walked in to ask about one of the dogs they had listed on Petfinder and they immediately said that they knew it wouldn’t be the right fit for us, but they were happy to show us one that they thought would (even though my husband said nothing under 50lbs)… an hour later we were headed home with Dixie and she’s EXACTLY what we wanted. They don’t put a dog up for adoption until they know all their quirks. The manager really is an animal person and can read a match better than anybody I’ve ever met. They take everything case by case, and spent a little while talking to us about our situation, abilities, and experience.

It was the EASIEST process that I’ve ever been though, and the quickest. I had to give vet references and that’s it. They were thrilled that we were horse people. The facility was also incredibly clean and professional, which stuck with me as well. Her fee less than $200, IIRC, but I donated an extra $50.

Their website: http://www.elmorespca.org/

ETA: I know that you said that you are looking at rescues, but they really, really do know what they are dealing with there.

[trubandloki]

Where in NY?

[Big_Grey_hunter]

Rochester NY, but would consider a rescue within a 4 hour drive

[Louise]

I have never interacted with this rescue personally, but, my barn owner recently got a dog from them and is very pleased with her. http://www.bigdogsbighearts.com/

[alfonsina]

My guy is from http://www.goingtothedogsrescue.org

Here’s a pretty girl for you who would love your walks and spacious place: http://www.petango.com/Adopt/Dog-Australian-Shepherd-20402128

There certainly are some CRAZY rescues out there… but this one was good to deal with. I think the fee was $250.

I just looked a bit more at their site and they say they require obedience classes? Not sure if that’s just for certain dogs but it was NOT a requirement when I adopted. They do come and check out your place; maybe they got enough of a positive impression then. Hopefully they may be flexible.

[trubandloki]

Have you looked to see what is at Lollypop farm?

[VaqueroToro]

[QUOTE=trubandloki;7089129]
Have you looked to see what is at Lollypop farm?[/QUOTE]

This was going to be my thought as well. Spitting distance from Rochester.

[Big_Grey_hunter]

Thanks for the suggestions! http://www.bigdogsbighearts.com/ and http://www.goingtothedogsrescue.org both look very promising with reasonable adoption requirements. I will definitely put those on the list for when the time comes.

My mom volunteers at lollypop and that’s where our cats and younger dog are from. It is a wonderful shelter and I would happily continue to adopt from there. BUT, our younger dog was a complete mess when we got him. He’s very lucky we adopted him as many people would not have been willing to deal with him the first few years. We love him and he’s (now) a great dog, but he will always need a confident dog to live with. So we aren’t looking at shelters, we’d like a dog living in a foster home so we know more about the dog.

Again, hopefully it will be years before we get our next dog. But our sweet old dog is aging rapidly and we want to be prepared.

[trubandloki]

I totally understand what you are saying, BGH. I have adopted two dogs from Lollypop and thought the same thing. I think both would have been returned if adopted by someone not willing to go the extra for them.
One is now aged and a pretty darn good dog. The other we are still working on. Cute and great with people, not so great with dogs and strange situations.

[msj]

You can try Animal Care Sanctuary in East Smithfield PA. It’s a no-kill shelter a little below Elmira, NY. I’m guessing maybe 3 hr drive. While most of their dogs are in a kennel environment I think they do have some dogs that they foster because that was an option when I got my little Patsy from there last September.

http://www.animalcaresanctuary.org/

Last time I went there they’d changed their website and I couldn’t figure out how to search the dogs but Erin Johnson is the adoption coordinator and was extremely helpful when I contacted them about one particular dog and gave me great information on others when we both realized the one I liked would not work out in my situation.

I also have Invisible fence and that was no problem at all. They will ask for references and they do contact them. I think they are very thorough which I appreciated. References I gave them were a good friend, a neighbor and my small animal vet.

Also, a friend did get 2 dogs from the Bigheartbigdogs rescue. Actually 3 but the first one did not work out at all and it wasn’t for trying either.

OK, I finally figured out how to view the pets on their website. In the upper right hand corner are 3 lines. Click on that and you will see a pull down menu. Click on Adoptable pets and have fun.

[Houndhill]

Why don’t you consider breed rescues as well, if there is a particular breed you might prefer?

[JohnDeere]

Im not trying to hijak but is this rules/fees a NY thing? Our shelters (kill ones) are glad to see anyone walk in as long as he doesnt have a record for abuse, fees are under $50 and theres all kinds of good dogs there, breed & mutt, They ask for ID and basic info but nothing really bad, if you have a chance to take a road trip maybe come south a bit LOL

[Big_Grey_hunter]

[QUOTE=JohnDeere;7091422]
Im not trying to hijak but is this rules/fees a NY thing? Our shelters (kill ones) are glad to see anyone walk in as long as he doesnt have a record for abuse, fees are under $50 and theres all kinds of good dogs there, breed & mutt, They ask for ID and basic info but nothing really bad, if you have a chance to take a road trip maybe come south a bit LOL[/QUOTE]

It’s not a NY thing, more of a rescue thing. The shelters here are the same way (cheap, not picky on adopters). But rescues everywhere are more involved which sometimes (often) leads to a case of ‘every home must be 100% perfect for every dog!’ and their requirements can get ridiculous.

[Lisa_Preston]

www.petfinder.com

[msj]

OP, I did run into that last fall at a local shelter and I’m from the Rochester area. Fortunately not all rescues, etc. are like that though. Sounds like you did run into problems.

The PA no-kill shelter I recommended, Animal Care Sanctuary, does have paper work for you to fill out, and if I remember, it was fairly thorough, but that should never be considered a deterrent to finding a good home for a pet. Just as you want a lovely pet, they want to make certain that you are going to be able to give the pet a loving forever home. :yes:

[drs]

What about trying Scottsville Veterinary Adoptions http://www.petadoption.cc, a fellow boarder adopted from them.