Okay, just going to say one more thing, lol.
I posted a while back because I was upset to see super-nasty reviews of the rescue I love on Yelp!, most of which were along the lines of, "I'm a really irresponsible person and they didn't give me a dog." At the same time, I've seen people go through the process trying to get a rescue dog, and truly, some rescues are ridiculous. Of course the priority has to be the dog's welfare, but at the same time, when there are so many unwanted dogs in the country, I feel like rescues should consider the kind of publicity they are putting out there. It is human nature to be hurt by rejection, and of course rescues are going to be rejecting people - so I think it's really important that it's done sensitively and if at all possible, in a way that doesn't leave people bitter about the experience.
I think sometimes there's a double message from rescues - please come consider us first, but we'll have no problem treating you like crap. But you really should rescue. Even though we reject most people because they could not possibly be good enough.
Also, even though this is a weird example, Temple Grandin is the woman who designs humane slaughter houses - she's an austistic woman who "thinks like a cow". She wrote something that really struck me, that most factories have hundreds and hundreds of checklist items that have to be passed, which she has... ten. Her grading system is super simple, and much more effective (at least according to her) than trying to control for every detail. I'm probably not explaining it well, but that's the gist. |