[CaptainLeroy]

Thank you for responding, everyone, but I am especially happy to hear from someone who has actually fostered for YTNR.

Believe me, I AM grateful YTNR took my dogs. And I don't have any doubts about their intentions - I would have never surrendered my dogs if I had believed them to be anything other than honorable.

My dogs came from a suspected puppy mill and have issues from that time period. After a year in our house, they were still terrified of my husband, though he had never done anything to warrant that. They loved me completely and would have been perfectly content were it only the two of them and myself, but they just couldn't get along with my husband at all. Yes, they had other issues - not completely housebroken, lots of barking, distrust of...most people, actually - but I could deal with all that. It was just their extreme fear...and knowing that they could never be completely happy as long as they were living in the same house with someone they so feared. And since my husband and I work completely opposite shifts, they were alone with him half the time, and I knew they stayed hidden in the basement all that time. That was no way to live, and I wanted a better home for them, even though it meant I would be losing my babies I love so dearly.

Actually, I DID think that I was rehoming them on my own, by placing an ad through YTNR's website - that was the impression I received from the wording on the surrender application:

"This page is for the posting of Yorkshire Terriers in need of a home. Postings from rescue organizations, individuals, and shelters are welcome. Puppies or dogs for sale may not be posted here. This is not a breeder page. If you are selling a dog, you need to post it somewhere else. The asking of an adoption fee to cover veterinary care and other rescue costs is not considered "selling". Please send me an E-mail when the dog is adopted, so I can take your posting down."

So I was completely caught off guard the very next day when I received an email from YTNR saying they could pick the dogs up that day. When I replied, asking many questions, she answered, explaining briefly about YTNR and her association, saying that she would be the foster mom until a permanent home could be found, and intimated that she felt the dogs needed to be moved quickly. She also let me know that she would not rush my decision, but would be there when the time was right.

I "talked" via email to the president for about a week, asking many questions, and receiving answers to some. However, I was never informed of a contract, never informed that I would give up all my rights to my dogs and have no say in their future, and...horror of horrors...that my dogs may be euthanized if they were found to be unsuitable for placement!

I was in such an emotional state when I handed my babies over, that I could not read the contract, which she handed me, saying, "You can read this if you want." I really couldn't have read it had a gun been at my head - I was that upset and crying uncontrollably, crying literally so hard I could not breathe. I should have said, "I can't read this, would you please read it to me?" But even then, I'm not sure I would have comprehended the words. What I DID see was IRREVOCABLE DECISION written in bold letters just above the space for my signature; I hesitated, asked her if that was true, she replied that it was, and with my heart in my throat, I signed. Even though those words brought new tears, I still assumed I would retain some rights, some say in where they were placed, etc. I wrongly assumed that I was merely signing that I could not change my mind about the actual surrender.

Hours later, at home, I was aghast when I was able to read the contract and found I would forever have NO SAY AT ALL in my dogs' futures.

I also later realized that, had I been in her shoes, I would NEVER have left someone in the state I was in sitting alone in a parking lot. I would have stayed there until that person's tears were gone or offered to drive her home.I mean, seriously, I was completely out-of-my-mind distraught.

That same day, I remembered a few things I should have told the president/foster mom about - small medical issues, foods they enjoy, personal traits, etc. - and I emailed her, asking how they seemed. She assured me they were "very happy" and playing with her other dog. I didn't doubt that would be playing with the other dog, but happy? I know my dogs, their timidity, the bewilderment and fright they must have been feeling, and I asked her to please tell me the truth, that I appreciated a kind lie, but needed to know the truth.

We exchanged one or two more emails, and she reiterated that the dogs loved playing with her dog, but she said they had a "fear of attachment" and that she was moving them to a foster home in another state. She was trying, she said, to place both dogs together, as I had begged her to do, and felt that they may need to be in foster care for a longer than average period. But that "fear of attachment" was a phrase that has been haunting me, and that made me worry about the "euthanasia" clause... I had previously asked specifically what would happen if a permanent home could not be found for my dogs, and she had assured me they would stay in the foster home forever, but this euthanasia thing was haunting me.

She has never answered my last email, sent more than a week ago, in which I expressed my concerns about that.

On one hand, I know she has no legal reason to talk to me - I DID (unknowingly and perhaps ignorantly) give up all my rights. But on the other hand, she knows how very much I love them, she saw the distress I was in, and I just feel like the courteous thing to do would be to answer my emails.

Again, I am not trying to attack YTNR or the president personally. I am optimistic that my dogs are in a better place and I think she will do what she feels best for them. I just feel that I was ill-informed and should have been warned of the contract and its contents before meeting in such an emotional state that I was powerless to do anything about it.

Is this a usual practice for rescues or for YTNR specifically, and if not, I'd just like to know why I was treated differently.

Thanks for any insight you may be able to provide.