I totally hear what you are saying. I was turned down for not having a fence...and I was turned down because the lady didn't think my dog would mesh well with the little female I wanted. It took my friend and I MONTHS to find the dog he adopted a few weeks ago. When looking for both dogs, both of us encountered many occasions where we'd email someone about a dog and nobody would get back with us.
A few things you may want to do is...
a.) Consider a humane society adoption or a high kill shelter. The one we adopted from didn't do a background check or a home visit. They made us bring proof of residency, but that's about it. As long as we had the money and proof of residency, We got to take the dog home in the same day. Sadly, I feel like they should do more screening at the Humane Society we were at, but after seeing how many people are dropping dogs off and how busy it is, I don't think they have the time.
b.) When looking on Petfinder, click on the website of the rescue if they have one...and read the fine print and the application. A lot of rescues will say up front what their requirements are. Some are harder than others.
With Ricky, I emailed back and forth with the lady a few times and set up a date to go see him. I didn't know what her requirements were...or the price to adopt him as it wasn't specified...I didn't care though. I had fallen in love with him and just wanted to go see him and meet her. I ended up going to see him and taking him home in the same day. I brought my other dog to make sure they got along and I visited for a short time, filled out an application, handed her $150 and she gave me his vet records and we were on our way!! NO home visits...NO background checks or anything. I was honest about not having a fence. I was honest about my older dogs domineering personality...and was totally afraid she'd deny me, but she didn't.
I think a lot of it REALLY depends on who you are dealing with. I would for sure fail some rescue's requirements...yet my dogs probably get more exercise by going on walks than they would if they had a fence... and my dogs are very spoiled and well taken care of as they are the center of my world and are my children.
I am pretty sure I've seen a national rescue group on here that has rescuers on the East Coast. If I can find it, I'll point you to their web page. |