I bet all Rescues hear this almost daily

[horsnaround]

This was shared with me so I thought I would pass it along. Fellow Rescues/Shelters Can You Relate To This? Sad but true we have all had these calls come in.

What should be on every rescue and shelter answering machine.

Hello: You have reached… (123) 4556-7890.

Due to the high volume of calls we have been receiving, please listen closely to the following options and choose the one that best describes you or your situation:

Press 1 if you have a 10-year-old dog and your 15-year-old son has
suddenly become allergic and you need to find the dog a new home
right away.

Press 2 if you are moving today and need to immediately place your 150 pound, 8-year-old dog.

Press 3 if you have three dogs, had a baby and want to get rid of
your dogs because you are the only person in the world to have a
baby and dogs at the same time.

Press 4 if you just got a brand new puppy and your old dog is having problems adjusting so you want to get rid of the old one right away.

Press 5 if your little puppy has grown up and is no longer small and
cute and you want to trade it in for a new model.

Press 6 if you want an unpaid volunteer to come to your home TODAY and pick up the dog you no longer want.

Press 7 if you have been feeding and caring for a “stray” for the
last three years, are moving and suddenly determine it’s not your
dog.

Press 8 if your dog is sick and needs a vet but you need the money
for your vacation.

Press 9 if you are elderly and want to adopt a cute puppy who is not active and is going to outlive you.

Press 10 if your relative has died and you don’t want to care for
their elderly dog because it doesn’t fit your lifestyle.

Press 11 if your cat is biting and not using the litter box because
it is declawed, but you are not willing to accept the responsibility
that the cat’s behavior is altered because of your nice furniture.

Press 12 if your two-year old male dog is marking all over your house but you just haven’t gotten around to having him neutered.

Press 13 if you previously had an outdoor only dog and are calling
because she is suddenly pregnant.

Press 14 if you are calling at 6 a.m. to make sure you wake me up
before I have to go to work so you can drop a dog off on your way
to work.

Press 15 to leave us an anonymous garbled message, letting us know you have left a dog in our yard in the middle of January, which is in fact, better than just leaving the dog with no message.

Press 16 if you are going to get angry because we are not going to
take your dog that you have had for fifteen years, because it is
not our responsibility.

Press 17 if you are going to threaten to take your ten-year old dog
to be euthanized because I won’t take it.

Press 18 if you’re going to get angry because the volunteers had the
audacity to go on vacation and leave the dogs in care of a trusted
volunteer who is not authorized to take your personal pet.

Press 19 if you want one of our PERFECTLY trained, housebroken, kid and cat friendly purebred dogs that we have an abundance of.

Press 20 if you want us to take your dog that has a slight
aggression problem, i.e. has only bitten a few people and killed your neighbor’s cats.

Press 21 if you have already called once and been told we don’t take personal surrenders but thought you would get a different person this time with a different answer.

Press 22 if you want us to use space that would go to a stray to
board your personal dog while you are on vacation, free of charge,
of course.

Press 23 if it is Christmas Eve or Easter morning and you want me to deliver an eight week old puppy to your house by 6:30 am before your kids wake up.

Press 24 if you have bought your children a duckling, chick or baby
bunny for Easter and it is now Christmas and no longer cute.

Press 25 if you want us to take your female dog who has already had ten litters, but we can’t spay her because she is pregnant again and it is against your religion.

Press 26 if you’re lying to make one of our younger volunteers feel
bad and take your personal pet off your hands.

Press 27 if you have done “everything” to housebreak your dog and
have had no success but you don’t want to crate the dog because it
is cruel.

Press 28 if you didn’t listen to the message asking for an evening
phone number and you left your work number when all volunteers are also working and you are angry because no one called you back.

Press 29 if you need a puppy immediately and cannot wait because
today is your daughter’s birthday and you forgot when she was born.

Press 30 if your dog’s coat doesn’t match your new furniture and you need a different color or breed.

Press 31 if your new love doesn’t like your dog and you are too
stupid to get rid of the new friend (who will dump you in the next
month anyway) instead of the dog.

Press 32 if you went through all these ‘options’ and didn’t hear
enough. This press will connect you to the sounds of tears being
shed by one of our volunteers who is holding a discarded old dog
while the vet mercifully frees him from the grief of missing his
family.

Author Unknown, but much appreciated!
Like · · Share · 6 hours ago
19 people like this.

[rubymoon2072]

thanks for sharing. im sure they hear it a million times...all these excuses. yikes.

[Lisa and Pic]

Originally Posted by rubymoon2072

thanks for sharing. im sure they hear it a million times...all these excuses. yikes.

I so agree!

[Marhcarter]

So sad and true...

[yorkietalkjilly]

Just about covers the usual excuses. People who cast off their best friend to be killed if someone else doesn't rescue it and who then just go on with their merry lives are disgusting to me.

[Sadie_Mae]

Being in the military I see a lot of people who just "can't" have their animals. It's disgusting the excuses people come up with. Not to mention heartbreaking.

[Lil Sis]

so sad

[capt_noonie]

I've heard them all, except:
"I'm just a self absorbed A hole and I don't want this dog anymore"
Nope, no one EVER really takes responsibility. It's always excuse after excuse. The potty training is the most common, and what gets me is that is the EASIEST to fix! Aggression and fear is much harder. I've only had one family that really had a good reason.

[Wylie's Mom]

Very sad....I bet they hear this stuff every day.

[gemy]

Originally Posted by capt_noonie

I've heard them all, except:
"I'm just a self absorbed A hole and I don't want this dog anymore"
Nope, no one EVER really takes responsibility. It's always excuse after excuse. The potty training is the most common, and what gets me is that is the EASIEST to fix! Aggression and fear is much harder. I've only had one family that really had a good reason.

And I was a self absorbed a**hole who thought getting a dog would put more focus on me!

I loved a BRT I rescued, the excuse was I didn't know he would get so large Plus he pulls on the lead!
What part of large working breed that can as an adult weigh in at 130-140 lbs did you miss?

You know how long it took me to train this one year old 110 lb dog to not pull? Exactly one week. Two weeks for heeling. By one month later he had been temperament tested and evaluated. Knew sit stay down stay, and retrieve.

But it was every day 3x per day training, double collars in the beginning, with a lead over a tree so he could not get away.

He was placed in a working dog home and is now a CD and a CDX obedience titled dog!!!!

Quite frankly it in this case was probably the breeders fault. But questioning and scruntinizing your potential owners is so very important.

And knowing your breed inside and out is too (that is as the breeder). Knowing folks is a whole lot harder.

[baileyz]

I have seen people put their dogs up for these reasons. Personally I couldn't turn my back on a dog like that. It breaks my heart to see dogs in the Humane Society's, especially when some of the ones they are in allow them to be put down. A dog is a lifetime commitment.

[pink66]

I think it's inexcusable the way so many people view their pets as disposable. I really admire people who have been involved in rescue for years, constantly having to handle the mess made by people too self absorbed to ever be able to put their pets welfare ahead of their own convenience!

[ChibiLuv]

sadly this is SO true.
Here are some of my favs for returning an adopted dog:
I have 3 dogs and the one more I adopted is too much
(because you didn't know you had 3 dogs before you adopted??)
He isn't bonding with me and my family
(this one is usually after a whole 24 hours)
This puppy is biting me/ my children
(its a puppy- duh)
This dog growled/snapped at my child when he was simply play hitting him with a toy sword
(or other blunt object- and yes this really is a reason for return)
This dog reminds me too much of the one I recently lost
(totally the dogs fault)
I am suddenly moving and can not take this animal with
(this one is anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks after adoption)
My family is allergic
(you didn't know this before??)
This dog is just impossible to housetrain
(No they didn't use a crate, they also work 12 hours a day and have no help)
I have had this adopted animal for 5+ years but now I must get rid of it for a random reason and instead of trying to find it a home like I would a real pet I am going to put it back into a shelter so it can be stressed out and have a hard time bonding with anyone new and probably be there for a long time because now it is old and has all these fun personality quirks!
(like biting and not liking children and not being housetrained- yay, you were a great pet owner!)

[crazydoglade]

We have a wonderful new volunteer who happens to be in the military. THe will be posted back in Germany in the next year or so. They want a dog but don't want to give it up. Foster. The dogs get the love and attention they need, she gets to have a dog. They both win.

[SophieKatesMom]

Have heard them all, sadly I am almost immune to the excuses.

The one that always gets to me are the people who want a young dog because they do not want to out live their dog. Seriously people, you are YOUNG and your life expectancy is much longer than a dog!!! Those are the people I usually decline for adoption, that is one sure sign they have no clue about what they are getting into.

I have a huge soft spot for the senior dogs (and people), probably the reason I usually end up fostering or loving every old dog at our rescue.