Just venting...


My husband and I love our Anya to pieces, and wanted to get another Samoyed. We initially contacted some rescues and shelters, and we found a beautiful boy. He was poorly trained, but I was confident we could work with him...he had 24 hours left until he was put down, so we rushed over to put in our application.

And because I was STUPIDLY honest and wrote down our address with apartment number, they turned us down because we didn't have a house and a fenced yard. I even had my landlord call them and tell them that she had no problem with us having 2 dogs, I had Anya's breeder call and give a recommendation, but the shelter wouldn't budge. I contacted Sammy rescues who tried to intervene, but time was too short and he was put down. I was devastated.

I needed a few months to recover from that because that was just horrible, but we decided to instead look for a good breeder and get a puppy (We moved, so Anya's breeder is now 1,000 miles away). It took us forever to find one within a few hours who did health testing, had both parents and who showed, and we met her and her dogs and loved them. We put in an application, and once again like an idiot I was honest and said we lived in an apartment, and the breeder said she doesn't give puppies to people who don't have yards.

I'm crushed. We love Sammys, we both work from home, and we go on long daily hikes with our pup. Our neighborhood has a large dog park we visit every evening. Anya is a Canine Good Citizen and therapy dog and is spoiled rotten, yet all of it is meaningless and I'm so disappointed and frustrated.

Anya's breeder said she may have a litter for us next year, but I hate the idea of putting a puppy on a plane or through a 20-hour drive.

Can you have a friend put in an application through this breeder that just turned you down? I know it's not the same but it saves you from waiting a year and putting a puppy thru a plane ride.

Well, that really sucks! If there is anything I can do, let me know...

I understand your frustration.

We had a similar but opposite problem.  We love our dogs, but we keep them outside.  They have a 40 square foot area in the garage that is linked to a 225 square foot outside kennel.  We have another dog we got from the same shelter that has thrived in this environment.  But our local shelter believes all dogs need to be indoor dogs.  They'd probably love you.

When Rorschach was in the shelter here, we went to every open house that he was at and spent a lot of time with him.  Other families would stop by to see him and the kids would tease him and the parents would ignore both the kids and the dog, then they would submit an application.  Knowing what I knew of the breed, I was terrified for his future.

Every time we talked to them to get an update, they'd bring up the fact that we were planning to keep him outside.
I find a lot of time shelters get it stuck in their head that all dogs need to be treated the exact same way regardless of owner or breed.  The fact they'd rather kill the dog than let it go to a loving home is concerning.

Maybe keep your eye on other nearby shelters and just hope for better luck.

I wish you the best in your search for a new member to your family.

Not adopting to someone with an apartment is a really ridiculous reason. A lot of times people in apartments will do more with their dog because they have to bring them outside and go on walks, etc.

Especially with you having a letter from your breeder AND your apartment landlord. I'm sorry Kat. Maybe keep an eye out for local dog shows and go out and see if any sammy breeders attend. It's a very frustrating situation to be in.

I hate the fact that breeders/adoption places say that you need a yard. Especially with huskies/northern breeds where they tend to escape a lot. So the people that have yards just put their dogs outside and they get out because they don't watch them. I don't see the difference in having a yard and taking your dog for walks. Gabby gets plenty of outdoor and exercise time with being an apartment dog. Lots of walks, trips to daycare and dog parks.

We know how you feel, I have had similar problems in our quests to add to the pack. With huskies we were met with the same nonsense about apartments (we were living in an apartment when we first got married and started our search for our first dog together). Rescue and breeders wouldn't consider apartment living as suitable. We eventually turned to the local shelters and ended up rescuing our Dakota. Shelters tend to be much more lenient about living arrangements I have found. Rescues, in my experience, are harder to deal with than breeders even.

We had similar problems trying to adopt a Chihuahua after the kids came along. No Chihuahua rescue would consider adopting a Chi to a home with children under 8. (I had a 15 month old and was 5 months pregnant when our precious Faith passed away and we were looking for another Chi to fill the massive hole in our hearts.) Luckily, we found a local breeder who would consider us (she said no at first) after much explanation of our situation and that we already had another Chi, taught our child to respect animals, blah, blah, blah. Our little Prince was the result of that kind breeder who looked at the whole picture, talked extensively to us and all that jazz.

Rather than ship a pup via cargo. You could fly out to pick up your pup from your breeder. That way he/she is with you the entire time, you can fit a pup under your seat. I know a lot of people do that rather than fly their new puppies via cargo. Much better experience for both of you if that is something you can afford and have the time for.

That's terrible! Why in the world would you rather destroy a dog than put it in less-than-ideal circumstances - given that all that proof was there!

Maybe your new home town will be different. Ember is a border collie and she is "supposed" to be high drive, highly active. But the agency I got her from let me have her because I proved my beliefs in positive training techniques as well as my ability to adapt to her and not force her to adapt to me. Turns out she is almost TOO content with do-nothing apartment living and does enjoy walks as much as the next dog, but not too much "around other people/dogs" time. Perhaps your new hometown will be the same in the humane society department?

I found Ami at a local shelter - the director was thrilled when he heard he would be primarily outdoors and recommended the invisible fence (which I had never heard about before) Unlike all the rescues in the region - most of whom want indoor dog (he's a HUSKY! I can't get him to come indoors without bribing him with a treat!!!) and they specifically deny invisible fence. All the while, on FB, I am constantly reading of dogs escaping the house, running into the street and getting killed or maimed. Sometimes these people really do not think! And people wonder about the success of backyard breeders.

Amy, the reason why the invisible fence is so discouraged is because a dog with high drive can pushed right past the fence indicator in chase of something. But the drive to return is much lower, and crossing the fence the second time has it's intended effect - but with the dog on the wrong side of the fence this time. So if for some reason the dog gets out, they have no way (or desire) to return home.

They work, but that is just something to think about (and why most shelters don't want them - as that is one of the ways dogs end up there in the first place).

For instance, Kairo's drive is so stinking high that she has choked herself on prong/slip collars. The concept is the same - if the drive is high enough, the dog will push right past all the pain to get to what it wants. But obviously home is not as exciting enough to risk getting hurt to return to.

I have a very high prey drive husky...not a week goes by without something dead.  It really is all about the training - Ami has been trained to turn around and retreat from the signal.  And his fence can be set so they can return without consequence.  Mine isn't, to use that feature, you can't have a loop inside the main boundary and we have one around the pool. The big test for me was the day Ami and Archer chased a deer that wandered into the boundary from across the street and kept heading west to the woods.  I thought for sure that was asking too much, but the dogs hit the boundary and came back to the lawn.  And all 3, deer, and dogs were in full out to the death run.

We got the invisible fence on the shelter directors recommendation.  I asked him a lot of questions, including how many dogs do you collect that have escaped from invisible fences...he said none.

I have heard many stories lately of how insane adopting a dog has become in some places. I have been looking at a dog in a shelter a little over an hour from me and have heard they are a hard lot to get a dog from so if I do decide to go after him I will have to lie about having a cat. The cat should be irrelevant since she lives in a separate part of the house, but I know they won't hear anything past the fact that we have a cat.

As for the shelter that would rather kill a dog rather than place them, that is lunacy and I would report them. You stir up outrage across the town for that kind of behavior or get the Humane society involved that shelter could be raided. It happened to one near me to the extreme opposite. They were hoarding dogs. Many of which were in such bad shape that not putting them down was actually inhumane.

(Don't want to derail the topic, but just throwing this out there to Amy - I understand there are some areas that won't have the same problems as others, but here in Tourist Central where fireworks are common on any given night, our local Lost Pets of Horry County facebook page is full of calls for help for dogs that ran through invisible fences out of fright. It might not be common in your area but it is in ours, so it's still feasible reason given the area. The current thought is that once they are scared, any ploys that an invisible fence may use to stop the dog only adds to it - I guess I shoulda said it's not just drive, though drive is a factor as well depending on the dog)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1068075666644072&set=p.1068075666644072&type=3&theater

Kat - here is the pup...there is one other poster who expressed interest but she has no Sammi experience and lives in Michigan.

Kat, you might try RescueMe.org. They're only showing something like 7 nationwide - and I can't remember where you live - but maybe one of them is close.

Al - I'm really hopeful about this one - its a 10 mo old service dog washout (owner's disabilities becoming greater and needs larger, sturdier dog) I've managed to get the contact info to Kat so its in her court, now. The dog is located in Texas and the owner is willing to drive the pup anywhere in the US for a good home.

Thank you for all of your help, folks! I'll be checking in to the pup Amy mentioned

Amy, it won't let me view the post (I think bc I'm not part of the group)--feel free to send them my info!


Kat.Tretina@gmail.com

Here it comes...

omg his little face I cant stand it!

I pm'd you the contact info and emailed yours to her. I sure hope this works out!

Kat your "web link" (down by the PM button) goes to siberiansamoyed.com and works.
Your link in your signature goes to siberiansamoyeds.com and doesn't work...

There's an extra "S" at the end of Samoyed in the second link - you might want to think about fixing that, maybe??

BTW, it's the link that this goes to that is wrong, the observable text is right.

Kat:
I don't know where you live, but contact my friend Maria outside of Milwaukee.
She's involved in Samoyed Rescue.
samrescue@execpc.com
If that doesn't work, I'll contact her and ask if her personal address is OK to give you.