This morning I finished filling out the adoption application for the lab rescue near me. I finished and submitted the application for the golden retriever rescue a few days ago. It took me a long time because these are lengthy applications. I feel a little as if I am applying to adopt a child!
For the most part, I think it's good that they want to make sure the dogs are going to good homes and that they are matching the right dog with the right owner. These applications ask questions like will your dog be allowed on the furniture. They don't want to give you a dog that is accustomed to lounging on the couch and sleeping in someone's bed if you don't want to let your dog on the furniture. Makes sense to me.
One of the applications wanted four references and asked that applicants not use family members as references. Well, I had a hard time with that. I don't know anybody! I am really a pretty solitary person. The only people I have any type of regular contact with are Mike, Mike's parents, my sister and my mother. I mean, I do see the lady that works at the post office fairly often, but I don't think that she can vouch for my character based on the two minutes it takes her to sell me some stamps. I know the manager of the local Panera by name and he greets me by name and asks how my writing is going when he sees me, which is fairly often, but again, I don't think he can verify that I am a good and loving pet owner. It's not like I take my cats with me to Panera. I couldn't even use my vet because they asked for that elsewhere on the application. I ended up listing Mike, his parents, my sister and my mother. I decided I would pretend I missed the part about not listing family members.
One of the applications advised me that puppies sometimes pee in the house and that dogs sometimes chew things and damage property. It asked me what I would do if that happened. I was like, um, clean it up? Provide more supervision in the future so it wouldn't happen again. Consult with my professional trainer to figure out what to do to keep it from happening again. Provide appropriate chew toys if the dog was chewing my belongings. And if the dog chewed up something that belonged to somebody else, pay them for the damages.
I found myself feeling like I had to explain that, while I wanted a service dog, I also wanted the dog to be a companion, that I would love it and treat it like a member of the family, etc. I don't know why I felt that was necessary. One of the applications asked if you were looking for a dog to be a companion, a hunting dog, or something else. I wrote in "service dog." Surely if they think adopting a dog to be a hunting dog is OK, they wouldn't object to using a dog as a service dog, would they?
I've just read a few things written by people that seem to think service dogs are basically treated like slaves, that they are forced to work all the time, and that they have no time to just "be a dog." Now, you do have to consider the source. One of the things I read was written by Ursula Kemp, the president of Therapy Dogs International, an organization which discriminates against people with disabilities that use service dogs. The other was written by someone with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and was full of misinformation which indicated the writer had no clue about service dogs.
The two rescues I've applied to are the Greater Dayton Labrador Retriever Rescue and the Golden Retriever Rescue Resource. If you're interested in adopting or fostering a dog, check them out. Or if you just want to donate a little money to a good cause, check these out.
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