Please Do Your Home Visits!!

Question:
 I know sometimes we feel like we know each other here on the internet. I got a call wanting a Lab in Benton, Arkansas over the summer. I wrote his address name and phone number down in our log and explained the process, including the required home visit. I never got a call back after that. Yesterday I was watching the news and the address sounded familiar for two reasons. It was Dixie Lane in Benton, the same street my Lab Board Secret Pal lived on and the same street this guy lived on (I remembered at the time I was thinking my SP could do the home visit to save me the driving..). After looking at our logs this morning, more than 30 dogs were seized at the same address yesterday. It was on our local news, I can't find an article to link to yet.
So please work your home visits. We don't really know each other here on the Lab Board, even though we think we do. I could be running a dog mill in my backyard for all anyone knows, I could be saving dogs and then running them up to the local pound for euth just to make myself look good on the internet, I could have felony convictions (none of which are true, just examples, I am having the local humane society come do a home visit on me to keep me to the same standard as our fosters and adopters). Again, none of that is true, but there have no doubt been folks like that.
I know sometimes we feel we are desperate. I am 100% sure that Labs died in Arkansas that that man would have taken in. I could have not done a home visit in order to save a Lab. But there are things worse than death... I wish I had a link to that article. There were pictures of a Golden and her puppies in a wire cage and it's been cold and wet lately, there was no shelter from the wind and rain for a new litter. In the wake of Katrina, folks were desperate and gave 500 dogs to this "rescue" in Arkansas with no home visit:
http://www.hsus.org/pets/pets_relate..._hoarding.html
So please, do a home visit, insist on one if you are adopting even if the other side does not.

Answer:
 THANK YOU Camille! I think I have been saying words to this effect for 2 years. Just because we all "think" we know one another - we really don't. Homechecks should ALWAYS be done - saving a dog from a shelter is wonderful - saving it to put it in a worse situation is WRONG! No one intends for it to happen but it does!

Answer:
 I think you should also have a home visit done on your rescue group if you are adopting! Imagine if you wanted a dog from that Katrina "rescue". Can you imagine the huge aggression issues, medical issues, socialization you'd have to deal with? Every rescue should be open and not insulted by an adopter wanting a double check on their animals. It should work both ways.

Answer:
 Good post, Camille!

Answer:
 I wish there were more regulations implamented by county animal controls and the department of ag! Nobody (in my area) is checking out these "rescues" and they are poppin up ALL over the place. Everyone wants no kill... even if it means your dog will be tied to a tree 24/7??! :(
Somehow its justified with... "at least they wont kill him". I get sooo angry!!!

Answer:
 I'm stickying this because it's so important and true.
Very well written, Camille.

Answer:
 Great post Camille! I have seen many rescues that where in it to save the lives of wayward dogs, but at the same time I have seen a few that where just in it for the $$$. I have actually met some at Petfinder conventions and conferences.
There are people out there that will just go to forum after forum to look for dogs to take in. They join, make a few posts and next thing you know they are adopting a dog. Then another. Pretty soon they have adopted several and people start to ask questions about the dogs and that person will dissapear, never to be seen again (at least on this forum). It happens, it HAS happened, and dogs are in conditions that are less than good because of it.
Don't be affraid to ask questions. If the person adopting the dog is not willing to answer, or does not reply, then don't adopt to them. It might sound harsh, but I would rather insult someone that I don't really know anything about, than place a dog somewhere that I will regret for the rest of my life. If nothing else, at the very least check the user profile for the person. Read some, or many, of the posts they have made. If they are constantly looking for a dog, any dog, then be very cautious.
Don't be affraid to PM a few of the members that seem to know the adopter and ask if they have any info or thoughts on the person. I have done this myself and while I have not found any mass murderers, I have found people that probably are not in the best situation to have a dog at that time. If nothing else, it has saved a lot of trouble and long transports that did not need to happen.
And yes, do those home visits. If you can't do them because of location or distance, ask on the forum and someone will usually offer to help. Remember, we are all trying to place the dogs into a better situation, not just a different one with the same conditions.

Answer:
 I've seen a few on some boards that scream red flag. I won't adopt out any dog that I don't home inspect myself and check references. If they want to adopt they will go through the hoops I put up. Just the way it is. Great post!

Answer:
 SO TRUE. I'm so glad you have posted this. We have a small animal control shelter here in my little town and I go once a week to take the dogs pictures and put them on petfinder.com. We get calls/emails from people from VERY far away asking if we do out of state adoptions for mixed breed dogs. It is very scary and I always wonder what these people are up to.
You are so right, there so many things that could happen to these poor dogs that are a lot worse than death.

Answer:
 Oh and one more thing...I process applications for a Lab Rescue...you can learn a LOT from Vet and personal references too.

Answer:
 I think this is very true and here is my 5 cents(darn inflation). If a person is willing to help transport, rescue, find a group they are probably more reliable. I mean it is quite simple(from what I am told) to go to a high gassing shelter, plop down 10 bucks first come first serve. Why would people spend time trying to help place dogs if they are a collector and can go collect.
I also think this board is a great reference. From what I see(and I haven't been on here long) there are alot of people that know eachother outside the board.
Like me for example there are 2 other members that I run into at shows all the time. I would vouch for them if need be and hope they would do the same for me. One of these people I ran into a year ago and have seen her at shows since and I wasn't even a member of the board and didn't know she was one either. I think the board needs to use each other.

Answer:
 Oh and those 2 members are the only ones I am aware of. I see alb people at shows all the time. Who is to say it isn't another member?

Answer:
 I think this is very true and here is my 5 cents(darn inflation). If a person is willing to help transport, rescue, find a group they are probably more reliable. I mean it is quite simple(from what I am told) to go to a high gassing shelter, plop down 10 bucks first come first serve. Why would people spend time trying to help place dogs if they are a collector and can go collect.
I also think this board is a great reference. From what I see(and I haven't been on here long) there are alot of people that know eachother outside the board.
Like me for example there are 2 other members that I run into at shows all the time. I would vouch for them if need be and hope they would do the same for me. One of these people I ran into a year ago and have seen her at shows since and I wasn't even a member of the board and didn't know she was one either. I think the board needs to use each other.
There are some people that are so bad that local shelters won't give them animals and they have to go elsewhere. There are plenty of well meaning people who will help with vetting and transport so a dog won't die. There are some collectors who do place some animals because it gets overwhelming or they have breeds that would fetch a decent price which gives them enough money for....you guessed it...more animals!! Take that link I posted above for instance. I did more googling and in that Katrina case, she took one of the dogs to a vet hospital for a kidney transplant and later adopted him out. That probably took place with lots of internet help. By doing things like that it made folks more trusting of her, so she got more animals. So, just because you're willing to help doesn't also prevent you from being willing to hurt.

Answer:
 I totally agree that there are wrong doing people but at some point we have to learn to trust some people or dogs will never get homes. By me it is very difficult to adopt a dog. People get turned away from shelters all the time. Good homes too and I know good homes because they go get a dog from somwhere else whether it another shelter, a breeder, or even the paper. These dogs live lives of luxury and make it to ripe old ages.
We don't even have an animal control facility in my county. We have several places willing to hold onto them but no one has any dogs. My lab came from animal control in the county over, an hour away. Our puggle came from a shelter nearly 3 hours away.