Breed specific rescues and their fees

pawzaddict

So I am not trying to be mean, but come on....$350 for a pure bred rescue from a breed specific rescue? And its because of rising vet fees? Lets be honest...you are charging a higher fee than normal because the dog would cost thousands on the street

They come in and sweep up all the pure breds and sometimes even mixes at the shelters, er...they DID before they became over packed.

Story time...a year or two ago an elderly couple in Tucson, AZ was charged for hoarding chihuahua's and chinese crested dogs. The dogs were taken to the Tucson HS but also the Maricopa county HS, guess what, before ANYBODY could even go see the dogs to adopt (we would have taken a chinese crested since I want one so bad) the chinese crested rescue and chihuahua rescue swooped in and took them, turned around and charged 250+ for any "young" dog.

Sorry for the vent but give me a break...I wish people were just honest...

"we adopt out dogs that cost thousands on the streets so we will charge $250 as the LOWEST fee"

I understand there are vet costs, but even mutt rescues pay the same vet costs.

Criosphynx

I wanted to adopt an Italian greyhound and the rescue was upfront about it....this dog is expensive so we are going to use her HUGE adoption fee to cover the other less adoptable dogs. Needless to say we didn't get her since they wanted way to much for her.

My BILs "rescue" english bulldog was $450...and she had been returned to the rescue before...that means they got the adoption fee twice.

Personally if I really want a PB dog of a rare breed I will be vigilant and swoop in before the rescues can nab them up. There was a PB shiba that I wanted but my inn was full at the time.

In a way I understand they charge more because they can, and they need the money...after all no one is forcing people to pay it.

One I contacted, after a run around calling multiple people wanted ME to pay for the vetting of the dog I was giving them. This dog was a stray and VERY adoptable..young, small and cute as all get out..I told them it would be adopted at their first event...guaranteed...but they still wanted ME to pay for her spay. She ended up at the pound.

personally tho I don't ever plan on adopting a dog from a private rescue...for a variety of reasons...cost being one of them. That and all the negative experiences dealing with them.

Mikey

I agree to a point. Honestly though-I think EVERY rescue should charge a lot (not so they aren't affordable) as long as they are registered charities or non-profits. It costs an immense amount of money to run a shelter and people think harder when more money is involved.

This goes back to how I feel about 'free to good homes'. Saw this ad yesterday, looking for a free dog run and dog house because they 'rescued' FOUR husky pups and didn't have ANY money. I just want to wring their necks-I mean-if you can't afford a dog house HOW are you going to pay for four spay/neuters, four annual vet exams, four sets of vaccines four of everything!!

I just think that when people have to dig deap to get something they think longer on it.

But I sooo get you that they shouldn't be gouging just because they have purebreds-not cool at all.
I was looking at a corgi breed rescue and at the bottom of the page were two mixes and the message they gave was awful-someting along the lines of 'these dogs were represented as purebreds but aren't, angry about this, but we'll still honor our commitment to rehome them'
I thought that was awful-why don't you just say they aren't as good as the purebreds? *eye roll eye roll eye roll*

Criosphynx

I agree...there have been studies done and it turns out that when people pay a fee vs free they tend to value the dogs life more...there was a shelter that INCREASED their adoption fees and it in turn increased adoption due to the percieved value of the dogs. I read a whole article about percieved value and how high adoption fees bring the dog snobs into rescue. They get to feel morally correct but also get to flaunt how much they paid.

That said I think humans in general are a little tooo fixated on what they paid for their dogs...I have met people that within the first thirty seconds tell me what they paid for the dog...usually the more they paid, the quicker they volunteer the info....I forget how much I paid until I think about it hard, or som'one asks. I think different people simply fixate on the wrong things in the human/dog relationship.

I have seen the snobbery of breed specific rescues that can happen. Som' people are also very fixated on breeds and value a dogs life based on its breed. Personally I can't understand excluding a dog from your help because its not a purebred.

pawzaddict

Well here we do not have time to even see the dog posted online, if we got the chinese crested from the HS we would pay maybe 150 if it was a puppy, but go figure once we hear the story and call the NEXT DAY! the rescue group already swung by and scooped them up. So there was NO TIME for the general public to have the opportunity to get the dog at a lower cost. I am happy sticking with my mutts and off the street rescues LOL one day I will own a dang chinese crested tho! ONE DAY! lol

Criosphynx

that does happen....your right...especially if you have reaally aggressive groups in the area with space.

just start talking to everyone you can...I have been offered tons of dogs from pugs to poodles to poms...I think you just have to be in the right place at the right time.

I have three shelters I do "rounds" on...and three more that are semi-close....I can't believe som' of the breeds I see.

Sheltiemama

Well I have to weigh in on the other side. I work with a sheltie rescue group. We're all volunteers and every dime goes to vet bills, etc. Mostly vet bills. We get owner surrenders in addition to others. One was picked up running down the yellow line in the middle of Main Street last Saturday!

The foster I brought home today has Cushings Disease and is nearly blind. She has a lot of vet bills and will continue to have them as long as she lives. Rescue will pay for it unless someone comes along to adopt her. She's beautiful and loving but not many people want to shoulder her kinds of issues.

However, all our dogs are $200. That pays for their spaying/neutering/vet bills for whatever issue they may have in addition to making sure all their shots are up to date. The $200 usually doesn't cover all the vet bills.

I adopted my Scotty from this rescue and paid them $200. They gave me his records and that $200 didn't begin to cover his vet bills.

Now when I see a rescue (and there are a couple semi local ones here that rescue all types of dogs) that charges $300 and up for a dog, I just shake my head.

We get our dogs rehomed well and fairly quickly usually. Some of the rescues are full because they want to charge too much. You can't plan to recoup your vet bills from the adoption costs. We do a ton of fund raisers all year long to help with the bills.

So don't paint us all with the same brush, please and thank you.

Some of us are just trying to make sure they get a good home and that they will be well cared for.

Criosphynx

Oh I agree...didn't mean to say everyone was *bad*

I think $200 is a very reasonable adoption fee.


another thing I've noticed is they will pull the most pathetically sick dogs from the shelter system som'times...I always see "fluffy had a broken leg so please donate" type things...why do som' rescues complain about money and then pull the dogs that need the most work?

pawzaddict

I am generalizing because that is what I see, I know there are rescues out there that are not like this but BOTH the chi rescue and the chinese crested charge 300 or 350 for puppies or under 1 yr and 200 I believe is now the cheapest for a senior dog with the chi rescue. Also they pull dogs of that particular breed the second word is out that the shelters have them, I personally think these guys need to back off and give the dogs at least 3-4 days up on the shelters website before jumping in to turn around and charge double what the shelter charges. I know a lady who runs a dachshund rescue here and she waits until the dog has had 4-7 days on the website and in the adoption section before she goes and takes them in.

ScentHound

I don't like SOME breed specific rescues and the fees they change. My opinion is based on my own experiences with them. Example: I was looking for another Beagle to work with before I found Missy. I looked at a beagle/hound rescue group (I will not mention the name). They had a nice looking Tri-colored bitch that had just been put up for adoption. They also had several other less valuable beagles that were adoptable. I was looking at the Tri-color because I recognized the strong bloodline in her and thought she may be a good tracker. Anyway, She was 400 dollars...supposedly due to expenses that she had while at the rescue. I dug a little and found out where she came from. When I called the shelter I was referred to, they told me that she had been "adopted out" 4 day prior to my call. Their fee for adoption was 60 dollars. Expenses my butt...They saw what I saw in her and assembly lined this poor girl for profit.

SOME breed specific rescues may be legit, and only want to help the animal out, but the ones I have run into seem to be only interested in the cash.

Don't take what I am typing wrong. I agree with fees for adoption and do not believe that everyone should have a right to own a dog. I feel it is like a car, if you can't afford the maintenance then you can't afford the car.