I guess I'm lucky too!

Lmao, I can get away with not walking my two or just a 10 minute trot around the block.. Koda is super lazy(I guess all that crazy exercise I had him doing til he was 2 1/2 made him set for life!) and Rogue has taken after him. Though I do try to take them to the small park up the street for a few every morning and then on a 45 or so minute walk in the evening.. in which I end up dragging Koda and Rogue is just in a hurry to get home and eat dinner.. the walks are honestly more for my benefit to keep in shape!

OMG!
So, my application that has Sibe experience with a short fence? I will be able to adopt to them, and I'll be sending a male over to them that we just got in to see if they would be interested. His previous owners said 'he didn't jump their fence' but we don't know how tall that fence was.

In any case, I got an approval 'under the table' because if the director saw some of their fence is only 4-5 ft tall, she would say no way!

So...they've gotten the 'non-official' approved!
That's better than being denied altogether!

maybe some approved "white" lies in the future is the way to get approved....

good work on sticking with it

So is the director we speak of Faith or Ingrid? Because I thought Ingrid was pretty much out of the picture and no input would be needed..

The director is Ingrid. And she's been kind of out it but we've seen her meddle in some of the applications. So if she happens to look at this one, she would say their fence is inadequate.

Faith is trying to play by Ingrid's rules and trying to make exceptions, but I think she's kind of stuck with some of these 'rules' too.

We'll see how the new rescue runs...

I had an applicant saying they wanted to rescue an puppy, 8weeks to few months old....and wanted to be put on the waiting list in case one comes in....

They'll be waiting forever...

cmanding wrote:

no adoptions to people in apartments (not sure what the reason was behind this one).

I think I know the answer to this one. It's not limited to huskies but bigger dogs in general. Lots of apartments (and rent houses for that matter) don't allow big dogs as part of the lease agreement. Even if the current apartment does the chance of moving to one that doesn't is high.

In doing rescue for the last six years I see a lot of "moving and my new place doesn't allow big dogs", granted it's just another trumped up excuse so it makes no sense to have that type of hard and fast rule.

I've never really understood the anti-big dog sentiment because in my time in college living in apartments the most annoying pets were little yippy dogs.

cmanding wrote:

I had an applicant saying they wanted to rescue an puppy, 8weeks to few months old....and wanted to be put on the waiting list in case one comes in....

They'll be waiting forever...

I replied back to this applicant and asked if they would be open to huskies under the age of 2 and the reply I got back said they were concerned that if they don't get a husky real young, they won't be able to create a bond...

I quit!

Remember the couple with part of their fence being under 6 ft but they have strong husky experience? Well, I got the unofficial approval for them, and got the OK to send them a male husky that just went into foster care this past Sunday. I sent my couple Nico's profile according to his previous owners and pictures and told them that we just got him in and he isn't on the website so we have not done a thorough evaluation on Nico yet, but my couple said they still wanted to meet him.

I let 'the board' know and asked since she's been SO busy lately, I can just contact the foster family to arrange for me to pick up Nico and bring him to my applicants home.

Here's the reply I got back:

"I know you want to move quickly with the people interested in Nico. But Paul just got home last night from Vegas, so he has hardly had a chance to see Nico. I am having mixed feelings about jerking him out of this home and putting him in another one. The foster family really hasn't had much of a chance to evaluate him at all.

Let me think on this. Thanks for your offer though. "


Now I look like an idiot for sending my applicants Nico's profile!

Paul, the foster dad, just recently lost a husky that looks like Nico so I know this has something to do with it!

!$%#%^$!#$#!!!!!!

I quit! I think I'll use my business travel coming to not take anymore adoptions and just finish up the ones I still have open.

Thanks for letting me vent....AGAIN!

Yep. They suck.

Claudia, this is NOT good at all and its making me wonder if there is any hope. i think moving forward with the same closed mind people running it is not gonna help us at all! how can keeping a dog in forester be better then a permanent home... its just a home visit to start. im sorry and maybe you do need a break and let them wonder why NO huskies are being adopted!

Okay just one more observation here. I know this is probably not typical for most rescues but it's true with the one my wife and I work with and it might make a good suggestion for others. The rescue usually lets the foster family look over the application first and give input before the perspective adopters are contacted. They (in this case we as a foster family) don't have the final say but can provide valuable input to what may work out for the dog.

jbealer wrote:

Claudia, this is NOT good at all and its making me wonder if there is any hope. i think moving forward with the same closed mind people running it is not gonna help us at all! how can keeping a dog in forester be better then a permanent home... its just a home visit to start. im sorry and maybe you do need a break and let them wonder why NO huskies are being adopted!

Jenn, I totally agree! And I know it's because the foster family mentioned that they 'might' want to just adopt Nico!

No wonder we keep finding ourselves scrambling for foster homes! We let them keep the dogs they foster right off the bat!

Supposedly, the 'new rescue' will be different....but I can't see beyond what's happened today that it'll change much, if any. I've been trying to be positive for the new rescue, and keep a positive outlook and back it up, but I think after this....I give up!

I need a break for sure, and my business travel will be a good excuse to take a back seat.

Lordbroll wrote:

Okay just one more observation here. I know this is probably not typical for most rescues but it's true with the one my wife and I work with and it might make a good suggestion for others. The rescue usually lets the foster family look over the application first and give input before the perspective adopters are contacted. They (in this case we as a foster family) don't have the final say but can provide valuable input to what may work out for the dog.

Usually, this is what we do as well. The foster family will have the final say if the adopters is a good home because they know the dog better than anyone.

However, in this case, the foster family hasn't had Nico for more than a couple of days, and before Nico went to the family, I was given the OK to send his profile and pictures off to the adoption people! And now she's backed out of that and made me look bad!

Dude is probably going to adopt the dog himself. Have you guys just straight up went to Faith and them and said "look, here's our problem with how things are going and how you are handling things is making dogs lose out on good, forever homes. You need to make changes or I can't support this rescue anymore."

Hang in there Claudia!!! Although I don't know what your role is at this point with the rescue. Isn't the whole point of rescue to find "forever" homes for the dogs? I look at Petfinder often for Huskies not because I need another but because I am interested in the plight of Huskies in need and I swear some of the same dogs have been in Foster homes for MONTHS. Many good families are being kept from providing good homes for Huskues due to BS rules and regs from rescue organizations. Yes Huskies do require exercise, attention, BLAH BLAH BLAH, but at the end of the day owning a Husky is not Rocket Science. Many people can exercise a Husky without a fenced yard. I did for Braiden for over a year until we got a fence. That said, he is still an inside dog. Your rescue is obviously in a state of flux. I would move on to another organization that commits to its mission to finding home for dogs that need them. Thanks for all your hard work and effort in helping find good homes for the dogs. You are appreciated.

beck3465 wrote:

Hang in there Claudia!!! ... Thanks for all your hard work and effort in helping find good homes for the dogs. You are appreciated.

Aw, thanks!!!
That made me feel a WHOLE lot better!!!

My update on volunteering for the husky rescue.

The director of Polaris Husky Rescue has retired after 25 years, and new rescue was formed to continue the efforts. Same volunteers, and an outlook of 'out with the old and in with the new'.

The new rescue was formed by one of the main volunteers that helped run Polaris in all aspects of the rescue, and when we met about forming this new rescue, I had hope that everything I fought for would be new ideas that would be discussed among board members. This new rescue has now been in operation for a couple of months.

Yesterday, I received an email regarding a new surrender, and was stated that because she is only 2 years old she would have to be placed in a home with another companion dog.

I replied back and asked if that was a general rule and got back: I prefer that younger huskies be placed in with another dog for socialization and to help keep them out of trouble. Sometimes we can get away with it, but even up to the age of 3 will sometimes need a companion.

With that response, I asked to take a step back from doing adoptions as I simply do not agree as many of you on the forum have raised puppies from 8 weeks of age without another dog in the home without issue.

I still want to help with events, but this just frustrates me.

From Mindy's struggles and our attempts to adopt, I see so many rescues with misinformed views and policies. I see how they were probably made out of concern for the dogs, but a blanket policy doesn't help anyone! There are dogs that have been at rescues for YEARS!!

I see a ton of independent rescuers in the LA area starting to take in huskies on their own versus working with existing rescues. Facebook has really opened the world to them to adopt the dogs out of state and get the word out about these dogs.

So sorry, Claudia. You're trying to help and stupid red tape gets in the way. Best of luck!

Sorry Claudia, it's disheartening to read of their strict policy and even more disheartening to know that it's putting off volunteers who have so much to contribute, like yourself. I admire you for having the patience to put up with all that. Time and time again I've been put off by rescues myself both from a potential adopter and potential volunteer standpoint due to their unwillingness to work with the person/dog/situation, etc. And every time I've turned to shelters instead and had much better experiences from both the adopter and volunteer perspective. You're a good person for all your work Claudia, I sincerely admire you.

Thanks for your support!

I still want to contribute in other ways, but I simply just can't keep 'fighting' with these 'general rules' which I strongly feel should be exceptions instead.

I've asked to only do initial phone calls on adoption applications, and to help with doing meet/greets. I will also continue to work at events and lead some fund raising events (such as the raffle we have going through the end of November). However, I have asked to take a step back from working adoption applications through completion which includes doing home visits, and placing available huskies.

I don't know why my judgement still is questioned at times (or so I feel it is), as ALL huskies that I have placed in forever homes have been successful and proved to be GREAT homes, even the 2 apartment adopters.

Oh well...I can only do what I can and hope I am still making a little difference.

Keep your chin up Claudia. I always have to remind myself when volunteering with area rescues here it's about the dogs not the sometimes misinformed people.

Keep on doing what you're doing. You ARE making a difference, every little bit helps no matter how small or large a contribution. It is good that you are still involved, I don't think I could stick around the way you have.

I feel the same with the rescue here- They've had the same dogs either sitting in boarding or tied up in foster homes for MONTHS. They don't know how to network and they come off as very unfriendly and unwelcoming. They want me to start doing the Petco adoption days where I set up the booth and chit chat with people who come into the store... But I just don't know if I even want to be that involved because of how they are.