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Adopting a rescue dog

I Saw OJ

I Saw OJ

Diamond Member
The family and I are soon to be moving into a lager place with a much more spacious backyard so we have been looking at adopting a medium to large dog. I've been scoping out the local adoption websites and other various websites with rescue dogs listed and the adoption fees are off the charts!

All the dogs listed have their shots, have been spayed/neutered and some have microchips and the places want in the range of 400-500 dollars for an adoption fee! I can't believe it. I haven't been to the pound or spca yet but I thought these places were trying to find homes for these dogs and adoption fees like that are a real turn off.

I'm sure we have other dog adopters on here, anyone else come across fees like that when looking for a rescue?
 
Nope but you do live in California. Rescues generally charge more than the pounds/shelters so go check them out. Around here the pound is $70 and includes shots except rabies and fixing but fixing here also cost almost nothing $35 at the low cost place or $100ish at my normal vet. Rescues vary from $100-250 here.
 
Go to the Pound/Animal Shelter. Cost is much lower & you are ACTUALLY saving an animals life, because if they don't get adopted in time, they will be killed.
Animal rescue groups do not kill the dogs, so the dog is actually pretty safe. That is why they charge so much, to pay for all the operating expenses.

I have 4 dogs, all rescued from local animal shelters. 2 Boxer mix & 2 Australian Shepherd mix.
You can pretty much find whatever breed you are looking for in Animal Shelters, but breed specific Rescue Groups are good too
 
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Pretty much what everyone else said: With rescues, you're paying for operating costs. Your local SPCA chapter might be a better choice: "Good Samaritan" animals (cute ones that'll be easily adopted) are about $300, and older animals are about half that.
 
Chocu1a said:
Go to the Pound/Animal Shelter. Cost is much lower & you are ACTUALLY saving an animals life, because if they don't get adopted in time, they will be killed.
Animal rescue groups do not kill the dogs, so the dog is actually pretty safe.
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Not saying you're wrong, but most rescues pull out "problem dogs" from kill shelters. Yes, the rescue isn't going to kill them. You are essentially "rescuing" the next dog by adopting from them, as it opens up a spot for them to take another problem dog.
 
That is crazy for an adoption fee. We got our dog from a local rescue group in Southern CA. The fee was about $75. This was about 7 years ago though but I doubt the fees have gone up that high.
 
We have picked up two shelter dogs, each have been great pets. The first pooch was a senior dog, second a puppy. Don't discount getting an older dog the advantage is they are house trained and generally don't chew stuff up. The older dog we had seemed to appreciate me more than the puppy does, I get a look of love from the puppy but I got a look of "thanks man you're the best" from our Senior dog.
Neith was all that much cost, shots, and transportation was about it. I vote get whatever dog you all like and enjoy.
 
I Saw OJ said:
The family and I are soon to be moving into a lager place with a much more spacious backyard so we have been looking at adopting a medium to large dog. I've been scoping out the local adoption websites and other various websites with rescue dogs listed and the adoption fees are off the charts!

All the dogs listed have their shots, have been spayed/neutered and some have microchips and the places want in the range of 400-500 dollars for an adoption fee! I can't believe it. I haven't been to the pound or spca yet but I thought these places were trying to find homes for these dogs and adoption fees like that are a real turn off.

I'm sure we have other dog adopters on here, anyone else come across fees like that when looking for a rescue?
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Those charging into the $400-500 range are usually actually breeders I have found and/or brokering breeder dogs.

My local shelter included all shots, 2 weeks of vet care, 10lbs of dry dog food, microchip and free obedience classes for $75 for a puppy.

They do 'free cat' adoptions every once in a while and sometimes free dog ones for those that are over 5.
 
joshsquall said:
Not saying you're wrong, but most rescues pull out "problem dogs" from kill shelters. Yes, the rescue isn't going to kill them. You are essentially "rescuing" the next dog by adopting from them, as it opens up a spot for them to take another problem dog.
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most of these dogs are not 'problem dogs'. Not sure where you got that from.

They do occasionally pull out special cases as those with health problems and sometimes behavioral ones.

The 'no-kill' shelter is a misnomer. They only are 'no-kill' for those animals that make suitable pets. One of the earliest deal breakers is for a stray to show any aggression / fear defense on intake. Many dogs become scared of people by being on the street long term. This is easily fixed once they can trust people again.

A shelter has to do what it can to save the most pets possible though.
 
alkemyst said:
The 'no-kill' shelter is a misnomer. They only are 'no-kill' for those animals that make suitable pets. One of the earliest deal breakers is for a stray to show any aggression / fear defense on intake. Many dogs become scared of people by being on the street long term. This is easily fixed once they can trust people again.

.
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My Vet summed it up once, some people are not mentally stable enough to be able to live in society and some animals are the same way.
 
alkemyst said:
most of these dogs are not 'problem dogs'. Not sure where you got that from.

They do occasionally pull out special cases as those with health problems and sometimes behavioral ones.

The 'no-kill' shelter is a misnomer. They only are 'no-kill' for those animals that make suitable pets. One of the earliest deal breakers is for a stray to show any aggression / fear defense on intake. Many dogs become scared of people by being on the street long term. This is easily fixed once they can trust people again.

A shelter has to do what it can to save the most pets possible though.
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A problem dog could mean pretty much anything, including just a less desirable breed/color. I know they aren't all problem dogs either - we looked for a dog for years before we got our current one from a rescue. She was just an unwanted puppy. I was just making the point that adopting from a rescue or shelter doesn't really matter - both instances are opening up another spot to save the life of the next dog.

Rescues are more expensive because they are private people keeping the dogs in their own homes. They aren't county/city funded entities providing a public service.
 
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Fanatical Meat said:
My Vet summed it up once, some people are not mentally stable enough to be able to live in society and some animals are the same way.
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Yeah, I've heard the same thing. We've seen quite a few dogs with severe separation anxiety, but they're always in rescues because they get killed in regular shelters or picked up by specialized rescues. Personally, I have no idea how you deal with a dog that has explosive diarrhea everytime you leave the house for more than 5 minutes.
 
That's really outrageous at least compared to my experiences, my most recent rescue pup was $90 which included everything.

Good for you for rescuing!
 
My fiance runs a rescue org.

FOR SOME ORGANIZATIONS, the fee covers all medical care + fees needed to get the dog in adoptable condition.

This generally means pulling the dog from a shelter before they are killed, vet bills, transport fees, and possibly foster fees. Generally, a dog will incur $100-$1000 in fees after leaving the shelter on top of whatever care the shelter has given them.

Yes, the fees are expensive (and generally more expensive than a shelter), but you (should not) have to incur any new expenses after picking up a dog from a rescue.

Where do you live and is there anything in particular you're looking for? Maybe I can help you out.
 
Adopted a dog at an adoption fair in CA from a rescue. We paid either $300 or $400, I don't recall, it's been around 8 years. Got the dog home and found out it had parvo and a lump on it's throat that was going to cost a couple thousand just to run diagnostic tests on. We ended up taking him back to the rescue, but of course didn't get our money back.

Always wondered if they continually adopted that dog out for the rescue fee knowing it would be returned. I'm sure that wasn't the case, but it's hard to miss the bloody stools and lack of bowel control that comes with parvo. We only had him a couple weeks but were still pretty upset about it. He was a really cute and friendly dog.
 
Ns1 said:
My fiance runs a rescue org.

FOR SOME ORGANIZATIONS, the fee covers all medical care + fees needed to get the dog in adoptable condition.

This generally means pulling the dog from a shelter before they are killed, vet bills, transport fees, and possibly foster fees. Generally, a dog will incur $100-$1000 in fees after leaving the shelter on top of whatever care the shelter has given them.

Yes, the fees are expensive (and generally more expensive than a shelter), but you (should not) have to incur any new expenses after picking up a dog from a rescue.

Where do you live and is there anything in particular you're looking for? Maybe I can help you out.
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I'm in the Fresno area. We are looking for a medium to large dog any hair type is acceptable really. I'm actually going to check out a pup of a friend of a friend who can no longer keep him for whatever reasons. Who knows, I just might be posting a couple pictures in a few hours. I'll update this thread if anything happens.
 
ZaneNBK said:
Adopted a dog at an adoption fair in CA from a rescue. We paid either $300 or $400, I don't recall, it's been around 8 years. Got the dog home and found out it had parvo and a lump on it's throat that was going to cost a couple thousand just to run diagnostic tests on. We ended up taking him back to the rescue, but of course didn't get our money back.

Always wondered if they continually adopted that dog out for the rescue fee knowing it would be returned. I'm sure that wasn't the case, but it's hard to miss the bloody stools and lack of bowel control that comes with parvo. We only had him a couple weeks but were still pretty upset about it. He was a really cute and friendly dog.
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dass a shitty rescue.
 
Ns1 said:
dass a shitty rescue.
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Yup.

Our current dog (a yellow lab mix) we got from the local pound and she's turned out great. No medical issues, fully house trained (not a single accident), learns commands easily, willingly goes in her crate on command at night and loves people. Somehow she was at the pound for 3 weeks with no-one even slightly interested in her.

She tends to get excited and jump up on people when she first sees them, but other than that and her attempts at being a lap dog, she's been pretty much the perfect family dog. She does dig a little though.
 
dog.jpg


The new pup
 
ZaneNBK said:
Adopted a dog at an adoption fair in CA from a rescue. We paid either $300 or $400, I don't recall, it's been around 8 years. Got the dog home and found out it had parvo and a lump on it's throat that was going to cost a couple thousand just to run diagnostic tests on. We ended up taking him back to the rescue, but of course didn't get our money back.

Always wondered if they continually adopted that dog out for the rescue fee knowing it would be returned. I'm sure that wasn't the case, but it's hard to miss the bloody stools and lack of bowel control that comes with parvo. We only had him a couple weeks but were still pretty upset about it. He was a really cute and friendly dog.
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Agree, shitty rescue. If the dog had parvo, the dog wouldn't have lived very long without treatment and would have spread it to other dogs, so I doubt the dog was adopted out again just for the fee.

My last rescue had an adoption fee of $300 but I gave them $500 for the great work they do. My dog developed pneumonia a week later and needed to hospitalized for several days, a bill of $3k. The rescue refunded my adoption fee and even sent me a check for $800 to help with my costs as I hadn't gotten pet insurance on him yet.

I volunteer with the rescue now and that $300-500 adoption fee covers a lot. A number of dogs are pulled out of shelters which incur a cost, medical/spay/neuter, some dogs are bought at auctions so that they don't go to backyard breeding operations. One dog may cost $100-200 in support costs, another may cost $ thousands.

A lot of smaller rescues don't have the resources to fund-raise and rely on the adoption fee to cover costs.

When owning a dog for 10-15 years, the adoption fee is a drop in the bucket.
 
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