These people are jerks. I wanted to adopt a puppy or young dog and they had a listing on petfinder. I fill out the application. They tell me this story about how the dog is not necessarily adoptable at this point in time as it hasn't been neutered and might not be friendly enough for adoption. They say that they will contact me later and maybe setup an appointment. I make a donation, after which I can then get an appointment set up for a week later, after being given a few narrow time intervals to choose from for the meeting.
I ask to reschedule the first appointment, as I had to go to see a physician and the available time slots were conflicting. You see, with Texas Best Choice, people trying to adopt animals must agree to arrive within a 3-hour-window. I wish I could ask for this level of service from someone delivering my furniture or fixing my cable TV!
I had to also cancel the rescheduled appointment. We had to choose from Saturday or Sunday morning to meet them, and since I was working Saturday morning, there was no choice but Sunday morning. One person from our party was ill on Sunday morning, so it was not a great day for us to try to adopt a dog. This offended them greatly. I quote the message they sent: "What is your problem? I have held [the dog] for you and you have cancelled twice? So he has missed out on other homes??? Please do not contact us again."
Be certain guys, nobody here wants to ever contact you again. All I did was schedule a meeting; I wasn't coming out to pick the dog up and take him home, so no-he hasn't missed out on other homes. You can't make me wait a week for a meeting and then say it is you "holding" the animal such that other willing pet adopters are turned away.
It is a good thing I don't have their policies for my students. Can you imagine if I said to one of my students: "What is your problem? I have made myself available for you two times and you were not available??? How many others could have learned the stuff that I was going to show you? Don't come to class again."
Love my new Country Life but not the amount of homeless, helpless Dogs.
Three years ago I left the city life and moved to the country with my husband and son. I love living here, it's calm and beautiful by the lake and so nice to see all of the wildlife this area still has to offer. Once I lived here for a few months, I've noticed the large amount of stray dogs in this area. It always breaks my heart to see one of these sweet pups out by themselves near busy roads or in cold winter weather. After rescuing a puppy and successfully finding him a home, we found ourselves in a very bad situation six months after. The road into our neighborhood is fairly secluded and apparently a favorite spot for heartless, careless people to dump dogs. In the Fall of 2013 someone dumped 4 Chihuahua mix dogs in one night, only to be followed by 3 more Terrier mix dogs the following week. All of them were terrified and would not come to us, even for treats. We've tried for weeks and feared for their life each and every night we could not catch them. We made a make shift camp out of an old dog house and a pallet to ensure that these pups had a place to sleep and to keep them warm as we were now facing cold winter temperatures. We went thru a litter with one of the moms only to find them missing one morning. We've kept them all alive throughout the winter and in the Spring they finally started coming around with more and more time spent at their hiding spot. At that point I had reached out to numerous no-kill shelters, rescue organizations, capture organizations and even the news station; nobody was returning my calls and emails. Then, I stumbled across Texas Best Animal Choices Rescue and reached out to them. They were willing to help and took in the Chihuahuas and got them adopted into loving homes. One of the Terrier mixes had already started trusting me in the fall and I was fostering her (well at this time, it was a 'foster failure' and she was enjoying being a permanent part of our family. The other two Terriers were still on the loose and one of them was pregnant and would not let us catch her. Then one day, we got lucky with her sister and she also went to Texas Best Choices Animal Rescue only to be adopted one week later by one of my neighbors that had helped tremendously in her capture. The last Terrier mix was still hesitant and once she finally let us touch her, we've noticed that she had given birth to her puppies but we could not find them anywhere. She didn't look engorged, so we knew that she was nursing and had them hidden somewhere. We kept following her after feeding her daily and we finally figured out that she had walked down a steep hill/cliff and found a cave to hide her puppies in. Even though it was quite a challenge, we found our way down there but weren't able to grab the puppies. The next day, we came back with my 11 year old son in tow and he was able to crawl half way into the cave and hand me one puppy after the next. We put them all into my backpack so that we could safely get them up the cliff and into my truck along with mom and off to Texas Best Choices Animal Rescue. Again, they helped us get all of the pups adopted and mom ended up also being adopted by my neighbor. :)
Since that day, we've become best friends with Allan and Karen, the founders of Texas Best Choices Animal Rescue. We go and volunteer at the Rescue and walk the dogs and socialize the scared ones. We tend to their scars and leash train them to get them ready for their new life in a furever home. Texas Best Choices Animal Rescue usually has around 130 dogs to care for and is the only no-kill dog rescue in this area. They are not supported by any government funding and can only sustain from donations and adoption fees. We have since saved approximately 15 more dogs and Texas Best Choices Animal Rescue has helped us with all of them. There are a lot of sad stories that come with each one of the dogs but just by being there every weekend and give unconditional love to the dogs just to receive it back in return has made a wonderful difference in my life and something I look forward to every weekend.
Review from #MyGivingStory
Hunt County, where AKC is located, is the poorest county in Texas. There are so many dogs that are abandoned, mistreated, or have owners that don't understand the needed care for their pets, including the need to alter their animals to control the number of homeless dogs. Addtionally, so many of these dogs are not popular breeds, are larger dogs, are no longer cuddly cute little puppies and are not sought by many of the people looking to bring a new dog into their family. What they are is the under dogs with loving personalities, great souls, looking to have a place to call home. Allan and Karen have a true calling, or passion, to help these cast off animals. With little funds, AKC provides a clean, supportive, and healthy environment for these otherwise forgotten and homeless dogs. It is not the dogs fault for their cirucmstances, but their "humans". AKC recogonizes this, giving them a chance at not only survival, but happy lives without regard to the physical beauty or popularity of the breed, but with regard to the loving, caring animals they are. If there ever was a need for this organization, it is here. The donated dollars do not go to adminstrative expenses, but to the dogs that are in so need of help. I have seen dogs that have advanced mange, flea infestations, and starving that have been rehabilitated. Often it may take Allan weeks to months to gain the confidence of the poor dog so he can bring it into the rescue, but he doesn't give up. Allan also has an uncanny ability to match dogs and new owners to ensure a happy adoption. Even with the challenges of getting dogs adopted, he will not send a dog to a home that he feels would not be a good one for the dog. This is one real haven admist a really tough area for the homeless dog.
Review from Guidestar
