No Dogs Allowed

Yesterday I took my 5 orange foster kittens to a PetSmart Luv-A-Pet adoption center, where they'll stay until they are adopted. I have to wonder if mama cat is lonely in her room by herself, or if she is content to be alone, her kittens successfully raised and heading out into the world. (These pictures were taken several weeks ago, when the kittens were only about 6 weeks old.

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I handle returns for my adoption group, and yesterday we had an interesting one. I thought I had heard every story and excuse imaginable over the years, but this was a new one for me.

About six months ago, I received a call from a woman, M, who said she had just adopted one of our puppies from her son and daughter in law. Daughter in law had adopted the puppy from us, as a "surprise" for her husband, who was overseas at the time. I was irritated to hear this; if she had told the adoption counselor that her husband did not know about the puppy, we would have denied the adoption. Everyone in the household must know about and agree to the addition of a pet. In this case, shortly after the puppy was adopted, hubby announced that they would soon be moving overseas, and they could not take the puppy. Apparently, no dogs are allowed "overseas", wherever that is.

The adopters were in violation of their contract, having given the dog away without contacting us first; we would have been within our rights to ask for the dog back. Instead, we simply changed our records to reflect the new owner of the puppy.

A little over a week ago, M called us again to ask us if she was allowed to keep the dog outside. She had recently moved to a new house, and she could not get the dog to stop eliminating inside the house. She felt she had to keep him outside during the day. A friend of hers had criticized her for it. She was considering giving the dog to this friend. She had read our adoption contract, and thought it stated that our dogs should "never" be outside. I asked her where the dog sleeps at night; she said, in the garage. I asked her if she spent any time with the dog during the day; she said she worked from home, and was frequently outside with the dog. I told her that was OK, as long as the dog was protected from weather and had human companionship. Our contract stipulates no outside only dogs, and although the garage is not my personal ideal, it's an adequate place for a dog to sleep.

A week later, M called again. She wanted to know if it was possible to return the dog. She had thought her friend would take it, and give her $95 for it, but she couldn't get hold of her friend. She wanted to know if we took the dog back and adopted the dog out again, could she have the money we got for his adoption fee? She needed to re-pay her son for the dog. Apparently, when M offered to solve her son's "overseas" problem and take the dog for him, he demanded that she pay for the privelege. He wanted not only the adoption fee his wife had paid for the puppy, but also reimbursement for the supplies he had purchased. The total came to nearly $300, and M could not afford to pay it.

I told her no, we would not give her the dog's adoption fee. I told her I thought it was outrageous that her son was trying to make her pay for doing him a favor. His wife made a commitment when she adopted the dog, and should accept responsibility for her mistake in making that commitment. M had also made a commitment to the dog, and now she should take responsibility for her mistake. I told her it was time her family stopped trying to make money off of this dog. She pointed out that she wasn't trying to MAKE money, just pay her son back, and that he wouldn't make any money either, he just wanted to break even.

:: banging my head against the desk ::

And here comes the good part: I asked her why she could no longer keep the dog, and she said she was moving out of state. I asked her if the state she was moving to didn't allow dogs; she said she was moving out of state to enter a monastery, and they didn't allow dogs.

Okey dokey!

I found a foster for the dog, and had M bring it to one of our adoption centers for the foster to pick up. Strangely enough, within 5 minutes of the dog's arrival, a new family fell in love with her and adopted her. If you pray, please say a prayer that this is the dog's true forever home.