Don't be the next Ellen...read the contract before you adopt a pet from a rescue!

I have adopted dogs from rescues before and I would never sign a contract like this:

http://www.accesshollywood.com/pdf/MuttsAndMomsContract...

Read it, basically the rescue keeps all rights to the dog, and can take the dog back whenever they feel like it! Some particularly nasty aspects of this contract:

-Describes the dog as a "living and sentient canine being." That is #1 nutty extreme animal rights crazy warning...and I say that as a vegetarian who is for animal rights. Of course dogs have feelings, but "dog" or "canine" would be sufficient description!
-Microchip has to stay with rescue listed as the primary
-No right to reclaim the dog if it gets lost...the rescue can take it back if they're angry that someone left your gate open, etc.
-Dog can NEVER be shut outside, even for a few minutes. What if you have a scared or allergic relative, a furniture delivery, or the dog dislikes strangers? You'd technically be breaching the contract.
-Dog can never be offleash outside a fenced area for any reason. What if you want to show in obedience or agility? Again, you'd technically be breaking the contract.
-The paragraph about not walking the dog on the dog's tag collar is way over the top. They will take back a dog for that? Give me a break. Many dogs cannot slip out of a properly adjusted collar. Others of us use a limited slip collar for our tags.

Please, everyone, be careful what you sign. Know your rights. I must say that this incident has really changed my perspective on adopting from a rescue group. I will continue to only adopt homeless animals, but I'll be looking more towards shelters and private parties, and reading contracts very carefully. If I can't be the primary on the microchip, I won't be adopting from that group. And if this incident has turned me, a committed animal lover who has rescued, fostered, and placed dogs before, off of rescue, you can BET that Joe Average feels even more strongly. Good job, Mutts and Moms! :mad:

Quite ironic.

of said dog..and they can harass you as they wish??? sounds like something ripe for extortion if you ask me?

Thanks! I'll just close mine up, send my dogs to the pound to die.

While this ONE rescue maybe a little off the deep end, to suggest avoiding rescue groups en masse is pretty irresponsible and damaging to the rest of us.

But, thanks again.

Gheesh!

:crazy:

"I must say that this incident has really changed my perspective on adopting from a rescue group. I will continue to only adopt homeless animals, but I'll be looking more towards shelters and private parties, and reading contracts very carefully."

SHE doesn't feel comfortable and that's her right.

That doesn't mean others would follow along at all

and maybe they will read the contract thoroughly!

I think people at DU (most anyways) are savvy enough to know the difference.

2 of my 5 dogs,and my one cat. I just never thought a rescue would be so cold-hearted as to do something like this, and it gives me pause. I want to know that my animals are mine and that I can be trusted to do what is in their best interest. Of course, if I were to abuse them, the rescue should have the right to take them back, but stuff like we'll take your dog back if you leave him in your fenced yard for an hour, or if you walk him using his collar, is over the line.

It's not easy to adopt a human child, but once they are yours, they're yours! The adoption agency can't just take them back for some arbitrary reason. The government can, if you abuse or neglect them, but the adoption agency can't say this child must eat 2 servings of organic broccoli per day and wear only blue shoes, or back to the foster home they go, even if it's 3 years later. This group is basically leasing you a dog - except in a lease, the tenant has more rights!

leave the dog alone for more than six hours either.

:wtf:

How does one go to work with a clause like that??

Great post, Ayesha!! Thank You!!!!!!

:kick: & Recommended!

When she was in her 80's, my now 94-year old mother wanted a dog. She got together with a husband and wife who brought a nice poodle/terrier mix female to Mom's house. Mom fell in love and the couple left her the dog.

I wanted some information about the dog--spayed? shots? any problems we should know about? I found out through various phone contacts that the woman who gave Mom the dog worked at a local PetSmart store. She also gave my Mom a dog from a shelter, so I called the shelter and they said that the dog should not have been given to my Mom without the shelter's knowledge and consent. So we got together with the shelter and I became the dog's new owner due to my Mom's advanced age (so I could keep the dog should my Mom pass away).

HOWEVER, it was also discovered that the woman who had worked at PetSmart had been adopting dogs and selling them from shelters. The shelter that my Mom's dog came from sued her in court. The woman also lost her job at PetSmart.

I would not obtain a dog or cat from any facility that does NOT require a contract. I want my protection, too.

Some are no more than puppy mills, and many are worse.

Adopt from your city pound -- then you KNOW that you are saving an animal's life.

I am a veterinarian and don't even qualify to adopt from them for various and sundry reasons.

I recommend private party adoptions (if you can get to them before the "rescuers" snap them up), and we have a good county shelter here that's not a disease factory (the city shelters are deplorable).

I just raised six foster kittens (four of them are pictured below my story) with their mother (whom I found locked into a storage building)and this is not the first litter I have raised and probably not the last.

I am a private fosterer who is loosely aligned with several other private fosterers in my valley. We all have a contract that fits our personal needs. We have no affiliation with any other rescue group or organization.

Some of my rules:

Any animals the adopting person doesn't want or can't keep come back to me. Period.

Adopting person understands that I can contact them within two weeks and one month after they take possession of the animal to check on the pet to be sure all is well and that the pet is still wanted by the adopter.

Animals needing spay/neuter must have the procedure within time limits (my kittens were too small).

Any required shots need to be done within certain time lines. I gave the kittens their first shot and they were tested for feline leukemia.

They must agree to provide me with vet's records indicating the spay/neuter and shots have been accomplished if I request such information.

My kittens go to homes that have no children under age seven.

After the contract is signed, I personally deliver the pet to the adopter's home. This gives me some (but not all) assurance that the home is clean, no hazards that can be detected, no animals not already declared on the contract (if they have a Pitbull, my kittens won't be placed there).

If the adopter is renting, does their landlord know they will have a pet? Name of landlord and phone number. I will check this. Main reason why animals end up in shelters after adoption.

I send all of my kittens out by twos (it takes two to play).

I got 35 calls for my kittens and passed those calls on to my fosterer friends.

owned a declawed cat (even if they got it after it had been declawed). We also have rescuers who won't adopt to anyone who has humanely euthanized a suffering animal with chronic disease rather than keeping it alive to die a "natural" death.

Some of these same rescuers have, interestingly, been themselves prosecuted for animal abuse (neglect of sick animals in their care).

Los Angeles is a whole 'nother planet.

except that I feel someone should be able to rehome a pet with your approval, that kids under 7 should be considered (but not always approved!) and it's unfair to turn down someone just because they have a pit bull. Some pit bulls are fine with cats, you have to look at the individual dog. But other than that, seems reasonable!

It does state if for any reason YOU cannot or do not wish to keep the dog FOR ANY REASON it must be turned back to us, but all the rest of that is just foolish words that make no sense.
I have been a volunteer for one of the largest Bichon National rescue groups in the US, and I hove NO IDEA where Mutts & Moms came up with such strict and strange rules?

Don't judge all rescue groups by that BAD example!

Two for breeders and one for a rescue place. I had no problems with any of things I agreed to.I realized it was in the best interests of the animals.

I could adopt a child with less bullshit.

My ex-girfirend lived in London and they have to go through a interview & home visit process before being alowed to adopt a dog! She was rejected because she did not have a backyard. She told me that it is also against the law to leave your dog alone in the house and you will be arrested for it.

Although I think that is a little too extreme, what most impresses me is that the people over there fix their pets and the population is under control - why in the hell can't we do that here!

after the dogs got out. :P

I don't know why pet owners often don't fix their pets. It's a mystery!

On edit: You can't leave your dog alone in the house? :wtf: How are you supposed to work?

I adopted two toddler sisters at once and it was me against the State of Oregon for a year!

I won

rules on you.

I think the rescue agency's contract makes people into permanent foster pet people - it's not an adoption.

The dog should be yours, with the rescue only having the right to take it back if there is abuse/neglect, or if the person no longer can care for it and would otherwise surrender it to a kill shelter.