EJ knows a lot, and i respect her, but it seems she doesnt know much about ppl who are nuts about pets! Oh, and I am seriously one of them! :)

Breeders and ppl at rescue organizations and shelters that I know (quite a few) could care less about traditional family roles when it comes to letting ppl have an animal (tho they may feel differently personally). Their overwhelming concern is that the animal gets placed in a good home. Most breeders and rescue groups (tho not shelters so much) have you fill out questionaires, have interviews, and home visits. They take this stuff very seriously; most make you sign that you will return the pet to them if you are going to give it up so it doesnt wind up in a shelter that kills animals, and so they can try to place it with a good home.

Puppies need company and lots of care, and do need to have someone around one way or the other. It also helps if there is at least another dog in the house (as long as it isnt aggressive toward other dogs, in which case, another dog shouldnt be brought in anyhow) to minimize separation anxiety. Adult dogs can be left home longer, and that is why the agency suggested that as an alternative.

Oh, and one other thing, EJ...do you think those working Moms who adopt human babies can just leave *them* home alone all day? My experience is that they take them somewhere to be cared for by other adults while they work (just as we did when our dog was a puppy, she went to doggy daycare for over a year, and since then we have a dogwalker come every day). So perhaps the snarky comment wasnt quite deserved in this case...

Carol

I agree. I think the adoption organization only wants to make sure that *someone* is at home so the puppy is not neglected, and only mentioned a "mom" because E.J. is a woman.

Caerolle:

Oh, and one other thing, EJ...do you think those working Moms who adopt human babies can just leave *them* home alone all day?

A very good point in a great post. I thought EJ's post was a bit silly, and a bit of stretch, but I'll give the benefit of the doubt and assume she's never had to care for a puppy.

yeps, I am willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she has never raised a puppy, too, and i like a lot of her posts...however, she sometimes goes off on something without even exploring other explanations in kind of a knee-jerk fashion (or so it seems to me, at least)...

who know, maybe the particular ppl involved in this situation *were* making some ideological point, but she doesnt seem to present any compelling evidence for that, and accuses the agency of something without even looking into things...

Carol

No, I liked E.J's post....because I had the exact same experience!! And I thought it was bizarre.

Yes, the adoption agency we worked with to adopt a human baby seemed fine with the fact that I would return to work after a few months, and trusted us to come up with a childcare plan.

The "fostermom" for our rescue dog, on the other hand, wanted to bar us from adopting a dog -- I was going to be home for the first few months on sabbatical, but would then return to work. The fact that we'd thought about various options for the dog's care on long work days wasn't good enough.

I don't think it was gender bias, but it was insanity. I think it's partly a question of professional training -- the adoption agency was a professional social worker and understood that families can come up with a variety of ways to make these things work. The pet rescue volunteer was, frankly, just an obsessive nutcase who enjoyed the small, unregulated bit of power she enjoyed over families seeking pets.

And as a postscript, years later, both child and dog seemed to have turned out just fine!

I agree with your comment on puppies, they do need lots of care/attention. But once they become full grown dogs they need far less attention. The average dog (even a wild dog) sleeps something like 19-20 hours a day. Most dogs are fine with sleeping while you are away at work (God I wish I were a dog).

When we are home all day with our Corgie on weekends, I barely even see her. She is pretty much sleeping, then shows up to eat, play for 5 minutes, then go back to sleep.

However, I will add that folks who live in cities who own large dogs have an obligation to exercise them. Big dogs need to run.

At the shelter I volunteered at, we wouldn't adopt young puppies to homes where the dog would be alone more than about 4 hours/day. That was because puppies need socialization, and regular pottying for housetraining, and really shouldn't be crated that long.

We would recommend a dog 5 months or older for those homes.

We couldn't have cared less whether you were gay, straight, or Republican. As long as you would be a good home.

"However, I will add that folks who live in cities who own large dogs have an obligation to exercise them. Big dogs need to run."

having owned many dogs in my life could I please make suggestions??

1. Research the dog well before adopting. Dogs you might think would make good "pets" usually don't. Rat terriers are an example.

2. Please don't get a working dog unless you want to work the dog. They need work and if you don't give it to them, they will find it.

3. Please, please, please if you can't give an hour a day to the dog get a cat. Cuddling, ball, tug, running around the yard all count.

4. Watch "Its me or the dog." "Good Dog University" or a number of other good dog TV shows to learn to train yourself about dogs. Better yet, take a class, you won't regret it. Owning a magnificent dog and not knowing how to handle it is like owning a Ferrari and not knowing how to drive.

5. Keep it up on all shots and heartworm meds. I lost a dog to heartworm and its so needless. Don't think because there are no dogs around he won't get rabies. Most cases of rabies come from bats and squirrels.

"The pet rescue volunteer was, frankly, just an obsessive nutcase who enjoyed the small, unregulated bit of power she enjoyed over families seeking pets."

I agree in my case also, My wife and I went to the "pound" to adopt a pet and the nutcases there were so loony and ocd we just gave up and went to a breeder.

I have also had bad experiences with animal nuts. I was denied adoption for an older corgi because I did not have a fenced in yard. I actually had no yard at all as I lived in an apartment. I refused to go through a second rescue group because they required a home visit. As they also required veterinary and several personal references as well as a substantial adoption fee, I felt that this was ridiculous. I'm also uncomfortable at the thought of strangers in my home, even more so then as I was a young female living alone.

There's a bit of sexism in the e-mail, but the bigger issue is that many of these animal rescues have created policies that make it nearly impossible for them to re-home their animals. I understand that these people want to see their animals go to the best home they can find, but when you require a home with a fenced in yard, with someone home all day, and no children under 12, you pass up a lot of great potential dog owners, and guarantee that there will never be enough homes for the dogs that need them.