If you really want these dogs to get adopted into 'forever' homes you can't expect the new owner to pay your expenses for them.
its the same thing. you are willingly 'rescuing' these animals, (which prevents others from being able to at a reasonable fee) you should be willingly paying the up keep as long as they are YOUR DOG.
Most of the dogs we rescue would never be "rescued" by John Q Public as these dogs are not available to the public, due to breed, or maybe they bit the kid when the puppy was only 8 weeks old (but it's now on death row). If they were available through the shelter then yes you would pay $85 which would include the spay/neuter and shots and microchip. (what I'm saying here is without us rescuing these dogs, they would die)
Our adoption fee is $200, yes, it's more, but I can guarantee you that you could not buy some of the pure bred dogs that have come through our group UNLESS you bought them from a BYB for anywhere near the $200 which includes their spay/neuter, shots, microchip, plus if they come to us w/heartworms, we also pay that, if they have any other issues (kennel cough, worms), we pay that - all of that never changes our adoption fee of $200.
Not too mention, they are living with us and we know more of their personality to know if it would work in your home, than if you adopt the dog from the shelter, get it home and on the second day you find that it really isn't house trained, it really can chew itself out of it's crate, it really doesn't not just like cats, it HATES cats...
At $200 there may be some dogs that we actually only spent $50-$100 - whoopee, we just made $100.... well, the other dog that appeared healthy had to have 2 emergency surgeries after her spay surgery... there's a $400 bill and her adoption fee was $200.
Groups like mine that are just starting out (especially) are truly non-profit, we finished our year in the red, and if all the volunteers turned in their receipts for reimbursement, well, surely Uncle Sam would think we all had lost our minds.
When we get senior dogs into our group, they are adopted for $0.00, we only want them to find a final forever home. We lower our fees on other dogs for different reasons and for different adoptors (based on whether it's an ideal home or not).
None of us are complaining about the money we spend while these dogs are in
foster care in our homes, we do it because we love them and are drawn to this. And thanks to the many people like the volunteers hundreds of dogs are saved daily, we give them the time to find the "right" home.
The difference is these dogs are loved like our own, but they are NOT our dogs.
vkenner, I know it's frustrating working with a rescue group, my advice is to continue to follow up. Sometimes I get so tied up with taking care of dogs and answering emails and maybe having a date, that I "forget" to call someone back. The more you follow up with me, it proves to me how interested you are and will make me happier to work with you.
Trust me, if I had kids to have my foster dogs around I'd be happy to have you meet them. It's hard on me, I've NEVER had kids and they scare me around my 80 pound fosters more than my fosters scare me, probably most of them would be find living with kids, but unfortunately since they don't live with kids all the time, I can't responsibily place them with young children.
She is wonderful, and we wouldnt trade her for the world.
It's now Radar! NO purple boxers in this Casa! What a love, pain in the arse but lovin' him..