Complaint Review: Mid-Atlantic GSP Rescue - Maryland

I found the Md GPS recue site a few years ago and applied to adpot a dog, at the time we had a GPS who was 10 years old and we wanted to get her a companion, i filled out the procees on line and had a few conversations with Faith about getting a dog and she even scheduled an appointment to come to my house for an inspection, well she never showed and would not return my calls after that. I  know what these dogs are about since i had one for ten years , I don't know what caused us to be looked over to adpot a dog, i think Faith is wrong for not returning my calls and atleast explain why things happened the way they did. Our beloved Xena died 2 years later and i imedialtley went and found another dog (GPS) i would not even consider contacting the rescue, i had such a bad experence the first time. I think what they do is a great thing for GSP's but the way they treat people is so wrong in many ways.

I am a foster home for a different rescue, a different breed, but I am familiar with GSP rescue.

The process is very in depth, though not an exact science or full proof. The goal is to find the best forever home for the dog, one where the dog will be successful and the family will be happy.

Every rescue has it's own methods of screening families, some have many steps, some have just a few.

Some criteria are simple such as a fence, no kids, only dog, are easy to quickly assess. Other things such as knowledge of the breed, ability and desire to provide proper care, training, veterinary care etc. take more time.

Talking to the family, personal references, veterinary references can reveal a lot of information. Believe it or not, many people do not tell the truth because they don't want to admit their faults, they want a dog. 

The rescue is willing to help new owners. They want the family to succeed and the dog to be in good hands. 

I have no idea what red flag was raised to get this family denied. I'm sure it was something important that the rescue saw in a reference, conversation or home visit. I'm sorry they did not tell you a reason, but I do not believe in telling a family why they were denied simply because they go to the next rescue and correct that fault so it is not seen. If it was something as simple as the dog needs a fence and you don't want a fence, then the rescue may tell you, but other things, maybe not, and I think that is good.

One thing you have to understand is in many rescues the foster home has the final say. Many of these dogs have lived in the foster home up to a year or longer. The foster home has the experience to not only know the breed, but the individual dog and it's needs. They will know where a dog will thrive and where it will not. A parent will know what and where their child will like to do or go, a foster dog and foster family also know, they have bonded.

I realize it hurts to be turned down. I have had to tell people no many times. It doesn't mean necessarily that you are a bad family, but that this dog is not a good fit in this situation. You need to also look at it that the rescue may have saved the family a lot of headaches because through their knowledge and experience, they knew the dog would not work here.

To say you thought you were getting the dog is a mistake a lot of families make. The process is clear in most rescues. No one makes the mistake of telling a family or leading a family into thinking they are getting the dog until it's approved. Typically this miss understanding comes from the families enthusiasm in getting a dog and not hearing any potential issues. There is an approval process, until it's approved, you are not getting the dog, that simple.

Generally if everything is good, and accurate, there shouldn't be a problem, but that still is not saying that you are approved, it simply means based on what you have said, there shouldn't be a problem pending the approval process.

Above all, we are all volunteers trying to do right by the dog. We are human, we may make a mistake. But at that moment, we felt we did the right thing for the dog. 

Please do not fault the rescue. I know it hurts to be told no. You can always go to other rescues, private individuals, shelters or breeders. Try to understand that it isn't personal, I know it feels that way, but the people that know the breed and the dog just didn't feel that this was the right fit for either the family or the dog.

A foster home for over 70 placed dogs, with no returns.

My response is in regard to Kendra's comments, but also in general. Rescue is a 100% labor of love. We have been doing rescue for GSPs in the MD/VA/DE/WV area more than 6 years. We have learned alot. Prior to 6 years ago and the creation of GSP Rescue every GSP that ended up in a shelter was euthanized. Owners had no assistance to try to rehome their pets. What this organization has done for the well being of GSPs in our area is quite simply immeasureable. We are the sole reason 75-100 GSPs are saved and rehomed every year. Through our processes we have certainly learned what works and what does not work. We want every adoption to be a permanent adoption for the well being of the dog. Once a dog enters rescue it is fostered and foster homes do end up loving their foster dogs - so we all want the best for them. Rehoming a foster dog is often like rehoming your own dog. We have assisted many families by taking in their pets when they can no longer care for them, we have saved "every" GSP in a shelter that we have been contacted about. We mailed all the shelters in our area so they would know of our existence and contact us should a GSP appear in their shelter. We also believe because we are so responsive and pick up GSPs from the shelter within a matter of days that we help to save other dogs by making more space in the shelters. Do people get upset when we deny them the adoption of one of our rescues - most certainly. But we have a stated mission - to rescue, rehabilitate and rehome GSPs in need. The dogs are our main mission first and foremost. There is no easy way to tell an applicant no. Every person in rescue does rescue in their spare time for no pay. We all work and alot of us are in school, so time is limited. People get annoyed with us, we didn't answer them fast enough, their homecheck needs done sooner, and the list goes on. But we all work, go to school and do rescue. Life puts demands on our time. So we fully understand we cannot please everyone all the time. We simply hope that notes like Kendra's don't keep owners or shelters from contacting us, because her anger doesn't hurt us but potentially could hurt a dog. If there is one thing I can say about every volunteer in this organization is that we love this breed, we devote a vast amount of our spare time to them, we go through a great deal of hardship housetraining and basic training them and we constantly work for the betterment of this breed. So to all rescue volunteers out there, it isn't expressed enough - but we all deserve a heartfelt thanks for all that we do because very few people can manage to do it. Through our experience we felt we had good cause to say no to adopting a GSP to Kendra's environment. She doesn't have to agree, but as rescue volunteers we "do" have to be able to sleep at night with where we rehome our rescue dogs. For every bad note like this we could have 100 people write good things about our organization, but I'm certain we are all mature enough to know and understand that. This rebuttal was not really a rebuttal to Kendra, nor was it written in anger as many of these notes probably are. We do what we do well, we work hard at saving these dogs and I am very proud of every volunteer with this organization. President, Mid-Atlantic GSP Rescue Inc.