Hart

A Lola rant…. ❤️🐾 A REMINDER KINDNESS MATTERS. Today, one of our volunteer adoption coordinators was on the receiving end of a phone call from an angry family member of an applicant who was not selected to adopt a particular dog. Unfortunately, the call involved yelling and behavior that no volunteer should ever have to endure. We understand that being passed over for a dog you have fallen in love with can be disappointing. We truly do. But disappointment does not give anyone the right to verbally attack, berate, or disrespect our volunteers. We want to take this opportunity to explain a little more about how our adoption process works. 🐾 WE DO NOT OPERATE ON A FIRST-COME, FIRST-SERVED BASIS. We typically accept applications for a dog over a designated period of time. Our adoption coordinators then review those applications and contact the applicants who appear to be the best potential matches based on all the information we have on a pup. Our job is not simply to find a home for a dog. It is to find the RIGHT home for THAT dog. We consider things like: * Activity level and lifestyle * Other dogs or cats in the household * Children and household dynamics * Fencing and exercise needs * Time spent alone during the day * Medical, behavioral, and individual needs An applicant can be a wonderful, loving, responsible dog owner and STILL not be the best match for a particular dog. Not being selected does NOT mean you are a bad pet owner or that your home isn’t good enough. It simply means we believe another home may better meet that individual dog’s needs. Sometimes we may even suggest a different dog who we believe would be a better fit. Or we offer a pre-approval. ❤️ NOW, ABOUT OUR VOLUNTEERS. Rescue Coop is run by VOLUNTEERS. People who have families, jobs, responsibilities, and lives outside of rescue. People who spend their evenings reviewing applications, checking references, coordinating transports, arranging veterinary care, answering messages, and trying desperately to save dogs who otherwise might not get another chance. They do it because they CARE. And they absolutely do not deserve to be screamed at, insulted, threatened, or treated disrespectfully because an adoption decision didn’t go someone’s way. We take adoption decisions very seriously. Many of our dogs travel long distances to their forever homes. Returns are incredibly stressful for the dogs, emotionally difficult for everyone involved, and costly for a small rescue. We owe these dogs our very best judgment. They have already been failed by humans at least once. We are determined to do everything in our power to prevent that from happening again. We will never guarantee someone a particular dog simply because they applied, and we will never compromise a dog’s best interests to avoid upsetting an applicant. We welcome respectful questions and conversations about our decisions. What we will NOT accept is verbal abuse directed at the people who give so much of themselves to this mission. Our volunteers deserve the same kindness, patience, and compassion that we ask everyone to show our rescue dogs. To the overwhelming majority of our applicants, adopters, fosters, and supporters who treat our team with respect: THANK YOU. You are the reason we can continue doing this work. And to anyone disappointed by an adoption decision, please remember: A “no” for one dog does not mean there isn’t a “yes” waiting for you with another. ❤️ At Rescue Coop, the dogs will ALWAYS come first. 🐾 Be kind. Our volunteers have hearts, too. Love, Lola (Me as a bee)🐝