Help Save Pets - Shorewood

I am hoping to share with you the experience I have just had trying to adopt a dog from this group. My husband and I take our dog to Oswego Animal Hospital and while waiting for our dog to get a nail trim last week my husband saw a picture of Earl. I reached out to the foster mom and talked things over with her. I explained that we have a dog and a 6-year-old child. We own our town house and while we do not have a fenced-in yard, I am a stay at home mom so I take our dog on walks and to a fenced-in play area at the other end of our street. I told her that we live in a very dog friendly area. She mentioned Earl still had some trouble with leash walking and I assured her I would take the dogs out on their own initially and slowly get them used to walking together when my husband was home at night during our family walks. This way we could each take one. I explained that we were perfectly fine with Earl being an energetic puppy and we were used to having a high-energy household due to having a young dog and child who has friends coming over. NONE OF THIS SEEMED TO BE AN ISSUE AT ALL. The foster mom then went on describing what a good dog Earl is and how she was not sure if she wanted to give him up, which I completely get. We talked about Earl's eye issues and I explained that before becoming a stay-at-home mom I worked for years at the VCA in Franklin Park while it was walk-in emergency care. When I moved into the western suburbs, I also worked for an other vet who was a holistic practitioner working hand-to-hand with regular vets to treat dogs and cats that were ill. I am fully aware of the time, energy and cost associated with taking a dog with any medical issue. This was something that my husband and I talked about and felt we could cover time-wise and cost-wise. The foster mom even encouraged me to call and talk with the company we get our current dogs health insurance to see what they had to say. So on Sept. 20th we set up a meet for them to bring Earl over on the following Thursday Sept. 27. I know that this does not imply that we will be getting Earl. I know that things were still nowhere near saying “ok here’s your new dog”. I really do understand that. This is where my issue lies with how this was handled. Last night, the night before we were supposed to meet Earl I get a message from the foster mom that I could not understand. Frankly, I thought it was an error and I had been butt-dialed. I sent a text asking if we were still on and that I could not understand the message. This was her response: “Earl needs a fenced in yard. He’s not a tie out dog and I don’t know that it would be very easy walking two dogs with the same energy, especially with him being dog excited. I am also concerned with a lot of kids, again high energy, don’t think he would do well in that environment. I don’t want to set him up to fail. And I don’t want anyone to get hurt. Give me a call if you want.” So first of all, none of the issues were an issue at the time we set up a meeting. She assured me Earl was great with kids, she mentioned that Earl goes out and has been wonderful with all children. If the fence was not an issue a few days ago and after she considered it she felt it was an issue I can understand that but to wait until the night before is either inconsiderate or shows a lack of proper understanding of Earl's needs. Now what really upset me and has my husband enraged is the fact that she implied that giving Earl to us would be setting him up to fail! Let me first say that since we are looking for a second dog and are good dog owners I feel that is something you SHOULD NEVER SAY to someone who still might take a dog from the group you are representing. Secondly, I get that we might not have been a perfect fit but she could not know this since she NEVER even tried to find out. Like I said, none of the issues she mentioned in the reply were issues when we talked and she had days to think on it. I did send a letter stating everything about to the group only to have thie foster mom replay saying that she did not mean we would fail Earl. She might not have meant it but it is exactly what she said. Also I wan to warn parents to be very careful. I lucky did not tell our daughter that we were thinging about getting a second dog. I told her our dog had a play date. I waited till Monday at dinner to tell her this incase the Forster canceled. I thought it was a safe time to tell her cause who cancels with less than 24 hour to go? Well this group does. The foster mom also said the email response that the reason she canceled the meet was so she would not be disappointed..... I don't know how they expect to find a possible home if they don't meet people. Please just be careful when looking at this group. It was a wonderful expericance until they changed their mind last minute and decided to not even see if we were a fit.