A Letter to Best DAWG Rescue Inc.
Dear Best DAWG Rescue Inc.,
The foster families of the pets you have available for adoption are amazing people. They have nurtured and cared for many abused and neglected animals, re-aranging their lives around pets in need, and I would personally like to thank all foster families for such empathy and hard work.
The Best DAWG Rescue adoption agency however, is in trouble. I’m sure you’re ecstatic to find that the 4th and 6th results on the first page of a Google search of your name are bad reviews of your practices. I’d like to quote one of these reviews from Yelp.com if I may:
This is a review written by Natalie K. in Greenbelt, MD:
“DAWG has many devoted volunteers, who do rescue and take care of a certain number of abandoned and abused dogs. Those who “run the show,” however, impose unreasonably stringent adoption requirements. These requirements are arbitrary and at times discriminatory, from a fenced yard, to non-smoking, to English proficiency. Many good people are denied dogs, and some of them have voiced their concerns on the Internet. Also, they associate almost exclusively with a vet who has been dishonest with some of his (now former) clients and demonstrated disregard for homeless animals. Instead of being objective about this vet, the DAWG senior volunteers have turned vicious towards those who are. Not a good group.”
Thank you, Natalie. You have expressed my opinion and feelings about this group proficiently and effectively.
Best DAWG Rescue, would you like to change your attitude? How about we make a change in the adoption process and actually FIND HOMES for these animals who are in need?
And to those of you, readers, reviewers, and researchers alike, who would like to share your experience with us, whether it’s about Best DAWG Rescue, or another organization with the same “goals”, please feel free to comment and link right here on www.grace1129.net and help make a change!
Sincerely,
Christine Kinder
My dogs. Lily (a re-home from a Cavalier breeder) and Giles, my puppy, my love.
Click on the photo below to view a full sized version of the Google search.
My bad review of Tanglewood Apt’s still gets a couple hundred views a month. The power of bad press goes a long way on the Internets.
It’s too bad that people who are supposed to be helping animals… instead get on little power trips with each other and don’t help the animals and make stupid demands of the people who are trying to adopt. They make me sick. How would the dog know if one is speaking English? And why are they dealling with a dishonest vet????
Thank you so much for highlighting this group. I thought I was alone in being made to feel unworthy of a placement. I attempted to fill out the very long and intrusive questionaire after seeing a dog listed on petfinder.com under the care of Best DAWG. I gave many long essay answers involving intimate details of my family. By accident I hit the enter key instead of the shift key sending my almost completed form in. The high handed response I received about “not completing the form to their satisfaction” has soured me on the entire process. My family is stable, had owned a much loved and cared for dog for 14 years before she died. Has no young children, doesn’t smoke by the way and it was not enough. I volunteered to have some one call me to discuss the items left off the form and talk about a placement, but it is “my way or the highway” with them. We have the means to buy a dog but want to save one. How crazy is this group????!!!
Thanks again for the opportunity to express my deep disappointment.
Allison,
Thank you for sharing with me. I’m sorry that you were so disappointed with this group as well. I know the feeling.
I’m sure that you will find an amazing dog to rescue and that it will be a very lucky pup to be a part of your family.
Please feel free to come back to my site and post a success story! I’d love an update and a good review, news on an pet adoption agency that is NOT bias!
This group is a spin-off of another rescue group. It is very poorly run by one power hungry individual and by another who likes her money. I fully support rescue, but if you want to rescue — go to a group that wants to work with you. Not one who will treat you like ****, waste your time, make you feel like a horrible person and then turn you down without giving you reason. Yes, and they are very discriminatory.
I have experience with Best DAWG as a volunteer and know many of the folks involved. As a volunteer of 9 years with Best DAWG, and 3 other rescues, I know how hard it is to find homes for these animals. Until you have walked in a rescuer’s shows, you shouldn’t criticize. Rescues have to be careful, and yes, sometimes we err on the side of caution. But picture your beloved foster dog or cat of many weeks, months or even years, going to that new home at last. You want to be absolutely sure you have made the best choice for your foster. Please remember that when we meet people at adoption shows, they are virtually unknown to us. We are taking a chance no matter how good they may look on paper or how responsible they may seem in person. Every rescuer has made or will have made at some point a decision they thought was good, only to find out that the adopter lost the dog, gave the dog away or let it run off leash only to get hit by a car and killed. Once that happens to you as a rescuer, you look at people differently. So please cut rescuers some slack. They give so much of themselves, their time, their money, to save homeless animals. We are all only trying to do our very best for them. Our responsibility is to them, not to you, though you may see it differently. Thank you.
WoW ! We just received our rejection emal from DAWGl. I wish I had checked into this group. Our final consensus is that they are on a strange power trip, and are using their poor dogs to enable them. We have had animals for 20 years, have a large fenced yard, a loving home, and another dog to play with. They seem to use their adoption shows as playdates for their pack, and have no intention of parting with them. Please spread the word. There are other legitimate groups who are happy to find homes for their dogs.
Lynne, with all due respect, it’s bullshit that you feel that one cannot criticize a rescue without first “walking in their shoes”. That’s idiotic.
There are plenty of people commenting here and other places that have an issue with the policies of your group. Sounds like YOU have a problem, not the people criticizing.
I read this post and the follow-up comments and the reviews on yelp before applying for a dog from Best DAWG. I disregarded them all – the profile of the dog on petfinder was too good to pass up. I should not have ignored your prior experiences. After several days of waiting for the “committee” to review my application I was rejected rather rudely with absolutely no reason given. When I inquired as to the reason and if they could recommend another dog for me, I received again a vague brush off: “We are pursuing other applications–sorry.” That’s it. Again no explanation. I am both disappointed and angry. I can understand if I’m not a good fit for one particular dog but to reject me sight-unseen, especially when I explicitly asked for recommendations of other appropriate dogs, which they state on their website they are happy to provide, is both inconsiderate and rude. Anyone reading this, please do not waste your time with this group. There are other rescue groups out there.
I just received a notice from Yelp that the DAWG people have petitioned to have my review removed. These people really don’t believe in our right to post our experiences. Everyone who has had a bad (or a good, for that matter) experience with DAWG, post your experiences widely! This way they may be swayed to curb their power trip tendencies for the benefit of the animals in their care and the animals they are not rescuing, despite the funds they have with which to do so. Their sister group, PAW (www.paw-rescue.org) has all the same problems (well, maybe not quite as bad), and after I criticized them heavily for placing only 40 dogs in 2008 to the tune of over $70,000, they doubled the number of the dogs they placed in 2009. I am really happy for those lucky dogs! It is up to us, who have had experiences with these rescue groups, to spread the word and to make the truth known to the public.