New policies

Due to a very unfortunate recent adoption, HART is being forced to become much more strict with our policies.

A courtesy listing that we recently adopted out turned into a failed adoption and a fiasco. The adopter called within a couple days to say the dog she adopted wasn't eating. We asked if he was just not eating at all or if he wasn't eating as much as they felt he should be. We explained that in a weeks's time he'd gone from the only home and family he'd ever know, to our rescue to a clinic for a neuter and on to yet another home. This can be stressful and they can reduce their food intake while they adjust. There of course was the possibility that these adopters thought he could be eating less than he should because he was such a large dog. They were told if they felt he had a problem he needed to see a vet immediately. The opted to not take him to a vet.

We received an e-mail a few days later saying they didn't think the adoption would work out as their current dog continually attacked him. They asked what they should do and we told them it was a decision they needed to make. They could get a trainer for their dog, as they said they knew the issue was not the dog they adopted from us. He'd been around their parent's small breed dog and was wonderful. Or they could return him to rescue and we could find his new home. The following day they sent an e-mail that he needed to be returned. Before his adoption we'd received an application from someone else that had also been approved. We contacted this person and asked if they were still interested in adopting him and they were. Since the second adopter worked close to the first adopter they just picked the dog up themselves.

On the day the new adopter picked him up, the first adopter told her he had something wrong with him medically. We're still not sure why she didn't take him to the vet. At first we just thought he had an infection in the incision area from his neuter. Now we're hearing from the second adopter that he has heart problems and a hernia. We'll be in contact with the vet today for the official report.

However, because of this, we're making some changes to how we do things. Our initial reaction was to suspend all owner surrenders and courtesy listings. The sad fact is in many cases if we don't help the animal will wind up in a shelter. On the other hand we don't want animals to wind up in the wrong hands or for sick animals to be adopted out. So we now have a contract that any owner must sign if they're listing their pet with us. They must provide us with vet statements that the pet is current on all vaccinations and is spayed / neutered. The owner must do a vet check for each person that is interested and must keep in touch with us on the status of their pet. Until these requirements have been met we will no longer post any pet for anyone.

We hate that we have to do this. We know there are plenty people who won't bother to vet their pet and instead dump them in shelters. We also know these pets stand a very, very slim chance of leaving the shelter alive. We'll monitor how these changes work for the rescue and if anything needs to be adjusted in any way it will be.

As always we welcome any thoughts, suggestions or questions anyone has.

Board of Directors
Hilltop Animal Rescue Team