Letter Exchange Between Sandy-the-Dog's Foster Mom and the #1 Adopter Candidate Who Didn't Show Up
----Original Message Follows----
From: "#1 Adoper Candidate Who Didn't Show Up"
To: "Sandy's Foster Mom"
Subject: Re: Sandy
Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2003
Hi PLUMB:
I want you to know that I enjoyed the e-mails from you, and I was really looking forward to having a new friend for me and a new friend for Belle.
I hope that you got a lot of interest in Sandy on Saturday. I just couldn't put myself through the emotion of meeting her and then having someone else get her for a trivial reason like they have a fenced-in yard and I don't. I would have provided a wonderful home for her, but I could see it was going to be too difficult.
I was so upset about this on Friday. I talked to many animal-loving people over the weekend. The consensus was that everybody has had very discouraging experiences with pet rescue leagues. The procedure is too long and very unfair. If I was the first person who was interested in Sandy, I should have been the first person to be evaluated and then either accepted or rejected. Having a pool of applications to choose from is unfair. It's like a popularity contest. I think many great homes are passed over.
I have owned dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters, birds, fish, horses, sheep - you name it. I could teach a course on animal care! I belong the Humane Society of United States and the ASPCA. Everyone I know says they would love to die and come back as one of my pets. Last Friday I stopped traffic on the highway to pick up an injured dove. It's kind of insulting to think I would be so scrutinized.
I went and bought a puppy this weekend that was advertised in our local paper. The rescue leagues should think about this fact *- If they make it so hard for people to adopt animals who desperately need homes, they practically force people to buy puppies, which gives breeders even more business.
I wish you and Sandy all the luck in the world. I wish I could have calmly and quietly met her in your home and not traumatized her any further. Honestly, I hope you keep her and she doesn't have to be put on display at Petco anymore for people to compete over.
Take care,
Marilyn
#1 Adoper Candidate Who Didn't Show Up
----Original Message Follows----
From: "Sandy's Foster Mom"
To: "#1 Adoper Candidate Who Didn't Show Up"
Subject: Re: Sandy
Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2003
Dear Marilyn:
I enjoyed meeting you via e-mail, too, and am so sorry about the way this turned out. Your thoughts about rescue leagues I can't comment on because I have not devoted my time to rescue, except to say that the two women I met Saturday from Almost Home seem solely motivated by their concern that animals receive lots of love in permanent homes, and not simply the most toys or the owner that looks best on paper. I'm sure there exist folks in rescue who are not of Almost Home's quality, and I'm sorry that scared you off. :(
Carrie (Almost Home's founder) and I were so excited to see you and Belle on Saturday---we both felt you were the right home for Sandy, as long as meeting in-person confirmed the you we'd met online and on the phone. Only two families came to meet Sandy, and one decided she wasn't right for them because she was "too calm," and the other has a 2-year-old that probably isn't in Sandy's best interest and a history of not keeping dogs. But it's more than children or fenced yards, it's the love a person feels for an animal, and we were so hopeful that person would be you for Sandy. And maybe you can understand that giving first-choice options to the first expressed interest can't be the best policy when I tell you that you were not the first to want Sandy, but were the best potential home.
It's a terrifying responsiblity, Marilyn; I don't know how the rescue people do it, but I'm glad that they do. Instead of feeling personally insulted by being scrutinized, just imagine it were Belle, in the hands of rescue workers she doesn't know, being given to a new home. How much scrutiny would you want those rescue workers to apply when handing her over? Can you imagine them receiving a phone call from a nice stranger who comes to meet her, and letting them take her home the same day? Your Belle? It really does make sense when you look at it only from the animal's perspective.
I wish you the best with your furry family, Marilyn. I'm so, so sad that you screened yourself out of the application process. Having gone through it myself, I *do* understand how it can feel somewhat demeaning, but I just don't know a better way to act in the best interest of the animals, and Sandy in particular. Through much conversation with Carrie, I have been convinced that her experience over the years points to taking it slowly. I've cc'd her on this e-mail so she can learn what happened, as well, and read my response.
I hope you will reconsider the intentions of the people who devote their time, energy, and money to give unloved animals safe and forever homes, Marilyn.
With warm regards,
PLUMB
Sandy's Foster Mom
From: "#1 Adoper Candidate Who Didn't Show Up"
To: "Sandy's Foster Mom"
Subject: Re: Sandy
Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2003
Hi PLUMB:
I want you to know that I enjoyed the e-mails from you, and I was really looking forward to having a new friend for me and a new friend for Belle.
I hope that you got a lot of interest in Sandy on Saturday. I just couldn't put myself through the emotion of meeting her and then having someone else get her for a trivial reason like they have a fenced-in yard and I don't. I would have provided a wonderful home for her, but I could see it was going to be too difficult.
I was so upset about this on Friday. I talked to many animal-loving people over the weekend. The consensus was that everybody has had very discouraging experiences with pet rescue leagues. The procedure is too long and very unfair. If I was the first person who was interested in Sandy, I should have been the first person to be evaluated and then either accepted or rejected. Having a pool of applications to choose from is unfair. It's like a popularity contest. I think many great homes are passed over.
I have owned dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters, birds, fish, horses, sheep - you name it. I could teach a course on animal care! I belong the Humane Society of United States and the ASPCA. Everyone I know says they would love to die and come back as one of my pets. Last Friday I stopped traffic on the highway to pick up an injured dove. It's kind of insulting to think I would be so scrutinized.
I went and bought a puppy this weekend that was advertised in our local paper. The rescue leagues should think about this fact *- If they make it so hard for people to adopt animals who desperately need homes, they practically force people to buy puppies, which gives breeders even more business.
I wish you and Sandy all the luck in the world. I wish I could have calmly and quietly met her in your home and not traumatized her any further. Honestly, I hope you keep her and she doesn't have to be put on display at Petco anymore for people to compete over.
Take care,
Marilyn
#1 Adoper Candidate Who Didn't Show Up
----Original Message Follows----
From: "Sandy's Foster Mom"
To: "#1 Adoper Candidate Who Didn't Show Up"
Subject: Re: Sandy
Date: Mon, 08 Sep 2003
Dear Marilyn:
I enjoyed meeting you via e-mail, too, and am so sorry about the way this turned out. Your thoughts about rescue leagues I can't comment on because I have not devoted my time to rescue, except to say that the two women I met Saturday from Almost Home seem solely motivated by their concern that animals receive lots of love in permanent homes, and not simply the most toys or the owner that looks best on paper. I'm sure there exist folks in rescue who are not of Almost Home's quality, and I'm sorry that scared you off. :(
Carrie (Almost Home's founder) and I were so excited to see you and Belle on Saturday---we both felt you were the right home for Sandy, as long as meeting in-person confirmed the you we'd met online and on the phone. Only two families came to meet Sandy, and one decided she wasn't right for them because she was "too calm," and the other has a 2-year-old that probably isn't in Sandy's best interest and a history of not keeping dogs. But it's more than children or fenced yards, it's the love a person feels for an animal, and we were so hopeful that person would be you for Sandy. And maybe you can understand that giving first-choice options to the first expressed interest can't be the best policy when I tell you that you were not the first to want Sandy, but were the best potential home.
It's a terrifying responsiblity, Marilyn; I don't know how the rescue people do it, but I'm glad that they do. Instead of feeling personally insulted by being scrutinized, just imagine it were Belle, in the hands of rescue workers she doesn't know, being given to a new home. How much scrutiny would you want those rescue workers to apply when handing her over? Can you imagine them receiving a phone call from a nice stranger who comes to meet her, and letting them take her home the same day? Your Belle? It really does make sense when you look at it only from the animal's perspective.
I wish you the best with your furry family, Marilyn. I'm so, so sad that you screened yourself out of the application process. Having gone through it myself, I *do* understand how it can feel somewhat demeaning, but I just don't know a better way to act in the best interest of the animals, and Sandy in particular. Through much conversation with Carrie, I have been convinced that her experience over the years points to taking it slowly. I've cc'd her on this e-mail so she can learn what happened, as well, and read my response.
I hope you will reconsider the intentions of the people who devote their time, energy, and money to give unloved animals safe and forever homes, Marilyn.
With warm regards,
PLUMB
Sandy's Foster Mom
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