Trying to adopt a dog - any advice?

MovingForwards

My sibling has been looking for months, since his other one was PTS.
Looked at loads of centres within a few hours drive, kept looking at what came in across them. Found one he liked and was declined for that one due to its needs.
Another one came in and sibling booked to see it today, to see how they get on and I've had messages to say that 5ish month old dog is now at home. 

There are small, independent, breed specific rehoming places, but you have got to be quick.

ladyholly

Have you tried hope rescue I knw they are in Wales though not sure where. Have you had a home check some rescues will do one before they have a dog and others may recognise it to speed the process. 

Vegastare

As others have said it is difficult with Covid and now with possible lockdown in England.... staying in Wales might be best option as may open up again sooner I- not sure what part of Wales - but  there is  Newport area fourpawsanimalrescue.org.uk  and Many Tears as mentioned  - plus north has North Clwyd Animal rescue.  While I understand you have not had a dog but partner has I would stick with mentioning that.  The rescues will look at suitability and home etc. Also have a look at Spaniel Aid who bring dogs from Europe.  
Must admit I understand that the email and phone contact has overwhelmed many rescues, plus of course it is difficult to send the re homing  teams out to homes etc.   As Moving Forward mentions small rescues and re homing places are your best bet.

gettingtheresometime

OP ...I share your pain...after losing our beagle last year, we decided during lockdown to look to adopt another beagle and I think it would be easier to find hen's teeth !

if you have a specific breed in mind, have a google for rehoming centres that deal with that breed. I also know that the dogstrust have foster homes although I don't know  whether they're taking in new fosterers atm.

The other thing you have to remember is that whereas in the past people would just take a puppy to the rehoming centre once they got fed up of it or couldn't handle what it takes to look after a dog, because of what people have paid for pups, they're having to put the puppies up for, effectively, resale to try & recoup some of their money

FrugalJenny

You can search online for dog adoption. I'm sure you can find one! Try to talk with them and they can help you out.

Ted_Head

I've been trying for a while - lost my dog just before lockdown. Seems that the rescue centres haven't many dogs in - which is good news for the dogs.
Been rather shocked with looking at Gumtree and seeing what people are charging for any cross bred dog. I think some are doing it as a side-line . Many puppies will be put into homes when lock down ends I think. Some dogs with serious behavioural issues appearing on gumtree and the people are wanting to recoup their money. It is really sad state of affairs.

I don't know if it's been like this for a while - Only been looking past couple of months.

Fuzzy_Duck

Have a look at the rescue's adoption policy if they have one and check how strict they are before applying. My MIL has been rejected for not having high enough fencing despite the fact she was only applying for small dogs and her garden was perfectly safe for her last dog that was considerably bigger. In all honestly though I think there's just too much competition at the moment. My cat died this summer and I've been trying to adopt a pair of cats without success. I waited patiently for one pair to become available, and when they were old enough for rehoming and no ad appeared I enquired. Turns out they'd already reserved them for someone else who asked at the right time (whatever that time was!) Another pair reserved less than 2 hours after the ad went out that I didn't see in time. The third I got rejected for being within 200 metres of a busy road and a train station, which stung a bit as the majority of my neighbours have cats and I considered this when buying the property, which is right at the end of a quiet road. Those particular cats remain available. Friends and relatives of fosterers probably take priority as they're already known to them. I plan to try smaller, local rescues that will hopefully be more familiar with my area and if that doesn't work I'll be considering a charity that rescues dogs and cats in Romania and brings them over to the UK. The probably have more animals to help than the UK rescues do currently.

DollyDawson

I'd start by getting yourself known at the local rescue, which could be through volunteering, fund raising or making donations of whatever they need at the time - food, blankets, towels, newspapers - a quick phone call or message to ask what they're short of will go a long way and it doesn't have to be a lot.  If your local rescue uses social media, follow it and like, share and comment on a regular basis to get your name known.  If you keep doing these things on a regular basis, it shows that you're committed and that goes a long way when they're considering who to place an animal with, especially when demand is so high at the moment.  When I was adopting my dog, it was a long drawn out process, including multiple questionnaires and two home visits, but I ended up getting so involved with them, I became a volunteer.  There's so much going on behind the scenes that the public rarely see and the pressure to place each dog in the right home is immense.