Why did the shelter do this? (Were they right)?

Question

On Saturday ,I went to my local animal shelter to adopt a dog. I met all the dogs , & I find one I wanted to adopt. I took him outside &played with him and walked him. This is the dog , I had my heart set on . I filled out an application , talked to the volunteers at the shelter &said goodbye to the pup I thought I would be adopted. They called me back yesterday and told me I had been approved . I was so happy, Buddy was suppose to come home with me today.But Today I went to the shelter , I was filling out the paper work &I asked them how much was the adoption fee so I could write a check out. I was expecting to pay $50-250 , &they told me $700! I was amazed, first I didnt speak and then they saw my face .They asked whats the matter and I told them I was shocked at the high fee. They told me he would be adopted quickly since he is 7 months old purebred yorkie ,& if I wanted him I would have to decide by tomorrow morning. Now I dont know what to do . I mean whos going to pay $700 for

a dog for adoption.I could get a 8 week old ,purebred yorkie with a health gurantee for around that much.

Even through this was the dog I had my heart set on I will prob not adopt him. Not because i cant afford this but becasue i dont want to support bad animal shelters.
I found that they have a website and I looked at the adoption fees of other dogs.
They charged:$250 for a boston terrier pup, $250 for a 5 yr old mini.pinch, $400 for a purebred boston terrier 4 yrs old, $100 for a basset hound/beagle 1 yr old ,$50 for a 14 yr old Schnauzer/Benji mix, $450 for a 4 yr old purebred boston terrier, $400 for a 10month old pug mix, $400 for a lab mix pup, $250 for a 10yr old purebredboston terrier, $500 for a 3yr old poodle/yorkie mix , $500 for a 1yr old Schnauzer/Scottie,$400 for a 2yr old rat terrier, $400 for a lab mix pup, %350 for a 3yrold beagle, $400 for a 3 year old poodle,

I have looked into their website more they deff dont seem like a good shelter
they advertaise "teacup dogs" which everyone knows isnt a real breed.
I have just learnt about petfinder.com and i will look for another adoptable dog
doesnt matter if its a mix or a purebred i just want a great dog.

Answer 1

Are they an animal shelter or what?? I find this totally unethical. Just because people WILL pay this, doesnt mean they ought to charge that much. I would definitely question their reasons behind this. I worked at an animal shelter, and while we charged more for purebreds (some of which was refunded when they animal was proven to be neutered if it was too young at the time of adoption, to discourage people from sneak-breeding them) Even if the dog is a purebred, he cant be bred, and nine times out of ten, you wont get the pappers if he has any, so why in the world would they charge as though they bred it themselves? That is very disturbing to me. Try contacting someone at the HSUS, if you are in the US. They can be very helpful with this sort of thing and can you far better answers.

Answer 2

This shelter is being unethical.

Ask them what the costs are for other purebred dogs. 10 bucks says Labs are cheap, Shepherds are cheap, Pits they will PAY YOU to take.

This shelter knows that is a highly desirable breed and they figure they can make a fast bundle of cash. It's unethical and it's wrong.

I'd be writing to the board of directors of that shelter as well as local gov't if it's a county run shelter. If they are privately run, there's not much you can do other than complain.

People like that give rescue and shelter workers a bad name. I'm really sorry that's happening to you.

Please don't give up, all places aren't like that.

REPUTABLE rescues state their fees up front. They may have a range but they don't go off the charts when they get an expensive dog in.
You can say, pups are 300 and dogs are 200 and old dogs are 100 or something like that... but this is just plain wrong.

I'm embarrassed.

EDIT:
For those of you who don't understand how some organizations work, the adoption fee is the only money coming in... It's virtually impossible to completely vet and house a dog for $150 for any lengh of time. You try to charge a balanced amount that allows you to keep the doors open and help the most dogs.

HOWEVER - you don't take advantage of people.

That's the difference between a reputable rescue and one that is not.

Any GOOD, REPUTABLE rescue will have it's 501(c)(3) or be working toward one and will be happy to tell you EXACTLY where the money goes. I can tell you where every dime of our money goes, plus it's on our website in our annual report.

Answer 3

Sounds like you were visiting the Humane Society in Indianapolis. I have come across a few "shelters" that outright sell their animals. In Indianapolis, they state on their website that adoption fee is based off age and breed. To top it all off, they charge the owners who surrender the animals. It isn't right, but they can set the "adoption" fees to whatever they like. I personally would go to a breeder and buy a puppy before I would buy from a shelter like that. I am sure some people will disagree with me on that because shelter dogs do need homes, but I would rather pay a little less and get a dog that I can see the parents on and know generally what to expect as far as temperment. When you get a dog from a shelter, there is no way to know what they have been through prior to you adopting them. $700 is a lot of money to spend only to find out there was something wrong with the dog.

Even purebreed rescue groups do not charge that much.

Answer 4

I agree,it's ridiculous.If the shelters want people to adopt,then they need to charge an affordable fee ~ less then 150.00 in my opinion.I have a friend in Illinois who was looking for a cocker spaniel to adopt after her's passed away and the shelters there were asking ridiculous prices,too.I wonder,if it were a mutt,if they would charge you the same amount? You should find out,because if they don't ,then it appears that they are trying to make money off of "purebreds" without any thought that no one is going to want the dog if they can go to a breeder and get a puppy for less.As for adopting the dog,if you have the money and are in love with the dog,then go ahead;you might save it's life,as I don't think many people can shell out 700.00 for a shelter dog.

Answer 5

We have 4 (sometimes 5) rates:

puppy/purebred
adult mixed breed
kitten
cat
(5) Sometimes an elderly dog/cat will be discounted. Sometimes 2 dogs or 2 cats placed together will be discounted.

Otherwise, those are our fees, from $75-$200. Period. Doesn't matter what it is.

I'm sorry you had this experience. I'm sure they're using that money for the other dogs, but that is too much to charge for a rescued purebred. Keep looking. Unfortunately, there's no shortage of dogs to adopt. You will find the right dog at the right rescue. Good Luck.

Answer 6

I agree with you, when I got my dog from the Woman's Humane Society, the cost, was $80 as long as we agree to get the dog fixed and get the shots done there for $40, which all shelters do (You could choose to pay more because they are only funded through charity.) Thats the whole point of a shelter to me, to have lower cost of buying a dog to encourage people to help the dogs and adopt from the shelter. You should check and see how this shelter is funded, because and S.P.C.A. and Women's Humane Society's shouldn't be charging that kind of money. I wonder if they were upping the charge because it was a pure breed...at the shelter I went to it doesn't matter what breed the dog is, its a flat fee. For $700 dollars you could have your choice of a lot of pure bred puppys with health guarentees. You should try to find another shelter or look in the paper.

Answer 7

That is not right! At the human society I volunteer for we do charge more for pups but that is to give the older dogs a fighting chance to be adopted in a reasonable time. If the dog is unaltered we do require an extra $25 refundable deposit that they get back after they have the surgery done. In total this is about $150 for a dog under 5mo. They are looking for profit from mutts and that is wrong. How do they know he is pure bred if they didn't breed him? I have seen Yorke's with some Chihuahua in them that looked like Yorke's. I would call your city council and have them be inspected. Even better call your state health department and have them see what is really going on there. I am sorry about your situation and please know that not all shelters/ rescues are that way and please adopt again.

Answer 8

Some shelters are geared more towards their financial gain. There's one in my area like that. They charge more for purebred dogs without papers, even more with papers. They have a set fee for standard mixes, but prettier mixes are priced in between standard mixes and purbred dogs. Sometimes I've seen them make up papers for a purebred dog. Example being- dog came in without papers, was adopted, returned years later, all of a sudden had papers. You can't register a 9 year old purebred in the AKC. But, anyway. Sometimes shelters do that for money. They don't care about the dogs, just their gain. It sucks...

I paid less for my yorkie from a breeder... That's insane...

Answer 9

Oh, no no no no no!!!!

Shelters don't care what is "purebred" and what isn't, if it's a real local county shelter. All dogs need homes or else they get put to sleep. If the dog needed have medical bills paid for, maybe--but they probably would not have saved it from euthanasia if it had such a grave medical problem to cost this amount of money.

What the heck--you need to contact your county officials and let them know what's going on at your "shelter." You are being scammed.

I want to edit::

Attention needs to be brought concerning this shelter, asap. Please do it--go to your county manager about what is going on with the shelter in your jurisdiction. The animal control department supervisor is not doing his job correctly. What about all of the poor animals that need homes and are not getting them because of the insane costs of adopting them? Are they being put to sleep b/c people assume that only purebreds are worthy to be adopted? What about all of the sweet-tempered and adorable mixed breeds that deserve homes--are the incredible costs of adopting purebreds supposedly to off-set the cost of maintaining the others?--I doubt it. It's greed. Please do what you can, if this is a local gov't run shelter.

My two sexually-altered dogs cost $175-$200 b/c the shelter paid for them to get fixed. My third dog was free b/c he was to be put to sleep the next morning anyway--I paid my fees to the vet who fixed him--$140.

Anything more than food and medical care costs for an adoptable pet is totally unethical.

Answer 10

I admit that the fee was outrageous. My wife runs English Bulldog Rescue for New Jersey (USA) and the fees for an adoption range from $350 to $500 (depending on age of the dog; higher if the dog is younger). Fees for attractive dogs sometimes compensate for costs associated with more needy or less-attractive dogs. Rescues (and shelters) are normally staffed heavily (if not exclusively) by volunteers, but they still have heavy expenses, particularly if they have to medically treat rescued dogs. But you are wildly wrong if you think you could get a pure-bred Yorkie for anything less than about $2,000.