Here are
all the details you need to know BEFORE emailing or filling out our Adoption Waiting List Form on the bottom of this
page:
revised
7/29/07
If you have never adopted through a rescue organization before,
you might be unfamiliar with how rescue groups operate. There are some things you should know right off the bat.
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First, everyone in DRNW is a volunteer;
we have no paid staff and no central office. We all have regular jobs and do our rescue work in our "spare
time." We work very hard with our adopters, but please don't assume that if you apply to adopt a dog today, you will
have the perfect dog by the weekend! There are no perfect dogs so we match the dogs needs
with yours and that takes time.
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The dogs we have available at any given moment
are the dogs that needed to be rescued. If you have a very specific dachshund in mind -- red, female, smooth,
under 12 pounds, under two years of age, gets along with cats, for example -- then you may have to wait a while
before such a dog comes along. We are NOT breeders and NONE of our dogs are breedable when plaving them.
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We only place cherished family pets not someone's
idea of having pups for less money. You need to buy your pups for that purpose We save lives at rescues
and will NOT increase the pet population as we turned away 80 needy, homeless wieners in 2006 alone. So please
stop breeding unwanted wieners or take back your unwanted dogs so we are out of a dog hobby. Thanks.
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We always do our best to find the dog you
are looking for, but the more flexible you can be in your preferences, the better the chances we can find a dog for you.
We adopt personalities at rescues and do not care how they look, but how they act. They could
be purple monsters and we would still find them a home.
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We get 300 calls and emails a month
for around 50 dogs each year and not everyone who does our paperwork below will get a dog from us so I apologize in advance.
If you have patience and are not picky on your future pet then you are more apt to get a wiener from our rescue or any rescue.
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Finally, some people find the adoption procedures of rescue
groups to be "too much trouble." DRNW rescuers
want to place each rescue dog in a happy home, and we also want to help you find the right Dachshund for you. Our goal
is to place our dogs in their forever and final homes, and that takes some work! To ensure that a good match is made,
we do ask for references and a home visit, and we ask that you complete our adoption application. Yes, it is easier
to buy a dog from a newspaper ad than to adopt through rescue, but a person who will sell a dog to anyone who comes along,
with no references or applications and usually no health history or xrays to make sure their pups have no congential
back problems for you and your family, and they probably have't given much thought to the breeding of that dog.
When you adopt a rescue dog, you know what you are getting as we tell you everything so you make an informed adoption decision
and if the dog does not work out we expect you to return them to us! (We have only had five dogs returned since
1991 out of 400 and all of them were succesffuly re-homed so we take this rescue hobby seriously and that means asking and
asnwering a lot of questions.)
Here is what you can expect if you decide to adopt a Dachshund through
Dachshund Rescue NW.
Our dogs come with
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Temperament training &
complete personality evaluation
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DHLPC vaccination
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Spaying or neutering. We do not adopt out breedable dogs.
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Transportation to your
home for our Three Day Test Drive of your new buddy (or if out of our adoption area you will need to come to us to
adopt as we do not ship our dogs.)
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Thorough physical examination
and any medical records of procedures they have needed since in our care or if they have any records transferred to you
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Collar,
leash (if needed) and their dog toys and enough food to last during the Three Day Test Drive.
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If the dog came with stuff
you will get that stuff too. Please be aware that many dogs come to us with nothing.
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Once the adoption is complete
after the test drive then please ask us for emailed copies of the photos we took while the dog was at our home. I am
a professional photographer and I am happy to share those photos if you ask me
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Free advice and training
help for the life of the dog. We have been in the breed for 36 years and we re-train all our dogs to be housebroke and
happy dogs, but sometimes they revert. By all means get in touch and ask a lot of questions. I will give you all
the advice on how to train your dogs to stay in your home for life and not be a nuisance to your family
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One free year's membership
in our Dachshund Club of Spokane. Please go online and fill in our club application on this site and join all the wiener
fun. There is a page on this site that explains all our events. The cost after that first free year for all our
adopted dogs is just $20 a year. Our club is a Dachshund social club that people can come along too!
Other FAQ:
1. Why the Adoption Fee?
We are not in the dog selling business, we find them permanent homes. That takes time and lots of work. Please
be aware that we do not do this for money, but just try to cover our expenses only. (FYI! Spokanimal CARE
in Spokane adopts all their jailed Doxies for $150 - $190 each!) Our rescues live on our ranch with our family
until we find them a home no matter how long that takes.
And we have spent a lot of our own money on expenses like
this web site for around $200 a year since 1991 and paying to get other people's dogs health care and fixed, fed, housed,
re-trained, office supplies, promotion events, transportation and/or taking care of them until we get them adopted and
sometimes that means months as we do not kill our dogs like shelters when they are not adopted right away. This is our
hobby and we aren't rich folks so most dogs will have a fee when they come from our rescue. Most other rescues
also charge a fee too as rescuing is not a cheap hobby, but a labor of love of this breed.
2. Adoption Fee
is paid in cash now please: The adoption fee needs to be paid now in cash, money order or
cashier's check when we leave the dog on their three day test drive in your home due to too many bounced checks lately.
Our vet likes being paid for his services at our rescue so no more bounced checks. Thank you!
3. What Kind of Dogs do We Get to our
Rescue? We mostly get in males of all ages. Females are rare and younger females are very
rare. Please keep in mind that everyone wants younger females when they fill in their paperwork below.
Rescuers are not breeders, but dog recyclers so please buy your pups elsewhere nor we will not tell you who are the breeders
locally as we want to adopt out our dogs, not encourage more overbreeding of this breed by breeders who do not want folks
about how this breed can be stubborn, noisy, yard diggers and hunting dogs who howl when upset plus hard to housebreak and
also not good with young kids under age 7. Not all wieners are monsters but some can be. Now and then we get very
sweet ones in too but for the most part Dachshunds are not a breed for every family so please be aware of that.
We are not breeders and only place the dogs
that we receive so special orders for dogs like coat color or length is not practical. Please
keep in mind as a rescuer we adopt out personalities of our dogs, not how they look.
4. Puppies: Rarely
do most legit rescues get in puppies as we are not breeders. If they keep having young dogs for "adoption" then they
are fake dog rescuers/breeders posing as rescuers and please be aware of that.
We find unwanted dogs of families who have to place
their dogs for many different reasons to a new home only. If you want a younger dog then you will need to buy them from
a breeder. (Please do not buy your puppy from the pet stores and the puppy mill breeders. Thanks.)
5. Placement:
Please be aware that we almost always place dogs in our home town area first so we can inspect the homes and
we NEVER ship them anywhere.
If folks are willing
to drive here to the Spokane area to pick up the dog so we can meet them and they have met our other criteria for adopting
based on the form below then we do allow dogs to go out of the area. And wqe can try to refer you to rescuers in your
area too if you ask.
If they do go to a home not in our area then we need to
see lots of photos of their new home. We also want to know that you know enough about the breed, have references
from your vet and a fenced yard before we let them go to anyone out of our area.
6. Promises: We made promises to
the previous pet parents to find our new babies great homes so I have to meet those needs before I can
place a dog with anyone. If the dog you wanted is not placed with you then please do not worry. We always get
in new dogs from all over the area. (We have adopted out 400+ dogs since 1991 and 47 in 2005 alone.) Please
be patient and fill in the paperwork below. When we have a dog for you then you will be contacted.
My "job" as a rescuer is to find the best home out
of all the applications we recieve for each dog. That is always a hard choice but everyone wants the younger dogs and
there may only be one young dog per month. Please help us and take in a dog of any age as they can always be re-trained
and a cherished family pet no matter the age.
Dachshunds live 14 - 16 years so a "senior wiener"
is usually around age 8 - 10, but this is an active breed still having fun until age 12 - 14 is the average of when they start
slowly down some.
7. Health Records/History of Your Dog: I
do all the research and investigating so I can to create a history for you. If your new dog does not come with
a history then you will be told all I could locate when you start the Three Day Test Drive. Those details
are usually emailed or faxed.
You will not receive a copy of the dog's papers or any
other paperwork associated with the dog so they can't be bred with or shown. You can't show neutered dogs and we are
adopting out pets only at DRNW.
You will be told if your dog has had their shots
and when for example or other details that we have that we can share. But please do not ask for copies of any other
records because there are privacy issues we have to be concerned with.
We will write down all the info that we have and
give that to you. Calling us over and over for health records that we do not have is not helpful after the adoption.
Most rescue dogs DO NOT come with any
background because people just do not keep good records. If you get any history or health info you are one of the lucky
adopters from any rescue.
8. Privacy Issues:
Please be aware that at our rescue, the new dog parents are never put
in touch with the previous owners or vets for any reason and vice versa. That is our policy and it won't change due
to privacy issues. Thank you in advance for being aware of this adoption policy.
9. What Will You Need After You Adopt:
You will need is a license, rabies shot and maybe booster shots after you fill in our Adoption
Contract and then pay our adoption fee. Don't forget plenty of dog treats, toys, a kennel, food,
a fenced yard, a dog bed although wieners prefer to sleep in your bed or on your couch and plenty
of loves.
10. Fenced yards are usually mandatory to adopt
from our rescue: Now and then we get a couch pillow and it is stated in their bios, but that is
not usually the case. Almost always we will NOT
adopt to someone without a fenced yard and a home unless you are on a farm in the country and the dog we have is not a wandering
hunting dog with a high prey drive. We do not want the dogs to be rescued more than once or get lost, eaten
by coyotes and turned in to a shelter when the kids let them go out of the yard or heaven forbid, run over.
11. Dachshunds are an active breed.
These are hunting dogs and they need exercise to be good family pets or they can be total monsters without exercise so most
of the time we will require fenced yards so they do not destroy your house. And putting up a fence is easy if you use
chainlink and T-posts so ask us how you can keep your wiener home and safe please. That is why we do a home inspection
too so we help you have a safe fence to keep your hunting dog home. Thanks.
These wieners are also hound dogs. That
means that they bark and are howling when unhappy or left alone. Hounds also have huge voices and Dachshunds ("Badger-hound"
in German) are no exception. They are way too noisy for most apartment situations. Please do not fill in our form below for a dog that needs a fence if you DO NOT have a completely fenced
yard while living in town. Thanks in advance for not wasting your time or mine.
Now and then we get dogs who are home bodies and
they will never leave even if you do not have a fence, but they are rare. Please read each dog's bios
above and we will state in detail that dog's personality and if that dog is suitable for an apartment. If it states
that they are active and noisy then we will not be adopting to a home without a fenced yard no matter how many times we are
asked. Thanks for understanding.
12. Doxie Personality:
These dogs do better if you include them in your family. They are not a couch-pillow breed. They want to help
you with every project and will follow you from room to room helping as best they can. If you do not want an active
(not a Jack Russell-type of dog, but not sleeping all day either), too happy, very protective (very loud barking alarm
wiener when people knock on your door) and a very involved breed of dog then you might consider adopting a different breed
of dog.
This breed is highly intelligent and do not always choose to mind you or follow
your rules. They were bred to hunt on their own or in packs so they are thinkers. They use their brains to keep
themselves entertained if you are not keeping them happy and involved in your life. That means toys, good times
and lots of your time for the dogs in your family and plenty interaction or find another breed please.
13. Most wieners are not suited for most children under age 7 either
unless your home is quiet. If a child hurts a Dachshund even accidentally then this breed will defend itself
and bite back. They are too smart to take any sort of abuse from any family members at any time. They can not
be trained by hitting or yelling as they will become quite aggressive even with just one hit. People think they can
housebreak a Dachshund by using a newspaper and that is never how this breed operates. Please buy Dachshunds for Dummies
if you need to know how a wiener thinks. It is a great book and NEVER, ever hit a dachshund as they are MORE stubborn
than you are and they will bite anyone who hurts them.
Some of our dogs do adore children too so read their bios before filling
in our form below, but they still might want to kill your cat so take the time and read first as we took the time to let you
know about our dogs and their personalities in the bios so click their photos and read thier details please.
14. Our dogs are housebroke before we find them homes.
If you have to have patience and will listen to how we re-trained them, time and lots of squirt guns and a kennel to make
them listen then they will stay housebroke. Isolation is how you train these guys only. And many of our dogs were
already abused before we got them for retraining so if you expect a "perfect" minding dog then you might want to buy a puppy
from someone else instead of recycling one of our homeless, unwanted, recycled wiener dogs.
15. Keep in touch after the adoption and please invest in a kennel
for this breed. We will give you free training advice for the life of the dog. Ask questions and
send photos please.
Some folks think the training methods that we have are harsh, but our dogs
have manners and are housebroke for life so whatever we are doing it is working. We know this breed very, very well
after a lifetime as breeders and now rescuers. We will always suggest you follow their training once they leave our
home and go to yours. That means buy a dog kennel and use it as this breed is bred to go underground.
A kennel is a good thing for wieners and becomes their own cave. We do
not leave our dogs free to destroy our home when we are gone except one or two we can trust. The rest are kenneled at
night or when we are gone. The ones we can trust do not think of our home as their personal play toy so they can snore
on the couch while we are running errands oif it is too hot to take them.
If you are not willing to kennel you Dachshund then please do not adopt
one of these dogs as they are all kennel trained before leaving our home for their safety and our home to stay in one piece.
This breed can be snotty so if in a kennel then they can only destroy their toys not ours.
Now if I did not scare you off with everything above and you still
want one the most the charming breed of dogs on the planet with a great sense of humor and fun then please do fill in our
form below. But those who love this breed know they are not really meant to mind people and adore chasing cats as a
rule of thumb yet we still enjoy this breed until the day we die.
There are always going to be some Dachshunds that enjoy children AND
cats all at the same time, but those are few and far between because these are active and noisy hunting dogs, not bred to
be couch pillows. Wieners still enjoy a great belly scratch and couch snugglings in between digging holes in yards after prey like mice and moles or barking at neighbors.
Sincerely,
Margo Mossburg
Director, Dachshund Rescue NW & Dachshund Club of Spokane
Thanks for reading.
