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
5/07/09
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 so this is not a quick process to adopt. We all have regular jobs
and do our rescue work in our "spare time." The rescues stay at our home and I work at home doing dog training
and care full-time but my husband and I are still an unpaid volunteers. We have been for many years
doing this rescue because we can and are good with the dog training. As a rescue we will 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 your needs 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 placing them. If you
have to have a female then you might just have to just buy a puppy. If you let us work with you to place whatever dog
that we currently have then you will find that they are housebroke and charming once they are in their new home no matter
their sex.
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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 breeding purpose We save lives
at rescues and will NOT increase the pet population as we turned away 200+ needy, homeless wieners in 2008 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 - 60 dogs each year and not everyone who does our paperwork below will get a dog from us or even communication
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 dog rescuer. Plus folks have to email me as I do not have time to talk on the phone for
hours on end. Someone has to run the farm here and take care of the dogs!
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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 haven'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 nine dogs returned since 1991 out of 500+ and all of them were succesffuly re-homed
the second time around so we take this rescue hobby seriously and that means asking and answering a lot of questions for the
life of the dogs that we place.) We are extremely picky where we place our dogs as we carefully screen new homes.
If you do not like that kind of scrutiny then please do not fill in our adoption form below
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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DHPP vaccination (There is
new science stating Leptro and Corona are not good for Dachshunds.)
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Spaying or neutering. We do not adopt out breedable dogs and never will at ANY time. If we rescue younger dogs they
are also fixed before placement as pups can be fixed as small as two pounds or around 12 weeks of age safely. If some
"other rescuers" will sell you an unfixed puppy or older dog then they are NOT a real rescuer. (Please see the page
on this site on how to research and find the legit rescuers as some puppy mills are now posing as rescuers to sell their pups!)
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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. You will need to drive all the way here to inspect us as we will not meet people "part
way" or in some parking lot. If you need us to refer you to a closer rescuer please ask. You should also inspect
them before adoptions too.)
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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 if
they have the records with them when they arrive.
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Collar,
leash (if needed) and their dog toys, blankies, if needed, and enough food to last during the Three Day Test Drive.
Some have dog crates but most do not.
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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 not even a collar or paperwork.
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Once the adoption is complete
after the test drive then please ask us for emailed copies of the photos that I 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 to keep those memories.
I do not keep them all on file so please ask soon and they will be emailed to you for free. I try to take photos that
capture their personalities so I am always happy to share those photos. if you want a printed copy then you will need
to pay what it costs me to print it out and mail it to you.
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Free advice and training
help for the life of the dog. We have been in the breed for 38+ 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 about anything as I
have been in dogs for almost 45 years and pretty sure I can answer 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. If you do not ask then I
can't help. I have a lot of vet knowledge too so never hurts to ask and give me as many details as you can. Email
is the best way to reach me.
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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, but we do find them permanent homes. That takes time and lots of work to
match dog's to their new people and not everyone is suited for the dogs we have in rescue. Please be aware that we do
not do this for money, but just try to cover our expenses only which we have never covered our expenses so we do not expect
that to change. (FYI! Spokanimal CARE in Spokane, a local shelter, adopts all their 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.
We are a NO KILL rescue.
In 500+ dogs we have put down a few due to massive health issues where the doigs were suffering only. We have never
had to put one down due to behavioral issues as we give them a lot of training before placement. We know every dog well
because they live in the home with us like one of our pets until we find them a better home then where they are right now.
It always hurts the heart to see them go once they are placed but we can not keep them all. Dennis and I want them in
homes where folks have enough time for their new babies and will spoil them rotten like cherished parts of their families
or they stay here until we find that for them.
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, food and load
of treats, loads of toys, bedding, laundry supplies, washer and dryer and laundry soap ti give them clean bedding, housed
in our home while destroying it! (hahahaha), office supplies needed to run this hobby, planning the dog promotion and
adoption events including building rentals and advertising to get our homeless dogs in public and on TV, transportation and/or
taking care of them until we get them adopted. The training and time we thorw in for FREE! Hahahaha.
Sometimes our dogs stay here many 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 the dogs will have a stated 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.
Our adoption fees are unique to each dog's needs
and that is the stated fee so please do not ask for us for any discounts. Thanks. We need adoption fees to help
cover some of the dog's expenses while here so we can afford to keep rescuing. Thanks in advance for your understanding
there. Now and then we will discount a senior as it is rare that people want to adopt dogs as seniors, but the rest
have their fees and that is not negotiable.
I have also found those folks quibbling over the initial "cost" of
the dogs usually can not afford them or their future vet bills. Sometimes we take payments but not often as we have
to use their adoption fees to cover the dog's expenses while here such as food and vet bills.
We receive NO discounts for anything related to dog care. We
ALWAYS pay full retail to have all these dogs in our home so those prices we state do not even cover the expenses.
Good thing we do dogs for the love of the dogs themselves and care little about money or we would never be doing this dog
rescue. So please do not ask us to discount the dog's adoption fee and waste your time and ours. Thanks in advance
for that.
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 and we like to be able to keep the vet happy so no more bounced checks.
Thank you!
How to find the adoption fees? Click on the dog's photos
above and read please. Thanks in advance for reading first BEFORE emailing. Thanks.
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.
If you are insisting on having a female then it will be a long wait.
We personally like the males better in this breed and they make
better family pets in our opinion. Females are almost always Alphas which mean they run the homes anbd
order everyone around. Males are half Aphas and half Betas. Females are a lot less willing to please then the
males therefore ALL of our personal pets are males except for the few unadoptable females we had to keep as personal pets.
I explain the difference between males and females in this breed: Males are "love you, love you, love you." Females
are "love me, love me, love me." Those who insist on having female dachshunds will get exactly what they pay for, a
pushy little thing! Hahahaha. Males in this breed can be housebroke if you listen to the professional dog trainer,
me, after the adoption.
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 place the dogs that we receive so
you placing special orders below for dogs like coat color or coat length is not practical. Please
keep in mind as a rescuer we adopt out personalities of our dogs, not how they look. Most of the dogs we get are shorthairs with longhairs being rare with around five or six each year.
We have rescued two wires in 17+ years of rescuing and you will have to buy them. But watch our site to see what is
available and if you are patient and keep in touch with me as I do not have time to call or email everyone then chances are
good you will get a dog from our rescuer.
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 have rescued exactly two litters of
pups in all our years of rescuing so if you want a puppy please do not ask rescuers like us for them.
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. See
the page on this site how to tell a legit dog breeder from a puppy mill breeder. 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. We also do long distance adoptions too so read below.
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 we can try to refer you to rescuers in your
area too if you ask us.
If the rescued dogs do go to a home out of our
area then then we always 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. Then
folks drive here. We do not meet people half way or in parking lots. You will need to drive here to see if the
dog you like likes you and vice versa.
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 500+ dogs since 1991 and 59 in 2008 alone.) Please
be patient and fill in the paperwork below. Then you need to watch our site here: http://www.drnw.petfinder.com to see what dogs we have available and trained for their new lives. It is had for us to call or email everyone back
we are contacted so often, but email is best otherwise I would be on the phone for three or more hours each night. So
email me first. Thanks.
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 or two young dogs 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 or copies if we have them.
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 spayed or neutered dogs
in comformation classes and we are adopting out pets only at DRNW. They can go as agility dogs or some obedience,
but never in conformation. Most are pet quality not show quality that we adopt out.
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 you were not initially given 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.
You will be given what we have and the adoption is final. If you have nothing then that means we had nothing to
give to you which is pretty normal in rescue. 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, sometimes a rabies shot although we try to do rabies on them all before placement depoending
on finances and maybe booster shots after you fill in our Adoption Contract and then
pay our adoption fee. Don't forget they will also 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. This is a hunting dog breed and most are active so a fenced yard is
95% required so adopt. 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 and that
is why we expect you to have a fenced yard. 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
more quiet then normal and they will never leave even if you do not have a fence, but they are very, very 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
or home without a fence. They are always the exception though.
If their bios 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.
To find the dog bios and personality details click on their photos
above.
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 loads of toys,
good times and lots of your time for the dogs in your family and plenty interaction or find another breed please.
Think adopting a new child and then you know how these dogs think.
They do not know that they are dogs. If you do not have time for a new child in your life then please do not fill in
the paperwork below. Thanks.
13. Most wieners are not suited for most children under age 7 either
unless your home is very quiet. I have yet to find a kid home that is quiet so most of our dogs will not
be adopted to homes with children under age 7.
Why? 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. Ask your vet or vet tech which breed is the worse one for biting and most times they will say the wiener
dogs. This is not just me stating this. There is a dog agression study on this web site so read that page as well.
I like kids so my "rule of tumb" is no children in their new home but each dog is different so read their bios. Their
bio states no children then I mean it for the dog's safety and your children too.
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.
So as a "rule of thumb" Dachshunds are not good with young children
and we will not adopt one to a home with lots of children, over three at a time, no many how many times we are asked.
We do not want anyone hurt including the children. Please find another breed better suited for children. Yes,
there are some that adore kids but they are the exception to the rule.
If we tell you a dog hates children then we expect you to never have
children in their lives as it could be dangerous. So please be honest about ANY kids that you have or any
kids visitors on our form below.
We want to keep everyone safe and do not want to place any dog in a
situation for which they can not handle. Now and then folks lie on the form below to use and that makes no sense whatsoever.
Help us find you a great dog and everyone stays happy and NOT chomped. Why? Many of our rescues have already bit
children before coming to us and we tell folks that about each dog. So please do not apply for a dog that is not good
with kids when you have ANY children coming and going. Thanks.
14. Our dogs are housebroke before we find them homes.
If you have to have patience and will listen to how we re-trained the rescued babies, have the time and lots of squirt guns
and a dog crate to kennel them as needed to make them listen then they will stay housebroke and mind you for their
lifetime. his is not a shy breed and they do well with people with more forceful personalities to make them
mind. They will not mind as a rule unless their people MAKE them mind.
And Isolation is how you train these guys and we will help you with any future
behavioral issues if you keep in touch with me. Between my husband, the Assistant Director and myself we have over 60
years of dog training experience.
FYI,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. Not all we get here are head cases and many are sweet, and loving but
some aren't so if we refuse to adopt a dog to you it is for many reasons like you will not be able to handle the dogs in your
home.
15. At our rescue the people do not pick out their new dogs but
the other way around. If you will allow our dogs to pick their new people then by all means fill in our
form below. If you are trying to buy one and have a specific one in mind on your visit then please find some pups to
buy. We strongly believe that the dogs get some input in this adoption process and we will NEVER adopt a dog to someone
that the dog does not like. We wil let you know if a dog is not interested. The dogs will maul the people they
like so it will be obvious to visitors here. This reason is why our successful adoptions are so high and why our rescue
is so successful in rehoming rescued dogs. Again, if you have to have one dog that dislikes you then now and then folks
go away without a dog. It is not often but it happens.
Long distance adoptions especially are done this way so the dog has a very
little chance of being passed around after they are placed even though people sign our adoption contract to return them to
us. Dogs that adore their new people are easier to keep trained and happy in their new lives so this makes sense to
some. Other think we are a bit off in this "rule" but we are not placing furniture but dogs with thoughts and feelings.
We are here for the dogs and they get some input. Thanks in advance for your understanding.
16. Keep in touch after the adoption and please invest in a dog
crate 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
always have manners and they 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 crate when you are gone each day for any reason so they do
not destroy your home.
Please use a dog crate as this breed is bred to go underground.
A dog crate is a good thing for wieners and becomes their own cave.
We do not leave our dogs free to destroy our home or make messes like going potty 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 if it is too hot to take them.
If you are not willing to crate your Dachshund then please do
not adopt one of these dogs as they are all crate trained before leaving our home for their safety and our home to stay
in one piece. We also crate them to transport them too. This
breed can be very snotty so if in a crate then they can only destroy their toys not ours.
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So now you know what to expect and 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.
Thanks in advance for wanting to adopt a "used wiener" instead of just
buying a pup. Without folks willing to help us rehome unwanted dogs then we could not be doing this rescue which dominates
our lives 24/7. When Dennis and I stop rescuing then maybe we can have a vacation together. Good thing we really
enjoy what we do!
Sincerely,
Margo Mossburg
Director and Founder
Dachshund Rescue NW in 1991
Dachshund Club of Spokane in 2003
Thanks for reading.
