Let’s talk about the adoption process – it’s frustrating, but so entirely worth it

Pinot is the best thing to happen to me.

But getting her might have been the most frustrating thing. Ever.

I honestly did not know much about the rescue process when I started my search on Pet Finder. 

I was just looking at one set of puppy-dog eyes after another. Until I came across Justine, a two-year-old black golden retriever mix who was missing one paw after being run over by a car. 

The application was about four pages long, they asked thoughtful questions about what the dog’s life would be like and specific questions about its potential environment. I had a phone interview with one woman and then a virtual house tour with another couple. Each of these volunteers had adopted through the rescue and had amazing things to say about the woman who ran it. 

But by the time I applied, had those two interviews, and got approved two and half weeks had gone by. Another dog that had been rescued with Justine had returned from the vet and the foster family noticed such a difference in her personality that the rescue knew they couldn’t separate the pair again. 

My family wasn’t ready to take on two dogs. 

I had approval through the rescue, so I checked their website every day waiting for new postings.

This process happened again with another rescue, only this time the process took four weeks and the dog I applied for had been adopted before I had my first-round interview.

Again, I had approval at another rescue and added it to the list of webpages I checked every day looking for my dog.

Most of the rescues never responded to my application. I watched those dogs get marked ‘adopted’ one after another on Pet Finder. Sometimes the day after I applied. I was starting to feel hopeless that this would ever work out.

Let me be clear. Rescues do AMAZING work, but they are usually completely volunteer-run. And during the pandemic, the demand for rescue dogs has skyrocketed. It’s 100% understandable that they could not respond to every application they received. 

But that doesn’t make it less frustrating to the person trying to adopt.

Also, no rescue’s process is the same. Some require multiple interviews, some require references, some require multiple visits between the dog and adopter, some expect you will take the dog home from the initial meeting, some are direct adoptions. A direct adoption is when a dog is brought from another state directly to the new owner. 

Each rescue also has its own conditions and requirements of potential adopters. Some will not consider first-time dog owners or an individual under 25-years-old, some will not adopt to an individual without a fenced-in yard.

There’s no consistency. For someone that thrives off organization and process, it was especially frustrating.

After almost 3 months, I was getting ready to take a break from my search. I was graduating from my yoga teacher training, officially moving out of my apartment, and supposed to go to a friend’s beach house a few weeks later. I figured I’d clear my head and restart the search when I got back.

11pm that Thursday evening I got an email. 

It was from a rescue that had never responded to my application although I knew that had spoken with the vet who had taken care of my family’s previous dog. They said the dog I applied for had been adopted (a fact I already knew from Pet Finder) but they thought I had a strong application and would like to work with me to find a dog.

Included was a link to their available dogs and at the very end was a, “P.S. We have this puppy available starting tomorrow, see attached,” with a Word document. This document had a three-sentence description about a puppy they claimed to be a Border Collie Flat-Coated Retriever mix who had been abandoned and then rescued from a kill shelter. The document also had four grainy small pictures of her.

I was ecstatic. I was in love. And I knew an opportunity like this would not come again soon.

The next day I was on the phone with the rescue, when could I meet her?

Saturday was July 4th and we had family friends coming over. Would Sunday or Monday be okay? No, the rescue was confident she’d be adopted by Saturday evening.

I wasn’t missing my chance. Not when it felt so right. 

6am Saturday July 4th, 2020, Mom, Dad, and I drove to New Jersey. The second that Neci (now Pinot) was put on the floor of the adoption greeting room she ran right to me and started kissing my calves. All she wanted to do was wiggle her butt around my legs until I sat down and then she was on my lap with much better access to my face. 

That was it; I knew she was mine. My parents knew too, and we did not need time to talk privately. She was mine.

Suddenly those last three months were 1000% worth it.