I have been looking to adopt a new baby. It is not an easy process. This time I wanted a small hairy dog that I could carry and only females, (I think male dogs are gross). It’s important for me to have a rescue dog. There are too many that need homes and I think that multi breeds are smarter.
I had spoken to the Richmond SPCA over a year ago and mentioned that I wanted a small dog. They said they go very fast and gave me a link to register for a small one and they would then contact me. I held onto it until I was ready and in January this year I sent it in. No word.
I had previously spoken to RACC, RichmondAnimal Care and Control. I had fostered a pitty two years ago and she was the sweetest dog ever,(see post about Violet). Anyway they deal mostly with pit bulls and they had some beagles. No luck there.
I went on PetFinder.com. What a waste of time. There were two dogs I was interested in and wrote an inquiry for them. I sent pictures of our house and yard. I got a message back that said one dog, advertised in Washington DC was in a kill shelter in Texas. You had to pay $600 and transportation costs. No mention of the dog. The smaller the dog the more they cost. Again, no luck, nobody contacted me beyond the kill shelter in Texas.
Next I looked in the local papers, called one that had no price and was quoted $900.
Next I found a website, Floprva.org, For the Love of Poodles and Pooches. Bingo, all they have are small dogs and they are local and you have to live within 3 hours of Richmond. Same story, small dogs more money. All of the dogs are fostered until they are adopted. There is no physical location. I was interested in Holli and filled out the application. They said it would take two to three days for them to respond. Her cost was $600 and I had to promise to have her spayed within a month. At this point I figured I would have to pay. I agreed to both. I never heard from them.
Another avenue was that a friend of my cousin’s had to get rid of her small little girl and she put in a good word. The gave it to someone I her family.
Last night I was desperate. I saw an ad in the local papers for mini labradoodles for $1500. I justified that since I had to pay a lot of money anyway, and was having no luck, I might as well go this route. I am the one who is appalled by people spending so much money on “doodle” dogs, that they were basically mutts. Here I was doing what I swore never to do. I went on the website, picked a puppy, Heidi and filled out an application. They were based in Richmond and I spoke to him on the phone. We were supposed to go see her tonight, Pete wasn’t thrilled and I struggled all morning about doing this. At 11 I called and told him that unfortunately the timing was bad. He would hold the puppy for a month for an extra $500. I’m sad, I really felt a connection to Heidi.
Anyway it’s a lot of money when I need to buy a couch and dining table for the house I don’t want in NC. I’m all over the place, still a “ball of confusion.”