We have dogs in our rescue program all over the country. IDOG Rescue does utilize transports from time to time. These transports are to assist us in moving a dog out of a very bad situations and moving the dog to one of our foster homes. There are some areas that do not contain one of our approved foster homes, nor is the area conducive to finding a good home for the dog, only with those situations will we transport a dog.

We do not transport dogs to place into an adoptive home. There are some inherent risks to transporting dogs with the intention of placing them directly into an adoptive home.

1. The family has never met the dog and the dog has never met the family. We want both the adoptive family and the dog to be happy with the placement.
2. If a dog does not work out, then we could potentially have a dog that is not within a foster home range.
3. If the dog does not work out, determining who pays to get the dog back safely into a rescue would be an issue.
4. If we can locate a great home for a dog within their current location, it would be very unwise and a poor use of our funding to pay to move a dog.
5. We want to provide environments and situations for the dogs that minimize stress on the dogs. Transporting when unnecessary is not working in the interest of the dog.

When viewing the dogs that are listed For Adoption in our IDOG Rescue program, be sure to look for dogs in your area or in areas that you are willing to travel to meet the dog prior to adopting. Dogs listed will have a state code before their name, that is where the dog is located. Example: TX-Henry, Henry is located in Texas.

You can also join our IDOG Cupid Service which will keep an eye on dogs within your travel area and they will notify you when a Labradoodle or Goldendoodle is in need of a home. The dogs may be in shelters, rescues (such as IDOG Rescue) and people that are rehoming their dogs. Once notified about the dog, you can then work directly with that organization or indiviudal about possibly adopting the dog.

IDOG Rescue does not have a strict policy against placing dogs in homes without fences. Indeed many rescue organizations do. We believe that a strict policy of “no fence=no dog” is not taking into consideration of the individual dogs and individual people.

Some dogs are just fine living without a fenced in backyard. Some older dogs, or low energy dogs can do fine with a walk around the block a few times.

There are also situations where a person may live in an area where they have access to excellent safe dog parks nearby.

In addition, we also recognize that having a fenced yard does not equal quality time with the dog. Just putting the dog out back without some type of social interaction or physical activity is not addressing the needs of the dog either.

What fenced yards do provide is a place where the owner and the dog can have quality playtime and social interactions with the ability for the dog to run and play at a faster pace than humans can generally do. Fenced yards also provide a safety layer from danger.

Fences are not babysitters they are safety devices!

With that all said there will be dogs listed on “For Adoption” list that will have a notation that they will require a physical fence. These dogs have that notation for a very good reason. Given their current energy levels, past experiences, comfort needs and/or various other reasons, that dog needs to have a physically fenced yard. If a dog is listed with the notation that the dog needs a physical fence, please do not try to change the minds of IDOG Rescue. They will not budge… remember the IDOG Rescue team is working to assure that the dog is safe, comfortable and happy as well as assuring that the person adopting isn’t miserable trying to manage a dog that truly needs a physically fenced yard.

We can rarely consider e-fences for our dogs in our rescue program. There is just too much evidence that these types of dog containment solutions are just not good for the dogs that we have rescued. We also get far too many dogs that end up in our program that have had very bad experiences with the use of e-fences and shock collars. Frankly, we rather have someone without a fence that will take the dog for walks, go to parks for running and provide great mental exercises by playing games with the dog.

January, 2011 - Response to a recent question regarding someone wanting to adopt one of our dogs and they have an e-fence - we declined her application to the specific dog she was wanting to adopt.

First, IDOG Rescue does not have a hard and unwavering policy regarding not adopting dogs to people who have e-fences. We do consider each dog as an individual and each dog will have individual needs and requirements.
 
Dogs in rescue have already had one failed relationship. Rarely are they “clean slate dogs.” Rescue dogs may have been picked up as strays, they may have a high predatory drive and are prone to run, they may have not had positive social experiences, many are fearful and we have also had several that come from homes where e-fences were used and have been traumatized by the experience. We also get some that are flexible, resilient, have had past experiences with and e-fence that was not a cause of trauma. Individual dogs, individual life experiences, individual behaviors, individual needs.
 
With all this said, MOST of the dogs that are in rescue just simply are incapable of handling the training and the potential ongoing concern of the utilization of an e-fence.  E-fences fail and dogs get out; which would be a very serious issue for a dog that has had prior experiences of abandonment or was a stray. E-fences do not contain all dogs and a dog that has had a history of being able to move freely beyond their own property in the past or a dog that is high prey driven, is highly likely to end up outside a hot fence and not be able to return safely.  A dog that has had negative experiences in the past with people can associate the e-fence with people and will become defensive or aggressive towards people. A dog that is fearful - the e-fence can create more fear.
 
The last thing we would ever do is allow a dog that has already had a history of being a stray, has had poor experiences with people, or has experienced fearful situations in the past, to then be place into a potential situation where the dog can regress to behaviors associated with a difficult time in his/her past.  
 
I hope that the fact that I have taken time in explaining the rescue dogs/e-fence issue expresses to you that we truly do understand your frustrations. But, I ask that you in turn, seriously consider that rescue dogs point of view and to consider also that the people that are committed to placing dogs into homes are truly considering what is the very best for the individual dogs. We just simply do not have many dogs that come into rescue that can be safely contained using an e-fence.  This is not a judgment of you as an owner, but it is an advocating position for the individual dogs.