|
|
|
|
Owner Surrender Helping the Homeless, and Stray Pets in Peoria, Illinois Foster Pet Outreach is a small group of dedicated volunteers who have joined together to help homeless and abandoned pets. We bring these neglected creatures into our personal homes to nurture and guide them back to good health. Because of the personal attention we choose to give to each animal, we are very limited in how many animals we can accept. Our policy is to first help the truly homeless, stray animals who have no advocates, and usually, no other options. When space allows, we do our best to serve the community by accepting animals in need due to their owner's death, nursing home confinement, or grave illness. If the animal you are relinquishing meets these standards, please call 309-682-1122. Please click here to review our mission statement. If you are in the military, and need placement for your pet while you are deployed, please visit www.netpet.com for help. Surrendering your Pet If this is your personal pet that you need counseling about, we know this is a really hard decision for you. There is nothing more tragic than facing losing a member of your home. If we could serve every pet in need, we would gather them all in. Sadly, our homes and wallets aren't big enough. Sometimes, only you will be able to help your pet. We'd like to try to help you solve some of these problems yourself. If at all possible, we want to keep you connected with your pet. Common Problems Moving "We're moving - we can't find a landlord who will let us keep the pets."... Many landlords don't allow children either, but you'd never give up one of your kids if you couldn't find the right apartment. Please don't give up too easily! We know economic times are very stressful right now. They are hard for us, too. We do want to help every single pet in need. "No Pets" doesn't always mean "no pets, period". Many landlords automatically rule out pets because they don't want the hassle. Many landlords are pet owners themselves. During the interview, ask if pets are absolutely out of the question. You might have a chance! Encourage a landlord to let you keep your pet. Landlords are hesitant to allow pets because they may have past experience of damage or abandonment. Prove to him your pet won't bring him grief. Bring your well groomed, well behaved pet to the rental interview. Show your landlord that your dog is well cared for and that you are a responsible pet owner. Bring along an obedience class diploma. Offer an additional security deposit to be able to keep your pet. Let him know you will use a dog crate. Landlords are much more receptive to dogs they know will be crated when their owners aren't home. Bring references for your dog from former landlords or neighbors, as well as the dog's trainer. Invite your landlord to your current home to show him that your dog has not damaged the property nor has been a nuisance to the neighbors. In difficult times, people often have to move in with relatives or friends who don't like dogs or cats. This doesn't have to be an impossible situation. Use a dog crate for your pup while you aren't home. A portable kennel can be set up outside for exercise and can be sold later when you have your own place. Kitty Condos can be a way to keep your cat confined in a room in the home, and make the situation easier for your hosts to handle. Most important, don't feel that you are being unfair to your dog by moving into a smaller place than he is used to. Dogs are very adaptable. They often adjust faster than people. Where he lives isn't as important to him as with whom he lives. He wants to be with you and doesn't care where that is! Lack of Time "We don't have time for the dog"... As a puppy, your dog took far much more of your time than he does now. Are you really that busy? Can other family members help you care for the dog? Doggie Daycare, or pet sitters are widely available in the Peoria Area. A lonely neighbor or energetic student may enjoy coming to play with your pup. Perhaps you can trade services with someone. New baby If introduced correctly, there shouldn't be any problems with your pets and the baby. Remember that your pet was there first, and may react just like a first child would. Give your pet the same amount of love and attention that you did before the baby was born and you will be fine. Yes, there are precautions you'll need to take when having a baby, but getting rid of the dog isn't one of them. There's no better way to teach a child how to be loving, compassionate and responsible. Behavior If you got your pet as a puppy or kitten, and now there is a behavior problem you can't live with, you must accept the fact that you are at least partly responsible for the way your dog is now. You have 4 options: 1. You can continue to live with your pet the way he is now. 2. You can get help to correct the problem. 3. You can give the problem to someone else. 4. You can have the animal put to sleep. Obviously, the first option is out, or you wouldn't be reading this. You're probably most interested in Option 3, so let's talk frankly about that for a moment. If you were looking for a pet, and could select from all kinds of kittens, puppies, dogs and cats, would you deliberately choose one with a behavior problem? No, certainly not, and neither would anyone else! To make your pet more desirable to other people, you're going to have to take some action to fix his problems. Many behavior problems aren't that hard to solve. Please feel free to ask us for advice. If we can't help, we can point you to behaviorists and obedience classes that can. Think hard about Option 2 before deciding it won't work for you - because the only option you have left is #4: having the pet put to sleep. That's the bottom line. If you, who know the pet the best, won't give him another chance, why should someone else? If your dog has ever bitten someone... If your dog is aggressive with people, or has ever bitten someone, you shouldn't be giving him to anyone else. Could you live with yourself if that dog hurt another person, especially a child? Can you deal with the lawsuit that could result from that? You stand to lose your home and everything else you own. Lawsuits from dog bites are settling for millions of dollars in damages. Our society today has zero tolerance for a dog with bite history, no matter how minor. A dog that has bitten - whether or not it was his fault - is considered by law to be a dangerous dog. In some states, it's illegal to sell or give away a biting dog. And to be perfectly honest, no responsible person in his right mind would ever want to adopt a biting dog. No matter how much you love your dog, if he has ever bitten anyone, you only have two responsible choices. Take him to a professional trainer or behaviorist for evaluation and maybe the dog can be rehabilitated. This could be costly and time consuming, but very rewarding. If this is not an option for you, take him to your veterinarian and have him humanely euthanized. Don't leave him at a shelter where he might be frightened and confused and put other people at risk. Don't try to place him as a "guard dog" where he might be neglected, abused or used for dog fighting. As hard as it is to face, putting a potentially dangerous biting dog to sleep is often the only safe and responsible thing to do. Money Woes Talk to us. Sometimes we can help. For help with food, contact: Food 4 Paws Pet Pantry, www.food4pawsnfp.org, 309-573-7087. Surrendering your pet to Foster Pet Outreach We understand very clearly how painful giving up a pet can be, and we know there are times in life that the above solutions just can't apply. Below you will find a link to the Pet Surrender Application. To be considered, you must fill out this application. Please carefully read and understand the following: 1. Foster Pet Outreach is a very small, volunteer organization. We have less than a dozen homes available to take on this commitment. Most of the time, those homes are already filled with another foster pet. Many times, we already have another pet lined up waiting to go into a foster home. Foster homes need breaks occasionally, also, so our number of available foster homes fluctuates. 2. Our first priority is to homeless, abandoned pets. These animals are defenseless, with no one at all to care for them. Your pet is still lucky enough to have you. 3. Our second mission is to care for those pets in need of homes due to an owner's death, nursing home confinement, or serious illness. 4. Lastly considered are owner relinquished pets. We would love to find homes for each and every pet out there. It breaks our hearts to need to turn away any animal. You can help us by doing everything you can to find a home for your pet yourself. Place ads in newspapers, post flyers everywhere, call everyone you know. We know this is hard work. It's exactly what you are asking us to do for you. Please know that every single day, we are asked to take in many, many pets. Your pet may be just wonderful, but we might just not have room for one more. If we are unable to help you, please click on this list for other organizations that may be able to serve you. We know economic times are very stressful right now. They are hard for us, too. We do want to help every single pet in need. If there is a way that we can help you stay united with your pet, we want to help! Please tell us what you need to keep your pet. We'll do everything we can to keep you connected. 5. Every animal we consider is temperament tested. If your pet has any serious behavior issues, such as biting, aggression or has wetting issues, we will not be considering them. We will not be able to find a home for a pet like this. 6. It's sad to say, but there are cats everywhere. In the spring, we may receive 10 to 15 calls daily to take in litters of kittens. If each litter is 4 kittens, that means we've been asked in a single day to take in 40 to 60 cats! It is just not possible to help every one of those kittens. Please, please, please Spay and Neuter your cats and dogs!! For low cost Spay and Neuter, contact www.operationsafe.org or www.purrsonalities.net .For help in managing a feral cat colony, contact Sterile Feral Foundation at 309-663-4406. We rarely have foster homes for cats or kittens! Have you considered joining us and becoming a foster home yourself? A new cat sanctuary, Purrsonalities, is being built in North Peoria, http://www.purrsonalities.net/. Your donations are very needed to make this a reality. 7. If time is a factor for you, we won't be your best option. After calling us, it may take us 7 days to get back to you. From there, we would need to arrange for an evaluation, and find a foster home willing to help. Typically, this is not an extremely quick process, so if you are needing to rehome your pet quickly, you need to call someone else. For a stray dog, we make every effort to find solutions quickly, but an owner surrender is not our emergency - it's yours. 8. Each animal is matched carefully to the foster home. Some homes are only able to take in small dogs, or females, etc. 9. It will not help to tell us that if we don't take in your pet that you will take it to the pound and they will kill it. In the first place, that is your choice, not our choice, and secondly, many fine animals find homes from the pound. Every year, we help hundreds of pets, and you are only responsible for the one you have now. Please do the right thing. 10. We will only accept pets from the Central Illinois area. |
|
© 2007 Foster Pet Outreach |