[Responsible Dog Owners]

I have, what I consider, an ugly tail to tell. I spent most of Thurs. night on the phone with a rescue family, who is caring for the Brussels Griffon now; an administrator, who runs Pet Connection out of Petco; a genuine angel, who first new of the neighbor's dog that would be adopted and a resident who was interested in adopting the dog.

The resident received a call from Mullberry Animal Hosp. inquiring if she was interested in adopting the dog since Dr. Teitlebaum knew this resident already had a Brussels Griffon. The resident called me to verify it was the same dog. I received a call from another concerned resident (not sure how she plays in this) who gave me the resident angel's number. She explained that the day a garage sale was to take place, at the deceased lady's house, the administrator showed up to take the dog. The angel felt there was not a lot of caring from the start. The administrator took the dog back to Petco and the rescue family took the dog home. The rescue family said they would like to keep the dog. (That could be why I wasn't able to get any photos) Apparently the rescue family's other dog would not accept the Brussels Griffon and so the door was opened for adoption. The rescue family told me that the administrator wanted $150 for adoption and she wished I would call her to change her mind. I called and she told me, "When I saw the breed I knew I could get $150. for it" WOW Did that set me back on my heels. I then called the rescue family back, her line was busy and when I finally got through her entire attitude had changed. She was now defending the administrator and equated the administrator's fee to what she believed to be akin to Socialized Medicine which she totally agreed with.

I left a message for the adoptive family, apologizing for any hardship I caused her in making a decision to take another dog..shocking her with "adoption fees" and the entire process.

Folks, I am the first to admit RDOG is not involved in the rescue community. We don't even know if this is a common practice. RDOG came into existence to build more dog parks in The Villages and on our journey we began advocating responsible dog ownership.

RDOG is not even sure this is appropriate behavior for rescue organizations, but we do know that if RDOG is involved in any other adoptions, RDOG will not charge any fees for adoption. We have successfully adopted out three dogs to date and feel if a person is willing to open their homes and hearts, there's no need to open their wallets too.

Obviously this is not a story I like to report since we like to share happy stories, but I think is worth repeating so others know what's going on with our "rescue organizations." I leave you to come to your own conclusions regarding this behavior understanding that these resuce organizations need funding, however, donations, fund raisers, etc. are what should fund their love of animal recovery, not the the pockets of unsuspecting, caring adoptive families.