When I was on craigslist looking for pups that need rehoming I stumbled on this interesting post, that was in response to another post:
Your Ad sort of touched me ,and I am having a attack of conscious right
now so I am going to let you know what happen to you. You see, I worked
for a well respected Rescue for many years. What happened to you is
that an employee got a phone call from the rescue during your adoption
process. Your dog was sold from under your nose as you were signing the
papers. This was something that I used to do all the time.
I learned from the best. I had connections at every shelter up and down
California to Nevada. I’d call these employees everyday to find out
which dogs ware available. I wanted lap dogs, I wanted puppies, I
wanted valuable breeds which I could pump and dump. After I made my
calls I would take a wad of cash with me. The employees at the shelter
would get a “Referral Fee” , most other people would say this was a
kickback. This fee would vary depending on the age , breed, ect. A lot
of times my contacts would just keep the dogs off the books so I could
come and get them. It also wasn’t above us to check ads in the paper
and the internet and respond to lost dog threads as the owner for
valuable breeds. It amazing how flashing cash in front of someone as a
reward made it so much easier to people to give up the dog to us.If
they were micro-chipped we would just degauss it.
We wanted small dogs and puppies because they were easy to care of
and easy to move. Since we were a non profit we did occasionally bring
in the older dog from a kill shelter. We called them our “Show” dogs ,
as we pretty much just kept them in their cages so we can save face.
They never got sold and usually died. They were there to make us seem
like were doing the right thing. And we did think that but, deep down
we knew we were just working a sales position.
If you ever had a Job in sales you would know that selling is easy.
The great thing about being a rescue is that people actually feel good
about themselves when they buy a dog from us.” Adoption fees” maybe the
greatest term ever for this business. You as the consumer are Adoptiong
this poor little homeless animal .The dogs sold themselves especially
when you threw in some sob story about where you rescued the dog from
We would charge 200 – 500 dollars for every dog. And we always have the
answer for any question someone might have.
“why so much?” – this covers spayed/neuter, de worm, shots and
microchip – this was already done by the shelter and didn’t cost us a
thing. Even if it wasn’t we said that is was. Occasionally we said they
had to have surgery for some unknown illness we just made up out of the
top of our head. People bought it like crazy .
Many people have asked me about saying “ We charge because we want
to make sure you can afford your animal.” People are stupid but not
that stupid. If a car salesman told you “we are charging twice amount
for your car to make sure you can pay for gas” you would probably walk
out of the dealership. I never brought this up and only would
acknowledge it if the customer said something of the sort ( WHICH TOLD
ME THEY WERE ALSO GULLIBLE)
Never bring your kid to buy a dog. I would make sure you paid at
least 400 dollars. We also would do other things like say we had a
stringent adoption process , that way the customer felt like we sold
quality animals and they were well taken care of under our care.
Cash is king in the animal sales world. Most of my transactions
were cash and never reported. I was making anywhere form 500- 2k a day.
I quit because of a attack of conscious and competition from other
Rescues was cutting into my profit margin.
your ad
Yesterday I went to a animal shelter to get to get a puppy for our
family. My little 5 year old son was so happy. Inside the shelter they
had this adorable little pug puppy with this one droopy ear. My son
instantly fell in love. They wanted $175 for it , which I thought was a
little high but, I jumped on it. As I was going through the adoption
process I was told some horrible news, that the puppy wasn't available
anymore as someone else had first dibs. My son was devastated and
started to cry. I was a little suspicious as earlier they said they
just got the puppy in and it was available but, overall I didn't think
too much of it.
Today I saw the same dog with the droopy ear being sold outside a
store by a Rescue. They wanted 450 dollars for it. My son went
ballistic, he is just so sad. My question is , is this legal for
Shelters and Rescues to do this? Even though I didn't loose any money
or anything, I feel lied to , scammed and sorry for my son. How can
this happen???



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