Pet Adoption, a Lifetime Commitment

Ever thought about saving a life? Are you interested in a long-term commitment? These two questions should be considered when adopting a rescue animal.
The thought of adopting an animal could come from a heart-warming television commercial or from an advertisement on the internet showing homeless pets. Either attraction is an attention getter for anyone who is a devoted animal lover.
For Washington State University student, Danielle Phelps she thought of adopting a puppy through animalshelter.org. Animalshelter.org is in association with the Northern Idaho Animal Rescue (N.I.A.R.) in Lewiston, Idaho.
Phelps went online to their website and searched through the different dog breeds to find the one she wanted. Phelps then contacted N.I.A.R through email on the puppy she was interested in. This was the easy part of the process.
“There were a million and one questions that I needed to answer, who knew adopting a puppy would be this ridiculous,” Phelps replied to the application that was sent to her by N.I.A.R. Phelps described the process as adopting a child instead of trying to adopt a puppy.
The questionnaire portion of the application was the tedious part. N.I.A.R was concerned about one thing, and that was making sure that their animals were going into the perfect home, described Phelps.
Some of the key facts that N.I.A.R wanted to know, Phelps describes is if there will be a fenced in yard, training for the animal, other pets in the household or children and the most important question they were concerned with was whether or not the animal will be fixed.
Foster parent for the Seattle Animal Shelter, Madeline McCarthy said that these long adoption processes are not uncommon. McCarthy said it is standard protocol for each family to go through an interview process in order to adopt a pet.
“My job as a foster parent is to raise the kittens that have been left behind and care for them until I find a proper home,” said McCarthy. “Seattle Animal Shelter does it this way so no animal has to grow up in a cage.” McCarthy’s specialty is caring for cats.
McCarthy conducts the interview process the same way as Phelps received the application questionnaire. McCarthy said she asks the same million questions about the interviewee’s lives.
McCarthy uses tactics while interviewing families. While she is asking the questions she waits to see how long the response takes and what their facial expressions may be. “This shows whether or not they are lying to us by how long it takes them to answer a question,” McCarthy said. “We can tell when someone is trying to paint a perfect picture for us and when someone is trying to tell the actual truth.”
McCarthy and the Seattle Animal Shelter know that families will do anything for a pet, and some even going as far as lying about their living conditions. The interview process they hope will help weed out the good from the bad with families. McCarthy said they know they can’t find out about each of their families lives but they do their best in trying to ensure their pets are being put to a safe home.
The process for adopting a rescue animal is tedious but the reward is greater in itself. Phelps can only describe the feeling of getting your new pet for the first time as receiving this huge gift that you know will change your life.