That is so true. I told a “rescue” that I would foster a dog if it was not sick and it got along with cats. They sent me a dog straight from the shelter that wasn’t fixed, hated cats, and chased my cat all over the place and had terrible kennel cough. I was so pissed off. I kept telling her to please take The Dog somewhere else, but she waited two weeks to find somebody. In the meantime, I paid for all the dogs food, and I had to keep her separate from everyone. It was a total nightmare.
On the other hand, I just worked with a very excellent rescue and adopted a new Chihuahua. SCARS rescue in Lis angeles was awesome!!

It’s possible. Which rescue?

Great article!
Is it a red flag if they won’t tell you where they got the dog and they charge $2000 for a puppy? Maybe thats the going rate for the Seattle area. The rescue brought in 4 golden retrievers in one run and another set in another run from a month ago. They’re highly sought after dogs so it was weird that they’d have to be rescued in the first place. Almost feels like they’re an in between for a mill pretending to be a rescue.
They claimed the dogs are AKC dogs but that they made a deal with where they got the dogs to be secret.

Reading these comments & realizing there is clearly a problem.
I’m in NY State & they just passed laws about Puppy mills, but I don’t think they’ve gone into effect yet.
Well I live alone now, no pets & have lots of time, so I’ve been on Petfinder for about 5 weeks searching for a very small furry faced loving rescue puppy that I can train myself. I know a tiny dog is right for me as I get older.
My local shelters are filled with big dogs so no luck there.
Most of the “rescue” puppies that I like on Petfinder all require an inquiry, then you wait for a response by email, then they send you an application & you send it back, THEN you wait & wait only to find out the baby has already been adopted! It’s not user friendly at all!
Another HUGE issue- There are no adoption fees listed in many of their posts, it should be required for transparency with no hidden costs.
One particular non profit “rescue” that never lists their adoption fees & she won’t answer fee ?’s until after days of inquiring, submitting apps, going back & forth waiting & wasting time. Then she tells you it’s 950! These are adorable pups, but they are supposedly new babies just “rescued”, not altered & only supposedly have basic shots required. That feels very off to me! She wants that same amount for all of them! I understand there are costs involved & I’m willing to pay a fair adoption fee, but I’m thinking they are all about profit!
Petfinder should be vetting these “rescues” better & they should require the total transparency of health, fees/conditions on every post.

No, they don’t. Once they have your money you have little control. Which rescues scammed you?

Sad, but we’ve been scammed a couple of times. Does Everyone ask for a payment before you get the animal?? Why can’t you buy a dog with money in hand?

I hate people that puppy or dog is like a baby it needs love and it depends on you . I just lost my Cairn terrier My mom cried for at leasted four days broke my heart ❤️ she’s 91 i have to find her another one or maybe 2 I love her and want to see her happy 😊

I’m so sorry for your experience. That’s a great question about pet finder/adopt a pet. It’s something I’m currently looking into. They have rules that the rescues on their sites are supposed to follow but vetting is minimal. And even when I’ve sent evidence that a rescue broke their rules they are VERY hesitant about removing a bad rescue from their site.

I think most rescue groups are legitimate. The bad players are in the minority.