We went through a rather costly (gas, time, and tolls, namely) process of trying to adopt their Tibetan Mastiff, Leo at the Forked River location. In spite of explaining in great detail our living situation and plans for him, we were denied. My fiancé and I have a good amount of experience with giant breed dogs (we both had Newfoundlands in the past, and my fiancé actually had one of Michael Vick's fighting pitbulls that he successfully rehabbed). We told them that I don't work (so I'm home 90% of the time), how big our yard, apartment, and fence are (we live on Long Island in Queens County, and our apartment is actually positively massive for what we pay in rent and for NYC standards. Our downstairs area can easily fit at least 2 shoebox studio apartments) with every visit, and explained that we have the beach nearby and a dog park with 10' high fences segregating different areas - an agility course, a main play area, and a 3rd for "problematic" dogs who can't be around other dogs/people. They could also very clearly see our boxer is a very loving, extremely happy, and well-adjusted girl who would have been a perfect sister for him (Leo and our Penny got along great). She's hyper, but A.) What boxer isn't? & B.) we've done a ton of work with her on some things surrounding that. We told them all of this from the beginning and reiterated all of those things with each visit. They continued to allow us to visit and bond and kind of acted like Leo would be going home with us.
Leo really gravitated to my fiancé, roommate, and me and we all bonded rather quickly. They brought him up for a home visit, where he was very obviously quite comfortable (tail down- a sign that he's relaxed), he didn't even really bark all that much or pay a ton of attention to strangers passing by (something they told us he has a habit of doing). When they left, Leo kept pulling his leash trying to get back to us. The handlers had to physically pick him up to put him in the car while he continued to try getting back to us.
We were denied. For what seems and feels like BS reasons. Why continue to allow us to visit and make the effort to bring him up for a home visit only to say no in the end, after letting all of us get attached to him? My fiancé and I are very honest people and we could easily admit it if we weren't a good fit for Leo, but we really truly feel that we would have been the best family for him.
It's very sad for Leo. He will be 2 in February and bringing him into our home now would have been the perfect time to adopt him and bring him into our home. The foot and car traffic around our place is drastically reduced in the colder months, so we could have really worked with him to get him as adjusted as possiblr in time for Spring/Summer and the crowds that come along with those seasons. Not to mention, we plan to move back home to the South where we will buy a house somewhat out in the country with a much bigger back yard and higher fence than where we are now.
It's sad and heartbreaking. The longer Leo stays at that shelter, the harder it's going to be for anyone to adopt him and do any type of social rehabilitation. I really think his "main handler" is attached to him, and doesn't really want to let him go, even though she can't take him home herself apparently. They've essentially condemned this poor, beautiful guy to live in that shelter for the rest of his life. The longer he's there, the worse he's going to get with his wariness of people and whatnot. Eventually, he will become entirely unadoptable- and it WILL be sooner rather than later.
I've also heard that this place isn't really a Non-Profit Organization like they claim to be, but that's just hearsay. Could be untrue, but there could be some partial truth to that as well.
The employees are largely very friendly, and everyone we spoke to about hoping to adopt Leo was really rooting for us, but yeah.
My fiancé and I will never ever attempt to adopt from a shelter ever again. I was hesitant about even trying to begin with, but we fell in love with Leo and decided to try. It's a real shame, but I refuse to be put through this kind of situation ever again.
It's (reputable, of course) breeders from now on for us. read more