ISPCA Home Visit

IloveConverse

Hi everyone,

My family has placed a reserve on a 2 month old Labrador X Collie at the ISPCA center and the Home Visit will be taking place tomorrow:

Before the Volunteer visits, I'd like to get a better insight into what the procedure is- We have fenced a spacious dog run with 4 foot diamond wire fencing and have built a dog house big enough for this breed. We also have bought good quality puppy food, bowls, a dog bed, blanket, collar & leash and a toy. The house will be set-up as it would when the puppy would be living here.

Are there any routine questions that are asked? Is there anything else needed out from what I have listed above?

Thank you for your help. It's greatly appreciated. We really want the Home Visit to go well!

toadfly

Every rescue has different requirements so can't speak for that rescue. The one I have done home visits for we have a questionnaire that we go through with the family. Things like where the dog will sleep, how long will he be alone for during the day, where he will stay during family holidays etc

I know a lot of rescues won't rehome to an outdoor home, are you planning on leaving him in the run most of the time?

IloveConverse

Hi, thanks a million for your reply. It's really helpful.

He'll be sleeping in our home at night as a puppy. The run will be there for him during the day if we are gone to town etc. so that he won't come to any harm.

We are hoping to relocate him to the shed for sleeping when he gets old enough to do so. The lady at the center said that 6 months is the age that we could put him into the shed at- Is this sufficient for him?

Thanks very much for your help.

Toulouse

In 4-6 months time it will be Oct - Dec and freezing. If you are hell bent on having the dog sleep outside then I'd be waiting until temperatures start coming up again late next spring, early next summer.

Edited to add I'm presuming it's an 8 week old pup we're talking about here.

ShaShaBear

I don't know much about it since my dog is and always has been indoors, but I can't imagine the poor thing taking too kindly to being hoofed outside to sleep in the winter after 6 months of being warm and safe indoors with its family. Any destruction or damage it is going to cause, you will have to train it out of during these 6 months it is indoors, and then at that stage when the puppy is trained I can't honestly see why you would put it outside to sleep.

IloveConverse

ShaShaBear wrote: »

I don't know much about it since my dog is and always has been indoors, but I can't imagine the poor thing taking too kindly to being hoofed outside to sleep in the winter after 6 months of being warm and safe indoors with its family. Any destruction or damage it is going to cause, you will have to train it out of during these 6 months it is indoors, and then at that stage when the puppy is trained I can't honestly see why you would put it outside to sleep.

Thanks very much for your reply. Taking your comment into consideration, it would make a lot more sense to keep him indoors if he were to be kept inside for 6 months. The shed is quite warm as it's well insulated, but when he is house-trained it'd be fine for him to sleep in the house.

Alternatively, what age would be appropriate to let the dog sleep in the shed at, assuming he were to be kept in our home to gain his strength as he's only 8 weeks old? I've looked at a couple of pages online, and 16 weeks seems to be the average from what I've read.

Thanks to all for their advice.

ShaShaBear

IloveConverse wrote: »

Thanks very much for your reply. Taking your comment into consideration, it would make a lot more sense to keep him indoors if he were to be kept inside for 6 months. The shed is quite warm as it's well insulated, but when he is house-trained it'd be fine for him to sleep in the house.

Alternatively, what age would be appropriate to let the dog sleep in the shed at, assuming he were to be kept in our home to gain his strength as he's only 8 weeks old? I've looked at a couple of pages online, and 16 weeks seems to be the average from what I've read.

Thanks to all for their advice.

I have no objections to dogs sleeping outside by the way, apologies if I sounded harsh. But it just seems as though if you are fine with letting him sleep inside, and by 6 months he will be trained and used to being inside, that outside might be a bit of a shock. It might be fine to slowly integrate him to outside this time next year when the weather is good and give him the option.

I imagine 16 weeks would be fine, but obviously if the shed is going to be closed/locked, you'd still need to make sure he is getting out of it to go to the toilet as he would still be quite young with regards to holding it.

Since he is leaving his mother and siblings quite early, human interaction and comfort is quite important, so the more he gets of that the better. It's all too easy for even the most well-intended puppy owner to "forget" about their dog when it lives outside (sometimes this is just as simple as ignoring him, out of sight out of mind and all of that) and then when a situation arises that the dog might need to come inside, eg terrified of fireworks, surgery, bad weather etc, the little things that us indoor dog owners learn to live with can be really irksome, like floating tumbleweeds of hair about the same size as your actual dog, a delightful doggie odour, weird wet marks on floors, walls, tiles where the dog smells something tasty that may or may not have been there once upon a time, and most important of all, an overwhelming amount of excitement when visitors arrive.

If you would like the option to have your dog sleep outside, as well as inside, I think crate training from when he arrives will be a good step forward. It helps with toilet training, anxiety, and destructiveness and when he is older and very much attached to his crate, you could simply move it outside into the shed.

Toulouse

IloveConverse wrote: »

Thanks very much for your reply. Taking your comment into consideration, it would make a lot more sense to keep him indoors if he were to be kept inside for 6 months. The shed is quite warm as it's well insulated, but when he is house-trained it'd be fine for him to sleep in the house.

Alternatively, what age would be appropriate to let the dog sleep in the shed at, assuming he were to be kept in our home to gain his strength as he's only 8 weeks old? I've looked at a couple of pages online, and 16 weeks seems to be the average from what I've read.

Thanks to all for their advice.

Taken from the organistation in questions rehoming criteria

"It is preferred that a dog is homed as a house-pet; however if homed as an outside dog it must have access to a kennel during the day and either a garage or shed at night. Puppies will not be homed to sleep outdoors."

At 16 weeks a dog is still very much a pup. Also how are you going to house train overnight unless the the dog is in the house? Puppies cannot hold their bladders overnight until they are older, you will need to get up with him.

I'm afraid I'm a big believer in dogs sleeping in the home so apologies if it's coming across too strongly in my posts but it just rings alarm bells for me when people who are looking to adopt a family pet are so keen to find out exactly what age he can go outside at.

If it's okay for him to sleep in now, and okay for him to sleep in when he's housetrained then why are you discussing putting him out to sleep in a shed at all?

Edited to add I completely agree with crate triaining and think you'd find it beneficial. Lots of good advice on this forum about it if you do a search.

maggiepip

Toulouse wrote: »

Taken from the organistation in questions rehoming criteria

"It is preferred that a dog is homed as a house-pet; however if homed as an outside dog it must have access to a kennel during the day and either a garage or shed at night. Puppies will not be homed to sleep outdoors."

At 16 weeks a dog is still very much a pup. Also how are you going to house train overnight unless the the dog is in the house? Puppies cannot hold their bladders overnight until they are older, you will need to get up with him.

I'm afraid I'm a big believer in dogs sleeping in the home so apologies if it's coming across too strongly in my posts but it just rings alarm bells for me when people who are looking to adopt a family pet are so keen to find out exactly what age he can go outside at.

If it's okay for him to sleep in now, and okay for him to sleep in when he's housetrained then why are you discussing putting him out to sleep in a shed at all?

Edited to add I completely agree with crate triaining and think you'd find it beneficial. Lots of good advice on this forum about it if you do a search.

Couldnt agree more, and also Im actually quite surprised that this organisation is willing to rehome a dog to owners with the intention of moving the dog outside. I thought it was only in exceptional circumstances that they did so. Certainly when we adopted from them it was made clear that they expected the dog to be an indoor house pet with lots of company and stimulation and treated as a member of the family and never left alone for long - which was our full intention anyway.

Aye Bosun

I had a home visit before I picked up my pup with the DSPCA, it was very quick, he came into the back garden, checked for place for holes he could escape from and that was it really. They just want to have a quick peek at your home to make sure you're not a puppy farm or fighting dogs etc. It's really not that big a deal. All the hard questions where asked when i was applying to adopt him ie. will he be an inside or outside dog, how long will he be left at home etc.

The whole home visit last less than 3 mins from ringing door bell to getting back in his van. Good luck!

anniehoo

Aye Bosun wrote: »

The whole home visit last less than 3 mins from ringing door bell to getting back in his van. Good luck!

Yeah it really is quick, i also homecheck for adoption too. It's really just to make sure you're not a crazy person or some weird animal hoarder and you are genuinely ready to adopt a dog Most rescues put so much time,effort and money into rehoming these dogs, the last thing they want to do is fall at the last hurdle and give these dogs out to the wrong people. Some organisations are very strict, which is sometimes fair enough as they do not want to see that dog come back to them as you can imagine.