Rescue Centres Closed. Where to get a pup?

DBB wrote: »

I'll address a couple of things you bring up in your post, but not all of them because...well... I haven't got all day
However, I do think your post is unfair to most rescues. Perhaps there's a misunderstanding of how rescues are run, and particularly that most animal rescues are run entirely on a voluntary basis... volunteers who have families and jobs and their own things to do too, and are under just as much pressure as anyone else in these pressurised times.
What I will address is your comments about rescues not being open at this time.
Let's say they were deemed an essential service, as you've suggested, but let's also assume that no good rescue will be willing to compromise on their own cornerstones that protect both them, the dogs they rehome, and the adopters.

One of those cornerstones is that prospective homes are pre-vetted, including seeing where the dog will live, sleep, and how each family member feels about adopting a dog, as well as checking the security of the garden. In these times where there's a global pandemic, and all the constraints that involves, would I be happy to ask a volunteer to go into a stranger's house, or indeed to ask a family to invite a stranger into their home so that the home visit can be carried out? No.
Would I waive the need for a home visit? No. Never.

Dogs being surrendered have to be collected, and transported to a kennels or a foster home. At the other end of the process, dogs need to be transported from the kennels or foster home. This means people have to handle the dogs, and meet up with strangers to do the exchange. It has been recommended that people do not allow their dogs to be touched by others as they can carry the virus between people on their coat, harness/collar/lead. Would I be prepared to ask volunteers, old owners or new owners to put themselves at risk doing this to-ing and fro-ing, with multiple people handling one dog? No.

Another cornerstone of a good rescue is that all dogs will be neutered, vaccinated, microchipped, and health checked prior to moving to their new homes (an expensive process). More to-ing and fro-ing, but also, many vets simply aren't carrying out routine procedures. They're only providing emergency cover. Would I be prepared to ask a volunteer to transport dogs to the vet, or to rehome dogs that haven't had the necessary health-related factors carried out? No.

That'sjust a few considerations off the top of my head. So, even if rescues had been given essential service status, I think most rescues would have adopted the same approach of shutting up shop. Rescues generally don't view themselves as beholden to people who want a dog right here, right now. If anything, they'd take a dim view of people who aren't prepared to wait a while, and of people who don't seem to care that there's an army of volunteers out there whose health should not be put in peril because they want a dog and they want it now.
Most rescues got their dogs out into foster homes before the stricter restrictions came in. The number of dogs being surrendered has tailed right off during the restrictions. So most rescues aren't under that much pressure to offload dogs in any case. Certainly, good rescues won't move dogs at any cost, nor ask their volunteers to do anything unsafe.