# Home Visit? Breed-Specific Rescue



## loquats (Jun 4, 2014)

Can anyone give some insight on home visits and adopting through breed-specific rescues? 

At present, I'm really enjoying the process. I know that we're going to get a dog well-suited for our family and lifestyle, and I appreciate that they're taking the time to place a dog that they obviously care for. But! We have our first home visit on Sunday, and I'm a little nervous about what they're looking for / being judged by an absolute stranger. Is there anything in particular that we should expect or prepare for? I'm spending tomorrow cleaning and tidying in preparation, but there's not a whole heck of a lot that I can do or change... our home is what it is. 

Also, the volunteer coming by said that he can answer any breed-related questions we have about Brittanys. I've researched them pretty extensively, but I am going to have my girlfriend ask about his take on grooming, as well as off-leash responsiveness/distractability... exercise requirements too. How they handle human sick days, for instance. Is there anything else that I might have her bring up? 

I will be at work all day, thankfully.


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## londontami (May 27, 2014)

i went through this with labrador rescue. they want to make sure you have suitable housing, like your yard: is it fenced? is the house large enough for a large breed? are there other pets in the house? are there children in the house?

the primary question on the form will be (this is directed towards the person doing the house check) would you feel comfortable leaving your own dog in this house? if the home checker says yes to this question, your ok.

i know that for labs, they have to make sure your fencing is high enough because rescue dogs are most likely to be runners.


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## Kayla_Nicole (Dec 19, 2012)

For the rescue we went through, all people and animals who live in the home had to be present for the home visit, so I'm surprised they were ok with scheduling while you are at work. 

They typically want to see the environment of the home situation....does everything look safe? relatively clean with no obvious hazards? Are the other animals in good condition, happy, healthy? If you said you don't have young kids, is that true? 

Our breed-specific rescue only requires fences for certain dogs based on their history, so if you said on the application that you have a fence, is that true? Is it secure?

That's basically it. My home visit only took like 10 minutes, and that was mostly because the lady was visiting with our other dog. We've also volunteered to do home visits for other potential adopters through this same rescue, and I've followed the same protocol. 

The adoption coordinator at the wheaten rescue usually asks the home visit volunteer afterward "would you feel comfortable leaving your own dog with the potential adopter while you go on vacation?" So she can get our gut feeling about the adoptor.


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## ireth0 (Feb 11, 2013)

Most of the time home checks are just to verify that the information you provided to the rescue is correct. For example, if you said you don't have kids, but there is a kid's bedroom. Or if you said you didn't have other pets, and there is a litterbox.

They may also make suggestions on things to improve, like securing garbage cans or fixing gaps in a fence, but from what I understand it's more of a formality to make sure your home is what you said it was, and there aren't any glaring red flags.


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## dagwall (Mar 17, 2011)

In general home visits are just someone coming to your house to verify the information you put on your application is true. For example if you said you have no cats, one dog, a fenced yard, no kids, lived with one other adult in a townhouse this is what they expect to see when they are at your house. If they show up and see a litter box, kids toys, and either no fence or not the fence you described you're in trouble. If you were honest on your application you should be fine. 

It is odd for they to have a home visit when you aren't there though. At least for the rescue I volunteer with the biggest part of the home visit is just sitting down and talking with the potential adopters and making sure they understand and are ready for the commitment of a new dog. They do a quick check that your home is what you claimed but really they just want to sit down and chat with you. Go over the rough costs of a dog per year, importance of exercise, good food, possible need of a training class, and just the general life altering experience adding a dog to your home is. 

For my own home visit when I adopted my dog we sat down in the living room and talked for a while, she looked in my backyard and we were done. At the time the gate to my fence was falling off and one of the storm drain pipes in the middle of the yard was missing a cover. I simply told her we'd be buying a cover for the drain in the next few days and were looking for a contractor to replace the entire fence. We were approved and picked up my boy a few days later.


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## loquats (Jun 4, 2014)

Oh, that's easy enough. The majority of my home visit experiences has been with adoption and foster-type situations (for children), which are obviously more stringent. I think my imagination got the best of me. We were very honest about our situation, so there shouldn't be anything to send up red flags... 

And we actually emailed the volunteer yesterday to ask if we could postpone until Tuesday or the following Sunday. Hopefully his schedule allows for that. Fingers crossed!

Thanks for all the input -- we're not sure if the dog we applied for is the right one for us (issues with men) _BUT_ we do really want a Brittany. Having an approved application on file will make it a lot easier when/if the right dog comes in.


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## sassafras (Jun 22, 2010)

I had a home visit for Maisy. Basically I think they just want to make sure you aren't a big fat liar and actually see that you live where you say you do, you have what you say you do (eg a fence if you said so) and don't live among piles of hoarded newspapers or something. It wasn't a big deal at all.


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## Kirska (Jun 9, 2014)

I have done many home visits, and also have had home visits done on me when I've adopted.

Generally speaking I can almost guarantee that the foster parent or rescuer's house is in worse shape than their's. I don't care what their house cleanliness is like, honestly. I am just looking for red flags: fence in disrepair, signs of hoarding, anything that obviously conflicts with what they put on their app, signs of dog breeding or other irresponsible ownership, that sort of thing.

Requiring home visits has a lot to do with weeding out bad applicants up front. If someone has something to hide like dog fighting, they're never going to agree to allow a home visit to begin with.

In short as long as you don't have any obvious dangers to the dog and you're a decent person, it's nothing to worry about.


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