Fluff and Feathers

I see this often, and it sets adopters up for failure. Look, I get it, I worked at a rescue for 6 years full time. It is a business, and you need animals to be adopted to make profit to pay employees and continue the mission of saving animals who need to be rehomed.

As a behavioralist and trainer, I meet with these people after the adoption. I often get told phrases like…
“This is not the dog that was advertised to me”
“This is not the life I envisioned with a dog”
“If I would have known, we would have went with a different dog”
“I am so attatched to them now, so I can’t rehome them, but life with them is unbearable”
“I’m starting to resent my dog”

If rescues were more up front of their animals behaviors, it would actually align more with their missions than sugar coating the behaviors so they seem more adoptable to more people than they really are. It sets adopters up for failure and causes dogs to be brought back. Then the rescue gets to say “to no fault of the dog” or bash someone for not “waiting it out.” Sure, it happens as the rescues describe, but it usually is not the dogs fault or the adopters but the rescue for not marketing the dog appropriately.