Sometimes I foster dogs and cats that are up for adoption with rescue groups. To foster an animal means to provide it with a loving home until it gets adopted.
I usually post my foster animals on Craigslist one time each as a way to get more attention to them.
Do you think it’s a good idea to post rescue animals on Craigslist?
I’ve never actually asked 4 Luv of Dog Rescue or Adopt-A-Pet if it’s OK to use Craigslist to promote their animals. I figured I’d hear soon enough if this was a big no-no.
Well, a few weeks ago Adopt-A-Pet asked me to remove my foster cat Ninja from Craigslist.
So I did.
I understand where the rescue is coming from. It is only looking out for the best interest of the animals.
I just can’t agree with its decision never to use Craigslist.
446 impounded cats were euthanized in our three local pounds during 2010, according to the pound stats reported by Adopt-A-Pet. Forty-two impounded dogs were also killed.
Craigslist is an easy and free way to match these homeless cats and dogs with potential homes. People are searching Craigslist for animals anyway. The rescues should take advantage of this.
Craigslist is a good place to post dogs for adoption
I see Craigslist for what it is – another tool people are using to find animals for adoption.
People search Craigslist.
They search PetFinder.
They check Facebook.
They search blogs.
And if they are aware of the actual rescue site, they might check that.
Perfectly acceptable and loving dog owners use Craigslist all the time to look for animals to adopt.
I search the local pet section on Craigslist at least once per week.
Rescues should want to be where people are already looking.
It shouldn’t matter if someone finds the rescue’s web site through a Google search, a Craigslist search or a blog. What matters is that people are finding the rescue’s site somehow!
There are a lot of local dogs and cats that have been up for adoption with 4 Luv of Dog Rescue, Adopt-A-Pet and the humane society for well over a year. The more people who see these animals, the better.
Why can Craigslist be a bad place to post dogs for adoption?
Because there are animal abusers out there who spend time on Craigslist looking for free animals.
“Free to good home” dogs and cats are easily obtained for research, dog fighting, baiting, etc.
I don’t know how often this actually happens. There is no real way of knowing.
But I thought this was a reason why rescues have strict adoption policies in place. It’s why rescues have extensive adoption applications and interviews. It’s why they check references, do home visits and charge adoption fees.
All of these steps are in place to help separate the good homes from the bad.
Bad people are out there. They are on Craigslist, but they are everywhere else, too.
I choose to believe there are more good people using Craigslist than bad.
Most people love animals.
How to properly post a dog on Craigslist
I have used Craigslist for the past few years to post animals for adoption.
The key to posting on Craigslist is to do it properly.
Post sparingly.
If you post too often, you will be flagged as spam and your account and/or your IP address will be banned from Craigslist.
So don’t post an animal more than once a month or maybe even every six weeks. When you write your second post, change up the copy so it’s different than your first. Or create a second Craigslist account with a different email address.
Work within the rules.
Craigslist has strict policies for animal postings.
No animal “sales” are allowed on Craigslist.
“Re-homing” an animal is OK, along with a small adoption fee.
My Craigslist posts say something simple like this:
Purebred American Eskimo dog in Fargo needs a new home. 9 years old. Very sweet and laid back. Up to date on shots. Neutered. Kennel trained. Housebroken. Doesn’t do well with kids, but OK with other pets. He is my foster dog. Email for more info.
That’s it.
Then I include two or three closeup, really cute photos.
Notice I do not mention the name of the rescue or any fees. Doing either could get the post flagged for removal.
I don’t even put my name or email in the posting. I just use the automated email that Craigslist gives me, which will funnel the emails to my gmail inbox. I usually get one response or so per week, so nothing out of control.
Usually the emails are from people who ask which rescue organization the animal is with and what the adoption policy is.
I answer all the questions I can and direct anyone who’s interested to the rescue’s web site where the adoption process is explained in detail. This weeds out the majority of the bad people because animal abusers are not going to deal with rescues.
Unfortunately there are much easier ways to obtain free dogs and cats for dog fighting or research. I wish that wasn’t the case.
Be careful if you are re-homing an animal on Craigslist.
I realize that no matter what, life gets in the way and good people have to find new homes for their pets.
I have never had to re-home an animal, so I can only try to imagine how hard that would be.
I know if I were in that situation, I would try to face reality sooner rather than later. I know it can take many weeks to find a good home for a dog. I wouldn’t want to wait until the last minute because I would be forced to make desperate choices. My dog deserves better.
If I knew I had to find Ace a better home, I would do my best to accept this early on and begin planning. For all Ace has done for me, I would make sure to take enough time to find him the best home.
Craigslist would be an appropriate tool for doing so.
Smart people will use Craigslist properly.
Unfortunately there are a lot of unintelligent people out there who try to re-home their dogs on Craigslist by letting them go to pretty much anyone.
Those of us who care about dogs are smart about the process and make sure to interview the potential adopters. Meet the entire family. Check references. Make arrangements to visit their home.
I wouldn’t necessarily charge a re-homing fee for my dog. Whether or not someone is able or willing to shell out $50 for a dog would not make or break the deal for me.
I know what you’re thinking. A re-homing fee will weed out the psychos looking for a free dog.
Well, I got my dog for free.
I’m not a psycho.
Ace and I are happy.
I don’t know what I’d do without him.
So I’m dying to know, do you believe Craigslist is an appropriate tool for re-homing a dog or cat?
Pictured is my foster dog Cosmo – up for adoption with 4 Luv of Dog Rescue. He’s an older guy. Sweet and laid back. Likes to keep to himself. He’s a purebred American Eskimo dog.
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You know what? You really made me think about this. My gut reaction was “OMG.. how stupid to list dogs on Craigslist.. that’s where all the crazies are”.
but you really put this in perspective for me. Thank you for a though provoking post.
Haha. Thanks for your honesty. And good to hear from you!
I think if it is done responsibly and the person responding to the ad still needs to meet the rescue’s requirement then it is no different than posting on the rescue’s site. It is great exposure for a dog looking for their forever home
Every rescue has its own way of doing things. I have heard of many rescues that won’t even consider adopting to an applicant who doesn’t have a fenced yard. Even when the person has a detailed plan for how the will get the dog exercise, etc. I hope the rescue you work with is willing to discuss the exposure benefits of posting on CL.
Hope your fosters find their forever homes soon!
See, that’s what I think, too. It’s no different than posting on the rescue’s site.
I know of a rescue that won’t adopt dogs out to anyone without a fenced yard. That is a huge mistake. I have never had a fenced yard for my dog Ace, and he and I used to run 6 miles together every day. Now that he’s older, he doesn’t need as much exercise, but we still go for lots of walks.
But…but…if I have a fenced yard then I don’t have to walk my dog! /sarcasm
I was rejected by a rescue for that very reason. Still don’t have a yard, but the furball and I have done 15 miles so far this week.
Regardless of whether or not the rescue’s vetting criteria is crazy (also had one reject me for me not being able to guarantee my home dynamic (aka no children in the house) would not change for the next 10-15 years) if they still do the vetting process there’s nothing wrong with using Craigslist for additional exposure. There’s also nothing stopping the crazies from visiting the shelter/rescue in person and lying their way through the interview.
All true! Thanks, Cat! How dare you have a dog with no yard?
Personally I don’t think there is a huge problem posting animals on craigslist. However, I have issues with the re-homing fee. Don’t get me wrong, I think there should be one because it prevents laboratories and such from procuring free animals. But when I see an ad that says something to the like of “no more time for pet, needs a good home $$ re-homing fee”. I don’t think the original owner should be “rewarded” for giving up their pet. I think that the re-homing fee should be a donation to a local animal shelter instead of to the original owner.
Oh gosh, I completely agree. I actually wrote a post about how I will never pay a re-homing fee to an individual: http://www.thatmutt.com/2009/02/18/giving-away-free-dogs/
I think it is a wonderful idea and I guess I don’t really understand why you shouldn’t be able to, the person still has to go through the adoption process whether the first time they see them is on Craigslist, in the pet store or on the rescue site..
Exactly.
I agree that since you are doing your research on the person adopting the pet that it doesn’t matter whether you post the pet on Pet Finder, Craigslist, or other high traffic areas where good people are looking for pets.
I wasn’t looking for a dog but someone told me about this dog on Craigslist. Maya, who was originally adopted from PetsMart, was the cutest puppy ever so I took her home. That was almost four years ago. Maya is the happiest and healthiest dog and I love her very very much.
My mom’s two dogs are also from Craigslist. She got Rocky about 6 years ago. Solo came from deplorable conditions and might have been put to sleep if the people who had her decided to drop her off at a shelter (Solo has aggression issues and the small town shelter was already overrun with dogs). But thanks to Craigslist, Solo now lives happily in a home where people love her and care for her.
This is proof that Craigs list offers good people a chance to get great pets and give them a second chance.
There are a lot more happy stories that come from posting dogs on Craigslist than there are unhappy stories. Thanks for sharing! Sounds like Maya, Rocky and Solo are all doing well!
I used to breed sugar gliders and I used the same method. Regardless of HOW someone finds me to get in touch with, my process for finding a suitable home was the same. The key is traffic, you want people to see your post. If you post it somewhere that doesn’t get traffic, and you only get one response (or no responses!) then you don’t have the chance to find the best fit because there’s nothing to compare it to! Or (especially important for you!) you end up keeping the fostered dog and cannot open your home to more foster pets which need a second chance at life!
Yeah I guess that’s the reason I use Craigslist – I don’t want to foster one animal for longer than necessary. I like to be proactive about the process.
I think it is perfectly appropriate. I read through them every once in a while and it makes me sad. If I could save them all, I would! I used Petfinder to find my 2 as I didn’t even think of Craigslist. But that is fate and I am A-OK about it.
If there ever comes a time that I am ready to add to my family, I will there for sure!
Good to hear!
Craigs list is where I got Bruno from. The girl wanted a 75.00 rehoming fee and I was more than happy to pay it. She drove him from over by duluth to me and gave me his kennel, toys, and food. She was pretty sad to see him go but said her boyfriend wouldnt let her keep him. I felt like telling her time to get rid of the boyfriend.
I generally judge people by if they like animals or not. If not they are probably not good people. And probably not worth knowing.
Bruno kind of reminds me of Ace. I’m glad he has a good home with you. I’m sure his previous owner was sad to see him go. Hopefully she has a new dog and a new boyfriend now.
I found my pup on Craigslist. She came from a family who realized that they were not able to give her the attention she needed. I paid some sort of re-homing fee ($75 I think?) but it included a crate, leash, toys, water bowl, collar, vaccinations and bag of kibble. I saw it as not paying for the dog but for paying for all of the stuff that came with Luna. When I start looking for pup #2 at some point I will absolutely look on craigslist again. I have found rescues difficult to work with in the past. I rent my home, do not have a fence, feed raw and do not vaccinate EVERY year. I guess this means I do not deserve to have a dog. I am all for rescues making sure that their animals go to good homes but not having a fence does not mean that I will not take my pups on MULTIPLE walks a day plus take them to work with me! Plus some rescues want up to $300-400 for a dog! While I fully support the work that they do and would happily donate money to them (if I had more) I would rather be able to put the money into training my new dog and providing healthy food. Maybe that is selfish but I am already stretching my finances by having animal friends in my life and want to make sure that they are well taken care of- no matter what.
I know what you mean about not wanting to deal with the politics of a rescue. I might adopt my next animal from a rescue, but I also might adopt an animal from an individual like I did with my mutt Ace. This was a positive experience. He was well cared for, but like so many people, the original owners realized they didn’t have much time for him and someone else would provide him with the love and attention he needed – me! I would not have found my dog without the help of Adopt-A-Pet, however, which is a local rescue in my town. He was listed as a “courtesy” posting on their site, meaning he was not with the rescue but the rescue allows individuals to place their dogs on the site if they meet certain criteria (utd on shots, fixed, etc.).
We adopted our chocolate lab (Buster) from CL back on 9/2009. Got him from a lady who didn’t have time for him…which was obvious because when she came to drop him off to our house, he was all hyper, pulling on the leash and was obsessed with balls (btw, that’s how I found your blogs…read your plan with Ace’s obsession). She seemed like she really cared for Buster but when I emailed her to ask some questions about medical stuff (my mistake for not asking ahead of time but I was still learning at the time) she completely ignored me. So no I think she just wanted to get rid of him.
I’ll definitely get our second dog from CL again. We gave the lady $50 and got his crate, collar\leash, some food and toys. So we saw it as we paid $50 for the crate (which was a great deal for a $110 crate) and got everything else for free. We had to get him neutered though and ended up getting new collar\leash because the one he came with was way too big for this neck.
Anyways, I don’t have anything against rescues other than too much paperwork and higher costs. But I know that they need the money to keep doing what they’re doing. Like another post said, I’d rather use the money on a dog on CL and be able to get better food and whatever supplies I need for the new pup.
Our dogs sound similar! Ace was the same way when he came to live with me – out of control, hyper and obsessed with fetching. Now he’s a very calm dog. All he needed was a normal amount of exercise.
For me it’s a matter of finding the right dog. If it’s with a rescue, I have no problem paying the adoption fee, although the adoption fees for my local rescues are quite low ($150 or so). If I find a dog that’s right for me on Craigslist, then I’ll go that route.
I think it is not important that a fence in present unless it is for an owner that does not pay proper attention to their dog. I also think that many rescues charge WAY too much for their dogs. I have recently encountered several Labradoodle rescues that are basically snobs, out for profit, and seem to believe that their fees should correlate to puppy mill and petsmart, etc. prices for designer breeds.
There are many poor people of value and excellent morals. It has been my experience that good dog ownership is more often found among the poor than the rich who tend do have a dog just for show and not because they want a friend.
Also, thinking that many dogs are taken off the streets and from rescues for research, is a myth. It is true that research facilities around the world, use dogs. However, all researchers learn early in school that such dogs are entirely useless for research. Dogs for research are carefully bred from long lines of carefully bred dogs to be as consistent in every way, as possible. Their food is to a careful standard, and even their environment is carefully controlled to be completely consistent with research dog standards. Otherwise, any variation in the dogs, will contaminate the research, thus making the results inconsistent for unknown reasons and useless.
Research dogs must even be a constant age and of a breed used for research. They are most often Beagles and sell for many hundreds of dollars each. They are hardly what can be found in rescues, on Craigslist, or on the street. IT IS A MYTH.
bill
What if a rescue did want to make a profit? Is that such a bad thing? Just thinking on that …
The rescues in our area charge very low fees in my opinion. It’s around $150 for a dog, and usually the rescue has spent at least three times that on long-term food, boarding, vaccinations, de-worming, flea prevention, grooming, supplies, etc. And I’m not sure what the rescues have to pay to bail the dogs out of the pound initially.
Interesting info on the dogs used for research. Makes sense to me.
Am sure there are some extremely responsible person and rescue that advertise on Craigslist. But there are also very irresponsible persons both trying to get rid of or acquire dogs on Craigslist. As long as Craigslist is allowed to list animals it will be used by those who untentionally or intentially put animals in harms way. If Craigslist is not allowed to list animals, many lives will be spared. There are other sites that are used exclusive for pet adoptions that should be used instead. Sure, there are still some ‘bad rescues’ and ‘bad adopters’ but there are more controls in place.
I still see nothing wrong with using Craigslist for adopting or re-homing an animal.
I agree with you Lindsay. CL can be a great tool if used correctly especially by rescues & shelters.
I strongly disagree with Kricket. Idiots will always find a way to “rehome” their pets & if those idiots didn’t have CL they would have something else. Most likely they would dump their animals on the street b/c of the inability to find a home. At least with CL they have an opportunity to try. While I can’t post statistics I am positive that there are more positive things to come from CL than negative.
I also agree regarding the research. I am in Vet Tech school & we spoke about this today (how I came across your blog by doing some research on the fact). Once upon a time before 1966 pets were being stolen and sold to research. That is why in 1966 laws & regulations were passed regarding where animals come from that are used in research. Legitimate research facilities won’t use just any off the street animal brought in by a “dealer” or “broker”. As mentioned they come from facilities that were developed to BREED animals specifically for research. It is all about the controlled environment so that the statistics line up & more accurate. This isn’t to say that it still doesn’t happen but it isn’t as common as the worry wort would like to believe it is.
I really hate it when CL is hated on by advocates & the whole research debate is used as a scare tactic. Please educate yourself before just regurgitating what you hear. And try to focus on the positive side of things. You will find life to be much more happier.
Another thing that irritates me is people who worry that dogs will be obtained through Craigslist and used for fighting or bait dogs. The chances of this are just so small. People who own fighting dogs also get them from specific breeders or they breed the dogs themselves.
It’s all about commonsense!
I guess there is nothing wrong with putting a dog on craigslist but just realize there are people wanting animals for the WRONG reasons or simply be sold at a higher price. It is a risk.
Our rescue does NOT require a fenced yard unless there is a dog that just has to have one and may even have a height requirement but this is rare. I only pray that people giving or selling dogs do a vet check – personal references – property ownership check or check with landlord to make sure it is okay for them to have a dog – make them provide ID. We do deny applications but for very good reasons. Our adoption fees range from $50 – $250 depending on the dog and possibly sponsorship. And we make no money – we lose 15-20 THOUSAND out of OUR PERSONAL paychecks to keep the rescue running. we have NO paid employees. I have ‘lost’ as much as $1,100 on one dog that I never even met. I pulled it from a shetler and before it was transported had to have 2 surgeries and ended up dying anyway. I just paid for a dental on a heartworm positive (heartworm treatment was paid by a woman that rescued her from a breeder) boston terrier $226 and we still have to get her spayed and shots. She will adopt for $125. Plus we provide monthly heartworm preventative and flea preventative. We get any and all known medical needs taken care of prior to being adopted. We go through about 250-300 lbs of dog food a WEEK. So it always ticks me off when someone complains out the adoption fees. We had another puppy with a birth defect that we had to keep until 16 wks for a leg amputation. We spay/neuter all our adoptions because of people not understanding that millions die because stupid people breed or allow to breed and commercial breeders.
The goal of a rescue is to get animals into homes. When something like 3 million animals are killed per year in the United States shelter system, then obviously shelters and rescues are not doing a good enough job marketing their pets. I see nothing wrong with advertising on Craigslist because it gets more attention on each of these homeless or soon-to-be homeless animals. It prevents dogs and cats from being killed in pounds. That being said, obviously there has to be a screening process in place. But shelters and rescues already have that in place. So it should make no difference if the applicant found an animal on Craigslist or PetFinder.
As far as all the money you have personally spent on saving dogs, you are not going to get any pity from me. I understand the hard work you do and that you are doing it because it is a cause you believe in. But no one is forcing you to spend $1,000+ of your own money on saving an animal. You do this because you want to. It is an admirable choice, and I also must make these kinds of decisions in the work I do. But we do this because we want to. I am really tired of the “pity me” attitude I hear from so many rescue volunteers. I also am tired of those who put the blame on “stupid people” who breed. The problem is not overpopulation. The problem is shelters and rescues need to do a better job competing in the market. 23 million Americans look to obtain a new pet each year, while 3 million pets die in shelters each year because “no one” will adopt them. You do the math.
You certainly made a great point in your article. As long as there is a screening method for the people adopting the animal I believe we should use all media available to help rescue all the animals. Thanks for all that you do.
Thank you, Wendy!