Home Checks!

Home checks are a huge part of what we do, and the main reason why we do them is because we are expected to by everyone else. There is now a whole network of homecheckers available, which you would think would make my job easier, when in fact it causes more headaches. My opinion is chatting to a potential home, asking questions, is far more effective than sitting having a cup of coffee on a designated day.

The idea of a home check is that you can see the home, the environment that your dog will be placed in, however, I believe that if you tell someone you are arriving at 10am on a Monday morning, at 9am they will be tidying, and ensuring that everything is just "perfect" Some will argue that a home check enables the rescue to "double check" things, but surely everything can be staged.

I in fact like the home checks that are not perfect, where the resident dogs bark all the way through or pee up the home checkers leg. These are the homes where things are "real" and where life is just what it is. Sadly some of the home checkers, are like robots, they simply read the form, tick the boxes, and make stupid recommendations.

The other day one of the foster mums had a home check done for a potential home, the home checker made some strange observations, and her "opinion" was that the woman was not suitable. Now this is unusual, so when asked to look through the forms, i was expecting huge issues. Nope it was the most stupid reasons, including that the woman only fed "cheap brand" dog food.

WTF, these dogs often have been starved, they don't care what brand of dog food they are fed, as long as they get a meal. She also observed that the resident dogs barked whilst she was there, would she have preferred they were hog tied and gagged out the back. So, needless to say I dismissed the home checkers opinion and I had a chat with the lady.

In my world people lie, they tell huge lies, and little white lies, you simply need to establish which ones they are telling you, and why. Chatting to people, asking questions, and getting to know the person who I am trusting with my dog is the best way to decide if they are right. Many aren't, therefore, if you have one of my dogs, think yourself lucky, as you are one of the "chosen ones"