05/10/2026
Crisis averted!
After some insightful feedback on SODR’s original post, it has become apparent that the problem faced by the animal welfare sector is actually created by the rescue groups themselves.
💸 We choose to help animals that need expensive veterinary care
🐕🐕 We can’t clone animals so everyone gets one
💌 And we are so busy trying to be everything, to everyone, that our service drives people to buy a puppy, thereby inadvertently encouraging backyard breeding.
And here we were thinking we were improving the homeless animal problem that plagues the nation.
We have done it! We've solved Victoria's animal management crisis.
It's rescue. We're the problem.
We've been reading the comments on our recent post about what's happening with dogs in Victoria and apparently the problem is rescue charging adoption fees. And application forms. And rescues being too picky. And someone applied for a dog once and didn't get it.. Basically all our fault
Forget the unwanted litters, dogs being surrendered, dogs not being reclaimed, pounds running out of space and rescues being asked to take more dogs than we physically have homes for.
Janet applied for a Cavoodle in 2023 and didn't get it. We've cracked the case.
Come on. 🙄
Your personal experience with a rescue might have been frustrating. You might think our adoption fees are too high. You might have a fantastic home and be annoyed that you weren't chosen for a particular dog. You're allowed to feel all of those things.
But your individual experience is not an explanation for an animal management problem affecting an entire state.
Let's start with the fees.
Have you seen the cost of veterinary care lately? Call your local vet and ask what it costs to desex, vaccinate and microchip an adult dog. That's before dentals, blood tests, medication, X-rays, specialist appointments, surgery and everything else.
And yes, sometimes we make a profit on an individual dog.
There. We said it.
A healthy puppy might leave us $100 after their vet work and other costs.
Good. We need that $100.
Because last week we might have spent $1,500 on a dental for a 12-year-old dog.
Are the people telling us our fees are too high lining up to adopt that 12-year-old before we've done her teeth?
We're not going to charge someone $1,500 to adopt an elderly dog because that's what we spent on her. We do the dental because she needs it and because being healthy and pain-free gives her a better chance of actually finding a home.
So we need 15 puppies making us $100 each to pay for that one old dog's teeth.
That's how rescue works. Some dogs leave a little money behind. Others cost us hundreds or thousands more than their adoption fee. The money doesn't disappear into someone's pocket. It pays for the next dog who needs it.
If you think we shouldn't make that $100 on the puppy, that's fine. Who's covering it? When we spend $2,000 on a dog who is eventually adopted for $550, are you guys sending through the other $1,450?
Because if not, where exactly would you like us to get it?
“Make the dogs cheaper” isn't a sustainable model for an un-funded, volunteer run rescue.
Then apparently we're too picky.
Yep, we take matching seriously because our job isn't to get dogs out the door as quickly as possible. It's to responsibly rehome them so they don't come bloody back.
You can have a wonderful home and still be completely wrong for the dog you applied for.
If a timid dog needs a quiet home, we're not putting them into a household with seven children because those people applied first. If the dog spends three weeks hiding in a corner and gets returned because they're “too anxious”, we've achieved nothing except putting that dog through another upheaval.
Sometimes 15 people apply for one dog. Fourteen aren't getting them.
That's not 14 rejected homes. That's maths. We can't duplicate dogs.
And while we're clearing things up, every SODR adoption applicant receives an email response explaining our process and next steps, and our foster carers contact applicants as well. If you didn't see our email, please check your spam folder before adding us to the list of rescues that “never even bothered to reply”.
We're not perfect. Rescue isn't above criticism. Sometimes we miss things. There are things we can do better and fair criticism is fair criticism.
But there is an enormous difference between “I didn't like my experience with a rescue” and “rescue practices are why Victoria has an animal management crisis.”
Rescue didn't breed the unwanted litter. We didn't surrender the dog. We didn't fail to reclaim the stray. We didn't force your hand make you go to a breeder who are generally happy to sell their puppies to anyone with the money.
Rescue didn't put dogs in the pound. We're the people being asked to get them out.
And yes, sometimes we'll make $100 profit on a puppy.
Then we'll take another dog to the vet and lose $1,000.
Terrible business model, really.
If you'd like to contribute, Donate here: www.startingoverdogrescue.org.au/donate
