As far as I am concerned, any breeder and any rescue-centre would be perfectly welcome to visit my home, announced or unannounced, and both would be equally welcome to ask as many questions as they like.

Over and above that, I'd rather vote with my feet I'm afraid. As much as I could understand their reasoning for adding extra requirements, I'd feel too insulted to play along with it I'm afraid. I don't ask for written and physical evidence that they have taken care of the dogs to the optimum, groomed them and fed them to my preferred standard, etc. No, I take it on trust that they do their best. I'd like the same courtesy returned to me.

The moment you started to make me feel like a criminal for having an interest in one of your dogs, I'd be taking my business elsewhere.

So if it is a verbal agreement with nothing mentioned on the adoption form about it been legally binding,in writing, I would imagine this could be challenged in court with sucess on the dog owners part.

God what do you want from me blood!!
So does the adoption contract of the rescue you work for, actually state 'this is a legally binding contract' on the paperwork, no problem if it does, it's just most contracts you'll find this isn't actually written as it's stating the obvious. Your best bet would be to speak to your rescues solicitor and they can explain it to you. If I knew of a link I would post it.

It's not a verbal agreement, it's a written legally binding contract :smt001

Why would you be made to feel like a criminal?

The main discussion area is mainly for members of the public, so mostly that's the opinions you'll get. The private rescue section is for those who run rescues, obviously more factual posts can be found in there :smt001

But surely it should be written into the adoption contract to save any confusion,if it isn't then it could be challenged.How could a rescue prove that the owner signed a legally binding contract,if there is nothing on the adoption form stating so?

Perhaps my wording was a little off-target there. However, I grow increasingly frustrated at this country's desire to have so many checkpoints for the most basic of things, that the simplest of processes become so convoluted and tedious.

Aside from that, if I went to a breeder and he/she wanted vets references, training evidence, etc. etc. I would feel very uncomfortable about that breeder. I say uncomfortable because I would feel that he/she was overly reluctant to let go of the dog, and I'd be hearing from him/her each few weeks. (I do understand the counter-argument that until I've paid it's the breeders dog, and he/she is free to do as he/she pleases too.) In these cases, we'd just have to accept that we are not the right match to do business.

As far as I'm concerned, once I've paid, the breeder is history and it's my dog. I've no intention of ever meeting or dealing with them again, unless it turned out to be an exceptional dog, in which case, they'd most likely be assured of my repeat business in the future. But aside from that, I'm not interested in them.

That said, we happily spoke to our current dog's past owner for weeks after we took her dog on through a rescue. However, we did this because she was friendly and made us feel that we were helping, not that we were untrustworthy. In actual fact, it was she who ceased contacting us after a few weeks. Presumably because she was satisfied that the dog had gone to a good home.

That's not true, if you did your research you'll find a lot of the reputable rescues ask for these additional checks :smt001

Because it's a contract it's well known to be legally binding, which I'd imagine most rescues make very clear. However you have a point, I didn't realise there were people that actually thought an adoption contract wasn't legally binding, may have to put those few words in our contract in case others like yourself even after being told still don't believe it's legally binding :smt001