Oh No - Update

Have you checked Craigslist in your area?  On ours, there are always tons of dogs being re-homed.

As for the wait...if you go to a good breeder, you will wait just as long, if not longer.  Many hobby breeders only have 1-2 litters a year.

I've had the same frustration with rescues, although when we got Coke, we picked him up and paid for him 2 days after applying, but I was helping a family find a rescued GSD and they were applying 3 states away, always being told the dogs were already adopted by the time their app was approved and I approved them for a home check.  They did finally get a dog, a dark male puppy just exactly like they wanted (I'd tried to convince them to be more open about color, sex, and age).  I think the problem is rescues are so short on man-power, and they are prioritizing the dogs over the administration.  I check the "Urgent" section on the GSD board about 6 times a day and when a dog pops up slated for euthanasia in 48 hours, literally a dozen people from all over the country will drop everything and focus on that one dog until it is pulled safe and transport is arranged.  This is why currently, since I cannot foster due to living arrangements, I volunteer to help on the administrative end, helping match people to the dog, checking apps, and doing home visits and that paperwork for the rescue.

Pwca - Yes I check the breed rescue everyday along with many other places. There is no Lhasa rescue in my state so there is where I start having some problems.

Liesje - Yes Craigslist is another place that I go everyday.

Well I contacted the shelter and the dog was place in its new home. I am very happy she got a new home and wish her new owners the very best in caring and raising her. But hey the shelter said that they are getting another dog in soon. I already know where this dog is coming from. It is being pulled from a puppy mill. It is a adult dog that has had up to 10 litters of pups. I guess I was not good enough to home a dog that was surrendered because the owners couldn`t keep it any longer. Healthy, no temperament problems, got along with other dogs, etc.. But a puppy mill adult dog with who knows what problems it would come with could be a possibility.

Now for of those that remember the 1 year old puppy mill momma to be that I wanted to save from becoming a puppy factory. I didn`t call back. But there is a difference between that dog and the one the shelter is getting in. The 1 year old was still young and never had any pups yet. This dog is much older and has had many pups. The 1 year old would have been easier to socialize as she still young then the adult dog will be. Anyway back on that post everyone said don`t get her because of all the problems that she could come with + I would have been getting her directly from the mill. Would not this adult dog come with may issues?

Yes I`m feeling sorry for myself right now and I`m also babbling on so I guess I`ll go play with Molly.

 Please, please, please understand their offering that dog to you in no way is a judgment on what kind of dog you're worthy of.  It's a shelter, they're trying to find homes for every misbegotten, woeful, damaged, neglected dog they get.  Some might be fresh, happy, healthy puppies and some might be the most god-awful mess you've ever seen.  But the shelter workers are trying to find every dog a home that they can.  An older, puppy mill dog with a potential for problems might not be the right dog for you or your situation, but for someone like myself, I have the ability to provide for potential problems and would not consider it a reason not to rescue (as evidenced by the mess I got myself into with Indie! LoL!).  So please don't be offended, they're just offering because they want to find every adoptable dog a home, you can always say no.  You know what you want and that's great.  You know what will work for your situation, so don't feel bad about it.  You sound a little like you're getting discouraged and frustrated.  Please don't let that lead you to make a rash decision in either direction.  The right dog will come across your path, you just have to keep patiently looking and make sure you know it's the right fit for your family.

 I'll be hones,t it would help a LOT if you would post your state, at least, and maybe people could network to help find you a dog there or work out a transport.

It's hard to find a dog like you want in shelters b/c they get adopted almost immediately.  The shelters in my area do not "hold" dogs, you cannot meet with a dog and agree to adopt it until you've filled out the paperwork and been approved.  I've been at adoption events before where several families are all in interview rooms vying for the same little dog. As a dog walker, I've never seen a little dog last in the shelter more than a few days. We do pre-approve apps and hold them for 6 months, so people can get the paperwork done with and wait for their dog to become available.

Here's a whole slew of people you can contact, depending on where you live.  These are breeders, yes, but they are members of the breed club and often, when an owner returns a dog to the breeder, the breeder is not going to publicize it in the traditional, internet ways, they will usually wait until they hear of or hear from the type of owner they're looking for.  And they all tend to stay in the grapevine so if there is a breeder looking to retire a breeding dog (they're not the same as the puppy mill dog, usually fewer litters), or has a dog they held on to hoping to breed that didn't develop as hoped, etc., they can let you know or point you in the right direction.  This was how I found a cairn terrier that I was briefly interested in adding to the family, she was never advertised or anything, I networked my way through the breeders and got lots of "I think such and such is about to retire his female" or "such and such just had a young dog returned because the owners got deployed" etc.  Try it out, you might get very lucky and make a bunch of lhasa apso friends in the process! 

ETA:  Oops, I hope posting all this is okay.  I realize in retrospect it's alot of people's personal contact info and I'll remove it if need be and PM it to the OP.  But it did come from the breed club's public website that I couldn't link to because this info was embedded in a frame.  Let me know if it's a problem, I'll be happy to remove it.  

Just as a note, it likely was no judgement towards you that the other dog was placed with someone else. It may have been that they got in an application first.

Mollymoo,

What state are you in?  I know several of the breeders on the list posted above.... 

At this moment I know if a 3 year old male, finished champion, a six month old female and  2 or 3 -4 month old puppies. 

I was just a part of transporting a Lhasa from MN to CO to his new family.

I also know of 2 adult female and 1 adult male Chinese Cresteds looking for homes.....

~Melissa

Have you tried contacting a SMALL breed rescue? I would put my information in with a bunch of different rescues. Just because they say "BREED specific" does not mean that they don't get breeds of other types. For example, the GSD rescue in my area ofen has labs and hounds as well. We try to transfer them to other shelters, but people are able to surrender those types of dogs to rescues.

Too bad you're not in FL. We have 3 lhasas right now....

erica1989

Too bad you're not in FL. We have 3 lhasas right now....

Funny you should say that. My Son just came back from FL yesterday. He asked me what I wanted him to bring back for me as a souvenir I told him a Lhasa Apso.

haha! The ones we have aren't availble at the moment..... but soon, hopefully!