Paws off the merchandise, say exacting New York dog pounds (2024)

Not so long ago, a mother of two on Manhattan’s Upper West Side tried to adopt a rescue dog. She has an Ivy League degree, she’s a published author and she’s well respected in her field. Still, the rescue charities had a lot of questions.

They wanted to know what experience she had in keeping a dog in New York City. “They wanted to know what vet I planned to use,” she said. “They wanted to call the vet for a reference.”

Some demanded a virtual tour of her home, to inspect the premises; some seemed to expect a large donation. “It became clear pretty soon, filling out these preliminary screening questionnaires, that we weren’t ever going to be considered good enough.”

Similar complaints have been heard all over the city, where the pandemic-induced rush to get a dog combined with the idea that it was no longer socially acceptable to buy one from a breeder.

New York magazine recently claimed that adopting a dog in the Big Apple was now harder than getting into college, sharing complaints from applicants of intrusive questioning about the stability of their relationship, their finances and their ability to provide dog food at $240 a bag.

There have been efforts, among some animal charities, to adjust these exacting standards. Rachael Ziering, director of Muddy Paws Rescue, said her staff were instructed to look “for reasons to say ‘yes’ when someone wants to save a life, not reasons to say ‘no’.” She also said the rush of applicants had slowed over the summer, as New York began to return to normal, adding that it was always possible to find a rescue dog, “especially in municipal shelters . . . they might not have eight-week old doodles, but there were always wonderful animals waiting for homes”.

But many New Yorkers maintain that they weren’t allowed one. “I get why they need to gate-keep,” said a frustrated applicant on the Upper East Side, texting a friend midway through the process. She thought she had found a dog, only to discover that the shelter “does not let you have a dog if you have children younger than 13 and you have to prove you have a yard” — an impossible requirement for most Manhattanites. She eventually gave up and bought a golden doodle for $1,500 from a breeder in Ohio, who delivered it by road to the door of her apartment building.

The mother from the Upper West Side gave up too and resorted to a small dog breeder upstate, who supplied her with an English bulldog. In dog parks she feels embarrassed to admit where it came from, she said. “The status dog now is not a $5,000 shih tzu.

“People are really proud to tell you their dog has some issues because it was raised on the streets . . . They will say, ‘Oh, we rescued ours. Ours is a street dog from Ankara, which is why he’s trying to bite your children’.”

There are still concerns that more cats and dogs are now being given up. Curtis Sliwa, the Republican mayoral candidate, is proposing food stamps for pets, with those who adopt them given $1,000 a year for pet food and medical bills.

He has adopted 15 cats, which live with him and his wife in a 328 sq ft flat on the Upper West Side. Think how many more he could adopt, if he wins the election and moves to the mayoral residence. “I’ve figured it out,” he said. “I have been in Gracie Mansion before. I can fit 60 cats in the interior. Outdoors, you can have 20 dogs.”

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