Our third and final stop for the day was in Plover WI at the Humane Society of Portage County.
This was by far the nicest facility. Very clean with a very nice reception area where we were meet by someone who immediately asked how they could help.
We were shown to the dog area, which was very different from the other kennels. All of the dogs were viewable through a glass wall that looked into the kennel room. It reminded me of being a new dad and standing outside the nursery at the hospital.
We saw only one dog that seem to match our needs. Joey was an Australian Shepard mix, about 3 or 4 years old.
We waited as the one adoption expert worked with another family. We then asked to see Joey and mentioned that we brought our dog to meet him as well.
This is where things fell apart.
We were told that their policies do not allow other dogs to meet the dogs at this shelter until after the adoption application was turned in. We could meet Joey, but our current dog could not.
This floored me. We were considering bringing a new dog into our lives who will spend more time with Ike then anymore else. The match between dogs is arguably as important, if not more important, than the match between the dog and the rest of the family.
I explained that I was disappointed in this policy (both Clark County and South Wood County had no issue with dogs meeting). I did not want to have the kids select a dog, start the process (which to children means "we're getting the dog") only to find out that the dogs won't get along and have to start over. We opted to leave. This ended our day on a somewhat sour note.
I did contact the director of the Humane Society of Portage County and explained my frustration. He was very understanding and supportive and promised to suggest the policy be reviewed to the board of directors.
I certainly hope they change this policy, because a perfect match is hard to find and this only makes it harder.
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