Hi all. This is my first topic here!
Today a BRAT volunteer did a home visit, and I think all went well. It was a really short visit–much shorter than it could/should have been, because the volunteer came at an unexpected time -10 minutes before I had to go to work..confusing because we had not agreed on that time, and my application said my work schedule. We had arranged to meet at 10AM on Wednesday, but on Tuesday night, he emailed me saying that he could not meet on Wednesday, and asked whether Thursday was OK. I told him that any time on Thursday was good. At around 3pm on Wednesday, right before taking a shower to go to work, I checked my email, and saw that he was on his way unless I called and told him I could not. Nobody answered the phone. It was too late to call in at work, and I wasn't able to call him and tell him to turn around and stop driving. So we had a VERY VERY brief meeting that did not answer many questions!
My boyfriend and I would like to foster. We don't have experience with basenjis, and would like to see what we can handle before jumping into adopting. We also are concerned that at this time, we can't afford to adopt. The idea of nurturing a possibly maltreated, uncertain dog into one that's adoptable sounds rewarding.
The home visit was so short that I'm not even sure if we were approved, if we were supposed to fill out papers..what the process of finding the right foster is like--whether we can choose from a list of needy basenjis or if BRAT decides which dog is best for us.
I feel that the home visit was so short that we were not able to discuss what kind of dog we are best suited for, and ask questions.
What happens after a home visit?
Also, I noticed that the BRAT site lists characteristics of adoptable dogs, and that the dogs are mostly strip tested for Fanconi. Is there a reason why the adoptable dogs are not DNA tested instead/as well? I think that if I wanted to adopt, I'd prefer to know whether my dog was likely to get Fanconi. Maybe I'm just confused about the whole DNA test/strip test/ Fanconi thing...I'm really new to basenjis. Just been obsessed with reading about them and watching videos of them...it's kind of a strange obsession.
Good night all.
Amanda