And again

So, I had someone email asking about getting a chin.  They said they were interested in getting a couple.  Based on their description, they wanted a mosaic, and I said, oh I have two.  Told them about them, and they wanted both.  Well, both are a male and a female, and both are rescues.  And I told them, there's a lethal gene, that's why we don't adopt out rescues to breeding homes (cause the average person owning a chinchilla and wanting to breed has no clue about such things), and she had asked about price, so I told her, either one would be $100.  And I told her, there's an adoption form and care packet that need to be read and filled out, in order to adopt. 

So she emails back, she has to think about getting a chin from me.  So, that's fine.  So I emailed back, saying, well if you decide you want to adopt, just let me know.  I get an email back that says, she doesn't want to adopt, she wants to buy a chin.  Well, sure, we're talking about different chins then, but I told her, it's the same thing as far as the care packet, adoption form.  Cause I told her, just because my own pedigreed chins aren't rescues, I still want them to go to chin-knowledgeable homes.  Those people still have to read it all and fill it all out too.

So I got an email back from her.  She went down to the email I sent her, and changed what I wrote so that it was huge and bold and instead of saying (the beginning part anyway): "That's fine.  Regardless of buying or adopting, it's the same as far as reading the care packet and filling out the form.  I still want the pedigreed, better quality chins to go to knowlegeable homes..." and so on and so forth.  She bolded, enlarged, and changed that all to read:

That's fine.
Regardless of buying or adopting, it's the same transaction

Now, can you please tell me... what was the point of that?  Should I be sorry that I was too wordy for her?   Should I only care where the rescue chins go, but let anyone with $150 walk off with a pedigreed chin?  I think not.  Regardless of the chin (or whatever critter), everyone gets to read a care packet and fill out an adoption form.  You know who's the exception?  Someone who's a known breeder buying a chin (generally at a show) who's done well at the show.  In the chin world, the quality breeders want their chins to be cared for correctly, so they breed for them. And those people would only want a pedigreed chin that had done well at show, with good lines, and would not be trying to put white + white together.  So I know they'd care for them fine.  Everyone else gets  acare packet and an adoption form, and if they don't like it, tough shit, they can go elsewhere.

Anyway, so I got an email back that said, "Next time you go to sell a Chin, you might think about educating a new buyer instead of insulting.  All those “knowledgeable” breeders once started as “newbies.”"

Great.  The only thing I think I said, which she must have taken as insulting, was when I made a comment about how you can't put two whites together, because you'll create a lethal gene.  And I said, for pet people, that's why we don't sell a male and female together, because the average pet person doesn't know that.  She never once said anything about breeding, so I assumed she wanted pets.   

Anyway, my response:

I was not intending to insult.  That said, you never mentioned you wanted to breed.  I feel like if you had made your intentions a bit more clear, our conversation would have started completely differently.  I re-read your first email to see if maybe I somehow mis-interpreted something.  The only thing you said about what you wanted to get was that you wanted to get a "couple of chins."  Maybe you intended that to mean a couple as in, a male and a female.  I took it as, a couple, meaning, a pair.  Which is what I get requests for, mostly.

Had I known you were looking to get into breeding, I would have let you know that most of the chins I have that are available are rescues.  Just like dogs and cats at the humane society, those specific chins should not be bred.  On the other hand, I have the show chins, and their offspring, which have pedigrees, and potentially could be bred.  Though, even that depends on how well they do at show.  Just because someone has a pedigreed chin doesn't automatically make it worthy of breeding.  Two awesome chins that did well at show could basically have a dud baby.  It could be lacking in fur strength and have lay down fur and bad clarity, and should just be a pet.  Even with stellar parents.  Sort of like how two tall people sometimes have a short kid.  They don't always get the right genes.

Also, had you mentioned the desire to breed, I'd have mentioned completely different chins.  For example, right now I'm not selling off any breeders, though I may have some young pedigreed chins that may be sold after this next show.  Depending on how they do.  For me to keep them, they'd have to do stellar, but a lot of breeders will breed chins that get 1sts or 2nds.  Just depends on the breeder. 

But see, without knowing that, that's why I responded the way I did.  Most people who email me want chins as pets, and if they don't specify, I do my best to email them what they asked for.  Like, for example, you said you wanted the white with grey & black -- mosaic -- so I told you about the two that are available right now.  With what I knew, that was what fit.

I don't mean to tell you what to do, but when you talk to another breeder, you might try to be more specific in terms of what you want.  If  you just mention you want a mosaic, you may very well get a pet quality mosaic.  If you really want to get into breeding, you'll want to mention that, or at the very least, that you want a show-quality chin, or one that has been shown, so you know how it has done.     

----end of email

All that said... I feel like someone who got that upset about an offhand comment about how the average pet person doesn't understand that there's a lethal gene in white chins and that's why we don't sell a male & female pair to pet people... I feel like they probably wouldn't do well with the chin comments at show.  Just saying.

Unrelated...

Had two people email today asking for babies.  One got a chin from me a few years ago, and wanted a baby female.  Well, even the absolute youngest chins I have are... males.  Youngest female I have right now is on a trial run and is coming up on 1 year of age.  So I told her, unless she decides she's up for older ones, I have nothing at the moment.  Got an email back, saying she's just looking for a buddy for her chin, an older one could work out.  So she's going to get back to me on when she can make it out here to see how her chin does with others.  Yay.

Another that emailed wanted a baby female ebony.  Also told her, all males at the moment, and she said, well, if nothing available, maybe within the next 1-2 months.  Well, for me to have a chin ready in the next 1-2 months, it would have already been born, and the only chin that was born recently was Nikki's baby -- which is a standard female who will be staying here to be shown.

And the usual continues.

So, perhaps unsurprisingly, the person who was wanting the male... and then when I explained I wouldn't adopt them a male, then wanted a female, so I showed her the pic of the white female I have... remember her?  Perhaps unsurprisingly, I have not heard back since I emailed her the care packet and adoption form. 

Got a call yesterday asking what our hours were.  Told em, the rescue is run out of the house, I have  a day-job, the rescue's open by appointment.  Did they want to make an appointment?  No.  This isn't a pet store.  Sorry?

Got a call today, asking if we still had the rabbit.  Asked which rabbit, and they told me Nyler, and I told em, yes we do.  Oh, and do we deliver?  Oh hell no.  The area code was 312, which is Chicago.  Pretty sure the vet doesn't deliver their services, and neither do we.  Or any pet store, for that matter.  Not sorry.  Betting those people would think an adoption form and care packet would be too much hassle as well, if they have to make the effort to *gasp* go and pick up their new pet.

Got a text from someone in Carmel, IN, saying they wanted to meet some of the younger chins.  So I texted back, asking when they wanted to come by.  Nothing.  No response, nothing, nada.  Makes me wonder, did they think I just bring the rescue to people's houses as well?

Sometimes though, there are things that happen that are totally my fault... like scheduling someone to come tonight (scheduled them weeks ago) to borrow one of my cages.  They borrow it around the holidays, every holiday, and usually donate, and very nice people.  And the chins they have are from here.  Well anyway, few days ago, I had China (chinchilla) go for a trial run, and I gave them that cage.  Next thing I know, I flip the page in my planner and see, hey, I'm supposed to be lending out that cage on Monday!  Whoops!  So today, the person doing the trial run was nice enough to meet me at my work to swap cages, so I could get that one back. 

Another person texted and asked if I still had Nyler.  I texted em back, literally three minutes later, saying yes I did still have him and he's still available.  Nothing.  And it's not like I wasted four hours to text this person back, it was three minutes.  So at some point, I texted again, asking if they were looking to possibly adopt him.  Waaaay later I finally got a response, asking if he was good with dogs and cats, if he was cuddly, and where I was located.

Another positive note, Mudpuddle was officially adopted today!  He was out on a trial run since before my grandma died, but we had to reschedule his actual adoption a few times, but finally settled on today, and now he's officially adopted.  Who-hoo!!

The usual

The usual has been going on.

Did have one person pick up a chin for a trial run.  That's good.  Always a plus.

Another couple came and bought a chin and a cage.  Very happy bout that.

Another called cause someone they know is in the state and they wanted to pick up a chin before they left.  Long story short, they say they're going to get the chins, supposed to be sending me a deposit (fingers crossed!), but now they're gonna pick em up in December.

But other than that, called one person back.  A guy left the message, a woman answered.  I said I got a call asking about chinchillas.  She said, "yeah we called awhile back."  Awhile back as in... yesterday?  I wasn't aware time passes so quickly.

Another one, got an email about a chin asking if he was still available.  Well, the chin was a she, so I let them know (just in case they thought it was a he) and they said, oh, it doesn't matter.  They found one closer to home.

Got a call from a previous home, asking about whether an ingredient in food was ok.  Always good to ask just to check.  :)

Got an email asking for more pics of a certain chin.  Not sure which ones they saw, so I sent them the 5 that I have.  It's a grey chin, so she looks the same from about all angles, but...

Had one person a few days ago who wanted me to ship a chinchilla a few states away.  No can do, sorry.  

Had a person message on facebook asking for a male chin.  At some point, they said they had a chin, so I asked, is it a male?  They said something along the lines of, oh they have a big cage and a second cage.  Was that what I asked?  I don't think so.  I told them what males I had and asked again, is their chin male or female.  Oh, it's a female, but they want a male.  Of course they do.  They went on to say they tried putting their chin with a family members chin and they got along.  Great, that doesn't mean that just cause those two got along that any chin they put with it will get along.  And of course, by saying that, that tends to imply that they do want to put them together.  But, I should know better than to assume (but still to not be stupid) and I asked them, do they intend to put them together.  So, surprise surprise, she says yes, they'd like to put them together.  Well, knowing that right there, she's not adopting a male. 

So I told her, since she has a female, she couldn't adopt a male, and asked, why a male.  Oh, they had a male before and let them play together but had them in separate cages.  *face palm*  Yes, because playing together would never give them the opportunity to breed *dripping sarcasm* (in case ya couldn't tell).  So I told her that -- it literally takes a second for them to breed, so playing together is just as bad... and if she doesn't want babies, there's pretty much no reason for her to get a male. 

So, she ends up saying, well, a female would be fine too, she just wants a buddy for her chin.  Did we really have to take the long way around to get to this?  Anyway, long story short, I didn't have any females in the age range shes wanted, but I did have one a little older, a mosaic (the color she originally wanted), so I showed her the pic, and she asked how we'd go about adopting.  So I emailed her the stuff.  Now, we are waiting....

Chicago Pet Show and People

So, first off, we had our last Chicago Pet Show of the year this past weekend.  We did reasonably well, considerably better than the last show, and got a decent amount in donations.  Even had one person that seemed like a potentially good adopter.  So fingers crossed that works out for us.

As far as other people... not a lot changes.  I have someone right now that has one of my rabbits out on a trial run.  We set up for them to come today at 5 pm, to adopt, fill out paperwork, what have you.  At work today, we had a problem with the ordering gun, so I couldn't start ordering til about an hour before I had to go home.  So, I had to stay a bit late to finish the ordering.  Knowing I had a 5 pm person coming, I rushed home.

You can see where this is going, can't you?  It's 5:43 as I type this, and they are not here.  I rushed home, printed out all the stuff, filled my portion out, and am waiting for them... and nothing.  I looked back at the texts to be sure, and yup, we said, this day, this time.  We even said, we'd let each other know if anything came up.  Nothing.  No texts, no phone calls.  I even texted this person and asked if they're still coming, nothing.

I won't go into what else I have going on, but I do have something pressing going on right now, and I'm writing this blog purposefully right now, so they can have an extra few minutes to get back to me before I pick up and leave. Because I really do have to go, and I had intended to already have left the house, because I was going to tell them, hey, I have this thing going on, didn't want to actually cancel, but wanted to make it a quick adoption (since their first visit they spent a few hours at the rescue).

I'm not mad.  I'm mainly just tired, but besides that, I just feel like I'm wasting time.  Even if I didn't have somewhere to be, there's a million different things I could be doing right now, but I'm waiting for this person to arrive.  I can clean the house, sure.  I can pick up and organize my desk.  But the thing is, most things I need to actually do -- make stuff with the saw, clean the rescue -- if I start those, they're so loud that I won't easily hear a knock, doorbell, or my phone vibrating / ringing.  So I can't do those while waiting for people.  And at the end of the day, how hard would it be for this person to just text and say, hey, something came up.  Maybe they forgot.  Always a possibility, but then, is it that difficult to write things down?

Just frustrating.  And now that they've had 19 minutes to respond to my initial text, I'm going to leave.  And I'm not going to rush back home (not that I actually could, but we won't get into that), should they text me and say, oh they forgot, but they can come right now....

I just don't get it.

I just don't get it.

So many people tell me, oh the rescue's doing these awesome things.  I will, for sure, be getting a chin from you, when I get one.  I'll get a cage from you too, awesome deal.  And then they text me one night when I'm at work, want to come over RIGHT THEN (because, you know, I have nothing better to do and can drop everything I'm doing to run home and sell you a cage), to get a cage.  I can't make it, I tell them, will be out of town the rest of the week, we can schedule for next week.  They say ok. 

I get my work schedule and text them back (cause I was waiting for that to know which day I could do).  Asked them, were they wanting a chin or a cage or both, cause their text wasn't super clear.  For sure I thought cage but maybe chin also.  Oh, they already got a chin and a cage.  What?  Thought they were so gung ho about getting one from the rescue.  Now they just want to come over for food.  Which is fine, but a $6.25 sale of food isn't going to pay to keep the rescue open. 

And this is just one example... this happens a lot.  It's sad, actually, how much, but these people just can't seem to wait a day or two to bring a 15-20 year pet into their lives.  Which I think is utterly ridiculous, because people think I can just drop everything to accomodate them.  Someone want to give me a million dollars to live off of, and I can sit home and run the rescue and do nothing else, and basically be at everyone's beck and call.  But until that happens, I have a real job that requires 50+ hours a week, and I can't drop everything cause someone needs a cage right now.  Sorry. 

If I call one of the contacts in  my phone, or even all the contacts in my phone, and say, hey, let's go out to lunch.  Not tomorrow, not next week, but right now.  How many of them do you think will drop what they're doing to go out to lunch with me?  I guarantee you, probably no one.  Probably, mostly, because.... wait for it... they're all at work and can't drop everything for the whim of one person.  And no one would expect them to, because people would say, oh they're working.  So why do people think it's ok to ask me to drop everything for them?  Is my life not worth anything because I have a rescue, and that should come before anything else in my life?  Why is that thought ok? 

It's maddening on this end.

Adoptions have pretty much slowed to a halt.  Now, dropoffs, ha.  Exact opposite.  I've never had a longer waiting list, and I've never had more people that have to get rid of their chins by yesterday, and need them to go somewhere.  But people wanting to adopt?  Not so much.  Chins are spending inordinate amounts of time at the rescue.  In January, Mama & Baby will have been at the rescue for a year.  That's sad, considering, if you leave Mama alone, and enjoy holding and playing with Baby, you have a happy pair of chins.  In March, Snickers will have been here a year.  There is nothing wrong with these chins.  They're just not freaking babies, which is all anyone seems to want anymore. 

I know, I know, you go to a humane society, and they have oodles of puppies and kittens.  But that's not how it works in chin rescues.  Ask any one of em, your average chin is at least 3 years old, if not older, and often is not the poster child for the ideal chin.  That's just how it is.  There's not oodles of baby chins waiting to be adopted, and some of the ones that are available come with attitudes or health problems.  Not all, but some.  But that doesn't mean they deserve homes any less!