I thought they were there to find homes for pets

[Loup-garou]

I considered one for our NABC (Not a Border Collie - a class commonly found in Agility competitions). I borrowed one from a friend for a week but frankly, once into heavy trees you lost all response from the collar.

[Blaze]

once into heavy trees you lost all response from the collar.

Isn't it the sort of thing you can use on a smartphone ? If a car can be tracked, surely a dog can ?

[Loup-garou]

Yes you need a smartphone to receive the signal and place it into a sort of map. Dogs are far more able to disappear under a heavy canopy than a vehicle.

Perhaps I wasn't clear - I meant once the dog is into heavy trees but, equally well, if the dog has broken out of cover but you have gone in looking for him/her your reception is impeded (the model I tried was anyway).

[L Austin France]

I considered one for our NABC (Not a Border Collie - a class commonly found in Agility competitions). I borrowed one from a friend for a week but frankly, once into heavy trees you lost all response from the collar.

Thanks for input LG.
Fortunately there's no forests around here & if she does go AWAL it'll be into fields.
Nobody else seems to have any advice so I'll have to mugg up on the things, order one & hope for the best.

[L Austin France]

Ten weeks after Jessie first came home we finally got to the end of this adoption saga.
Yesterday the identification certificate arrived from the Ministere De L'Agriculture et de L'alimentation showing us as the owners.
Total cost, in the end, was 447€ against the original 270€ indicated but who cares.
She's turned out to be an absolute sweety with not a malicious streak in her, has adapted to our lifestyle easily & is excellent on the lead & in the car.
Much larger at 25kg than any dog we were anticipating adopting but is so gentle she doesn't seem too big.

[Lori]

Sweet.

[tagh]

Could you give a breakdown of the costs, svp? I will be starting to look for a new dog in the Spring and would like an idea of costs of adoption.
Thanks.

[L Austin France]

Could you give a breakdown of the costs, svp? I will be starting to look for a new dog in the Spring and would like an idea of costs of adoption.
Thanks.

Difficult to be precise as it seems to vary at SPAs .
Our initial 'costing' was 270€ which included sterilisation, chipping, & initial vaccinations. Older dogs marked SOS are often free as lots of folk don't want them. Our previous Griffon Bob was in this category & gave us both great pleasure until he succumbed to a previously unknown injury.
The cost then rose because the SPA's vet could not carry out the sterilisation on the agreed date as he had emergencies.The SPA, contrary to their rules,asked if we would take the dog early & get our vet to do it. We agreed as we wanted the dog 'out of there' asap. They gave us an order form agreeing to pay our vet up to a certain sum. This sum was exceeded by our vet's charges & cost us an extra 140€. on top of this was their normal charge for vaccine 'top up' & a further charge to verify the dog didn't have rabies which apparently was required before the goverment ID certificate could be issued. Total cost as previosly mentioned was 447€.
Our vet said that the SPA where we found Jessie were adopting the adoption rules to the letter & most refuges were less formal.
We were made to jump through every hoop possible but as we already had the dog in our care we went along with them.
My advice would be ; don't be put off by 'stroppy' SPA refuge officials when you find the right dog. Ask the right questions & all will be well.
Plenty of info. online if you google ' Adopting a dog in France' or such like.
Good luck. There's plenty of great mutts out there looking for a good home.

[Loup-garou]

Yes, I agree with LAF - don't be put off Tagh.

Our experience of the SPA Alsace was probably the exact opposite to LAF's. Like him the basic cost was 270€, there were no extras (maybe the proof of no rabies is more recent). We rounded the fee to 400€ and they insisted we take away a certificate to pass to Les Impôts attesting that we had given them a 130€ donation.

[Blaze]

Could you give a breakdown of the costs, svp? I will be starting to look for a new dog in the Spring and would like an idea of costs of adoption.
Thanks.

We adopted Rafal at 2½ years via a kiné who works for our vet cabinet. It can be worth asking local vets if they know of a dog and it's a heck of a lot less complicated. All we had to do was complete change of owner forms. We gave the couple a donation because they really did love the dog but were afraid to keep him as he had nipped a couple of young children. They were heartbroken to let him go.

We'd like a companion (female) for him but so far haven't found one. We're afraid to leave it too long because Rafal will perhaps not accept sharing us with another mutt.