r/fosterdogs•
BrushNo3753

Advice for choosing adopter

Question

We have a 7 y/o lab/pit mix who is very sweet and people loving. We had two meet and greets in the past week and both adopters are keen on having her. We have a dilemma.

Adopter 1: Woman living in our apartment by herself, seems kind and attentive, and we are nearby so can lend a hand. She was not super firm on her adoption because she needs to travel in the next two weekends. Ultimately she decided that she would only adopt the dog in two weeks after her travels, if we still have her. She seemed perfect and the only thing we were concerned about was that she was not super firm with the dog when walking her (basically whispering leave it, for example), but that firmness can be developed over time especially for new dog owners.

Adopter 2: Mom of three kids and husband, all of whom came to visit. Mom was the only one who was asking questions and stayed the whole time. Husband was taking care of kids, said hi to dog by rubbing her all over her face (our dog is VERY people friendly, but even then she seemed a little taken aback). Three young kids, around 5/7/9 y/o? Oldest kid seems sensible and shy and did not say hi to the dog. Second kid ran up to the dog and patted her butt and all over her right away. Again she was taken aback and also very stimulated by this point, surrounded by so many new people in her space. Youngest kid was fine at first and then suddenly, 10 minutes into our meet, she screamed in the dog's face. The kid is very small and her face was exactly at the dog's level. Dog was scared and moved back the next time she approached.

The mom seems very very attentive and I 100% think she would be the sole caretaker of the dog and would do a good job when shes with the dog by herself. We made it very very clear that she needs to read the dogs body language and protect her space and teach her children to respect the dog's boundaries. She agreed emphatically but still did not stop her kids during any of the above interactions, which concerned and confused us. She seems to be very nice but not firm enough with her kids (Im aware im making lots of assumptions here from just one interaction, but thats all with have). The dog is so so sweet and people loving and we know that she is good with kids. My partner's siblings are around 10, respect her boundaries, and she LOVES them, cuddled with them for a whole night, etc. The fact that she backed away from the youngest says a lot.

Another thing is, Adopter 2 has a 1 year old cat and while she agreed on slow introductions, we are worried that her attitude would be similar to how she dealt with the kids (agreeing with us but not enforcing). We were told the cat is good with dogs, but we have no idea how the dog would respond to living with a cat.

A fantastic thing about Adopter 2 is that she is a stay at home mom and they have 3 acres. So the dog will get lots of company and space to run in. We mentioned that the dog doesn't like other dogs so the dog park is not recommended, and Adopter 2 agreed as well. I think the dog would have tons of fun in the 3 acres. We currently live in a studio apartment and I think Adopter 1 either has a studio or 1BR.

So.. we are torn. We just texted Adopter 1 to see if she's still set on waiting for 2 weeks. I dont even know if we are allowed to 'reserve' the dog for Adopter 1. Plus Adopter 2 has so m so much more space and lives further away from the city so that would be very nice.

Thoughts and advice would be much appreciated.

Posted Mar 8, 2026, 6:06 PM UTC

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