We ask a lot of questions of any potential adopter for two main reasons:

       1. To ensure long-term homes for the animals in their care
       2. To facilitate good matches between customers and their adopted companions.

We have our own adoption application for you to complete that answers our basic questions and to help match the right dog to the right family. Our adoption process may seem time consuming, but please understand that we have our dogs’ best interests at heart. We strive to find the best homes possible for our dogs, as well as find the right dog for you and your lifestyle.

Please understand that our organization is completely run by unpaid volunteers, who dedicate their free time to help the dogs. If your references are unavailable, it will delay the process, since those must be checked before moving forward. The entire adoption process takes time; we are unwilling to sacrifice being thorough when the dog’s future is at stake. We thank you for your time and patience throughout our adoption process.

The first step is to have you fill out an adoption application. This application will tell us about you and your lifestyle, training beliefs and background with animals. Adoption Application button on this page.

Our application review volunteers will initially screen your application to determine if all necessary information was provided. If not you will be contacted to either fill out another application or provide additional information.

If it is determined that you rent your home, your landlord will be contacted to make sure you have approval to have a dog in your home. We also ask about any breed or size limitations. If your landlord does not allow for a dog in your home, your application will be denied at this point in the process.

We will contact the veterinary reference(s) you provided to determine if all your current pets are spayed/neutered and up to date on vaccinations. If you don’t have any current pets, we will ask about the veterinary care that your previous pets received. If you have never owned a pet, this step is skipped. If your veterinary reference(s) cannot verify the spay/neuter and vaccination status of current or previous pets, processing of your application will be stopped until you can provide this information.

We will contact your three personal references and ask them questions in regards to whether they consider you to be a responsible pet owner. This is the portion of the process that can take the most amount of time. It is helpful if you contact your references and ask them to return our calls in a timely manner. If our reference checking volunteers have any major concerns about adopting a dog to you, based on communication with your references, your application may be denied at this point in the process.

Since most of our dogs are in foster homes, we do NOT arrange meetings between interested individuals and our fosters until an applicant has been approved via this adoption process. Once you have been approved, a volunteer will contact you about scheduling a time for you to meet the dog(s) you are interested in. This meeting may occur at the foster’s residence or an adoption event.

Just because you are determined to be an approved adopter, you are NOT guaranteed a particular dog. For some dogs we receive many applications so we may allow multiple applicants to have a meeting with the dog before we choose the home that we feel will be the best fit for the dog. You can still adopt another dog if you choose to do so. 

If you have decided upon a dog that you would like to adopt you are required to sign an adoption contract and to provide payment of the adoption donation fee.  At that time you become the owner of the dog. We have a 7 day refund period meaning if you decide the dog is not a good fit for your family and you return him/her within the refund period we will return your adoption donation to you. The adoption fee will be deposited upon receipt and refunded only if the adopted dog is returned within the refund period (or any prior agreed upon extension of the refund period).

Our adoption contract contains a clause that allows a volunteer or a representative the ability to perform a follow-up visit. We may require such a visit if we feel that the terms of the adoption contract are not being met. Should the adoption not work out or you need to rehome the dog, we require, by contract, that the dog be returned to us.