Our adoption fees vary depending on the age of the dog. Our adoption fees include all age-appropriate vet care, including spay/neuter for dogs over 5 months of age.
We accept cash only for the adoption fees.
When you are ready to adopt a new friend, we'll ask you to complete our screening process, which ensures safe and successful adoptions!
Due to COVID-19, we will not be adopting out of province or country for the forseeable future.
Yes, do we frequently adopt to those outside of our immediate area. Adopters do need to be prepared and willing to come to us for a meeting with the dog before final approval, bringing along each member of the family including other dogs.
Out of country applicants will need to know what the requirements are to cross the border with their new family member if an adoption is approved, however priority is given to local applications first.
The process can take anywhere from a couple of days to a few weeks. This is dependent upon the availability of the applicant and volunteer conducting the interviews, the vet work required for the dog, and how quickly we are able to conduct the reference checks.
Yes we do. We will discuss with you what your plans are for an exercise routine during your interview. We realize that different dogs have different exercise needs and that some dogs are a better match for apartment living. We will work with you to find a dog suitable to your living situation.
This is not a requirement for every Paws-United dog. We strongly urge you not to let your new dog off leash in an un-fenced area. This is particularly important in the first 2-3 months, when your new rescue might be prone to wandering off without knowing the way back home! Some dogs may require a fenced yard due to their history. This will be noted in their profile. Remember, many of our dogs come from shelters where they were picked up as strays, so they may be in the habit of wandering away from home!
Maybe. We are not a first-come, first served rescue. We try our very hardest to find the best match for our dogs and our adopters. Being first doesn't hurt, but it's not a guarantee. We commit to being as open and honest about the selection process as we can.
We will certainly try! We keep applications on file for a months time after submitting. If in that time frame we have another dog that would be suitable for your home you will not need to resubmit your application. We will attempt to match your preferences to another dogs personality and needs.
We do encourage potential adopters to keep an eye on our website and facebook page when they’re ready to adopt and apply then. This helps prevent your application from falling through the cracks.
Yes you can. Please provide us with as much information as you can about what a suitable fit for your home looks like and we will do our best to make suggestions from our current adoptables to you.
We are committed to our rescues! A Paws-United dog is PUDR for life! So, if for any reason, you cannot keep your PUDR dog, please let us know as soon as possible. We will begin the process of taking them back and finding them the appropriate foster space. But, remember, we are here for you before that decision is made. If you have problems, no matter how small, let us know before they become big! We can then provide you the advice and support you need to fix the problems before they get out of control. Adopter’s that cannot continue to provide a home for an animal adopted from PUDR agree to return him/her to PUDR and will not surrender the animal to an animal shelter, humane society, pound, or another rescue, nor will he/she be sold, given to, exchanged or adopted to anyone else without consent from the board of directors of the rescue.
Absolutely! In fact, adoptables over the age of 5 months will be spayed or neutered before they are adopted out. Puppies adopted under the age of 5 months must be spayed/neutered by their adopter by a date agreed upon in the adoption contract. PUDR takes spaying/neutering very seriously, and follows up to make that all of our puppies get spayed/neutered. Puppy adopters should be aware that spay/neuter surgery can cost more than $200.
Not even slightly! Unfortunately, nature of dog rescue means, we cannot guarantee a dog's breed. Many dogs end up in shelters because they are strays, others are turned in by owners who don't know or don't share their pet's history. Even when we know the puppy's mom, we can only guess half of the mix. The best we can do is make an educated guess based on the dog's appearance and temperament.
Unfortunately the best we can do is guess. Because we often do not know either of the dogs parents, we have no idea what lies in his or her gene pool! So, we try to make an educated guess based on the puppy's size, age, and estimated breed.
Dogs in rescue have often had a rocky start in life. Our job as a rescue is to make sure the dogs in our care have smooth sailing from here on out. We want the transition into their adoptive home to be their last transition. Ideally the adoptive family should be the dog's forever family. The home visit helps to insure the adoptive family and rescue are on the same page. This time spent talking with a rescue volunteer is a great time to ask questions!
It is a mandatory part of our process to either do an on site home inspection with the dog, a live virtual tour with you at your home, or a virtual photo tour of your home.
Under normal circumstances you should expect to hear from a volunteer within a week of submitting your application. Please keep in mind that we are an organization staffed entirely by volunteers and we try to fit rescue work into our lives with work, family and our personal dogs. Sometimes it takes a little longer than we'd like, but please try to be patient. The rewards are well worth it. If you've been waiting longer than 7 days, feel free to contact us.
Paws-United reserves the right to refuse an application if the home situation or environment is deemed incompatible with the needs of the dog applied for. It is stressful and upsetting for the animals and our volunteers when adoptions do not work out and pets have to come back to us. Please bear with us, be patient and understand that this process is the best policy for you, our rescue and the dogs. Please note that there are sometimes several people/families interested in the same dog and there are times when more than one person/family is scheduled to visit the dog. There can obviously only be one family or person chosen to adopt a pet, and it’s our responsibility to the dog and to the potential adopters to select the person or family that is best suited for a particular dog. We do understand that this sometimes can cause hurt feelings and it is certainly not our intention to do so. Please understand our position and that our number one responsibility is the best possible placement for each pet.
We recommend that you start with the basics, a collar or harness, leash and a tag with a legible phone number on it. Be sure that the collar fits snugly not allowing more than 2 finger widths to fit between the neck and the collar.
At least one dog bed that can be moved around from room to room as your new dog will prefer to hang out in the same room you are. A crate; not all dogs need a crate, but many dogs thrive while having a place to “nest”, especially at night or when you are gone for short periods of time.
Dog bowls for food during mealtimes and water to be available at all times, some chews such as dog-specific bones or bully sticks, good quality dog-treats, a couple of toys to start (most dogs prefer plush toys that squeak and can fit in their mouths), and high quality dog food (we prefer grain-fee).
Not all dogs have the need to chew, but many do, especially puppies! Scan the floor for items such as pencils, paperclips, coins, etc. If you have children, ask them to keep their special items, plush toys, crayons, etc. in a high location away from the dog’s reach. Your new dog may not be able to distinguish between its squeaky toy and your child’s favorite teddy bear.
Taping or tucking electrical, phone, and computer cords up and way from reach is especially important.
If you have an open trash can in your kitchen, you may want to move it behind a cabinet door such as under the sink. If this is not possible, replacing an open trash can with a secure lid is highly advised.
Keep cleaning supplies and poisons locked away! Rat poisons, roach hotels, and other poisons should not be used when having a dog or puppy in the house. If they must be used, make sure they are picked up before a dog can find it and chew on it like a toy (we are speaking from experience here).
No, meet and greets can only be arranged for approved adopters. The exception to this would be if you happen to meet one of our adoptables at one of our Adoption Showcase events and choose to submit an application after that.
That’s wonderful! Your first step is to complete our foster application. Once we receive that, it will be reviewed and sent to the appropriate volunteer who will contact you to discuss fostering in more detail. This is your chance to ask all the questions you want and talk about what a suitable foster would be for your home.
If it sounds like your home would be a great addition to our fostering program after your phone interview and you’d like to proceed, you will be assigned a foster mentor! This person is in place to coach you through things like helping your foster dog adjust to its new home, the adoption process when it comes time for that and working through any issues the dog may have. They will contact you to set up a time to meet you in your home and make sure you are prepared for your first foster dog.
As soon as you think you’d like to make your home your foster dogs forever home, submit an adoption application to make your interest official! There is a point in the adoption process that we do commit to outside adopters however. If this point has been reached (phone interview is completed, a home visit is scheduled and the adopter is lead to believe that they will get the dog if the meeting goes well) then it’s too late. We do strongly discourage adopting your first foster dog.
You provide the home, the love, the exercise and basic training if needed and we’ll provide the rest! You will be set up with a crate, food, toys, treats and bedding, as well we cover the vet bills for any required visits.
We do have homes in place that give our foster dogs a place to crash when their regular foster family is away. We just ask that you notify us ASAP so we can make sure we have someone in place.
The length of time rescue dogs spend in our foster program can vary. Foster care can be as short as two weeks or possibly for several months.