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Most shelties in our program come from owners who can no longer keep their dog.
The reasons are many, but often concern financial problems, divorce, relocation
or incompatibility with children. We are available and happy to take your
sheltie into our program and find it a loving home. We call this an "owner
surrender."
Surrendering your pet can be a difficult decision to make, and we respect that.
We will work with you at your pace and answer any questions you have. You can
rest assured that your sheltie will receive the finest of care and love in our
program.
Our adoptive homes are the best of the best homes for dogs. All adoptive homes must apply to adopt and then pass a phone screening, veterinarian interview and home interview. As rescue members, we would place our own dogs in our approved homes if needed and feel good about our decision.
Incoming dogs are handled on a priority basis. The highest priority is dogs that are currently in shelter facilities or are about to be euthanized. After that, we handle owner surrenders.
When you contact us about surrendering your sheltie to our program, we'll ask you several questions about the dog, including:
- Why are you surrendering the dog?
- Is the dog up-to-date on vaccinations and heartworm preventative?
- Is the dog spayed or neutered?
- Has the dog ever bitten anyone?
- Does the dog have any health problems?
These are important questions and we expect you to answer honestly and to the best of your knowledge. We do not accept dogs that have bitten another person or dog causing broken skin or other bodily harm. Nipping is okay, but aggressive biting is not.
If your dog is not spayed or neutered or up-to-date on shots, we will ask that you take care of these items before the dog is surrendered to our program. If you cannot take care of those items because of time, we will request that you make a donation to our program to cover these expenses. Only in extreme cases can we accept a dog that is not spayed or neutered and up-to-date in shots without a donation.
If you are surrendering your pet because of a health issue that you cannot afford to treat, please tell us about it. We may be able to offer you resources for assistance for veterinary services.
Once we have accepted your sheltie into our program, we will need at least 36 hours to set up transportation and a foster home. We may ask that you drive the dog to a certain location to meet one of our volunteers, or we may send a volunteer to your home. Please remember that we are a volunteer organization and that we all have pets, families and day jobs. We will be as flexible as possible to work with you, but you must also be flexible with us.
You'll be required to sign an owner relinquishment form that will turn over the legal rights of ownership of the dog to us and a medical release form so we can talk with your veterinarian about your pet. We'll also need the following items
if you have them:
- Medical records
- Rabies tag and certificate
- Microchip information if your pet is chipped
- A favorite toy of your pet's
- Food that the dog is currently eating
- Any medication the dog is currently taking, including heartworm and flea preventative
- AKC paperwork and registration, completed or not
If you are currently going though a divorce or have completed a divorce, we will require that both owners of the dog sign the owner relinquishment form, unless ownership by one person can be proved by a receipt or AKC registration. A signed statement from the absent party that relinquishes any claims to ownership will also be accepted.
Some adoptive homes start their dogs in competition agility or obedience, and the AKC papers you have will help the new owners get a limited registration for point tracking. We also like to review pedigrees. Because we are a corporation, all AKC registrations are voided once the dog comes into our possession.
We do not need dog houses, chain tie-outs, flea and tick collars, shampoo, or expired medications. Please dispose of those items on your own.
After surrendering, the dog will spend at least seven days in foster care as an evaluation period. During this time, it will receive necessary vet care and lots of attention. We may contact you during this period for more information. After the seven day evaluation period, the dog will become available for adoption and matched with one of our approved adoptive homes.
You can watch the status of the dog on this website. Visitation with your surrendered pet is prohibited.
To surrender your pet,
click here to submit your information online.
The online submission is the preferred method of notifying us that you need to
surrender your sheltie.
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