Note: “KL” is a volunteer with a rescue group, and one of her jobs is to process adoption applications. These are her suggestions on how to improve your canine adoption application.

Processing canine adoption applications can be extremely rewarding.

There’s no better feeling than seeing cheerful photographs of “your” applicant with their new canine or puppy and knowing you played a part in those matching human and canine smiles.

On the other hand, it can be discouraging to assess a long string of applications that just aren’t eligible for approval.

The worst is when the person seems typically careful and everything checks out except for one requirement, and it’s one you can’t overlook.

You deny the application, you’re left feeling frustrated, and the applicant, who may have thought they were doing everything right, is not able to adopt from you.

They may be angry or sad because they feel judged or lied to.

The truth is that in many cases, we don’t want to be gatekeepers. We want to see pleased adopters and pleased dogs matched up.

We also understand that nobody is perfect, but there are a lot of really good human beings out there. and hello – you cared enough to fill out the application in the first place. That counts for something.

When I get an application, I don’t go searching for what’s wrong with it; I look for ways I can approve someone that week.

So with that in mind, I’ve compiled a list of some proactive things potential canine adopters can do to help improve their canine adoption application.

Tips to improve your canine adoption application

1. Do research on the rescue group’s adoption process and policies.

Look up rescue groups and shelters in which you have an interest. Not all of them will put their adoption policies and requirements on their websites, but numerous will and it’s worth a look.

Note the requirements for vetting especially; close to 100% of the applications I deny are for vetting. Which brings me to the next point:

2. get your vetting ducks in a row.

This one is twofold. First, your current dogs and cats will likely need to be altered and current on certain vaccines. Some groups may require additional preventative care.

Know what you will need to file and start building that history. how much you need will vary, with some groups just wanting to know your animals are current now and others requiring a 2-5 year track record.

Check with your vet and see if there are any gaps in required care. get your animals current as soon as possible and keep them that way.

If you purchase flea/tick or heartworm prevention or vaccines from sources other than your vet, start saving receipts.

Take photos of the receipts and packaging. If your vet can’t confirm that you purchased those items from them, you will at least be able to demonstrate that they were purchased and that may be sufficient.

Second, it helps us immensely if you can gather accurate contact information for all of your vets going back 3-5 years, including clinic name, city and phone number.

Many people use multiple vets, or they move, and the records all exist but they reside in different places. Det er ok!

Just tell us about it so we can call each of those vet clinics and piece together the history of care we need. If you can give us a summary of when or for which pet each clinic was used, that’s even better!

3. Be truthful – are you prepared to meet the rescue group’s adoption requirements or not?

Decide what you are prepared to do to meet the rescue’s requirements … and what you are not.

For instance, I had one applicant who had a young huge breed dog. She did plan to alter the dog, but not before the canine was two years old; her vet and breeder both recommended against it.

She was totally free to make the decision but chose that it was really essential to her to stick with the assistance she was given, and she owned that choice.

4. Be truthful with us on how you feel about our adoption requirements.

The same applicant above disclosed her situation and decision to us, and I was able to defer her application until her canine is old enough to alter. She is much more than welcome to reactivate her application if she chooses, when she is ready.

Without that information, I would have denied her application, but because she was candid, I could find a compromise.

Even if we can’t work with someone in a particular situation, it really matters to us if they are honest. I would not blame any group who chose that in the future, they were not open to working with someone who lied to dem.

5. Hjelp oss med dine personlige referanser.

Gi nøyaktig kontaktinformasjon for det forespurte antall referanser. Gi referansene dine en heads opp for at vi kan ringe, og be dem om å ringe oss tilbake hvis vi ikke fanger dem.

Vær forberedt på å tilby andre hvis vi bare ikke kan få kontakt med de du opprinnelig ga – det skjer.

6. Føl deg helt fri til å holde kontakten med redningen.

Et vennlig notat eller tekst for å spørre meg om hvordan det går er alltid velkommen! Jeg skal fortelle deg hva jeg vet. Det er også en sjanse for deg å gi meg beskjed om noen detaljer du har gitt meg har endret seg.

Jeg vil merke meg dette og bruke den informasjonen til å identifisere en hjørnetann vi har som kan være best for deg når vi er gjennom prosessen. I tillegg viser det at du bryr deg om prosessen og er begeistret for å adoptere.

7. Hvis du har et spørsmål om adopsjonssøknaden, spør!

Det er virkelig ikke noe som heter et stum spørsmål. Hvis jeg ikke vet svaret, vil jeg prøve å finne ut av det for deg. Hvis det er et hjem, sjekk ut som en del av søknadsprosessen, bruk den muligheten til å stille spørsmål du måtte ha.

Jeg blir begeistret når jeg ser noen med en bokstavelig liste over spørsmål de har samlet på forhånd; Det viser meg at de har nærmet seg dette gjennomtenkt og bryr seg om å bruke oss som en ressurs.

Har du noen forslag å legge til? Hvordan var dine hjørnetannsadopsjonsapplikasjonsopplevelser?

Gi oss beskjed i kommentarene!

Tidligere meldinger fra KL:

Hva har gode oppdrettere og gode redninger til felles?
Har du en rase som folk har en tendens til å være redd for?
Hvordan velge en hjørnetannoppdretter