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Fetch 11 Humane Society, Inc. "No-Kill Shelter for Dogs Less than 40 Pounds in Weight" ™ |
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Thank you for wanting to adopt a shelter dog! As you know hundreds of dogs every year come into municipals pounds, and shelter / rescue-situations that are lost, abandoned or displaced from their homes by owners suffering with financial problems or who have to move and cannot take their pets with them. The fact that you are willing to take such a dog into your own home on a long-term permanent basis and make it a member of your extended family is fantastic and we applaud you for that! As our mascot Frodo would say, "Rah-Roo!"
General Information and Things to Keep in Mind
Here are a few things to keep in mind if you want to adopt a dog from us:
All adoptions are BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. To protect the dogs and to properly screen all potential adopters, we do not accept walk-ins, and do not process same-day adoptions for dogs in our shelter-house.
The adopter is responsible for picking up the dog from our shelter house. We do not provide transport. We also will not “ship” dogs under any circumstances; you have to come to the shelter house to pick the dog up so we can meet you face-to-face. Applications or e-mails requesting that dogs be shipped will be summarily rejected.
Adoption fees may vary by dog. This isn’t because we feel some dogs are “more valuable” than others; it’s usually based on how much money we have had to expend out of our own pockets to make the dog “adoptable”. For example, if a dog comes to us already trained, already altered and already current on all of its vaccinations, it doesn’t cost as much for us to make that dog adoption-ready as it does for us to do all of the preliminary vaccinating, altering and training ourselves, so the adoption fee would be lower. If a dog, however, comes to us with medical needs, training or behavior problems, or requires other expenses (such emergency medical care, heartworm treatment, physical therapy, recuperation time, etc.), the adoption fee climbs. The adoption fee for each dog is posted at the bottom its adoption listing. Once set, the fee is not negotiable, but it may go up or down depending on the dog's individual circumstances.
Our normal adoption fee is $150. This covers a portion of our expenses for taking in, vetting and caring for the dog. Our dogs live in our shelter-house (not in stone / chain-link kennels) where they have free access to open areas of the house, and have a small fenced-in yard to play in. We have staff who stay with them during the day, and even have overnight and weekend staff to see to their needs. The dogs are groomed and bathed as needed, get a daily full-body massage, and are fed a modified raw food diet which include kibble, raw meat, raw vegetables, and fresh fruit. (The dogs LOVE applesauce and canned pumpkin, and we're always happy to get donations of those items.) The kibble we feed the dogs is by Purina and Pedigree only, as they were two major manufacturers of dog food that were NOT listed on the dog-food recall lists of 2007. If you would like to donate kibble to the agency, please restrict your donations to products by those two manufacturers.
All dogs in our care are given DHLPP and rabies vaccinations (as appropriate to their age). When funds permit, we also do a heartworm test on dogs old enough to be tested. Puppies are given a fecal exam, wormed and treated for other parasites as applicable to each dog. Dogs over the age of 6 months are spayed / neutered before adoption whenever possible. If a dog is adopted out before it can be altered, the adopter is responsible for having the dog altered and signs a spay/neuter agreement to that effect. Failure to comply with the spay/neuter agreement will result in the confiscation of the dog, a fine of $250 payable to Fetch 11, and legal prosecution under Section 31762 of the Food and Agricultural Code. Read the adoption application and agreement carefully before you commit to a dog. We do take the spay/neuter agreement seriously and will enforce it to the full extent of the law. We've been very lucky so far, and have only had to confiscate two dogs in the history of our agency because the adopters failed to meet the spay/neuter agreement.
We make sure every dog in our care is checked by a licensed veterinarian to ensure that it is healthy and physically fit for adoption. Because we take in pregnant strays, orphaned puppies and other special needs dogs, we often have to make trips to the emergency room to get the dogs the care they need, so our veterinary bills can often skyrocket. If you would like to assist us in the care of these kinds of dogs, you can make a donation to our agency or directly to the "Fetch 11" accounts at the following veterinary clinics.
Shasta Lake Veterinary
Clinic 4522 Shasta Dam Blvd. Shasta Lake City, CA 96019 (530) 275-8871
VCA Asher Animal Hospital 2505 Hilltop Drive Redding, CA 96001 (530) 224-2200
You can mail a check directly to the clinics, and put the clinic's name in the Payee line, but make sure they know to put the funds toward the "Fetch 11" account. Moneys paid to the clinics on behalf of the Fetch 11 account goes directly to the medical care of the dogs, and helps us to provide emergency care for dogs when they need it. Whenever you make a donation of this kind, please let know so we can contact the clinic to make sure the funds were put into the right account. You can also follow-up with a call to the clinic yourself using the telephone numbers provided above to make sure your donation was properly disbursed.
To adopt a dog from us, please read and follow the adoptions process detailed below. E-mail us with any questions you may have. Click on any of the links below for more information.
Select a Dog
(Dogs Currently Available) SELECT A DOG: If you are interested in adopting a dog from our agency, first check out the list of available dogs below.
Keep in mind that not all of the dogs listed by our agency are currently being housed in our shelter-house facility. Some of them are dogs we are, as a courtesy, posting for other shelters, private rescuers or for owners who are seeking alternative placements for their own animals. Fetch 11 cannot and does not oversee the adoption of the dogs posted for other rescuers or owners on the list; all transactions for dogs outside of our agency must go through their own associated entities directly; and those entities are solely responsibly for any liability issues arising from the placement of any dog through or by them.
We also post dogs with the
following adoption sites:
Back to the Adoption Section Intro
FILL OUT THE APPLICATION AND AGREEMENT: Once you have chosen a dog you think you would like to adopt from our agency, we will need you to fill out an application and sign and adoption agreement. You will not be able to visit with a dog in our shelter house until after you have filled out an application and been approved as a potential adopter, so please don’t call us or e-mail is trying to get an appointment to visit with a dog before filling out the required paperwork.
CLICK HERE to access the on-line APPLICATION AND AGREEMENT form or e-mail us and we will send you a copy in the Word DOC or PDF format.
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WAIT FOR A DETERMINATION: Once you submit the application and adoption agreement, our senior staff will review it and will get back to you, usually within 24 to 48 hours. Sometimes, they’re very quick and can make a decision within just a few hours. At other times, they may have additional questions they want answered, or will request other information from the potential adopter such as photographs of the home where the dog will be staying, or a clarification of the family’s circumstances.
If you are rejected as an adopter, you will be given a reason why your application was rejected. All decisions on applications are final, so once an application has been rejected it will not be reconsidered. Potential adopters who have been rejected may resubmit an application after six (6) months if the issues or situations which caused the rejection of the initial application are addressed and corrected to the satisfaction of our senior staff members.
If you are approved as an adopter, you can then set up an appointment to come visit/take home the dog, and put a “hold” on the dog (so no one else can adopt it).
You are also encouraged to ask us as many questions about the dog as you can think of. It is our agency policy to give our adopters as much information about the dog as we can. We'll try to prepare you for your first visit with the dog by letting you know how the dog might initially react to you, and how you can make it more comfortable. Some of our dogs, for example, come out of very abusive homes or other trauma and may require you to be extra sensitive to their needs. If the dog has any health or behavior issues, we will inform you of them and give you the dog's prognosis. Keep in mind that often we have little information about the dog's past (if it came to us as a stray), or have information that is second- or third-hand (from other rescuers or shelters / pounds). So, even though we'll tell you whatever we know about the dog, Fetch 11 expressly disclaims all expressed or implied warranties as to the health, merchantability or fitness of the dog for a particular purpose.
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SET UP AN ADOPTION APPOINTMENT: If you're approved as an adopter, you can set up an appointment to come visit with / adopt the dog!
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PUT AN “ADOPTION HOLD” ON A DOG: Putting a “hold” on a dog means our agency will remove the dog from adoption websites and keep others from adopting the dog until you have a chance to visit with it and take the dog home with you.
In order for the coverage to be available for your adopted do, you must make sure to enroll the dog in the plan BEFORE you take it to your veterinarian. The insurance will not cover any conditions existing before the coverage is activated (so if your new dog swallows something it shouldn't and you take it to the vet for emergency treatment, and then try to activate the insurance, the emergency care will not be covered.) It's always wise to activate the coverage a day or two before you pick the dog up from our shelter. That will make sure the dog is covered immediately by the insurance -- even if you have an accident on the way home from the shelter.
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PICKING UP THE DOG: Once again, we expect adopters to be on-time for their appointments, and to call us or e-mail us immediately if the appointment needs to be changed.
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AFTER THE ADOPTION: We appreciate it when adopters keep in touch with us after an adoption and send us updates and photos of the dog in its new home. Adopters are also encouraged to contact us if you have any questions about the adopted dog that were not answered during the adoption appointment or if new issues come up with the dog. If your veterinarian has any questions he/she is also welcomed to contact our agency for more information about the adopted dog.
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This website, its contents, text and images are the property of Fetch 11 Humane Society, Inc. and Mary K. Hanson. Copyright (c) 2008, All Rights Reserved. For problems with this website contact the webmistress or e-mail F11. |
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