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Thinking of Adopting?
The Animal Welfare Society wants to help you find the best pet possible for your family. We're here to help make life-long matches. Placing an animal into a loving home is truly the most rewarding part of the animal sheltering business. If you are interested in adopting a new companion here are some things you should know.
When visiting the shelter or checking out the available animals online, you can browse through our facility and view a number of dogs, cats and small animals. If you find one or a couple that interest you, we ask you fill out an adoption questionnaire. This helps us to best fit an animal with your lifestyle. Not every animal will suit your home and family, and looks alone will not lead to a good decision.
The adoption questionnaire is a short, 1-page form that helps us to place animals in homes where they will have the best opportunity for success. If you currently have animals, please let us know about them. If you rent, please get permission from your landlord before committing to a new pet. You'd be surprised how many animals are brought to us because people tried to sneak them in! This is heartbreaking for everyone.
If you are interested in adopting, simply download, print and fill out a questionnaire or come by the shelter to complete the process.
Our adoption counselors will work with you and tell you all about the animal you have selected. We have walking paths where you can take the dogs out on walks to get to know them. We also have meet and greet rooms where you can spend time with the animal off leash or out of the cage.
We ask that all family members who will be living in the home with the animal be present when deciding if the animal is right for you. Animals react differently to each individual person, so it is important that they meet each of their prospective family members. If you are considering adopting a dog, and currently have 1 or more dogs at home, we ask that you bring your dogs in to meet with the shelter dog. A staff member will help you with the dog-dog introductions. We want ALL family members to get along!
Here are some adoption guidelines for highly sought-after pets:
We operate on a first come/ first served basis.
We open our doors at eleven AM; however, applicants may have begun forming a line prior to this. We cannot control what time interested parties choose to arrive. Applicants have camped out through the night to be first in line for the pet that they wanted. When the staff arrives numbers will be issued to those who are waiting.
Visitors complete the questionnaire before interacting with individual animals.
Visitors will be allowed 15 minutes to themselves to view available transfer dogs/puppies to narrow their choice.
A commitment does not have to be made within the 15 minute time frame, though after 15 minutes, the next in line will have access to available animals, and so on.
Please remember that you may wait 15 minutes for every person/family in front of you, though usually applicants have an animal in mind before coming to the shelter and choices are made quickly. Please be prepared to wait for those ahead of you to make their choices and complete their adoptions. We do our best to keep things moving quickly.
If you have questions about our adoption process, please call us at 985-3244 x105, or email awslobby@animalwelfaresociety.org.
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