Most of our animals, both dogs and cats, come from pounds. We take them once they have completed their legal holding period if they have no other options (such as adoption to the public).
If you wish to begin the adoption process for one of our animals please complete the appropriate adoption questionnaire
Selecting Animals
We choose our animals on the basis of good temperament with people and other animals, health, soundness and capacity to fit happily into a home.
We take dogs and cats of all sizes and breeds as well as all ages. We are willing to work with dogs who have training issues such as jumping up, pulling on the lead and minor dog to dog aggression. Many of the dogs we take have had little or no training but being basically good dogs they respond quickly to learning manners.
We won’t take dogs who display human aggression or serious dog aggression.
Temperament testing
As well as formal temperament testing training, we also spend a lot of time with our foster dogs.
Each interaction with them, including feeding, cleaning and walking, as well as formal training teaches us about each animal. Our animals stay with us for a minimum of two weeks before they are made available for adoption to ensure that they are not incubating any disease, and during that time we assess and train them for issues such as:
- Resource guarding
- Prey drive
- Leash training
- Basic obedience
- Behavior with children and adults
- Car travel
- Responsiveness to training
We test all our dogs with cats and because we care about cats we are very honest about recommending or not recommending a dog for a home with cats. If we say that a dog is safe with cats were have tested them extensively. On the other hand, many of our foster cats live with dogs and we can generally choose a cat who is used to canine company for you.
After adopting
If you adopt an animal from us and require any further support we are always available to help and will support you in settling your new pet into your home. Sometimes, however, things don’t always work out exactly as we might wish, so our adoption agreement allows for a two week period during which you can return the cat or dog to us for a full refund of your adoption fee.
We will always take one of our animals back if you are unable to keep it any longer.