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Adoption Process

Our adoption process is designed to help you and the right dog find each other. Our goal is to place each dog into a permanent, safe, and loving home.

To adopt a German Shepherd Dog from us, you must:

  1. Complete an Adoption Questionnaire, either online, or hard-copy (pdf format). If you do not own your home, you must have your landlord complete the Landlord Letter.
  2. Be interviewed by an adoption counselor.
  3. Choose, and be chosen by, the right dog.
  4. Live in one of the 14 Northern California counties we serve.
  5. Allow a home visit by an adoption counselor.
  6. With our approval, sign our Adoption Agree ment, and pay the associated fee.

If you come to an Adoption Day, the process of adopting can be completed in any order; otherwise you must complete an Adoption Questionnaire before we can assist you further. Normally, all our requirements must be met. Home visits may be waived in rare circumstances. We do not adopt to homes outside of Northern California.

After we receive your online Adoption Questionnaire, we will call you to begin the adoption process. Due to our home visit requirement, we only adopt to homes in Northern California. We encourage potential adopters to come to one or more Adoption Days because that is the best way to meet several German Shepherds and to find your new companion.

If you attend an Adoption Day and choose a dog, you may be able to adopt the same day, if all adoption requirements are met. The entire adoption process can be completed on the same day, or it may take longer.

If you can not come to any Adoption Day, we will try to assist you using email, the mail, and the telephone. This will probably take longer because the people who will help you are volunteers who usually have jobs, and scheduling meetings with dogs can be complex because our dogs live in many homes and kennels.

 

                

New Addition
Post Date: 2/18/2011 5:54:33 PM

We started looking for a German Shepherd Dog several months before we found "Bliss". We had considered a few, but none of them had seemed like the "right" dog. We saw "Bliss" on the GSRNC website and loved her description. By the time our application had been looked at, she was gone. We continued looking and a little while later, she reappeared on the website. We were so excited. We completed our home visit and were told she'd be at the next adoption day. It was love at first sight for all of us. We took her home that day, renamed her "Charlotte", but call her Charlie. Here we are 8 months later. Charlie has been a great addition to our family. She gets along great with our 9 year old bull dog, Jersey, loves going for rides in the car, dog parks, walks in the neighborhood, and has even gone on a few vacations with us. Her favorite place is Fort Funston in San Francisco, where she runs through the trees, over the sand dunes and along the beach. As soon as we turn the corner and you can see the ocean, she knows where she is and gets a big smile on her face. We just love her, more than we ever thought possible. Who wouldn't love a dog that even joins in for pedicures (allowing us to paint her nails.) We are very greatful to the GSRNC for bringing us together with Charlie.

Photos


Important Note About Dog Descriptions

Please remember that the descriptions of dogs (of Dogs Available) have been written by GSRNC volunteers and are usually based only upon our observation of the dog since the time it was rescued. While we try to provide dog descriptions that are fair and accurate, the nature of our work involves contact with dogs whose background and history are unknown to us. GSRNC cannot warrant or guarantee any dog's future behavior. For example, if we say that a rescue dog gets along with children, cats, or other dogs, this statement is usually based upon the fact that one of our volunteers has observed the dog interacting with his or her own children or pets. While this information may be helpful, we cannot be certain of how a dog will do with the children or pets in your home. If you are considering adopting, we encourage you to come to one of our Adoption Days and meet our rescue dogs. Ultimately, only you can decide whether one of our dogs is right for you.