Foster page
ADOPTION PROCEDURES
We have been very fortunate to acquire many new foster care providers for our rescue group. Because of this, we are able to rescue so many more dogs. The new foster providers are trying to learn the ropes and because of all the questions that have been asked, I decided to add this section to our foster newsletter. If you do not see the answer to your questions in this section, please email me with your query and I will add it to the list. Thank you so much for all your help and I look forward to working with all of you this coming year. Terri - bcrncinc@aol.com
INFORMATION REGARDING ID TAGS. This is general information about the tags. Every foster dog is assigned a Border Collie Rescue tag. If you didn’t receive one from your foster coordinator, you can request one from me by email. The tag needs to be attached to the dog’s collar whenever they are taken away from your home. If you keep collars on your dogs at your home, the tag should be attached as soon as the foster dog is in your possession. We do recommend that they are tagged as soon as you get them just in case they are escape artists!! They definitely need to be on the dog at the time of adoption and the ID number needs to be noted on the adoption contract. In the past we’ve had dogs escape from their new homes and the ID tags have thankfully reunited them with their new owners. Recently we had a foster dog escape from her foster home and I was called by the person who found her. Since she hadn’t been adopted yet, her ID number was not recorded. After several phone calls to foster providers in the area, her foster home was found. I would appreciate it if you could send me the ID number for your foster dog when you first put on the tag. Just email the information bcrncinc@aol.com . Thanks so much for your help.
How do I list my foster dog on the website? After you receive your foster dog and you get to know them a little, you can have them listed anytime. If you can write a bio for the dog and take photos, that will really help. It is always nice to have new people describe the dogs to add some interest to our website. The more interesting things you can say about the dog, the faster they seem to get adopted!!! Visitors to our site comment all the time about the great photos of our dogs. We pride ourselves with showing the applicants many views of each dog so they can really see what the dog looks like. PHOTO TIP: The best photos are taken at the dog’s level. If you are unable to photograph your foster dog, we can arrange to have that done. All information for listing your foster dog should be emailed to bcrncinc@aol.com. Do I have to advertise my foster dog anywhere else? This really isn’t necessary. In the past, the majority of our adopters come from the Internet and our website, along with our Facebook page. We have over 400 visitors a day to our site and receive an average of 5 applications per day from prospective adopters.
What do I do when an applicant inquires about my foster dog? We want to make sure you know all the information about each applicant before you invite them to meet your dog. This is for your safety as well as your opportunity to view the answers on the application and decide if their family is a good match for your dog. To request an application, just send an email to bcrncinc@aol.com and a copy of the application will be sent back by return email. If the applicant has not sent in an application or if there is some additional information about the applicant, I will let you know. I try to check my emails several times a day and get back to you as soon as possible.
What if the applicant visits my dog and wants to adopt? Once you meet with an applicant and you feel comfortable adopting your dog to them, you can proceed. You will need two copies of the adoption contract, one copy for the new owner and one copy to be sent to rescue along with the adoption fee. Do not let anyone take your dog without having a signed contract and adoption fee in hand. The adopters need to sign the first page and the third page of the contract to release the liability of the dog from Border Collie Rescue. To adopt a dog without having the release of liability signed, is a potential disaster for our group. If the owner doesn’t watch the dog and they are hit by a car or they bit a child, we could be held responsible!!!
What if the applicant doesn’t have the adoption fee at the time of adoption? They will have to wait to adopt the dog. Sometimes people think they have to visit the dog and then adopt them at another meeting. When they find out they can adopt the dog at the first meeting, they may not have the adoption fee with them. To avoid this, when you are making arrangements for the meeting, you can inform the applicants that if they meet your dog and everyone agrees that this is a good match, they will be able to adopt the dog at that time. We have had applicants take dogs without paying the adoption fee and we never received payment. We are a non-profit organization but we depend on the adoption fees to pay our vet bills and expenses. Many times we have spent more money on a dog than we receive from their adoption fee. I think some adopters feel that we should be giving our dogs to good homes for free. I wish they could see our vet bills and then they would realize why we charge an adoption fee.
What if an applicant wants to take the dog for a trial visit to their home? This is definitely not allowed!!!! Our contract gives every applicant a two week trial period so they can decide if they really want the dog. We will take the dog back and return their adoption fee within those two weeks, no problem. If a dog is taken without an official adoption in place, we are still liable for the actions of that dog!! Usually when applicants ask about trying out the dog, they don’t realize that we have the two week trial period in our contract. Once they are told about the trial period, they usually agree to the terms of the contract and sign.
What if I don’t feel comfortable adopting to an applicant after they’ve met with the dog? I’m sure many of our foster providers have run into this situation. The applicants look good on paper but after meeting with them, they either don’t interact well with the dog or we just don’t have a good feeling about them. You should go with your feelings in this case. Even though they have an approved application, if you don’t think they’ll be a good match for your foster dog, you are not required to adopt to them. Generally you will have more than one inquiry for your dog so you can explain to the applicant that you would like to interview all the applicants before deciding.
What if someone wants to relinquish a dog to rescue? When you become involved in Border Collie rescue, you’ll be surprised at how many dogs seem to become available to you. Friends or neighbors may have dogs they want to relinquish, or they hear of a Border Collie who needs help. If this should happen, please contact your foster coordinator to see if we have room for the dog. If you take a dog without getting approval first, the dog may have to become your responsibility. We will help you as much as we can but if there are no foster homes available, the dog will have to stay with you. If you do get approval to take a dog for our rescue, you will receive an owner release form for the owner to sign.
How long will a foster dog stay with me before getting adopted? There is no way of knowing for sure how long a dog will stay with you. We’ve had dogs adopted from their foster home in one day and we’ve had other dogs stay for over a year. Generally the dogs get adopted within the first month, it really depends on the age and personality of the dog. When a dog doesn’t get adopted right away, changing their bio and photos sometimes helps.
What if the dog I’m fostering doesn’t fit in with my family? We don’t want a foster dog to disrupt your household. If they just don’t fit in with your family members or animals, we will find another foster home for the dog.
What if I fall in love with my foster dog and want to keep him/her? We have all experienced this situation while fostering. It's only natural to become emotionally involved with the dogs in our care. One of the best parts of fostering is getting to see so many different personalities in the dogs and learning to spot the dogs that are truly outstanding. We feel if a foster provider wants to keep one of their rescues, they should be able to do so. We do ask our new foster providers to help our rescue by fostering for at least six months before they choose to adopt one of their foster dogs. When you do adopt one of your foster dogs after the first 6 months, we only ask that you cover the medical expenses we have provided for the dog to that point, there will be no adoption fee. There are cases when a new foster provider will want to adopt their dog before the end of the six month fostering period. In these cases, we will adopt the dog to them as a normal adoption with the current adoption fees.
INFORMATION REGARDING ID TAGS. This is general information about the tags. Every foster dog is assigned a Border Collie Rescue tag. If you didn’t receive one from your foster coordinator, you can request one from me by email. The tag needs to be attached to the dog’s collar whenever they are taken away from your home. If you keep collars on your dogs at your home, the tag should be attached as soon as the foster dog is in your possession. We do recommend that they are tagged as soon as you get them just in case they are escape artists!! They definitely need to be on the dog at the time of adoption and the ID number needs to be noted on the adoption contract. In the past we’ve had dogs escape from their new homes and the ID tags have thankfully reunited them with their new owners. Recently we had a foster dog escape from her foster home and I was called by the person who found her. Since she hadn’t been adopted yet, her ID number was not recorded. After several phone calls to foster providers in the area, her foster home was found. I would appreciate it if you could send me the ID number for your foster dog when you first put on the tag. Just email the information bcrncinc@aol.com . Thanks so much for your help.
How do I list my foster dog on the website? After you receive your foster dog and you get to know them a little, you can have them listed anytime. If you can write a bio for the dog and take photos, that will really help. It is always nice to have new people describe the dogs to add some interest to our website. The more interesting things you can say about the dog, the faster they seem to get adopted!!! Visitors to our site comment all the time about the great photos of our dogs. We pride ourselves with showing the applicants many views of each dog so they can really see what the dog looks like. PHOTO TIP: The best photos are taken at the dog’s level. If you are unable to photograph your foster dog, we can arrange to have that done. All information for listing your foster dog should be emailed to bcrncinc@aol.com. Do I have to advertise my foster dog anywhere else? This really isn’t necessary. In the past, the majority of our adopters come from the Internet and our website, along with our Facebook page. We have over 400 visitors a day to our site and receive an average of 5 applications per day from prospective adopters.
What do I do when an applicant inquires about my foster dog? We want to make sure you know all the information about each applicant before you invite them to meet your dog. This is for your safety as well as your opportunity to view the answers on the application and decide if their family is a good match for your dog. To request an application, just send an email to bcrncinc@aol.com and a copy of the application will be sent back by return email. If the applicant has not sent in an application or if there is some additional information about the applicant, I will let you know. I try to check my emails several times a day and get back to you as soon as possible.
What if the applicant visits my dog and wants to adopt? Once you meet with an applicant and you feel comfortable adopting your dog to them, you can proceed. You will need two copies of the adoption contract, one copy for the new owner and one copy to be sent to rescue along with the adoption fee. Do not let anyone take your dog without having a signed contract and adoption fee in hand. The adopters need to sign the first page and the third page of the contract to release the liability of the dog from Border Collie Rescue. To adopt a dog without having the release of liability signed, is a potential disaster for our group. If the owner doesn’t watch the dog and they are hit by a car or they bit a child, we could be held responsible!!!
What if the applicant doesn’t have the adoption fee at the time of adoption? They will have to wait to adopt the dog. Sometimes people think they have to visit the dog and then adopt them at another meeting. When they find out they can adopt the dog at the first meeting, they may not have the adoption fee with them. To avoid this, when you are making arrangements for the meeting, you can inform the applicants that if they meet your dog and everyone agrees that this is a good match, they will be able to adopt the dog at that time. We have had applicants take dogs without paying the adoption fee and we never received payment. We are a non-profit organization but we depend on the adoption fees to pay our vet bills and expenses. Many times we have spent more money on a dog than we receive from their adoption fee. I think some adopters feel that we should be giving our dogs to good homes for free. I wish they could see our vet bills and then they would realize why we charge an adoption fee.
What if an applicant wants to take the dog for a trial visit to their home? This is definitely not allowed!!!! Our contract gives every applicant a two week trial period so they can decide if they really want the dog. We will take the dog back and return their adoption fee within those two weeks, no problem. If a dog is taken without an official adoption in place, we are still liable for the actions of that dog!! Usually when applicants ask about trying out the dog, they don’t realize that we have the two week trial period in our contract. Once they are told about the trial period, they usually agree to the terms of the contract and sign.
What if I don’t feel comfortable adopting to an applicant after they’ve met with the dog? I’m sure many of our foster providers have run into this situation. The applicants look good on paper but after meeting with them, they either don’t interact well with the dog or we just don’t have a good feeling about them. You should go with your feelings in this case. Even though they have an approved application, if you don’t think they’ll be a good match for your foster dog, you are not required to adopt to them. Generally you will have more than one inquiry for your dog so you can explain to the applicant that you would like to interview all the applicants before deciding.
What if someone wants to relinquish a dog to rescue? When you become involved in Border Collie rescue, you’ll be surprised at how many dogs seem to become available to you. Friends or neighbors may have dogs they want to relinquish, or they hear of a Border Collie who needs help. If this should happen, please contact your foster coordinator to see if we have room for the dog. If you take a dog without getting approval first, the dog may have to become your responsibility. We will help you as much as we can but if there are no foster homes available, the dog will have to stay with you. If you do get approval to take a dog for our rescue, you will receive an owner release form for the owner to sign.
How long will a foster dog stay with me before getting adopted? There is no way of knowing for sure how long a dog will stay with you. We’ve had dogs adopted from their foster home in one day and we’ve had other dogs stay for over a year. Generally the dogs get adopted within the first month, it really depends on the age and personality of the dog. When a dog doesn’t get adopted right away, changing their bio and photos sometimes helps.
What if the dog I’m fostering doesn’t fit in with my family? We don’t want a foster dog to disrupt your household. If they just don’t fit in with your family members or animals, we will find another foster home for the dog.
What if I fall in love with my foster dog and want to keep him/her? We have all experienced this situation while fostering. It's only natural to become emotionally involved with the dogs in our care. One of the best parts of fostering is getting to see so many different personalities in the dogs and learning to spot the dogs that are truly outstanding. We feel if a foster provider wants to keep one of their rescues, they should be able to do so. We do ask our new foster providers to help our rescue by fostering for at least six months before they choose to adopt one of their foster dogs. When you do adopt one of your foster dogs after the first 6 months, we only ask that you cover the medical expenses we have provided for the dog to that point, there will be no adoption fee. There are cases when a new foster provider will want to adopt their dog before the end of the six month fostering period. In these cases, we will adopt the dog to them as a normal adoption with the current adoption fees.