Owner Surrender Process Information
Saving one dog's life won't change the world, but the world has surely changed for that one dog.

What do I need to know when surrendering my pet Funds for Furry Friends?

First and foremost, we are a nationally registered charity that is completely volunteer based. All of our cats and dogs are placed in loving foster homes. We do not always have available homes and sometimes there is a wait involved. It is important to provide us with a few weeks notices prior to surrendering a dog.

We do get a lot of requests to take in cats, and we are unable to take cats that are owner surrendered or found. Our rescue only takes in cats from our local city pound, due to it's high numbers and the time limitations these felines face. On average, we get three calls per day with people asking us to intake cats due to moving, allergies, or because a cat wandered into their yard. We have choosen to make the local pound our priority and, as space permits, this is the only place we will accept cats from.

If you have a dog or cat which has been adopted from our rescue, you want to return your pet to rescue, we consider this a return, not an owner surrender. Please contact us right away regarding returns.

We are an animal rescue and we take in animals requiring permanent placement only. If you are looking for a babysitting service for your pets, please check with one of our local boarding kennels.

What kinds of things do you need to know about my dog?

First and foremost, tell us the basics - name, breed, age, size, color, weight, and disposition. It is also helpful for us to know how long have you been looking for a home for the dog, and if you have attempted finding a home on your own (and if so where/how). We also need to know if the dog spayed or neutered and up-to-date on vaccinations.

Because our rescue places dogs in the care of one of our volunteer foster families, we also need to know as much about your pet's temperment and personality as possible. Some things we ask are if the dog housetrained, crate trained and leash trained? Is the dog good with kids? Cats? Other dogs? Are there any heath issues we should be aware of? Are there any behavioural issues we should be aware of?

We WILL work with behavioural issues, but we do have limited foster homes who can handle these dogs. We want to put the dog in the RIGHT situation and it is important we have as much information as possible to ensure the dog is in an appropriate foster home. (ie. we do not want to put a dog that is snappy in a home with a 2 year old.)

What if my situation is URGENT and I can not wait?

We are willing to help dogs in urgent situations and understand this happens sometimes. However, taking a dog on short notice does cost the rescue. If we do not have an open foster home, it does cost us $65 per week to board the dog. Our wait averages 2-4 weeks, but can vary depending on the current situation within the rescue. If you are able to donate the costs of the estimated wait time, we can rush your dog in. Please contact us and outline the circumstances - we will let you know what we anticipate the wait time to be. (Note: a month's boarding costs $260.00 at our discounted rate.)

I have found a dog - can you take it into rescue?

Legally, we can not take in any found animal into rescue. If you have found a dog, you are required by law to turn him into the pound for your area. You are welcome to contact us and we can certainly tag the dog for intake into the rescue, should owners not reclaim him. Once the dog's time is up at the pound, we can legally rescue the dog from the pound without any problem.

Please be advised it is not lawful for us to accept a dog that is not surrendered by his owner. We do ask an owner surrender form is signed when any dog is surrendered to the rescue, and by signing you become liable should the rightful owners discover you have surrendered their dog.

Are you a no kill rescue?

This depends on your definition of "no kill." There are many organizations out there that will refer to themselves as no kill, and justify this by declining any dog that has behavioural or health issues. We have also discovered a number of organizations that maintain their "no kill" status by turning dogs they adopted out away when they are returned - some will even send the animals to the pound!

This is what sets our organization apart - we insist our dogs are returned and will go to the ends of the earth to work with any behavioural issues, giving each dog a fair chance with more than one experienced handler. There have only been eight cases since the organization was started in 2001, where a dog was euthanized because of extreme behavioural issues.

The rescue does take care to consider the adoptability of the dogs in our rescue. If there are questions regarding the safety of a dog to the public, we will not adopt out a dog that is a potential risk to harm someone. There have been four cases, since the organization was started in 2001, that the organization was forced to euthanize dogs that were deemed as dangerous by behavioral professionals.

In the event a dog is extremely ill, we also may euthanize for extreme health issues. While most organizations WILL do this, they still consider themselves "no kill" which is not really a truthful statement. Some organizations minimize their risk for health issue dogs by refusing to take any older dogs into rescue. Funds for Furry Friends will not do this and we take pride in the number of adult and senior dogs that have passed through our doors. Due to extreme health issues, we have only had to euthanize four dogs since we started in 2001.

Still have questions?

Please email us at adoptions@fundsfurfriends.com or call 204-573-8333.