Adopting from Shelter Support

Meeting Your Dog

After finding a dog you'd like to adopt and filling out an application, the shelter staff will contact you with further questions and to set up a time to meet your dog.

During this time, you will get to know your dog in a relaxed home environment and ask any questions you may have. The fostering family will get to know you as well, and determine if the dog is right for you. If necessary, a home visit may be requested.

If you and the dog are a perfect match, you can take your dog home that very day. We ask for an adoption fee to help cover the costs of the animal's wellbeing.

Your Dog's Care

Dogs coming from shelters often come spayed, dewormed, and with a series of shots (though it varies which shots they have received). But shelters often do nothing more beyond that. It is a rare treat to find one that will screen adopters, "clean up" dogs, or offer some form of training for new owners. We do all of these things, which require additional investments of time and money. We clean and groom each dog when it comes into our care. Many leave shelters full of mats and covered with fleas or ticks. Coming from Madison Mutts, you won't get a dog like that. If you took your adopted dog straight from the shelter to the groomer, you'd be spending another 50 dollars just to make them look presentable.

Depending on the shelter, we may have to take the dog to the vet for additional shots and/or to be neutered or spayed. This can cost us anywhere between 10 dollars and 200 dollars, depending on what needs to be done. Some dogs also may have further health problems. We almost exclusively choose to treat them rather than have them put down. No shelter will treat "cost ineffective" dogs. They will put them down. Many shelters will euthanize dogs for kennel cough. (This may seem harsh but considering the fact that they are euthanizing many dogs each day, it does make sense to keep only the most healthy individuals). We will treat heartworm positive dogs, injured dogs, and dogs needing some form of surgery. This can cost us anywhere from 200 dollars for heartworm treatment to 2000 dollars . Fortunately, these expenses do not happen very often - but they do occur.

Aside from costly maintenance and surgery, we exercise and socialize our rescued dogs on a daily basis. They will visit a dog park several times a week and interact with new dogs and people every day. If we see any unwanted behavior, we will correct it.