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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.

 

                

Kiva
Post Date: 12/11/2018 9:25:01 AM

I still can't believe how lucky we are to have Kiva in our lives! She is an absolute joy :-) Kiva (we didn't change her name) had been in and out of a couple foster homes and one forever home and then back to GSRNC, before we adopted her in June 2017. She knew basic commands, was house broken and did well in her crate (she no longer needs her crate, but still enjoys sleeping in it). She was a very sweet dog to begin with, but had some anxiety when meeting other dogs, and sometimes a little aggression. She also was having some anxiety at first if we left her alone and destroyed her first crate. We immediately took her to training classes and practiced with her daily for almost 4 months straight (we still occasionally have training day practice sessions at home). She is eager to please and seemed to love the challenge, so she excelled quickly! She has become such a wonderful companion (especially fun since I work from home), she is super sweet and loving, extremely smart, well-trained, well-behaved (we get so many compliments on how well-behaved she is), and so playful and fun! She loves to go on walks, LOVES running with us, hiking, and LOVES playing fetch! She loves to accompany us when we just hang out at home, run errands, go to restaurants, breweries or wineries too! We have taken her to a few agility classes and also practice on short walls and benches too. She seems to really enjoy it and will sometimes walk on these walls on her own during our walks. She is also a natural at nose-work, where I started out having her find treats as a game, but she can now find other scents such as essential oils (and of course loves doing it!). My husband and I really can't thank GSRNC enough for all the work they do to connect these amazing dogs to loving families. These volunteers are truly wonderful and caring people that volunteer their time for such an incredible organization! I can't even begin to describe how much they do for these dogs before they even get to their forever homes- from assessing the temperaments of the dogs in shelters prior to pulling them into their program, ensuring that they are fostered with families to socialize them, hosting all the adoption fairs, thoroughly assessing families to ensure a match, and being a great resource before, during and after the adoption process. I definitely urge fellow adopters to donate annually to GSRNC on behalf of their four-legged babies, so they can continue saving these wonderful dogs and making families!

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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.