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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.

 

                

My Max's Story
Post Date: 2/1/2008

I love reading the stories of extreme rescue. The against all odds, injured beyond hope, tales of great lengths taken to bring some of these GSD’s into GSRNC. But my Max’s tale, (at least what I know of it. Only he knows his WHOLE story.), is one of a typical rescue. But it is also the tale of the typical joy of both dog & family. Having had numerous GSD’s, I went online in search of a rescue organization, hoping to get matched up with a second dog for our family. We wanted an understudy for our 8 year old female, Zoe. I optimistically filled out the online app & showed up at an adoption day with printouts on 3 dogs I was interested in. The first 2 dogs were already spoken for. So April goes over to the cage of “October” (I assume named for the month he came into the org). She approaches me with an underweight, concave headed, happy tongued, panting dog. I had brought along my sons, ages 9 & 6, and the minute one of the volunteers told the boys to go ahead and approach us, October was all tail wags & excitement. We were sold. October came to our house the next day. After rolling through several names, he responded best to “Max”. Max gained back his needed weight in no time & recovered from a pretty gross case of kennel cough once he got his meds. Max goes to our local feed store once a week with me and we work on getting over fears and renewing his surprisingly well trained obedience. We found he even knows how to “shake”! He’s lost that frantic look every time we get into the car. He DIVES for the chain & leash if it makes the tiniest rattle when I get it out. Max helps me get the boys up every morning, shoving his face into their blankets & walking them to the living room. He’s our shadow when we’re home & he patrols our fence with all his “shepherd ness” while we’re @ work/school. Max has a favorite thing. It’s not a toy, or a treat, or his bed. Max’s favorite thing in the world is to be called. He looks up like he can’t believe someone wants him. His doggy-smiley face & tail that wags in a circle while he runs over is a full testament to happiness. In the last year, Max has become an integral part of our family. We just lost his sissy “Zoe” to cancer a couple of weeks ago. We had no idea their time together would be so short. He’s been monumental in easing the pain of our loss. Just that big, warm, soft head in our laps is the hugest comfort. I can’t imagine our family without his big, furry heart in the center of it. I thank you, GSRNC, and all your members for what you do. I know that my story is one of hundreds per year -Jodi Genna

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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.