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Occasionally, SHF has room for
one more, but we NEVER kill an animal to make room for another.
Hoping that Safe Harbor Farm has room for a pet you're
looking to surrender? When space allows, we're willing to house one
more but, like most rescues, WE GET 1000% MORE CALLS TO SURRENDER ANIMALS
THAN WE DO CALLS TO ADOPT (roughly 45 animals each week!), ESPECIALLY
CATS. The sad truth is, this area doesn't have
enough homes for all the cats & dogs being
born!
Below you will
find...
- SHF's process for owner surrender
- A
note for cat owners
- Our favorite breeds (yes, we have a few favorites!)
- Dogs
better handled by breed-specific rescues
- Helpful hints to find a great new home for your pet
- A
note about Pit Bulls, Hounds & Lab mixes
- SHF's "Please help to find my pet a new home"
application
Process for
owner surrender and inclusion in
SHF's Adoptions
Program
-
application review
(this can take a day or two) -
temperament testing at Safe Harbor Farm
(to be
included, a dog must get along with other cats & dogs and
pass 3 out of 4 simple
temperament tests) -
vaccine & heartworm test update
-
spay-neutering (if not already done)
A note for cat
owners
When a family's bond with their beloved cat
must be broken because of serious health problems or death, all of us want to
be in the position to help. It's the forty calls each week we get
from folks who are looking to "get rid" of cats because "they're
moving," "just had a baby," or they let a cat have kittens that they couldn't dump
on friends, neighbors or the local pet store that make us want to scream!
We
just don't have the room for this number of cats! No one does, and that
is why EACH OF the local shelters puts down more than 100 innocent cats per
week many
weeks of the year. These callers need to take responsibility for CAREFULLY re-homing their cats themselves (beginning, the
way we do, with checking a vet reference for each potential adopter - see
our helpful hints, below).
So...if
you want SHF to find the purr-fect home for
YOUR cat, we must have YOUR
help to do so.
To get into our program, a cat must:
1. be
spay-neutered (or the funds provided so we can do this);
2. be up-to-date on vaccines (or the funds provided so
we can do this);
3. get along with other cats;
4. have a recent negative FeLV test;
5. have a $20/month sponsor for a minimum of 8
months, payable at time of surrender.
(NOTE: Eight months is the average time it takes
for us to
find an excellent home for a cat).
A few of our favorite
cat & dog breeds
Bostons & most other Terriers
Pugs
Dobermans
Cocker
& Cavalier King Charles Spaniels
French Bulldogs
Pekingese
White
Shepherds
Persians
American Curls
Scottish Folds
Dogs we do not handle
(For these breeds, we recommend you contact
rescue
organizations specific for the breed.)
Akitas
Bouviers
Chows
Collies
Dalmatians Newfoundlands
Mastiffs
Shelties
Rottweilers
Huskies
St
Bernards Samoyeds
Old English Sheepdogs
Pomeranians
Pit
Bulls
A special note about Pit Bulls, Pit
mixes, Hounds,
Hound mixes & Lab mixes
Sadly, the number of these dogs far outnumber the
homes interested in them. Ask any municipal shelter across the country what the #1, #2 and #3 breeds of dogs killed at their shelter
is, and the answer will be Pits, Chows & Lab crosses, together with Hounds
and crosses of
Pits, Chows & Hounds. Tens of thousands of them are killed in this
state each year.
Safe Harbor Farm is no better than
any other rescue group at finding good homes for these dogs. They can be terrific
pets,
but allowing them to breed when so many of them die for lack of interested homes is unethical and
irresponsible.
At this time, Safe Harbor Farm is not accepting pit
bulls, pit crosses, hounds, hound crosses or lab mixes.
Helpful hints for finding a great new home for your pet
- Always ask potential adopters for the telephone number(s) of their veterinarian(s), then call
each vet's office for a reference. You'll find that most are very helpful!
This will quickly eliminate those horrible types that
wish to acquire animals for dog fighting bait, laboratory experimentation
& feeding to their snakes. (YES, this all happens in this area!)
- Copy one of SHF's
adoption application forms, and ask all potential adopters the same questions.
- Post
pictures of your pet at all vet's offices, together with a description of
their qualities and needs.
- Don't lie about your pet's faults (and
be willing to recognize that some of these faults might be your own, if you haven't
provided good, consistent, reward-based training).
- Be prepared to update
your pet on all vaccines and lab tests (leukemia or heartworm testing,
stool sample) prior to placing.
- Request that potential adopters bring pictures of previous pets and their home if you're not willing to visit their home directly.
Click HERE for SHF's Surrender
Application
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