Adoption, Fostering & Behavior Modification

Each year, we place an average of 800 animals into loving homes. What’s more, we are a No Kill shelter, meaning we never euthanize animals for length of stay or space. All animals, with the exception of animals suffering catastrophic illness or injury, and those deemed unsafe due to aggressive behaviors, will be placed up for adoption. Our priority is to help keep animals with their loving owners, however when necessary, we maintain a waiting list for animals to be surrendered to the shelter or help facilitate third party adoptions upon the owner’s request.

We attribute our high adoption rate to a combination of:

• Having a variety of fantastic and fully vetted animals available for adoption year-round thanks in part to our staff’s commitment to extensive handling and socialization of shelter animals;
• Our adoption fees include in-house veterinary exams, age-appropriate vaccinations, deworming, special treatments when necessary, and all animals are spayed or neutered;
• Our reputation for pre- and post-adoption support including education, adoption counseling, and training referrals and post-adoption phone or in-person consults;
• Community programs that support the needs of pet owners including our emergency foster program for people experiencing a health crisis, loss of housing, or domestic violence; affordable veterinary services through PetCORE and Pet Fix; and more;
• A loyal foster community that cares for very young, sick, or injured animals or animals in need of socialization (these volunteers extend our capacity by nearly 30% each year);
• Almost 50-years of service to the Addison County community and beyond!

We are committed to improving the adoptability of our animals, including special needs animals, and to ensure lifelong matches that strengthen the human-animal bond.