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Questions and Answers
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- What is Homeward
Bound Dog Rescue of New York?
Homeward Bound is a not for profit volunteer organization.
Our volunteers come from all walks of life and share one
common passion - we love dogs, all kinds of dogs. We were
formed because we saw many young, happy, healthy puppies
and young dogs being euthanized in shelters because there
was no foster space or other rescue groups with room to
take them until their forever home could be found. Our focus
is finding those family dogs who just need a little more
time and exposure, and helping them find their way home.
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- Where are you
located?
We do not have a facility. Our volunteers live all over
the Capital District of New York State. All of the dogs
in our program reside in a foster home with a Homeward Bound
volunteer. We take our dogs into our homes and care for
them as if they were our own until they go to their forever
homes. This serves several purposes: Many of our dogs have
been in shelters and time spent in a loving home will help
them begin to feel safe, comfortable and allow their true
personalities to emerge. Also, the time we spend with them
helps us to learn more about them, which allows us to be
able to provide applicants with an accurate assessment and
the dogs individual strengths and needs.
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- Why do you charge
an adoption fee, and what is it?
- $175 for
dogs over two years old
- $275 for
dogs/puppies (under two years)
- $300 for
prison-trained dogs
The adoption
fee is not a purchase or sale price and is not refundable.
There are
multiple costs involved in running a dog rescue. Many
of our dogs come from shelters which charge us a fee for
each dog surrendered to us to cover the costs they incurred
while the dog was in their care and/or for transporting
the dog to us. In many cases, this fee exceeds 50% of
our adoption fee. Then there are the additional costs
incurred after the dog reaches Homeward Bound, such as
additional veterinary care, training, transportation and
shelter fees. In some cases, these costs will exceed the
adoption fee received for a particular dog. We do not
raise the adoption fee in these cases. Also, there are
the costs of advertising the clinics, transportation,
maintaining the website, post office box and hotline telephone
costs and insurance. All of these costs are paid by the
collection of adoption fees with shortfall met through
donations, grants and gifts from our volunteers. For more
information CLICK
HERE
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- Homeward Bound
dogs are adopted out "fully vetted". What does
that mean?
All of our dogs are spayed or neutered. This includes most
of our puppies also provided that they are at least 8 weeks
of age. They are generally vaccinated for distemper/parvo,
rabies and if from a shelter, bordatella. They are also
tested for heartworm and in some cases, lymes disease and
erlichia. We will provide you with copies of the medical
records for your new dog. You will be expected to continue
providing them with appropriate medical care. We also recommend
that adopters in upstate New York get their dogs Lyme vaccinated
and use a flea/tick repellant on their dog.
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- Do you ever
take dogs back?
Yes, we will always take a Homeward Bound dog back into
the program. In fact, our adoption contract states that
you are obligated to return the dog to us if you decide,
for any reason, that you cannot keep the dog. As we have
a thorough adoption approval process, we have never had
to enforce the provision which is also in our contracts
which allows Homeward Bound to reclaim a dog if the owner
fails to comply with the terms of the contract, however
if Homeward Bound had reason to believe that one of its
dogs was not being properly cared for, this provision would
be invoked.
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- Do you place
dogs with renters?
Yes, provided you have landlord approval to have a dog live
in the rental property. We will contact your landlord to
confirm his or her approval prior to finalizing the application
process.
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- Will you place
a dog with an inexperienced dog owner?
Yes, however we will discuss with you the huge responsibility
of owning a dog and how you can educate yourself in order
to give your dog the care and direction that he/she needs.
We may require a first time owner to take part in obedience
classes to assure that the owner obtains that first level
of instruction. You will see questions on our application
form about your level of dog experience and we ask that
you answer those questions honestly so we can better provide
the support you will need as a first time dog owner.
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- Will you accept
a dog into your program who is surrendered to you directly
by the owner?
We will accept owner surrenders under the following conditions:
1. The
dog has been spayed/neutered and is up to date on all vaccinations.
2. The dog passes our temperament evaluation and
3. The dog is type of dog which we normally accept into
our program.
4. We have a foster space available to accept the dog.
5. There are no other re-homing possibilities for the dog.
We also request the owner pays a $100.00 surrender fee to
help offest any additional costs with bringing a new dog
into the group.
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