How do I adopt a dog?

Adopting a northern breed dog from ADRTC is a 3 step process:

1. Submit an Adoption Application, or call ADRTC at 505-792-2846.

Applications are available online. You can also call the ADRTC phone number from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. any day, and either leave a message, or talk to one of us. We generally return all calls in 48 hours, and most often in 2-4 hours. If you should not hear back from us, please try again, as sometimes numbers are not left accurately (remember the area code), or clearly enough to understand.

2. Complete an interview with a Placement Specialist.

This interview offers the Placement Specialist the opportunity to learn your needs, and the circumstances in which a dog will be living. This helps the Placement Specialist to understand what characteristics you will require a dog to have, and learn about your preferences. Your previous experience with dogs, other pets, and planned activities that are important, along with information in regard to your family, physical living area, and time to spend with a dog.

3. The Placement Specialist will make recommendations as to which dog(s) you should consider, and help to arrange an appointment for you to meet the dog(s) that are recommended as best meeting your needs. You *must* be able to visit us to meet the dog. We only adopt dogs to people who can come to visit and meet the dog at the foster home.

Sometimes, we don’t have a dog that will fit your needs at the time you are applying. Most times, we have dogs in foster care that will meet the needs of most families who apply to have a dog. We set up an appointment for your family to meet the candidate dog at the home of the fostering family. If the meeting goes well, and you desire to adopt the dog, and the Placement Specialist feels this is a good match, then a simple Adoption Contract is completed for the dog you will be adopting.

The Adoption Contract provides for the return of the adoption fee should the dog not work out in your home during the first 14 days. This is provided to all ADRTC dogs. While we never like to have dogs returned as a result of an unsuccessful match, we understand that this will happen–and should, as we would rather make an error by providing a family the chance to adopt a dog, than exclude a family from a potentially successful adoption because we are too careful. Our staff can never know all the circumstances of an adopting family, and dogs will react differently in a new situation than when living with a fostering family.

Our interest is in obtaining the best home for any dog that we rescue, and providing the ongoing support necessary to making the relationship as successful as we know how. We too, learn from every dog, and every new situation, and enjoy sharing our knowledge with others with the same interests. Thus, we offer lifetime counselling and support for every dog we place.

We welcome your questions at any time, before applying, during the process, and at anytime after you have adopted a dog. We also enjoy hearing about your adventures with your ADRTC dog.