PLEASE READ THIS ABOUT OUR ADOPTION PRACTICES AND PHILOSOPHY TO SEE IF YOU WANT TO WORK WITH US TO ADOPT:

 

Getting a dog is an emotional process. We get it. You fall in love with a photo or a video or a description. We love what we do and we love making the best possible matches.

 

Lengthy emails are wonderful  in helping us with assessing matches and we do love those kinds of nice conversations because for us it's about getting to know the adopter to help assess the match, but if you don't submit our application that email thread doesn't get you into the queue to adopt.

 

When you see a dog on our website, that means it hasn't been adopted yet. If it says applications pending, that means we are talking to multiple adopters about the dog and at least one of them seems like a good fit so you should not submit an app for that dog unless that note disappears from the listing. Trust us, our app is long and we don't want you to waste your time filling it out hoping to get a dog that has already moved further along in the application process with someone else.

 

You can fill it out if you want to let us know what kind of dog you're looking for and if it's an app we feel we can work with, we will add you to our advance notice list so you will see our dogs before they are posted to the public. There's lots of dogs at the shelters we work with and there may be one that's a potential match for you but we don't have it listed on our site. Right now one shelter in particular has several medium/large dogs that have been waiting for homes since the summer (40-70 lb size), so if you like that size dog then submit our app and let us know what personality traits you're interested in.

 

If you're hung up on looks or a specific breed, that's harder to find. If temperament is more important to you, that's much more helpful for us in finding a good fit.

 

We don't respond to those silly Petfinder form inquiries where you don't actually type up a message to ask us anything but instead just check boxes. Corporations may think they're being helpful by giving you easy boxes to check, but most people never answer us when we respond to those so we've given up trying.

 

We put everything we know about a dog into it's listing and we often update the listing after the dog settles into foster care with us.

 

We do not ship dogs. I've always found that to be an odd question. They're not packages.

 

Home visits are done via video chat and it also allows you to see the dog in action in our foster home and ask questions/discuss things that concern you. If you're still interested after that, then you drive to us to adopt. Check your distance to zip code 18330.

 

No, we don't have any young puppies for Christmas. We have 2 small young dogs about a year old arriving 12/11 and a large 70ish lb 3 year old dog arriving in January if all goes according to plan.

 

No, you can't get a dog from us to give as a gift. We need to talk to the adopter directly.

 

Our goal is to find the best match for both the dog and the adopter, but the dog's wishes come first...because if we try to force a square peg into a round hole, the adoption will fail.

 

We do not adopt to cities or densely populated towns of over 30,000 inhabitants because our dogs come from rural areas and do not do well in crowded environments. We've tried in the past and it's failed. Square peg/round hole.

 

We're not a high volume dog rescue. We focus on quality of matches rather than how many dogs we can save in a year. I'll tell you the worst thing I know about a dog so you can decide if it's something you're willing to work with before you make the drive to meet it. You'll see it here in foster with us during the video chat. We've found the video chats to be very helpful for adopters to assess if they feel the dog is going to be a good match.

 

If we say not suitable for children or seniors, we have noticed things about that dog that would just not work in that environment, so emailing us to ask for an exception will not work. It has nothing to do with you or your capability to be a good dog parent. It's about the dog's issues/desires.

 

If we get 6 apps for a dog, that means 5 adopters won't get it. But that doesn't mean we aren't willing to try to find a match for the other adopters if you are aligned with our adoption philosophy. That's why our application gives you the option to ask to be on our advance notice list.

 

We are not a shelter and do not have visiting hours, nor do we call people who have not applied for a dog.

 

We are not animal control. We do not have your lost dog. Our dogs are not from local shelters and we do not pick up strays. We rescue from WV & KY due to low spay/neuter rates, high shelter intakes, and less local residents adopting...to help those shelters avoid having to kill dogs due to lack of space to house them.

 

All meetings are by appointment after your application is processed.

 

We've been in rescue for 20 years and we're pretty sure we've gotten good at this by now. If you trust me to guide you through the adoption process and we're all in agreement about the match, odds are the adoption is going to work out well.

 

Please read the dog's full bio before submitting an application.

​

Click here to visit our pet list.