Sometimes people express surprise that a rescue dog isn’t free. They argue that if we really wanted to find the dog a home, we’d give it away. Then they say that all they want is a young, healthy, well-trained, housebroken dog to adopt. The reality of rescue is that the majority of dogs we get do not fit that profile. They often have been neglected and require a considerable amount of treatment and care. This is expensive, and the adoption fees in these cases do not begin to cover the costs.
What we do to help with the costs is something called cost averaging. Our mission is to help all poodles and poodle mixes find great homes. It takes a lot of money to accomplish that. Therefore, the adoption fee doesn’t pay specifically for the dog someone adopts; it pays for all the dogs we find homes for. By averaging the cost of vet care over all our dogs, both the ones that require very little expense and those that require a lot of care, the potential adopter doesn’t ever pay the actual cost for any dog.
The other reason we charge adoption fees is to help ensure that the dog will be well taken care of. If an adopter can’t afford the fee, perhaps they cannot afford to keep the dog healthy, happy, and groomed. And if they view the adoption fee as an investment in keeping their new dog healthy and happy, we feel they will be responsible pet owners.
Our adoption fee covers the following services, which if a new owner did for a ‘free’
dog would most likely exceed the adoption fee:
Health check
Microchipping
Spay/neuter
Grooming
All vaccines
Identification of any medical issues
Other treatments if warranted, such as teeth cleaning, treatment of ear infections, removal of foxtails, and other surgeries.
Health check
