* Note: * Sadly, we are getting inundated with emails every single day, about people wanting to surrender their dogs/cats to our program - lately it has been 20-30 requests A WEEK due to the housing crisis and increase in foreclosures - and we are having to turn away most due to not having enough foster homes. Adoptions are slow this time of year, and on average it takes about 3-5 months for a dog to get adopted (unless they are a "highly desirable" small-breed dog with zero issues) - larger dogs, especially darker colored ones take at least 5 months to get adopted, mainly because they are so many dogs just like them at all of the pounds/shelters/rescues. For whatever reason, black or darker colored dogs always take the longest to get adopted - especially the larger dark colored dogs. Senior dogs (ages 8 and older) have an especially hard time in rescue, and we only have a few foster homes who specialize in fostering seniors, and they are full since the senior dogs they are fostering have still not been adopted. It usually takes even longer for senior dogs to get adopted than adults or young adults, mainly because very few people want to adopt an old dog. The dogs at the pounds/high-kill shelters get first priority with us since obviously they'll be killed if we can't take them. After that, we take owner surrenders if there is room. You can still contact us if you truly need to surrender your dog/cat, but please know we probably won't be able to take him/her. If your dog/cat does not have any medical or serious behavioral issues, we recommend the MN Valley Humane Society in Burnsville. That is by far our favorite Humane Society in Minnesota. They have friendly staff, do a good job with their animals, are not breed racist, and have a pretty low euthanasia rate. Another option for dogs that have been spayed/neutered and current on their shots is for you to "foster" them until they get adopted or a foster home opens up. You could sit in at pet adoptions with him/her (we have these every Saturday from 11:30-4) and hope s/he gets adopted that way. Please, please, please try to keep your dog/cat if you can. Animals have such a hard time in rescue, and are confused why they are there in the first place, especially if they have done nothing wrong.

We Cannot take in Anymore Cats at this Time: The pounds around us are literally packed with cats and kittens right now. In one small pound alone in only one week, well over 50 cats and kittens had to be killed because there time had run out and there were just as many cats/kittens, if not more, to replace them. When a cat/kitten does get adopted, we first rescue the cats/kittens from the pounds. If there happens to be no cats/kittens at the pound, we can take in owner surrenders but it is very rare. One option for cats that have been spayed/neutered and current on their shots is for you to "foster" them until they get adopted. You could sit in at pet adoptions with him/her (we have these every Saturday from 11:30-4) and hope s/he gets adopted that way. However, it often takes several months for cats to get adopted. We've had some in our program for over a year, and these are perfectly normal, friendly cats.

DOGS:
Before you contact us about giving up your pet, please read all of the information on this page as well as the links to web listed below. They offer useful advice and if some of this advice can help you keep your pet, that is truly wonderful! For every dog we bring into our program literally means that another animal will die because we don't have space for him or her. We aren't exaggerating here — there are TONS of dogs at the pounds who are in dire need of a home and if we don't rescue them, they will get euthanized because their time ran out or the pound is full and has to make room for the new animals that were picked up/dumped. More often than not, all of our foster homes are full and we are not able to take in every dog that needs a home. We are sadly forced to turn away literally hundreds of deserving dogs in need of rescuing since most of the time every foster home is full. The highest priority dogs are the ones that are currently in shelters/pounds (especially the high kill ones). After that, we handle owner surrenders. Larger sized dogs take much longer to place (they are often with us for several months) whereas smaller sized dogs get adopted pretty quickly. Since smaller sized dogs (30 pounds or under) take up less room, we can take them into our program more than we can with the larger sized dogs. We know it isn't fair to the larger sized dogs but until we get more people who are willing to foster, we don't have many options. Black or darker colored dogs take the longest to place and they are the first ones to be euthanized at the pounds/shelters simply because they don't stand out like the other dogs do. Due to legal reasons, we do not accept dogs that have a bite history with people or other dogs. Sometimes nipping is okay since we have experienced foster families who can try to "rehabilitate" the dog, but aggressive biting is not.

We don't mean to make you feel worse about your decision to re-home your pet but we feel that we need to tell you about the realities of dogs that are owner released. For most dogs, the first couple of days are the hardest. They don't understand why their people left them with strangers since more often than not they didn't do anything wrong. Most of them won't eat or drink at first because they are too stressed or depressed. Many times they sit by the window and stare out, waiting for their people to take them back home again. Others run to the window every time they hear a car going by, hoping that it will be their owners to take them back to their homes. Some dogs get over the abandonment pretty quickly and have a blast playing with the other dogs in their foster home but this is probably true for only 20-30% of the dogs. The dogs that have the hardest time in rescue are those that lived in a quiet environment or are older.

If you adopted your dog from a rescue or shelter, you need to contact them first. Most places have contracts you have to sign that legally binds you to bring their dogs back to them (Homeward Bound does this and has the right to take legal action if there is a breach of contract and the dog is brought to another rescue, shelter, pound, or humane society). If you purchased your dog from a breeder, call them back and see if they can take the dog back. The responsible breeders care about what happens to their dogs — no matter how old the dog is or if s/he has any issues. If you purchased your dog from a backyard breeder (the people who list dogs in the paper — no reputable breeder would ever need to advertise in the paper), however, chances are they won't take the dog back.

• "Can We Help You...Keep Your Pet?" www.wonderpuppy.net/canwehelp/
• "When it Comes to Abandoning a Companion Animal, There's Always a Better Solution" www.humanecarolina.org /abandon.html
• Pit Bull Rescue Central www.pbrc.net/adoption/problems.html (provides excellent advice and addresses several reasons why people give up their pets — moving, having a baby, not enough time for the dog, and behavior problems.)

CATS:
Sadly, we can't take in many owner release cats/kittens since all of our foster homes are full. Also, the pounds are beyond packed with them and if we don't rescue the pound kitties, they will be euthanized. In special circumstances we do allow people to 'sit in' with their cats at the adoptions, but this is only if the cat has been spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and is FIV/FeLV negative. Cats have a hard time at the adoptions though (mainly do to being around so many dogs and strangers) and do not show well. One option you might want to consider is listing your cat on our 'others in need' page. In order to list your cat/kitten on this page, we will need to see proof of spay/neuter and vaccinations. We can list FIV/FeLV positive cats on this page.

IF HOMEWARD BOUND CAN ACCEPT YOUR DOG/PUP INTO OUR PROGRAM (this also applies to cats):
If we can accept your dog into our program, you will need to sign an owner release form that will turn over the legal rights of ownership of the dog to us. You will need to contact kadams4545@hotmail.com to see if we can accept your pet into our program. If we can, we have an owner surrender/release form that will need to be filled out. Please email homewardbounddogrescue@yahoo.com for the owner-surrender form. On the owner release form you can state whether or not you want to be contacted by the new owner (if s/he chooses to do so). Visitation with your surrendered pet is prohibited. We have found that it is much harder on a pooch when their former owners visit them and then leave again — it probably feels like they are being abandoned again. You can watch the status of the dog on this web site — if s/he is listed on the site it means that s/he is still available for adoption. We don't charge a fee for surrendering an animal but we do request a minimum $50 donation. If your dog hasn't been spayed/neutered, we ask for a $100 donation to help pay for some the surgery. Please give generously to help the animals. The actual expenses to prepare and place even a single animal in a new home often add up to hundreds of dollars! Homeward Bound does not impose a time limit on dogs placed in foster care while awaiting adoption..

More often than not, all of our foster homes are full so it would be ideal if you could foster your dog until s/he is adopted. It would be ideal if you could foster your dog, especially if s/he is older, large, or has special needs. Although your dog would still be staying with you, you would need to sign an owner release form. We have adoptions every Saturday from 11:30-4 and would need to attend these adoptions at those times if you want your dog listed on our web site. If you couldn't attend these adoptions, or at least most of them, we cannot list the pooch on our web site as a Homeward Bound dog. However, we could list him/her on our others in need page (so long as s/he is neutered/spayed and up to date on shots. Dogs must also be on heartworm preventative).

If your dog is a senior, please consider euthanizing him/her rather than subject him/her to the trauma of rescue. This sounds horrible to say, but our experience has found that the senior dogs always have it the hardest, especially those with medical issues (heart complications, and history of kidney/liver disease, seizures, etc). This is because the stress and the trauma of being placed in a rescue with strangers will sometimes cause the issue to flare up or get worse (such as seizures). It must seem strange for a rescue, particularly a no-kill rescue, to recommend euthanizing an animal rather than try to find it a home, but we have found that for senior dogs (especially those with pre-existing health problems), it is much more humane to euthanize them in the arms of loved ones rather than making the dog go through the stress of a shelter, transport, and new foster home. In fact, it is downright selfish and cruel to dump the senior dogs when they need their people the most. If you chose not to euthanize your senior dog, please consider fostering him/her. That would definitely reduce the chances of him/her having his/her pre-existing medical conditions get worse.

Homeward Bound is a no-kill rescue so we will not euthanize an animal if they are not adopted within a certain length of time. Once in awhile we do have to euthanize an animal, however, but this decision is never made lightly. If a dog is terminally ill and suffering, exhibits repeated aggression towards people, has shown severe and unreasonable aggression toward other dogs, or severe behavior problems that renders him/her un-adoptable, we do euthanize. The decision to euthanize is not made lightly but sometimes it does need to be done.

IF HOMEWARD BOUND CANNOT ACCEPT YOUR PET INTO OUR PROGRAM:
Some animals are lucky enough to be adopted from shelters, but don't delude yourself — many are killed within days because there are too few adopters for the thousands of worthy animals hoping for a good home. Find out how long your pet might have at a shelter/humane society/pound and see if you can live with what that might be — sometimes they have a few weeks or days, other times only a few hours.

If we cannot take your pet and you bring it to a Humane Society or a pound, please understand that there is a chance that s/he will be euthanized. Humane Societies do euthanize, even if they call themselves no-kill. They are no-kill in the sense that they won't euthanize an animal that has been brought out onto the adoption floor. However, that doesn't include all of the dogs/cats that don't pass temperament tests or meet requirements — those animals are sent straight to another part of the building where they will be euthanized. It doesn't matter if s/he is purebred or not, purebreds are killed just as fast as mixed breeds. The older the dog is, the more likely it is that s/he will be euthanized (depending on the Humane Society). Also, the larger they are the more likely they are to be euthanized. If they are a purebred or mixed Lab, Shepherd, Collie, Spaniel, Rottweiler, or Pit Bull mix the pounds/shelters are already packed with them and your dog doesn't have a good chance of getting adopted. Dogs darker in color are the last to get adopted and the first to get euthanized (we call it 'Black Dog Syndrome' — no one ever notices the black or darker colored dogs and instead goes for the flashier, brighter colored dogs). If they have any bite or aggression issues, they will be euthanized. Certain breeds aren't even given a chance to pass the test and are brought to the euthanasia room right away. Also, please be aware that Minnesota is one of the only states that still allows (and even requires) publicly funded shelters and pounds to give dogs and cats up for "experimental or educational" purposes. Read more about Minnesota Statute (35.71) at www.banpoundseizure.org/home.shtml and www.hsus.org/ace/11431.

You can always email us for rescues or shelters that we recommend. Keep in mind that if you do have a purebred dog, there are many purebred rescues. However, in our experience there are many who won't take in a dog that is older, has health concerns, special needs, behavioral issues, or doesn't meet their "breed standard." Many will not help mixed breed dogs either, but of course it depends on the rescue. Luckily, there are several all-breed rescues that are willing to take in any pooch in need of a home, so long s/he doesn't have a bite history, aggression towards children/people, severe special needs, severe behavioral issues, and they have room for another animal.

• "Find a Home for Your Rottweiler" www.rottrescue.org/placing_your_rott.html (has excellent advice for any breed)
• "When you can't keep your Weimaraner" http://ncweimaraner.org/RescueHowTo.html (also has useful advice that applies to any breed)
• "How to Find and Evaluate a Perspective Pet Adopter" www.petrescue.com/library/find-adopter.htm
• "Telephone Screening Form for Dog Adoptions" http://www.petrescue.com/library/dog-phone-screen.pdf (PDF)
• "Finding a New Home for Your Pet" http://www.bestfriends.org/ theanimals/pdfs/allpets/findingnewhome.pdf (PDF)
• "Finding A New Home For A Companion Animal" www.theanimalspirit.com/adopt.html

• Minnesota Valley Humane Society www.mvhspets.org/index.html
• Caring for Cats Inc. www.caring-for-cats.org
• Feline Rescue www.felinerescue.org/
• Second Chance Animal Rescue www.secondchancerescue.org/

• "The Tragedy of 'Free To Good Home'" www.petrescue.com/library/free-pet.htm
• "Free to a Good Home?" www.animalaidsw.org/free.html
• "The Gruesome Facts About 'Free To Good Home' Animals" www.hart90.org/GeneralInformation/ FreeToGoodHome.htm
• "Why Pit Bulls Should Never Be 'Free to Good Home'" www.pbrc.net/freepit.html
• "How to Stop 'Free to Good Home' Ads" www.helpinganimals.com/a-free.html