Check out our Requirements for Adoption Page to ensure your situation meets our guidelines. You must meet the requirements listed. We regret that some good homes may be passed up because of this but find they are necessary.
Go to http://gsrne.org/requirements-for-adopting-from-gsrne to check out our Requirements for Adoption page.
Please leave your name and phone number, along with a convenient time to return your call. It is important that you speak slowly and clearly so GSRNE can call you back. We try to return all calls within 24-48 hours.
NOTE: If you do not receive a callback within 48 hours, please call back. This means that your number wasn't clear enough to understand. When the volunteer calls back, they will go over our requirements for adoption as well as answer any questions you might have. It's a good idea to write down your questions so you won't forget.
Complete the Adoption Application
Read every bit of the Adoption Application packet that you receive in the mail! This packet is chock full of information about both GSDs in general and about adoption and how that works.
Have A Home Visit Done
Once the application is accepted, a GSRNE Home Visitor volunteer will call you and make an appointment to visit your home to discuss the needs of Rescue German Shepherd Dogs with you and your family. Usually we can get this visit done within a few weeks of your application approval. This volunteer will check the safety of your property, etc. This is great time to ask questions, voice concerns, discuss what you love in a dog, what you’d rather avoid, etc.
NOTE: We cannot “reserve” certain dogs for you to meet until the adoption application and home visit interview are completed. Receipt of your adoption application begins the adoption process.
Following the home visit, you will be contacted by the Adoption Coordinator and notified of your status to adopt a GSD. We reserve the right to refuse an application if the home situation or environment is deemed incompatible with the needs of a Rescue German Shepherd Dog.
Meet the Dog!
If approved, the Adoption Coordinator will help you set up an adoption visitation appointment with the dog's foster parents to meet the GSRNE Dog who best matches your family's profile and requirements. Because GSRNE has all of our dogs living in nice foster homes, not in kennels, we do not have a facility for you to visit. GSDs do NOT do thrive well in shelter situations, so we don't keep them that way! They live in homes!
This is by far the best way to meet a new dog - you can then clearly see how the dog lives and behaves in a home environment. And exclusive time is set aside by the foster parents and the dog to just be with you and your family so that you can focus on the dog you're meeting without the distractions or stress of kennel/shelter situations or short-handed staff. You can ask whatever questions you want of the people who have lived with this dog for over a month already, and you can have an unhurried, pleasant adoption visit experience where you are the focus for the foster parents.
Note that you will visit a dog a minimum of twice. Visitations to meet a dog may be set up right away, or can take some time, depending on the availability of dog(s) that match your needs and lifestyle.
Make Your Decision
After meeting the dog that seemed to match with your requirements, it's decision time! If there is a "love-connection," the actual adoption begins. If the match just isn't quite right, we'll figure out why, add that criteria to the search, find another dog who may match better, and another visit will be scheduled. Because we take SUCH care to find a dog that will match your lifestyle and preferences, it rarely takes meeting more than 1, possibly 2 dogs, to find that ultimate new family member!
Our organization is comprised wholly of hard-working volunteers whose only reward is seeing these wonderful German Shepherd Dogs in loving homes, given another chance for a happy life. We will try to match you with a devoted, loving, loyal companion. Thank you for your interest!
Please Remember
We are all volunteers, most of whom work full-time at day jobs, have our own dogs and families and are doing this out of a desire to make a difference in the lives of needy German Shepherds. We appreciate your patience while we work through the Adoption process.
