Athens Canine Rescue (ACR) is a nonprofit dog rescue in Athens, Georgia. We do not have a physical shelter, so all of our dogs live in foster homes until they are adopted. 

Please note that we are not accepting out of state applications for dogs under six months of age. 

Additionally, we now only accept adoption applications from individuals 21 or older.

The first step in our adoption procedure is our adoption application. Because all the dogs are in foster homes, we require the application first as a means of opening communication between you and the foster home. It will tell us more about you and what kind of dog you are looking for, and in turn we can tell you more about our foster dogs.

Often someone will want to meet a dog before filling out the application – and this is completely understandable. However, the application does not “lock you in” to adopting a dog. It is simply the first step to make sure the adoption might be a good fit for you as well as a good fit for the foster dog. Since we are all volunteers and have to coordinate the schedule of everyone involved, the application just helps us all communicate before a meeting is set. We appreciate your time and patience with us!

ADOPTION FEE:
Our adoption fee is $250 per dog over the age of 6 months and $300 per dog 6 months or younger. We accept payment by Venmo, PayPal, or credit card.

This includes: basic vet care (i.e. basic vaccinations, including boosters completed after adoption, spay/neuter, heartworm/flea preventatives, and treatment for any health needs while in our care), a microchip, a week’s worth of food for the trial-period, and a harness lead.

OUR DOGS ARE:
Up-to-date on shots/medications
Treated with monthly flea/tick and heartworm preventatives
Microchipped
Spayed/neutered*

*Each dog is spayed/neutered while in ACR’s care if determined of age by a veterinarian. If the dog is adopted before it is of age, we will schedule the surgery for the adopter once the dog is old enough. The surgery will be done by the veterinarian that the dog saw while in ACR’s care.

APPLYING:
As we operate solely through a network of foster homes and do not have a facility, you must submit an application before potentially meeting any of our pups. Once you submit an application, an Adoption Coordinator will contact you within 48 hours about processing your application and provide further details on our adoption process.

To expedite your application:

Landlords: Keep in mind that we do contact landlords to confirm their pet policy, and ‘pet friendly’ does not always mean any pet is allowed. Please double check if your landlord has any breed, weight, or age restrictions as you apply. We are happy to help you find a pup that falls within your landlord’s criteria.

Veterinarians: We also contact your veterinarian to confirm any existing pets are up to date on basic vaccinations and heartworm/flea prevention. This is required for both any dogs and cats.

To request for help in your search: If you don’t quite know what kind of dog might be a good fit for your home, or have an idea but don’t see one in our program, we are happy to accept Request applications. Simply fill out an application and put ‘Request’ as the dog’s name. Then, fill out the application with as much information about your home, lifestyle, and what kind of dog you are interested in. Then we will attempt to match you with a good fit from our program or keep your information in mind when we are pulling new dogs into our program. If we bring in a new dog to our program with you in mind you are not obligated to adopt that dog – it just gives you the first chance at considering the pup before we offer them to the public. If you apply wanting to choose between multiple of our pups, we will either choose which one will be the most likely best fit for you to meet first or talk to you about which may be the case. You will be asked to decide yes/no about that first dog before considering others.

Meeting Dogs:
Meets happen with the applicant and anyone who would like to meet the dog prior to the adoption trial, the foster, and/or an ACR coordinator. This gives everyone the chance to get a feel for the fit as well as allows you the opportunity to get to know the dog! 

Adoption Trial Week:

If the meet goes well, then as early as 24 hours later, you may be able to take the dog home to start a one-week trial period. This is to help give you time to decide if this is the right dog for your family by having them in your home. At any time during that week you may confirm adoption or return the dog. The adoption fee will be refunded if the dog is returned during the trial period. If your dog is due for any vaccinations, heartworm/flea preventatives, or other vet care, our vets will provide that during the trial period. If you live more than 2 hours from Athens, GA, then you may be offered a same-day-trial option at the Adoption Coordinator’s discretion to simplify logistics. This may vary depending on the particular dog you are interested in.

You can contact our adoption coordinator at adopt@athenscaninerescue.com if you have trouble with the application. Please note that we often don’t receive applications when completed on an iPhone. We are happy to help in any way we can.

Thank you for thinking about adopting a dog from ACR!

Reminder: Please note that we are not accepting out of state applications for dogs under six months of age at this time.

Additionally, we now only accept adoption applications from individuals 21 or older.