Surrendering to SOSARL
** SOSARL is limited as to the dogs that we can accept into our program so as to respect everyone’s safety, needs, capabilities and quality of life. **
While we wish we could offer help to every dog who needs it, the reality of our resources limits our capabilities. All dogs in the SOSARL program live in private homes until they are adopted. Each of these homes is just as unique as yours, with different dynamics including possibly children, other dogs, cats or other animals, so we need to be sure that we have a reasonable understanding of the health and temperament of each dog before bringing them into our program. SOSARL is not a shelter and we do not have a facility. We are volunteer driven and, like everyone, we have limited time, energy, skills and money. We must carefully consider each dog we accept into our program so as to ensure that we are respecting everyone’s safety, needs, capabilities and quality of life.
For these reasons, we follow the below surrender process.
SOSARL Surrender Process
Please review this entire process before starting to ensure that you understand and are committed to the process and expectations of our program.
A note about timing: depending upon how quickly the below can be addressed, this process usually takes somewhere between 4-12 weeks to complete. This timeline could be shortened or extended, depending upon the specifics involved and the current rescue climate. If you need a faster resolution, please see our suggestions here.
WE DO NOT ACCEPT DRIVE-IN DROP-OFF SURRENDERS.
All surrenders are done by appointment on a resource-available basis. SOS is a managed admission organization and the hard truth is that we cannot help every dog who needs us. We, just like all other rescue and animal welfare organizations and facilities, have limited space and resources and the pet over population problem is real. We do not have an age limit or breed restriction policy on surrenders, but we are NOT able to accept animals who are aggressive, have a bite history (provoked or not), or have severe and/or unstable medical conditions. If you are in one of these situations with your dog, we are so very sorry. Our guidance would be for you to work through these issues with your veterinarian and/or behaviorist to find an appropriate outcome. If you do not have a supportive veterinarian or behaviorist, you can see our resources here. We spend countless hours and dollars helping as much as we can, and we celebrate the moments when the stars align and we are able to help the dogs and people who need us, but the sad reality is that the need is much greater than our resources.
Surrender Fee Request
If you are supported by SOS through the surrender process, we respectfully request that you consider making a donation of no less than $200 to help offset the expenses we face to provide this support to you and others like you, whether it be referrals, counseling or physcial care for your dog.