Adoption FAQs
Save One Soul Animal Rescue League is a volunteer-based team with limited time and resources with helping the dogs being our top priority. To save our time (and yours), please read through our frequently asked questions and only contact our team if your questions are not covered below. Click the question or plus sign to reveal the answer.
We are only able to help the dogs that we do because of the adoption donations that we collect. We ask the same adoption donation for each of our dogs, as we believe each life we save is equally precious; we ask you to consider the time, effort and financial resources that we invest into each of our dogs and the future expenses for which every adopter should be prepared. If you are considering adopting a senior or special needs dog, however, and the adoption donation seems daunting, we encourage you to ask us about an adoption donation discount. We will never allow an adoption donation to be the barrier to finding the right home for one of our dogs.
Learn more about our adoption donations here.
All SOSARL dogs are available for adoption to residents in all New England states except for Massachusetts as restrictions apply there. Massachusetts adoptions are extremely difficult for us to facilitate due to state mandated quarantine requirements and limited facilities. If one of our dogs is available for adoption to Massachusetts residents, it will be noted at the top of their online bio. You can learn more about this here.
- Save One Soul Animal Rescue League puts the health and safety of our dogs and your family at the top of our priority list, as we want to ensure a smooth rescue experience as well as a sustainable model so we can not only help the dogs who need us today, but those who will need us tomorrow, too. To this end, SOSARL complies with – and goes well beyond – all state regulations as they pertain to the export/import/transport of dogs across state lines. Sometimes this means that additional fees and/or wait times may apply, or a specific dog may not e available for your adoption, depending upon your state of residence. Please don't hesitate to ask your Adoption Counselor if you have specific regulatory questions during the adoption conversation.
The adoption process can take less than a few days if all information and references are accessible, but may take more time if the necessary information is not readily available.
Pre-screened is when a potential adopter has gone through the initial screening process and has been assigned an adoption counselor to work with them to find the right match for their family. Someone is pre-screened only when a vet or landlord reference is complete (if applicable), the individual has been assigned a counselor who has a phone interview, and the counselor determines that the individual (and their household) is a good home for a rescue dog. Being pre-screened does not guarantee adoption of any particular dog nor availability of a specific dog.
There is often value in meet and greets when there are multiple factors in a household that may impact the match. Oftentimes, when there are young children or other dogs in the home, a meet and greet can be incredibly valuable to understand if all parties are comfortable with each other.
We accept multiple applications on every dog and a dog will remain listed until adopted. Applications are important because this is the initial information we use to help us assess the match and can impact which potential adopter to move forward with first. If the dog is no longer listed on our website, we are no longer taking applications on the dog.
We host regular adoption events that are open to the public (view our list of upcoming events here). We are often able to facilitate same-day adoptions at events but we highly encourage anyone looking to adopt to fill out an application prior to the event to help move the process forward.
When you adopt from us, you will be assigned an adoption counselor who will be your main point of contact through the adoption process as well as after adoption. You adoption counselor will be able to answer any questions you have, or bring in the necessary resources.
SOSARL is 100% foster-based, which means that all of our dogs live in private residential homes. We have dogs who are currently living in New England as well as those who are still with our southern rescue partners living in foster homes or shelters, waiting for space in a New England home and transport north. Dogs that have the word "LOCAL" in their name are in New England.
If your application is not selected for the dog you applied for but we believe we can find you the right dog for your household/lifestyle, your adoption counselor will offer to continue to work with you. Applications remain in our system for six months and you will be encouraged to watch our website for new dog postings as well as attend our adoption events. Sometimes, though rarely, our team may determine that we are unable to find a dog that would fit in with your household/lifestyle/expectations.
There are specific scenarios where we encourage trial adoption periods for a dog before officially making them a part of your family; we call this situation ‘foster-to-adopt’. We encourage this option when a dog has special considerations such as medical or behavioral concerns or if there are household components that the dog has not yet been exposed to (cats, kids?). In these situations, the adopter is responsible for caring for the dog as their own including providing all basic care (food, supplies, vetting) during the foster-to-adopt period, but SOS may provide behavioral and/or medical support depending upon the circumstances. Foster-to-adopt is offered at our team’s discretion and is not available for all dogs. Our goal is to find each of our dogs a well-matched, longterm home as soon as possible.
SOSARL does not support surprise adoptions; we want the entire household to be aware of and in agreement with bringing home a new dog. Additionally, we recommend that each member of the household is involved in as much detail as possible during the adoption process. Consistency and predictability are important factors for success in pet adoption, and these can be difficult to provide if all household members are not on the same page.
You can review sample contract documents and addendums HERE.
All adopters will need to sign an adoption contract. Additional documents may be required as applicable to the dog being adopted.