I know for myself- the big fee of buying the dog is an issue. The things that I know I can consistently afford is food, toys, obedience until graduated, vet care. But the main adoption fee-$300 is hard. Bc its pulling it out of the budget you have made. Its hard to use $300 @ once. That’s why I like payment plans. You can pay a little at a time.

Im not sure how else to explain it.

As a rescuer, we just recently raised our rates. Even in a place where foster homes cover the cost of food, water, and general every day needs, we were not even breaking even. Our fees were $200, it is now $215. If you consider a dog that comes in and has no medical “issues”, we were coming out ahead by $20, but that didn’t include the mileagee during transport, which most of us just use as a tax deduction.

Now, as far as lowering the fees for adopters, I don’t think that’s really a great idea. Usually these humane societies are pretty reasonable. Around here you can adopt a dog for about $75 from the humane society and around 200 for a rescue group. I understand that most vets volunteer their time for HS, but they are paying to feed and house these animals, as well as pay caretakers. If anything, I feel they need to raise their fees.

What people are realizing is that you have daily, weekly, monthly, and annual “fees” associated with that pet. They eat, need heart-worm preventative, flea preventative, and regularvaccinationss. This doesn’t include the altering and other up front costs, i.e. brushes, bowls, leashes, collars.
If we’re adopting out to people who are unable to purchase the dog for a reasonable fee, then the standard of care iscompromisedd. Am I saying that because I get my dogvaccinatedd, brush them daily, and feed them a quality diet that they are “happier”? No. But the opportunity for more serious problems are less likely because we are more dilligent with their care. So, two years down the road, we have a dog that has been compromised in their care, who may or may not have more things wrong with it. But more than likely we have a dog that is eatting a lower quality dog food and hasn’t been to the vet. Uht ohh, he comes back to the shelter, because he spewed on the carpet several times and his owner cannot afford to go to the vet. Now the dog is unadoptable because he has a minor stomach condition and the puppies in the kennel next to him are Soooooooo cute. Did we do the dog any justice? He had two years of “happiness”. I don’t know. It just seems like we did something wrong it letting the dog leave the shelter with that particular family.

One of the solutions that we have around here is a “scholarship”/grant tupe thing. I think this is a better option. These programs provide vet care and food, etc for an animal for a period of time. It appears to be successful around here.

I’ve rambled on long enough.

Yes and no…

Yes because more people can afford them. Less dogs will have to be put down and more and enjoy happiness.

No well because… It may sound weird but i actually kno people who think this way. Some people who dont exactly care for dogs that much. They get dogs for pretty cheap at shelters and arent exactly careful or very loving. What their thinking is ”Oh well, if this dogs dies then we can just get another one just as good from the shelter”. Cruel i kno but some people are actually this way.

I think lowering the prices will help a lot, I went to quite a lot of pounds and adoption centers when I was getting another dog, they were all over $200 and It was just too expensive , so in the end I bought my Jack Russel from an add in the paper, I would have really like to have rescued a dog but I unfortunetely did not have that sort of money (I am 14).

I think that the government should be doing something and put money in for the dogs to be vaccinated/wormed/fed.

1. Definitely better. Most people who adopt from shelters are nice and willing to do anything for their dog like looking into organizations to help sponsor and pay for the dogs medical need. But it could be worse if they end up in a shelter because then they would be like home shelter home shelter etc and they will start getting clingy to owners.

2. Yes. Checking back on the owners every 6 months.

3. Probably not. Most people would just rather breed dogs but possibly.

I think shelter prices should be based on how long the dog is there and how much care they need. Say a dog that was there for 2 months would need 2 months of food and then say they had a disease that needed to be cured that would also cost money. versus a dog who was there for a day who just needed a check up. (confuzzling sorry)

No, a lower adoption fee is not the answer. Shelters need funds to be able to operate their facilities. Most shelters are definitely not making money. The money they earn on adoption fees goes back into the considerable cost of maintaining facilities, including the care and feeding of animals, veterinary bills, and staff salaries.

I adopted a dog from the shelter just last week and paid only $110.00. This included a fee for spaying the dog as well as a microchip, and I think it was a deal. If you cannot afford the adoption fee, you should think twice about adopting a dog because they can be expensive once you add in food, veterinary care, toys, licenses, etc.

The only thing that will decrease the amount of animals in shelters is education: more people need to spay and neuter their pets, because it is ignorant pet owners, allowing their pets to have unwanted litters, that are causing this problem.

By lowering the fees and removing the paperwork/checks they do now, more irresponsible people will go to shelters to adopt. The fees they have now pay for that individual dogs care, and the paperwork and background/home checks ensure that the person can properly care for the dog.

It wouldn’t do the dog, or any other dogs, any good if the person that adopts them is a puppy miller, dog fighter, etc now does it? If people aren’t willing to pay an ADOPTION fee then they should not get a dog – the price of that dog is nothing compared to the price of it’s initial supplies/vet care as well as it’s monthly care fees.

Nothing in life is free – for anyone. And nothing is ever “cheap.” Get over it. Sheesh.

If someone cannot afford the relatively low fee of most shelters they should not be getting a dog. Dogs are a luxury not a necessity. Anyone concerned about the difference in price of a few hundred $ should be looking at putting money into their savings account and not at getting a dog.

The shelter I work at has recently raised prices for adoptions and S/N. We had no choice. Costs for everything have gone up so much, we are drowning in bills and animals. In order to be able to help more animals, we have to get money in. Donations are down, so the money has to come from somewhere.

And people have always complained about having to pay an adoption fee AL ALL. They think that if we really want to get homes for them, they should be FREE.

1. Yes it defianetly is. Would you rather die today or have 2 more years of happiness?

2. Defianetly…I’m not sure what your asking by how it would be enforced.

3. It will defianetly be a lot better. Like i said in question one…would you rather die today of soon in a jail….or get out of jail?

Very good questions!!!!