Question

I found a dog in the grass near the road at night and was worried about her. She had a collar on but no identifying information, and she was very scared. I brought her home so she’d be safe, and the next morning I brought her to our local Humane Society. They scanned for a microchip, and finding none, had me sign a surrender form so they could take her for a five day hold to find the owner or see if she is a candidate for adoption. I can’t stop thinking about her, and if possible I’d like to adopt her. Will I be able to do so after signing a surrender form— considering she wasn’t my dog when I surrendered her?

Answer

Shelters have discretion regarding adoption placement. Many shelters would be happy to place an animal with a person who rescued the animal and now wants to adopt the animal (but that person would still need to go through the shelter’s adoption process and screening). On the other hand, shelters are often reluctant to return animals to people who surrendered their own animals (largely out of concern that whatever caused a person to relinquish their own animals could happen again and that would not be fair to the animals). Good luck!

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