I don't live in Liverpool, can I still adopt a dog from JLRR?
YES! We rehome to all areas of England, Scotland and Wales. Providing you can travel to us to meet/adopt the dog you are interested in. We have volunteer home checkers all over the country. Our dogs aren’t always in the liverpool area, we use a database of foster homes in lots of different areas of the UK, so it all depends on the dog you are interested in with regard to how far you will need to travel. We do not deliver dogs though and you will be required to travel to meet the dog you wish to adopt and you must bring along your own dogs and children too.
Why do I need a homecheck?/What is a homecheck?
The main purpose of the homecheck is to make sure that the dog is going to be placed in a suitable home that will provide a stress-free and comfortable environment with people who will care for him properly. We aren’t just looking at the size of the house and the height of the fences, we’re looking at the whole family and the environment that the rescue will entrust the care of the dog to. The home visitor will be checking that your home fits the criteria of Joey’s Legacy Boxer Rescue Liverpool, and the particular needs of the dog you would like to adopt, or, if you are being visited to go on a waiting list, it will determine what type of dog you and your family would be most suited to. Please be aware that the welfare of dogs is the paramount concern for rescue organisations. There is a logical reason behind each and every specification on the rehoming criteria, they have certainly not been dreamed up to prevent dogs from getting homes! If you are not accepted after a home visit, it does not always mean that the rescue are saying that you would not be a good dog owner, but simply that we are in a position where the dog’s welfare must come first and we feel this dog would be a better match for another home or that a rescue dog may not be suitable for your home at this time.
Why do all dogs (including my own) have to be neutered?
Conservative figures supplied by the Dogs Trust, suggest that over 150 dogs a week are put to sleep in the UK. This equates to an average of 21 dogs a day. We know from our own work with other rescues and pounds that the reality is a much higher figure. A large proportion of these dogs are the direct result of irresponsible breeding, and we strongly believe that the only way to reduce the statistics is to carry out neutering and spaying of all dogs coming through our care. The more dogs born and sold, means there are less homes for the ones abandoned.
Neutering is also beneficial to aid dominance related behavioral problems. Mounting and marking is greatly reduced after neutering, especially in male dogs. There are MANY reasons mentioned here why neutering is the best thing for your pet.
Can I visit the rescue centre?
We do not have a ‘rescue centre’ were you can visit our dogs. Although we are currently saving funds to open our own premises. Most of the time our dogs are in foster homes, so it depends on the dog you are interested in as to where you will need to travel to. A small amount of our dogs are kenneled when it becomes urgent and there are no foster homes available, the kennels are a private boarding kennels. We try to match the dog to the adoptive home, so if you have passed your homecheck and are interested in a particular dog, you will then be invited to meet the dog, were you have the option of adopting or coming back for another visit. If you are invited to meet a dog that is in kennels, the kennels we use are based in Ormskirk.
What would happen If it doesn't work out and I can no longer keep the dog?
It is a condition of adoption that any dog adopted from us, must be returned to our care for rehoming if you can no longer keep them. But we will try and help solve any issues before making the drastic decision to return the dog.
When a dog is rehomed we try our very best to ensure you have chosen the right dog for you and your family but sometimes it just doesn’t work out for everybody. Our first step is to evaluate the problem, can we offer help, or the services of our dog behaviourist to aid you through a settling in period? Or is it better to just bring the dog back into our care? We do understand that sometimes it’s just a case of a square peg in a round hole and we take our dogs back as quickly as possible. All of our dogs are rehomed on an adoption contract, where it states they MUST be returned to us and not rehomed privately by yourself.
Why do I have to pay an adoption fee?
We receive absolutely no funding at all. All of our income is from donations from the public and adoption fee’s.
We have NO paid staff, we are run entirely by volunteers, none of the funds raised go to “pay a wage”
The adoption fee goes towards all of our our vet fee’s, kenneling bills, feeding costs, behavioral help etc. All dogs are vaccinated, microchipped, neutered, flea and wormed and have a full health check. If you adopt a dog that has not yet had any of this done, then we will still pay for this after adoption, if a puppy is too young to be neutered then we will cover the costs of this once they are old enough to be neutered.
As well as the above, we also have to pay for food, collars, leads, toys, beds, blankets. Transport costs to bring dogs into our care from all over the country. We have to pay insurance, fuel, electricity, gas, water, general office supplies, storage units and so much more!
Many people think that the donation is to ‘buy’ a dog and this is NOT the case, we are a voluntary organisation who rely solely on these donations to keep the rescue going, otherwise we could not continue to rescue dogs in need. Each dog will need its own medical care, some dogs run up vet bills into hundreds or thousands of pounds, for example one dog who came in with urinary problems cost us over £400 to diagnose and treat her, this is before any of the basics (vaccinations, neutering etc) then another dog cost £3000 to get him fit and healthy and ready for a new home. Some other dogs come in and are straight forward to rehome, with basic vet care needed, meaning most of their adoption fee can go on to help other dogs in our care and pay off outstanding bills.
Adoption fee’s alone do not cover our bills, so we also have to find other ways of fundraising which include dog shows, car boot sales etc. We spend a lot of our spare time trying to raise the funds to keep the rescue afloat.
We hope that you understand that your donation doesn’t “pay” for your dog, it helps all dogs that are unfortunate not to have a loving, secure home.