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Happy Landings Rehoming process

Dogs –

Please check out this amazing download written by lisa tenzin-dolma of the iscp on adopting rescue dogs.

Rehoming our dogs

Our kennels are always full of dogs looking for homes. When we re-home a dog we then take in another dog needing a new home. We never know what breed, age, etc of dogs needing to go on our waiting list. We re-home all sorts from St Bernards down to Chihuahuas, old dogs looking for a retirement home to puppy’s as young as 12 weeks.

When a dog comes into us we do an initial assessment and then they go up for re-homing, unless we feel the dog needs more time and rehabilitation and we would wait a bit longer.

The dogs go onto the re-homing page of our website. Here you can see pictures of the dogs and information about their personality and the type of home they need. If you think you match a dog’s requirements you can fill out the online enquiry form about rehoming the dog. This form comes straight through to us via our email.

We would look over your form and contact you for further information or to get you in for an appointment to meet the dog. We do all our viewings by appointment as staff are incredibly busy , and need to plan time out of kennels to talk to you about the dog and do the introductions. We do not allow the public to look around our rescues in kennels as it creates a great deal of stress for the dogs and because we also have boarding dogs.

At the first meeting we would introduce you to the dog and have a long chat about him or her. We can let you take the dog for a walk and spend time with the dog either in our indoor quiet time shed or if the weather is nice our memorial garden.

After the first meeting we will put a 24 hour reserve onto the dog for you. We ask you to go away and have a think about it for 24 hours and ring us to either put on a full reserve or talk about the dog not being quite right for you and other options.

The next stage would be all family members or anyone that’s going to have a big involvement with the dog to be introduced. And to meet any other dogs in the household. We can do this slowly walking them together and also using our large exercise paddock.

Depending on the dog we like you to come up a few times (more if the dog needs it) to build a bond with the dog before adopting. Whilst this is going on we can come out and do a home check. The home check is not to come and scrutinise on your housework! It is purely to check that your fencing is suitable for the dog, your location is right etc. If we have any concerns we would just advise things like adding some trellis to a lower part of fencing or putting added wire protecting on a gate etc. We can also advise on the best place for the dog to have as their safe space in your home if they need it or how to introduce to a cat etc.

Once all visits and home check are complete it is now the adoption process. Once the dog has been adopted we are always on hand for any advice. We will always help in any way we can. We will call you after 3 days and 3 weeks to check everything is going ok. A volunteer group will also contact you about a post home check within 6 months.

If anything should ever happen in the dogs life like the owner becomes too unwell to care for the dog we always take any rescue back and do not allow any rescue to be taken anywhere except back to us.

Cats –

Just like kennels we are always full on cats as well. You can also find the cats we have for rehoming on our website. Here you can see pictures of the cats and information about their personality and the type of home they need. If you think you match a cats requirements you can fill out the online enquiry form about rehoming the cat. This form comes straight through to us via our email.

We would look over your form and contact you for further information or to get you in for an appointment to meet the cat. We do all our viewings by appointment as staff are incredibly busy, and need to plan time out of the cattery to talk to you about the cat. There might be a few cats that fit your circumstances and we would let you meet all of them and spend some time with them in the pens cuddling and playing. We also have a nice space with sofas and many toys to get to know the cat or cats.

After the first meeting we will put a 24 hour reserve onto the cat for you. We ask you to go away and have a think about it for 24 hours and ring us to either put on a full reserve or talk about the cat not being quite right for you and other options.

We will then book a home check. You are welcome to come back and spend time with the cat as many times as you like (pre booked with us) whilst this is being carried out.

On the home check we will talk to you about keeping the cat inside for a minimum amount of time so make sure they are well adjusted to where they live. We will check location, the most suitable place for the cat to start off with as their area, door systems etc. We can give advice on any changes or how to start off the cats routine when you adopt.

Once the home check is complete you can come and adopt the cat. Once the cat has been adopted we are always on hand for any advice. We will always help in any way we can. We will call you after 3 days and 3 weeks to check everything is going ok. A volunteer group will also contact you about a post home check within 6 months.

If anything should ever happen in the cats life like the owner becomes too unwell to care for the cat we always take any rescue back and do not allow any rescue to be taken anywhere except back to us.

Other Animals

For smaller animals like rabbits, guinea pigs and ferrets the process is very similar. If they are to be a friend to an existing pet we would get you to bring them up so that we can mix the animals and see how they get on. We would then do a home check.

For farm animals we would have a chat with you about the type of space you have and the bad weather facilities. You could then meet the farm animals and then a home check would be carried out. You would need to sort DEFRA paperwork which just means registering to get a DEFRA number. And then we would sort the paperwork to move the animals.