SSMR Adoption

Please Note: It has become necessary to collect a non-refundable application fee of $25 to help defray the increasing costs of veterinary care of the mastiffs coming into rescue. The fee must be paid when you submit your application. Your application will not be processed until

we receive this fee.

We review all applications within three days of receipt. Applications will be processed as soon as possible if there is a dog in SSMR for which yours would be a potentially excellent home or if you have prior experience with the types of health or behavioral issues that rescue mastiffs frequently present. If there is no dog presently in rescue for which yours would be a potentially excellent home, your application will be kept in an active file for one year since we review applications when new dogs come into rescue. 

Successful adoptions are the result of careful matching of the needs of the dogs with the experience, skills and lifestyle of the adopters. Our goal is to provide our dogs with the best possible home to meet their individual needs. The more specific information you provide about yourself and your skills and experience, particularly with Mastiffs, the more potential you will appear to have to meet the needs and issues our dogs frequently present.

We usually only adopt to approved individuals and families in our jurisdiction—Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. We occasionally adopt special needs dogs to approved individuals and families who have skills and experience meeting those special needs as long as we are able to obtain qualified home visits in those states.

You can find a detailed description of our adoption process in the “Adopting” Section of the “About SSMR” Section on this website.

Thank you for your interest in adopting a rescued Mastiff!  The steps for adopting a mastiff from SSMR are:

• Completion of the adoption application
• Pay the $20 application fee
• A telephone interview with you
• A home visit with you
• A check of your vet and personal references
• Decision by the State Coordinator
• Matching you and a dog
• Signing an adoption contract and payment of the adoption fee
• COMPLETION OF THE ADOPTION APPLICATION

In order to be considered for one of our rescue dogs, you must complete an adoption application which can be found below on our website.  Please provide as much information as possible about your family, lifestyle, previous dog experience, and your needs.  Applications which are incomplete will delay, and perhaps prevent, consideration of you as an applicant.

TELEPHONE INTERVIEW

If we feel that you are a good candidate for a rescue mastiff, one of our volunteers will contact you for a telephone interview.  This step allows us to get to know you better and to provide an opportunity for you to ask any questions you might have about the process and our dogs.

HOME VISIT

Following the telephone interview, a visit to your home will be scheduled by one of our volunteers. These home visits are designed to get to know you and your family, including any pets that the rescue mastiff will be living with.  These visits provide us with information about how a dog will fit into the routine of the household and what type of dog would best match your lifestyle.  It also gives you a chance to meet us!  We are sure that you will find our volunteers warm, wonderful and very helpful!  All family  members must be in attendance for the home visit.

VET AND PERSONAL REFERENCE CHECKS

One of our volunteers will speak with your vet and personal references. Contact with your past and present vets gives us information about the health care you have provided your pet(s). Conversations with personal references give us information about your relationships with past and present pets that help us understand what type of dog might be best suited to your personality and lifestyle.

DECISION BY THE STATE COORDINATOR

All information about your family—application, telephone interview, home visit report as well as vet and personal reference checks—are reviewed by the State Coordinator who makes a decision regarding your approval as an adopter.

MATCHING YOU AND A DOG

Once you are approved, a volunteer will contact you to discuss dogs that might be a good match for you. If a dog is fostered locally, we will arrange for a meeting. If there is a good match in another SSMR area we will put you in contact with that area’s State Coordinator who will in turn put you in touch with the person who is best acquainted with the dog.  Again, a meeting with the dog will be arranged.

COMPLETION OF THE ADOPTION PROCESS

Once you decide that a particular dog is the one for you, you will sign the SSMR Adoption Contract, pay the adoption fee and take the dog home.  Once the Adoption Contract is signed by the State Coordinator responsible for the dog, the adoption is final.

Our process is thorough and can take some time.  If you are looking to adopt a dog immediately, we may not be the best avenue for you.  It is always difficult to predict how long it will take until a match is found.  The time frame is dependent upon several factors—the complexity of your household’s needs, the pool of available dogs and the difficulties of scheduling volunteers for various aspects of rescue work.  All of us in SSMR are volunteers who donate most of our “spare” time to this endeavor and must work around other commitments.  We do our best to move applicants through our process in a timely fashion.  Some adoptions can take weeks or months; others can happen as quickly as several days.  Your patience and understanding are greatly appreciated!

We are committed to our dogs before, during and after adoption.  We provide ongoing support to our adopters.  Our goal is to find and help foster permanent loving relationships for each dog we bring into rescue.  If there are issues after adoption, we work with our adopters to resolve those issues.  We do the best we can to learn as much about our dogs as possible, but can never predict with 100% certainty how a dog will evolve within a home.  There are many factors at play in establishing relationships between dog and family and we do all we can to support the process and educate adopters as needed.  In the event that a match does not work out, we welcome that dog back into rescue and find a more suitable home.