We love working with adopters to find the perfect match, and we offer lots of support, advice, and resources before, during, and after adoption. All our dogs live in foster homes where we get to know them well. We can tell you how they interact with other dogs, cats, kids, outings, leash walks, what their energy level is, and such much more. If you are looking for a particular kind of dog (e.g., one who is great with cats, or one who can do agility), let us know!
Our goal is for every adoption to be a perfect match. We encourage you to ask lots of questions, meet as many dogs as you like, and ask us for suggestions about dogs that might be right for you. Our fosters are an invaluable resource: they know their foster dogs well and will be happy to tell you about them.
Application: Either before or after the first meeting, you should fill out our adoption application, available below. Please make sure to fill it out completely and accurately, including phone numbers for references. If you don’t know about your landlord’s pet policies, including weight and breed restrictions, please check before you apply.
Adoption Fee: Our adoption fee is $250 for adult dogs, $350 for puppies (less than one year old). The adoption fee includes spay/neuter, age-appropriate vaccinations, micro-chipping, a heartworm test, and up to date heartworm preventatives. Many of our dogs come to us with medical issues, ranging from injuries to heartworm to demodex, and we usually spend far more than the adoption fee on each dog. We are all volunteers and we don’t make any money from this operation. Adoption fees go right back into buying food, paying vet bills, and purchasing supplies such as crates and beds.
The Fine Print: Unless otherwise noted, all adoptable dogs are house-trained and crate-trained (except young puppies, who cannot be reliably house trained). Please take us seriously when we tell you a particular dog is not good with cats or is not a likely fit for your lifestyle (e.g., you want a jogging partner and the dog you want is a serious couch potato).
Please also follow instructions about introducing your new dog to your current pets — we want everyone to succeed and have learned some good strategies that really work.
Once you finalize the adoption, your dog is entitled to a free initial examination at one of our participating veterinary clinics (Gainesville Animal Hospital East or West and Archer Animal Hospital). We will also provide you with all the dog’s veterinary records and transfer the dog’s microchip information to you.
The first step is to identify the dog or dogs you’re interested in learning about and possibly meeting.
You can find out about our dogs on our Petfinder page. Take a look, and then email us at adopt@popb.org to tell us which dogs seem like a potential good fit, and we can set up a time to meet. If they all look good, or you are completely open, then tell us a little about you and your household and the kind of dog you think would fit, and we’ll give you some suggestions!
Adoption Events: There are several options for meeting our adoptable dogs, including weekend adoption events. The updated schedule for these and our special events is posted on our events page.
One-On-One Meetings: Adoption events are good if you are interested in many dogs or don’t know which one might be a good fit. However, not all dogs go to events, since some are not comfortable in that setting, and many dogs don’t reveal their true personalities at crowded events. Feel free to ask for a one-on-one meetup as well. We also have weekly obedience classes on Saturday mornings, and you can come to the class to observe and meet a dog or two (or more) there. You can check with us to find out who will be where, when!
Introducing a Dog to Your Pets: We encourage adopters to meet the dog(s) first without their current pets. This lets you focus on the dog and your interactions with him or her. If you think the dog is a good match, we can then have a second meeting with your dog (or bring the dog to your home to meet your cat). We are more than happy to help you introduce your pets and in fact we prefer to help with that.
Home Visit: We do a home visit as well as reference and landlord check. For most Gainesville area adopters, we do the home visit after the application is approved. We can then arrange a second visit to drop off the dog or the adopter can pick up the dog from the foster or at an adoption event. For out of town adopters, we will arrange for a trusted volunteer to do the home visit or, in some cases, accept photos of the home and yard instead. We want every adoption to be a good match, so please tell us any concerns you have, from questions about the dog’s daily schedule to help introducing your own pets. In case you decide within the first week that it is not a good fit, you can return the dog and we will return your adoption fee.
Adoption Contract and Records: Our contract is a binding agreement that must be signed by both the adopter(s) and a POPB representative before you take possession of the dog. The contract entitles you to a free initial “well pet” exam (within a week) at one of our participating veterinary clinics (Gainesville Animal Hospital, Gainesville Animal Hospital West, or Archer Animal Hospital). We will transfer the dog’s medical records to you so you can establish him/her as a patient. We will also transfer the dog’s microchip records to you.
Training classes! Remember, all POPB alumni can attend five free obedience classes in Gainesville, which are offered every Saturday by our trainer in Gainesville. We also offer many group walks and other opportunities for you and your dog to socialize, learn, and have fun!
New Adopter Packet: A few pages of helpful information for the immediate transition and afterwards. We’ll send you a copy but you can also download it here: NewAdopterPacket-all. We prefer to adopt to homes within a three-hour drive of Gainesville, though we do make exceptions. For out-of-town adopters, we will arrange for a trusted volunteer to do the home visit. We do out-of-state adoptions only when circumstances are exceptional (e.g., the dog has special needs or is going to be trained to be a service or therapy dog, or the person has very specific need, or has met the dog before).
Out of Town Adopters: We ask out-of-town and out-of-state adopters to come to the Gainesville area to meet the dog in advance, so that we can be sure it’s a good fit before the dog is far away.