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Rehoming Your German Shepherd

Fostering Your Dog Until It Is Adopted

If you are able to foster the dog you wish to notify us of or wish to surrender, you may e-mail photos, a bio and proof of current vaccinations, spay/neuter and the results of a recent heartworm test to our Adoption Coordinator. Only dogs with all the requested information submitted will be posted online. You will also need to supply whatever contact information you would like for us to post online. If you are not able to foster, please surrender the dog to the nearest animal control facility.

We will provide a courtesy listing for dogs which you are able to foster… this means you are responsible for evaluating the prospective home and placement of the dog. AGSDR is simply helping you to reach interested adopters and makes no claims as to the health or personality of the dogs we courtesy list as we have under most circumstances never met these dogs.

Before You Decided to Re-home your German Shepherd Read the Following

I Need to Find a Home For My German Shepherd because...

  • I'm being transferred to another town/state
  • I can't afford the pet deposit for my new home/apartment
    • If you wanted to buy a new car and needed a down payment or had to take your child to the emergency room, you'd find a way to come up with the money... wouldn't you?
  • I just don't have time for my dog anymore
    • Make time! You don't have 10-15 minutes a day you can spend playing ball or walking your dog? If you don't... you need to re-evaluate your lifestyle because chances are... there are others (humans) in your life that are being put on the back burner too. A little attention can go a long way. TRUST US WHEN WE SAY THIS... your dog would rather have you for the rest of their life for 15 minutes a day than to have to be uprooted from the only love and family it has ever known.
  • My dog won't stay in the yard
    • Have you considered bringing your dog inside your home, house training them, crate training them and making him/her a real part of your family? You would be surprised how quickly they adapt to the "inside" world. If you were left in a backyard 24/7.... wouldn't you want to jump the fence also to see how the other half lives?
  • My child/spouse has developed allergies to our dog
    • Take your family member to see an allergist. There are many treatments and medications that may help. Please consider doing this before giving up the dog that has come to know no other home but yours.
  • My dog jumps and lunges at other dogs... barks at the dogs in the next yard... won't "mind" me... I can't control him and I'm tired of putting up with it!
    • Find a qualified and reputable trainer so you can learn to teach your dog not to behave in ways that are inappropriate. There are very few behaviors that can't be unlearned.
  • My dog bit my neighbor and I need to find it a new home
    • You think passing on your dog's biting habits is going to solve the problem? 99.9% of dog bites are the fault of the owner. They were either running loose in the streets (lawsuit waiting to happen), the owner has no control over the dog, or does not keep the dog away from situations where a bite may occur. All dogs will bite given the right circumstances and it's up to you to make sure those circumstances don't happen.

MOST owners that are wanting to surrender their German Shepherd are just giving up on the dog. Having no value or respect for the wonderful loving and loyal dog each and every one of them are capable of becoming. They are giving up on a wonderful opportunity to build a trusting, loyal relationship with their German Shepherd.

You brought this dog in to your life, and at that time, you had every intention of keeping it the rest of it's life. Well... that dog had every intention of spending the rest of it's life with you too. Why do you think your dog is so devoted and gives you unconditional love every single day. A dog will always give you more than you give it. That's just how dogs are and why those of us who don't give up love our dogs so much. We get back ten times what we give them.

In so many cases, the only problem the dog has is lack of leadership... someone to make the effort and take the time to change the situation. Some GSD's are of ill-bred temperament, but you combine not so great temperament with lack of time, fair, consist leadership, and the dog soon learns to behave in a way that is unacceptable and becomes uncontrollable.

The dog's behavior is the responsibility of the human. All dogs look for leadership in their humans. You can't expect dogs to behave unless you yourself have learned how to teach them what is acceptable. Educate yourself and train your dog to know what your expectations are. The dog will learn quickly... GSD are a very intelligent breed, even your misbehaving dog. Why do you think they know they can get away with so much, because they are smart!

And honestly, most of the training is for you! GSD are the loyalist of loyal dogs and are respectful of those who have earned it. So think about it... don't you think your dog is worth the effort? We do!

Can we help you keep your pet?

We do realize that sometimes life throws us a curve, and we have no choice but to find our beloved German Shepherd a new home. And when that happens, you can count on us to help in anyway we can. But please realize, like every other rescue across the U.S., it is the lack of foster homes that may keep us from being able to take your dog in immediately.

You may view the contract you will be required to sign should we accept your German Shepherd in to our program. (link to Owner_Surrender_Contract.doc)

Owner Surrender Guidelines

Please Read through the following information carefully before submitting your request.

Thank you for contacting Austin German Shepherd Dog Rescue. As we strongly discourage people giving up their dogs under most situations and as our primary focus is pulling dogs from kill shelters, we have stringent owner surrender guidelines. After the below items are met, each owner surrendered dog will be reviewed by the board based on space and budget considerations prior to acceptance into our program.

Steps to request your dog's acceptance into AGSDR are generally as follows:

  1. Submit our online owner surrender questionnaire. This has a lot of the information we need about your dog as we consider his/her acceptance into our program and future placement. We also request that you send photos of your dog to our Intake Coordinator after you have submitted the online form.
  2. In most cases, we require that the dog be up to date on vaccinations, have a history of being kept on heartworm preventative, and spayed/neutered and that you be able to supply proof through your veterinarian of the above items. Generally, you, the owner, will have to address the items that are not current prior to our acceptance of the dog.
  3. The dog will need to be taken to one of our volunteers for a personality evaluation. Note that we are unable to accept dogs that have ever shown aggression toward humans.
  4. Much of the decision to accept a dog into our program is based on foster space and funds. If you are able to foster the dog until a new home can be found, this greatly increases your dog's chance of acceptance into the program. If you are not able to foster and your pet is approved by the board, we request a monetary donation to go toward the food and veterinary care that your dog will require while with us. These items are expensive, and we would request that you be as generous as possible when donating toward the foster care of your dog.
  5. AGSDR will acquire, by assignment documentation, the property rights to your dog, including the right to place the dog into a new home. You will not have any right to know where the dog is placed, nor will you have a right to any adoption donation made to AGSDR.

We know this may be time consuming but the process can proceed quickly with your cooperation and assistance.

Please note that shelter dogs in need will take precedence over any owner surrendered dog. Due to the lack of foster homes, in most cases, you will be required to “foster” your do until a home can be found.

Please begin by submitting the Owner Surrender Questionnaire and photos and we can move forward in the evaluation process.