Frequently Asked Questions

It can take a few days up to a month and depends on many things, including:  the dogs we have available and  whether we feel the dog you are interested in would be a good match for you and your family.  On average, we receive over 30 applications for every dog that enters our rescue program.  

Our rescue dogs come to our organization in various conditions with most needing basic veterinary care and some needing more extensive medical intervention.  Prior to adoption, each dog will have had the following veterinary services:  vaccinations, parasite & heartworm prevention, microchipped, spayed/neutered, dental cleaning (if needed) and grooming.  In some cases we have to wait to induct the dog into the vet due to scheduling conflicts.

The higher adoption fees for our rescue puppies offset the high expense of caring for the many sick, injured and senior dogs that come into our care every week. 

There is a high demand for puppies in our rescue and we receive dozens of applications for each one.  Therefore, the higher adoption fee is justified by their  life expectancy and lower cost of care for the adopting owner.   Prospective adopters for our older and special needs dogs often have to continue to provide costly care which we offset with a lower adoption fee.  

In most cases, the adoption fee that you pay covers the cost of bringing an adoptable dog back to good health.  Basic veterinary services such as vaccinations, exams and medications can cost between $200 to $500 per dog.  

Dogs with extreme medical needs bring higher costs to the rescue.  Your adoption fee offsets our cost of caring for your new pet while he/she is in rescue.  In most cases, a new adopter pays less in adoption fees than we pay in taking care of a dog prior to adoption.  Donations cover our remaining dog care expenses.  Our Board members and volunteers receive no compensation for their work for NCYR.  

We are staffed by a small group of part-time volunteers.  Due to the number of phone calls, emails and applications we receive we cannot respond to each inquiry.  

We respond by email automatically upon submission of your application.  We review every application submitted to us within 48 hours.  If you have submitted an adoption application and received an email acknowledgement of receipt but have not received a direct response it means any of the following:

•  You have not completed all steps of the application process.  
• Currently, we have no dogs that would be a good match based on the information provided in your application.
• The dog you are interested in is no longer available.  Check our website for current dogs in our program.
• We retain your application in our database and will do our best to match you with a suitable dog.