Question: How do you ensure the best match for your animals going to their forever homes?
For shelter or rescue animals, evaluations and assessments are completed in an attempt to understand the pet. It is important to note that these are the organization’s best understanding of the pet’s behaviour and needs based on their observations.
Now that you’ve decided to add a pet to your family, shelters, rescues and breeders may recommend a different pet or breed if they think that may be better suited to your home. Through the application process, the breeder, shelter or rescue will have a good idea of which prospective family would be the best match for each animal.
In private re-homing situations, the seller should be able to disclose to you an extensive behavioural and medical history. There should still be a process to find the best family match for the animal considering their individual needs.
question: Do you take animals back if things do not work out in their new home?
When getting a pet, you don’t tend to think about what would happen if it doesn’t work out, but it happens! The pet’s behaviour may change to something entirely different than expected or a sudden and drastic life change could mean it was not the right time to get a pet. Organizations and individual sellers should have a policy regarding what happens in these situations, with most requiring the pet be returned to them if the pet needed to be re-homed. This may be only within a certain time frame or for the life of the pet.