While we would absolutely love for all of our animals to find the perfect forever home the first time, we also understand that sometimes it just doesn’t work out. Sometimes it’s just not a good match, and sometimes life just throws us a curveball, and the pet can no longer be kept.
We will always accept our adopted animals back at our shelter, but we do ask that you give us a call first; we would love to see if there’s anything that we may be able to help you with to keep the animal with you at home.
Within the first 30 days, we’ll accept the animal back without any additional fees. At 31 calendar days and beyond, we do have surrender fees which will need to be paid. We don’t refund adoption fees for returned animals, but we do offer an opportunity to adopt a like animal at no additional charge, in most situations – make sure you ask an adoption counselor or employee about this.
You may also want to consider becoming a foster for DAS. This is the best of both worlds! You can provide a temporary home for a shelter animal, and if you fall in love, it’s a win-win; if not, then the animal returns to DAS when ready. We are also ALWAYS looking for foster homes! Our foster families provide love and care for animals before they are able to move into their forever homes (DAS provides everything else!). DAS animals could be in a foster home for a number of different reasons: sometimes they are too young to be adopted yet, have a medical condition that needs to be treated, need some behavioral modification before moving into a home, are too scared in a loud shelter environment, or just need some time (even a weekend) to decompress and take a break.