We are a small, foster-based dog rescue located in Midlothian, Virginia, a suburb of Richmond. We consist of dedicated animal lovers who open our homes to foster those that have been left behind. We pull our dogs from high-kill shelters where they would otherwise not stand a chance. We specialize in pregnant and nursing mothers, orphans and neonates who are especially vulnerable in shelters. As a result, we often have lots of adorable puppies for adoption. All of our dogs are fostered in a home environment, many times with other dogs and children. We try to teach them all what it is like to be loved, to learn good doggie manners and to become well-socialized canine members of the community. Our goal is to take the hopeless dogs sitting on death row and not only give them a chance at life, but to give them a chance at the best life.
The first step in our adoption process is to fill out an Adoption Questionnaire. Once the Adoption Questionnaire has been submitted to us, it will be forwarded to one of our adoption counselors for processing. If we are able to match you to an available dog, we will forward your questionnaire to the dog's foster family. The foster family will contact you directly to set up a mutually-convenient time for you to meet the dog you are interested in. Please note that we do not have a shelter facility and therefore no public hours. All of our dogs are housed in private foster homes, so to lessen the impact on our foster volunteers, we require a screened and approved Adoption Questionnaire on file before we are able to arrange for a visit. After you have met your potential new companion, if you are still interested in proceeding in the adoption process, a home visit will then be scheduled. This is not meant to be invasive but to give us an opportunity to see where the dog would be living, and for you to ask any questions you might have about the process and the dog you are applying for. In many cases (especially with puppies) we receive several applications for the same dog. We try our best to place the dog in the home we feel is the best match. There is no exact formula for this, as the ideal forever family varies from dog to dog. The adoption process can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Please be patient with us during the adoption process. Sanctuary Rescue is run entirely by volunteers who selflessly give up their time to help homeless animals find their forever families. As our dogs get more popular and the number of applications we receive increases, we are unable to respond to inquiries about application status. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but our all-volunteer status limits our ability to correspond with every applicant on an individual basis. If you have not heard from us within 14 days of submitting an adoption questionnaire, it regularly means that we were unable to match you with the dog you applied for. This can happen for several reasons and often is no reflection of the quality of your application; however that dog may already have an adoption pending, etc. Please don't be discouraged from submitting a new Adoption Questionnaire if you see another dog that you may be interested in in the future. We very occasionally adopt out-of-state to very highly-qualified adopters; however, preference is always given to local adopters. Our adoption fee varies between $150 to $350, depending on the individual dog. Each dog's adoption fee is determined by the age of the dog, the amount of vetting the dog has received and other special circumstances (ie, did the puppy require bottle feeding, did the dog require heart worm treatment, etc.). The adoption fee for each dog will be clearly listed in its adoption listing on Petfinder. This adoption fee includes deworming, age-appropriate vaccinations, microchipping and spay/neuter. All adult dogs will be tested for and cleared for heart worms before adoption.