Thank you for your adoption fee and welcome to our rescue family! We will meet you on Friday 8/5/22 1pm at Petsmart 1520 Pleasant Valley Rd, Manchester, CT. When you arrive, head to the adoption table at the front of the store to check in. If you or the rescue decide it’s not a good fit at the meeting, your deposit is refundable.
We are practicing social distancing at this time so you are not required to bring your entire family and other dogs. We will give you all of the vetting paperwork, leash, and a receipt for your taxes. Due to COVID-19 we have changed our process temporarily until we can resume adoption events at Petsmart. Please read over your welcome letter below and contact us with any questions or concerns.
REQUIREMENT BEFORE ADOPTION
We have a required contract for you to sign online before adoption. This is the link to complete by the Tuesday before adoption https://packleadersrescue.com/contract/.
REQUIREMENTS AFTER ADOPTION
VET CARE – Rescue dogs miss out on regular vet care in their life-time, until NOW of course! All of our animals are microchipped, vetted, and ready for a fresh start in their forever home. They are evaluated by a vet when they come into the rescue and again when they arrive in CT. Any illnesses you find after adoption are your responsibility as the new owner. We recommend bringing your new addition to your vet within the first 2 weeks. Your dog will need monthly heartworm, flea, and tick prevention. We also recommend that your dog has a fecal exam within 2 weeks of adoption, as many rescue dogs have never been regularly wormed until they were taken into our rescue. We worm EVERY dog in our care, however, many times wormers need to be repeated, as rescue dogs were likely never put through their de-worming regime as a puppy, like responsible pet owners would have done.
MICROCHIP – Your dog is micro-chipped and registered under your name. Keep an eye out for the email from 24PetWatch within 48 hours after adoption to confirm the microchip. Keep up on yearly vaccines and preventatives.
SPAY/NEUTER – If your dog was too young to be fixed prior to adoption, it is your responsibility as the owner to do this. We require that all dogs from our rescue are fixed by 6 months of age. Keep your unfixed dog away from other animals and dog parks/daycare until the surgery is completed. Email us anytime for references on local vets to complete this surgery. There are several low-cost spay/neuter clinics in Connecticut. POA SPAY is in East Hartford https://poaspay.org/dog-services/
RECOMMENDATIONS
ROUTINE – We have been feeding all our rescues Pedigree puppy/kitten/adult. We feed them twice a day in a crate, wait about 15-20 minutes and then take them out to “do their business.” We highly recommend crate training especially with puppies. Never use the crate as a discipline tool, but rather a reward. Your dogs stomach might be a little upset because of travel/change of diet and stress. Be patient with them and they will develop a schedule and routine. It is always best to feed them on a daily schedule. Keep fresh water out for them throughout the day but we recommend taking away water after 8pm. These tactics will help with house-training issues. Review the “What to Expect” document https://packleadersrescue.com/whattoexpect/ and sign electronically if you are adopting a puppy.
SOCIAL INTERACTION/TRAINING – We also recommend keeping social interaction to a minimum for the first week. Stay away from dog parks, especially with puppies for the first couple weeks. Your new addition is already going through changes and they need a little time to adjust and build a trusting relationship with their new family. Puppies need one more important booster and rabies vaccine before going to any place where there are a lot of dogs. They need the antibodies to prevent any sickness. Leash training will also take some time. Most of our larger dogs have mastered leash training, but the puppies need a little help. The sooner you get them accustomed to leash training the better. Please do not let your new dog out without a leash until they are 100% leash trained with an extreme bond and trust for you. Many of our rescues were picked up as strays and we do not want anything to happen to them again.
Our rescue has found this article to help prepare you for bringing your new dog home. We encourage you to read it. https://www.arlboston.org/welcoming-your-adopted-dog-into-your-home/
If you have any training needs or behavioral issues in the future, we suggest reaching out to a trusted professional dog trainer.
FOLLOW UP – We would love to hear from you in the future. Please join us on Facebook facebook.com/packleadersrescuect/ or Instagram and post photos or email updates to us info@packleadersrescue.com. Thank you again for saving a life with us.
~The Pack Leaders Rescue Adoption Team