It may be that you simply don't want to turn your animal over to a rescue or shelter. Or maybe you cannot find one that has space available to find your animal a new home. Or maybe you don't want your animal to have to undergo the stress that is involved in entering a shelter or rescue and waiting to be adopted. Maybe you want to know where your animal goes so that you'll be sure it gets a new home and you can stay in contact with the new owners......... whatever the reason, you've made the choice to try to place the animal on your own.

While this is a good thing, you need to read the items below if you and planning on doing this, because there are lots of things you need to know about placing an animal in a new home.... it's not as easy as it sounds - at least - not if you care about your animal.

WHERE ?

The first and most important step is to know that this can be a time-consuming process, and can be very frustrating at times. You may get bombarded with calls about your dog or you may get no calls at all. It just depends on what type of animal it is, where you are located, and how dedicated you are to finding a GOOD new home.

You can begin by calling shelters. Some of them have a list of people waiting for an animal of a certain type. Or maybe you can post a flyer in their office letting folks know your dog is looking for a new home.

Second, you'll want to place flyers in local vet offices if they'll allow it. Most people that will see that flyer are at the vet, which means they at least provide some form of vet care for their current animals. This is also a good way to find a new home, because most times people that have no animals want no animals, and those at the vet office are more than likely "animal people" that might be looking to add an animal to their family.

Third, use the internet, there are many sites out there that have pet "classifieds" where you can place an ad letting others out there looking know that you have an animal that needs a new home. Some of those sites can be found at www.petfinder.com  www.pets911.com  and www.1-800-save-a-pet.com  - and those are just a few. Any good search engine can find you what you are looking for.

Finally, you can place "Available for Adoption" ads in your local newspapers. Think about the type of home you are targeting, and place ads in the papers that will be in those homes - in other words - those free papers or ones that have a ton of classifieds may not be the best ones for your animal to find a home from.

HOW ?

Now we get to the important issues:

First, make sure your animal is up to date on vaccines, and is in good health. If your animal is not already spayed or neutered (fixed) that is a VERY important thing to have done before you place him or her into a new home. There are those out there that look for animals that are not fixed to use for breeding, where they are kept as puppy-making machines and given only what they need to produce litter after litter of pups. They are often kept in deplorable conditions, with no chance of ever being a family pet. They have so many litters that they are in poor health, and often die from complications from giving birth.

Second, make sure you screen anyone that expresses interest in your animal. Have them fill out an adoption questionnaire, learn as much about them and their home environment as you can. Make sure this is a place where your animal will be loved, cared for properly, and most importantly - will be happy.

Third, get personal and vet references from those interested in your animal. Call the references to make sure that the person is a good pet owner, and provides the regular vet care for any pets they currently have. Also ask for an adoption fee, whether it's $30 or $100 or somewhere in between - this lets you know that they not only really want your pet, but that they are probably able to afford the cost of owning a dog and providing proper food and medical attention. Anyone who balks at the fee pass over - chances are they aren't the right home for your dog.

Finally, visit the home that you chose to adopt your dog. So many people can look like wonderful, caring, and stable people when they come to you. But seeing their home, and their family members can tell you so much more than any other step in this process. Animal shelters and Humane Law Enforcement officers can tell you the horror stories about people that collect animals that are "free to good home" animals. If they are not comfortable allowing you to see where and how the animal will live, they don't need your animal. Also, stop by to see your animal after a few weeks to be sure the conditions weren't just cleaned up for show the day you went the first time.

One person, as an example, took in cats that people were looking to find homes for. Many times she'd take several at once, promising to love them forever. She'd take them home, where they lived in a filthy home with other animals she'd gotten from people. She failed to provide even the most basic needs of a clean place to live, proper nutrition, and vet care. Humane officers removed 165 animals from her one-bedroom apartment, all where suffering from disease, malnutrition, and various other ailments caused by lack of proper care. People she'd gotten the animals from were astounded - they thought they had given their pet to a wonderful home when in fact they had handed the animal over to be neglected and mistreated until it was seized by the officers and had to be euthanized because it was so sick. CALL YOUR LOCAL SHELTER TO SEE IF THEY KNOW THE PERSON YOU ARE ADOPTING YOUR PET TO - THEY CAN BE A WEALTH OF INFORMATION AND MAY HAVE DEALT WITH THE PERSON TELLING YOU THEY WANT YOUR ANIMAL.

IS THIS TOO MUCH WORK? DON'T HAVE THE TIME TO DO THIS YOURSELF? DON'T FEEL COMFORTABLE PLACING YOUR ANIMAL YOURSELF NOW THAT YOU'VE READ THIS? Surrender it to CNWH

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