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A NOTE REGARDING FENCES:
WE DO *NOT* HAVE A BLANKET POLICY FOR FENCES
ON ALL OUR DOGS. Fences are required on
a CASE-BY-CASE BASIS, depending on your living
situation and most importantly, the individual
dog. Those that DO require a fence, will be
noted as such in their bios.
If you do not have a fenced yard (and are not
willing to install a fence), please do not inquire
about these particular dogs. You should also
note that not all dogs requiring fences are
good candidates for invisible (electronic/radio)
fences. Please discuss this with the dog's rescue
contact.
If you are planning to fence your yard and
are interested in a dog that we have noted requires
one, we will not schedule your home visit until
your fence is fully installed.
For more information on why a fence is a
great idea to help keep ANY canine companion
safe and happy for years to come, read our article
"Why
a Fence".
If you have any questions about the type of
fencing required, or if your particular situation
meets the criteria, please feel free to contact
us for more information. If your question
pertains to a particular dog, please address
your question to that dog's rescue contact.
*While
we do occasionally receive requests from other
rescue groups to share home visit reports (and
will do so with the applicant's permission),
we feel that it is the responsibility of each
individual rescue group to properly screen their
own adopters according to their specific policies
and operating procedures. Any application submitted
to NEBCR is kept private to the group, and your
information will not be shared elsewhere.
3. PATIENCE
Sometimes a dog will be available right away
that is the perfect match for you. But more
likely, you will have to wait for the right
dog to come along. New dogs are coming into
rescue all the time, but if you are not willing
to wait, please consider another option.
So... is adopting a Border Collie from NEBCR
right for you and your family? Read on and find
out...
Border Collies are a difficult breed, and
are not suited to everyone
Border Collies are not your typical household
pet that is willing to lie about and be a couch
potato. They require a lot of exercise and attention.
Before you consider getting this breed, please
learn about what it is like to live with a Border
Collie.
You may find information about the breed
on our web page IS
A BORDER COLLIE FOR YOU? and Carole Presberg's Border
Collie Museum
What are the typical rescued Border Collies
like?
Most dogs in rescue tend to be between the
ages of about 10 months and 3 years. We very
rarely get puppies. We often have older
dogs between the ages of 4 and 10. Please be
aware that the Border Collie is a very slow-maturing
breed, and dogs between 4-8 are still VERY active.
In fact even dogs of 10 or 12 years of age are
usually still willing and able to fetch, go
for long walks and race around the yard. Furthermore,
this is a very long-lived breed, generally averaging
12-15 years or more. When you rescue a Border
Collie, you are not only getting yourself a
companion, but you are doing a good deed and
helping a dog in need. So please, consider an
older dog.
Spay/Neuter
We believe that rescue dogs should not be
bred under ANY circumstances! There are
more than enough Border Collies being bred by
responsible breeders, and FAR too many being
bred by irresponsible backyard breeders and
puppy mills - which the large number of dogs
that come into rescue each month will attest
to. We spay or neuter EVERY dog before placement
unless s/he is too young. However, if we should
place a dog with you that has not been spayed
or neutered for any reason whatsoever, you will
be required to sign a spay/neuter contract and
have the operation done yourself within a short
time of the adoption. Dogs placed with a spay/neuter
contract will be required to pay an additional
deposit over and above the adoption fee, which
will be returned to you when we receive a copy
of the spay/neuter certificate.
WE DO NOT HAVE A LIST OF "GOOD BREEDERS" THAT WE CAN REFER YOU TO.
One hallmark of ANY good breeder is that s/he
considers themselves responsible for every dog
that they bring into the world, and will take
that dog back at any time, for any reason. Therefore,
it is the nature of rescue that we hardly ever
come into contact with breeders
that we can feel comfortable referring anyone
to.
We recommend that you do extensive research
before purchasing a puppy from ANY breeder,
and it is our opinion that you should NEVER
purchase a puppy from a pet store or one of
the many online "puppy mills" that
are producing far too many poorly bred dogs
that go on to have myriad physical and behavioral
problems and are flooding our shelters and rescue
groups.
We hope that you will really consider all the
benefits of adopting a rescued border collie,
but if you have your heart set on buying a puppy,
contact us
for tips on everything to look for in a good
breeder.
Training and Socialization
We believe that all dogs need to be trained
in order to be good citizens. Adopters will
be required to enroll in and participate in
a basic obedience class with many of the dogs
that we place. We will refund $50 of your adoption
fee once this requirement is met and you return
a copy of the graduation certificate to us.
Acquiring a Dog
WE DO NOT SHIP RESCUE DOGS. At this time our policy is to only adopt dogs to people within our coverage area of ME, VT, NH, MA, RI, CT, eastern NY state and northern NJ. We do occasionally make exceptions for special situations - typically very hard to place dogs that require a very specific type of home. For those situations, we must be able to get a Border Collie rescue
worker in your area to do a home visit, AND
you must be willing to come to New England to meet/pick
up the dog yourself. If you are not sure if we can adopt to you based on your location, please contact us at info@nebcr.org before completing an application.
Please note that there are Border Collie rescue
organizations located all over the U.S. and
Canada. We encourage you to adopt a dog from
a rescue close to you. If you are having trouble
finding one, please contact
us, we would be happy to help.
Matching Dogs with Owners
It is our responsibility to place each of our
dogs with the home best suited to them,
regardless of the order in which applications
are received. Rescue is not a "first come,
first serve" situation, and we appreciate
your understanding that our goal is always to
provide the best possible home we can for each
dog we have, so that they never have to come
into rescue again.
Contrary to what many may think, not every
dog is suited to every home, no matter how good
or loving a family is. That is why our goal
is to get to know both you and our dogs as well
as we possibly can, to make sure that EVERYONE
lives happily every after.
While we completely understand how easy it
is to fall in love with a photo or a sad story
(we all do it ourselves!), we hope that you
will also understand our commitment to our dogs
is our sole purpose for doing this work, and
that we must do what we feel is in the lifelong
best interest of each and every dog. Please
also understand that you are likely not the
only applicant for a particular dog and it is
often our difficult task to try and make the
best match for that dog. That is no reflection
on you as an adopter, and these are not decisions
we take lightly. We thank you for your understanding.
Home Visit
Once you have an approved application on file
(see above), if a dog comes along that seems
right for you and that you are interested in,
please contact that dog's rescue person. If
they believe you are potentially a suitable
match for that dog, we will schedule a home
visit. One of our volunteers will come to your
home and meet with you and your family to make
sure that this will be the best of all possible
matches, both for you and for the dog. We
require that all people living in the home are
present for the home visit.
Adoption Fee
THERE IS AN ADOPTION
FEE FOR EVERY NEBCR DOG AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION.
The one exception is Senior dogs eligible for
our Senior
to Senior program. Currently our base adoption
fee for adult dogs is $350, but please
ask the rescue contact for the particular dog
you are interested in what the fee is for that
dog.
PLEASE NOTE: If you
adopt a puppy from us under 6 months old, there
will be an additional $300 spay/neuter deposit
required on top of the adoption fee. This will
be returned to you upon confirmation that the
spay/neuter has been done within the agreed
upon timeframe.
This fee allows NEBCR to make sure that ALL
our rescue dogs have been spayed, neutered,
microchipped and are current on all vaccines
and ongoing heartworm and flea/tick prevention.
It also helps us to provide medical care as
needed while the dog is in rescue, beyond just
"the basics" - such as hip surgery and other
special cases where a dog's quality of life
is directly affected by his/her physical health.
While some vets do offer our volunteers a somewhat
discounted rate on their foster dogs (and we
thank them VERY much for this!) vet care is
expensive, and contrary to what some may think,
NEVER free.
The adoption fee also allows us to provide
much needed training for our volunteers, as
well as for our adoptable dogs when needed.
This can be anything from a basic obedience
class to a herding test to determine if a dog
has true potential as a working dog, allowing
us to place that dog in a suitable home. It
is a fact that our adoption fees alone are not
enough and we conduct many fundraisers throughout
the year (as well as our online
store and donations)
to ensure that every one of our rescue dogs
that needs help and care, receives it. (Please
see above for circumstances under which you
will be refunded a portion of your fee)
Adoption Application
Pet ownership is a major responsibility and
a lifelong commitment, and not to be taken lightly.
In an effort to make the best possible match
between you and a dog, we ask that you take
the time fill out our comprehensive questionnaire
and expect to spend time discussing it before
the adoption is complete. If you find this process
too involved or invasive, then adopting a dog
from NEBCR is probably not a good fit for you
and you may want to pursue other avenues of
obtaining a dog.
Congratulations for making it this far!
If you have decided that, despite everything
we said above, you still want to adopt a dog
from us, we welcome you FILL
OUT OUR ONLINE APPLICATION.
PLEASE DO NOT CALL
THE 800# TO REQUEST AN APPLICATION unless you
do not have internet access.
If you wish to check on the status of your
completed application, please email us at applications@nebcr.org.
Do not call the 800# unless you do not have
access to email. This phone line is intended
for emergencies and dog relinquishments only.
Please note that we are an all-volunteer organization,
and do our best to keep up with the sometimes
dozens of applications we receive each week.
Applications review can take a week or more,
so please be patient. If you do not hear from
us after that time, please email us at applications@nebcr.org
to make sure that we received your application
- as internet technology is not always reliable.
FOR A LISTING
OF DOGS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION,
CLICK
HERE.
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