General
What is (insert dog's name)'s adoption fee?
Adoption Fees Range Widely; You may find the adoption for for the MatchDog you are interested in by viewing their profile on our website or at Petfinder's website. Below are some general guidelines
- Smaller breed dogs are generally at the higher range for their category
- Sponsored, donation, or price matched dogs offer lower costs opportunities (and sometimes no cost)
Our adoption fees vary based on various factors such as the dog's age, size, length of transport, special needs, etc.
Fees are fixed fee and can be paid by Venmo or cash
MATCHDOG INCLUDES THE COST OF SPAY OR NEUTERING IN THE ADOPTION FEE. We will provide you with a recommended low-cost spay/neuter clinic or program so that there will be no additional net out-of-pocket costs to you for the sterilization procedure.
ANY VOLUNTARY DONATIONS MADE AS PART OF YOUR APPLICATION ARE NOT APPLIED AGAINST ANY ADOPTION FEES. MATCHMAKERS ARE NOT PRIVY TO WHAT WAS DONATED DURING THE APPLICATION SO THAT THEIR SELECTIONS ARE NOT INFLUENCE BY THEM.
If we think you could be the perfect match, we’ll reach out to chat more about the adoption process and fee for that specific dog.
Thank you for your interest in adopting!
I'm interested in ( Insert dog's name here), is he/she available?
Thank you for your interest in one of our dogs! Please visit our website, matchdogrescue.org to see which dogs are available, submit an application and get more information. Please be sure you indicate which dog(s) you would like to be considered for on your application. Each application allows you to list up to 4. If we review your application and feel you could be the potential match for that dog, we will contact you to discuss further.
A helpful hint -- We are at the Marlton NJ PetSmart every Saturday from about 10-2ish. If you come by to meet us one Saturday at PetSmart, it could really help your chances of us finding you a match! It’s not uncommon for us to receive a large amount of applications for some of our rescue pups, so it always helps to put a face to a name and meet you in person. Remember it's best to submit an application first of course and if you do adopt from us, the entire household must be present to do so. We do not make any promises, but we always try our best to find our rescue dogs and our applicants their perfect match!
Marlton PetSmart address - 315 W. Rt. 70 Marlton, NJ.
Thank you for your interest in adopting!
Is (Insert dog's name here) good with other dogs and/or cats?
We are happy to say that all of our rescue dogs have been very well socialized with other dogs while in MatchDog care. However, we infrequently have the opportunity to socialize them with cats and cannot make any guarentees in this regard.
Of course we understand that finding that perfect match goes beyond just the dog and the people in the household. We want a good fit between other pets in the household as well! Although we always ask that adopters do not bring their current pets when coming to meet one of our rescue dogs, if all goes well at the meet and it is a match for our matchdog and all people in the family, then we do sometimes allow for a 24 hour trial at home between that matchdog and your current dog(s) before finalizing the adoption and donation fee. Most of the time these ‘doggy sleepovers’ are such a success! We do not do a 24 hour trial with any other of your animals other than your own dog. We also do not do 24 hour trials with our puppies.
We don't live in New Jersey, can we still adopt?
We are certainly open to adopting our matchdogs out to great adopters who live a distance away! However, we do require that the entire household does make the trip to the PetSmart in Marlton NJ for the meet with us and the matchdog, if we think you could be a match.
We also want you to be aware that many of the great deals/offers/services included in a MatchDog adoption ARE available to you, but may be difficult or not possible for you to access from a distance, such as those at our local affiliated vets.
If you understand and still would like to adopt a MatchDog, then please don’t hesitate to visit matchdogrescue.orgto view all our adoptable dogs and submit an adoption application!
What is the adoption process?
It all starts by visiting our website, matchdogrescue.org , to view all our available dogs and submit an adoption application. Please be sure you indicate which dog(s) you would like to be considered for on your application. Each application allows you to list up to 3. Our team of “matchmakers” will review your app and if we feel you could be the potential match for that dog, we will contact you to discuss further and plan a meet.
We do require that the entire household is present for the meet so that we can make sure it is a good match for everyone involved! Sometimes these meets are on the same Saturday the dog arrives to NJ on the transport van with many others. Or it may be a meet planned outside of our adoption events if the matchdog is already in NJ with one of our fosters.
When you and your family are lined up to meet one of our dogs, we go into the meet with the expectation that you are ready to adopt and take the dog home that same day if and only if we all feel it is a perfect match.
Where is your shelter?
What makes Matchdog Rescue unique is that we are not a shelter, rather that we are an all-volunteer, foster-based rescue community. This means that our volunteers all over the New Jersey/ Pennsylvania area foster our Matchdogs in their own homes. Although we do not have a physical location, we are always at Marlton Petsmart in New Jersey every saturday from 10am-2pm, where you can come meet us and see our MatchDogs in person!
What's your HeartWorm policy for dogs that are HeartWorm Positive?
Matchdog Rescue conducts 4Dx testing on all its rescued dogs. If a dog tests positive prior to adoption MatchDog Rescue will disclose this information to you and will commit to paying for the treatment of one round of heartworm treatment at our affiliated vet. At the time of adoption a volunteer will discuss with you the treatment plan which you will have to agree to prior to finalizing the adoption.
If your new pet tests positive for heartworm post-adoption and MatchDog Rescue has records indicating negative results, MatchDog will not be responsible for the treatment or costs associated with treatment.
I sent an Email/ Direct message and haven't heard back! Why?
If you have a question and we do not respond, that will mean we have already listed the answer to your question in our FAQ's at www.matchdogrescue.org/faq-s ! :)
Unfortunately, we are not staffed to respond to questions whose answers are readily available on our FAQ's.
Thank you for your understanding.
We are first time pet owners, and do not have vet records as a result. Will this hurt our chances?
Absolutely not! Just make sure to put you are first time pet owners in the part of our application that is for vet information, and you're set! Knowing you are first time pooch owners helps us get it right for you and your new pup.
Do you transport dogs to adopters in other states?
The short answer is no, we do not. We are certainly open to adopting our matchdogs out to great adopters who live a distance away! However, the only place we transport our dogs to is Marlton NJ, we will not transport dogs to any other locations. We will not set up meets anywhere except in our local NJ area.
If you are selected for a pup, you would need to travel to us to meet them and pick them up! We also do require that the entire household does make the trip to the PetSmart in Marlton NJ for the meet with us and the matchdog, if we think you could be a match.
We also want you to be aware that many of the great deals/offers/services included in a MatchDog adoption ARE available to you, but may be difficult or not possible for you to access from a distance.
If you understand and still would like to adopt a MatchDog, then please don’t hesitate to visit matchdogrescue.org to view all our adoptable dogs and submit an adoption application!
Where do MatchDogs come from? What is their Journey?
To learn more about a MatchDog's journey to NJ, please go to the About Us tab of our website and click "A MatchDog's Journey"
I am the friend/family member of the Adopter or the adopter is my Client and I want to get them a matchdog! Can I apply for them or adopt for them?
Only the person that would have the dog and own the dog as theirs in their residence is allowed to apply for one of our MatchDogs. Your family member/client would need to apply themselves and be fully aware and involved in the process, and present at all stages of the process from start to finish.
What is your non-profit tax ID number?
82-2627297
We would like to adopt a service dog. Can you help?
Our MatchDogs are strictly companion animals. Nevertheless, some may be suitable as service dogs. We will NOT adopt any dog directly to an applicant as a service dog. We will, however, work with helping agencies who specilaize in training and placement of service dogs.
Please talk to your local helping agencies who can help you with this as we do not have the necessary expertise to assist
Why do you require an application fee? WE DO NOT- see explanation
We do not require ANY fee to apply for one of our pups. You WILL be asked at the end of the application to give generously, but you may leave the field blank and simply hit submit and your application will process normally.
We DO understand that you will get a pop up when you first begin your application that says a fee is required- please ignore this; we use third party shelter and rescue software and we are unable to prevent the pop up and are also unable to edit the words in the pop up. We are working with the service provider and hope they will be able to remedy this confusing pop up.
COVID-19
Are you still adopting out dogs during COVID-19?
Yes! We are still bringing dogs from texas and adopting them out here in NJ, and folks from out of state are still welcome to apply to adopt as well! We are bringing around 100 dogs every month!
Applications
I submitted my application a while ago and haven’t heard anything?
Thanks for checking the status of your application. Rest assured it has been forwarded to the person handling the matchmaking. We receive many many applications for each pup and it takes time to go through them. Our team of “matchmakers” will review your app and if we feel you could be the potential match for that dog, we will absolutely contact you to discuss further and plan a meet.
The best way to check the status of the pup you applied for is to keep checking our petstablished page which has the most current information!
When you and your family are lined up to meet one of our dogs, we go into the meet with the expectation that you are ready to adopt and take the dog home that same day if and only if we all feel it is a perfect match.
We submitted our application, but would like to add a pup(s) to our application. How do we add this puppy to the list we already submitted?
If you have submitted an application for a dog and wish to apply for more, or wish to add another dog of interest to an existing application, you will need to submit another application. Most prospective adopters fill out several apps before they are successfully matched. We no longer can accept emails asking to add dogs to your app.
My Petstablished Application says "On Hold or " Pending Adoption". What does that mean?
If you get a notification that your app is "On Hold", that is petstablished's way of telling you that the pup(s) you applied for are no longer available, but it is holding your application in case you would like to apply for more pups. To make things easier for you we recommend that you create a free petstablished registration- in this way your application information is saved so you can simply make any necessary changes or personalize your apps for specific dogs. We no longer can accept emails asking to add dogs to your app. We highly recommend applicants to register with petstablished in order to save your application information for future!
If a pup's status says " Pending Adoption", this is another way that petstablished is notifying you that the dog pending adoption is no longer available and has successfully matched with an adopter.
Do I have to fill out a new application every time I see a dog I'd like to apply for?
If you have submitted an application for a dog and wish to apply for more, or wish to add another dog of interest to an existing application, you will need to submit another application. Most prospective adopters fill out several apps before they are successfully matched. To make things easier for you we recommend that you create a free petstablished registration- in this way your application information is saved so you can simply make any necessary changes or personalize your apps for specific dogs.
We no longer can accept emails asking to add dogs to your app. We highly recommend applicants to register with petstablished in order to save your application information for future!:)
We highly recommend that you tailor and personalize an app towards a specific dog (which we love!), but that is not required, you can certainly use the exact same app that you have saved to apply multiple times for different dogs!
Do you pre- approve applications?
No, we do not pre- approve applications because we review apps against the specific dog you applied for. For example, somebody may apply for a 5 lb puppy and unfortunately not be succesful, then ythe following week they apply for a 50lb lab. The requirements / needs for each pup would be very different. The only exception is if you are attending our in person saturday adoption events where what you can do is you can put in a generic application, and when you arrive at the event and see a dog that you like, you can ask us to review your app there for that particular pup. Doing so allows you to be prepared the moment you see a dog at the event that you like!
What can I do to increase my chances of being selected to adopt a dog?
We understand that this process can be very frustrating. You’ve filled out lots of apps, you aren't finding success or hearing back, it can wear potential adopters down!
-It may feel ike you’re repeating yourself, but it is worth really taking the time to fill the applications out thouroughly. The biggest reason we do not select an app is because it is incomplete or does not have enough information in it.
- Be realistic in your choices! Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, apply for multiple dogs!
-If you’re always picking the most popular types of dogs, unfortunately you’re very likely going to be disappointed, whereas if you are open to multiple dogs and select a broader range of choices you’re success rate will increase!
-Come meet us and chat with us when we have events!
-Have up to date vet records for any previous pets (you can even download them on your phone so you are ready the second we ask for them!)
-So to review: you have a great app, flexible choices, realistic expectations, coming to the event to meet us when we have events, and having vet records up to date!
Does calling/emailing/texting matchdog about my application increase my chances of being selected?
No, calling/emailing/texting us about your application will not increase your chances of being selected.
MatchMakers are isolated from these communications so as to make the process as fair as possible.
The dog(s) I applied for is Pending adoption... is it pending with us? How do we know that the dog is not pending adoption with us or if we will be contacted as the selected adopter?
We do not change the status of a dog to "adoption pending" until we have called the selected adopter, talked to them, and confirmed the adoption with them. As soon as that happens we then change the status to pending. So if you see "adoption Pending" then someone has already heard from us and talked to us and confirmed, if that person was not you then you were not selected for that pup unfortunately.
Are the applications first come first serve? Do you review them in the order that they were submitted?
We usually do review the apps in the order they come in, but remember, our endgame is to find the perfect match, so we still review every single app submitted to make sure we have made the best match for that specific pup! If we have found multiple potential adopters that would be an amazing match for that pup, then we do defer to the adopter that submitted their app first. So it doesn't all depend on when you submit your app, but make sure to put that application in as soon as possible to put yourself in the best position you can!
Do you have an application limit?
You may apply as many times as you like. It is possible to add up to 4 dogs on a single application by visiting our website at matchdogrescue.org and selecting the view and apply for multiple dogs tab.
When submitting my application how much should I donate?
You should submit the equivalent of three months earnings- just kidding! Although you may submit an application without any fee whatsoever we do hope you donate any amount that you are comfortable with- there is no minimum and the amount is not considered by our matchmakers in their selection process. Of course, from our perspective we hope you reach deep- every penny is appreciated and used to save at risk dogs. We simply could not do what we do without you.
Incidentally, we do not require ANY fee to apply for one of our pups. You WILL be asked at the end of the application to give generously, but you may leave the field blank and simply hit submit and your application will process normally.
We DO understand that you will get a pop up when you first begin your application that says a fee is required- please ignore this; we use third party shelter and rescue software and we are unable to prevent the pop up and are also unable to edit the words in the pop up. We are working with the service provider and hope they will be able to remedy this confusing pop up.
