Frequently Asked Questions

Want to adopt a puppy from PMR&R?  Please read....

Puppies are hard! They are not trained; they do not understand English, teaching them proper behavior is a process that will take weeks to months. They require training and we require that you provide that training in our contract. Some will continue puppy behaviors longer and will test you longer. They are not your 10-year-old dog who lays at your feet for belly rubs. They will bite, jump, use your floor as a bathroom and chew. You are guaranteed to lose a shoe, a stair tread or the corner of a table! It may happen once, it may happen often. The damage may be something small and inexpensive or it may be something that is irreplaceable. Puppies don’t discriminate. They are busy! They whine and cry and get under your feet. They need a good deal of exercise. They cannot be left in a crate all day and put back in a crate in the evening. Puppies need your time and commitment and every effort put into them to make them a good dog. Again, this is NOT your old dog. This puppy is it’s own dog and will require patience and love and your time.

Our pups are rescue animals. They come from shelters primarily. Majority of the time we do not know the breed of our dogs. I cannot guarantee your dog will be a certain size or won’t shed or will swim, retrieve or anything of the kind. We do not have health guarantees or 30-day return policies. We save animals that have been discarded. I promise however to disclose to you what I do know about said pup. This is inclusive of health care we’ve provided, what we were told when they came into our program and what I’ve been able to learn about the pup through fostering him or her. 

I do not say any of this to scare you or insult your puppy savviness. I say this only as a truth and a reality that all potential adopters need to be aware of. Anyone thinking of bringing a pet into his or her home needs to please think it through. Not everyone is meant to be a puppy or dog owner and that is ok… providing you realize your limitations prior to involving a pet in it. So I ask as a favor that you ask yourself if a puppy is what you really want right now. Do you have the time? Do you have the energy? Do you have the patience? Do you have the space? Most importantly, are you committed to the puppy and it’s needs for his or her lifetime? (10 to 15 years plus) If the answer is no, I applaud you for realizing that now. If the answer is yes then I am happy to begin reviewing your application. 

I need to surrender my dog, can you take her in please?

PMR&R rescues dogs from shelters all around North Carolina to save them from euthanization. As soon as we adopt a dog out, we seek another to save, so the foster slots are rarely open for any time at all. If we take your dog in, we are not able to save another dog's life that is already in a shelter and in grave danger.

However, we do offer a "Courtesy Listing" for surrendered dogs. Please go to our Forms/Applications page and submit a Referral Form. Also, send us photos of the dog via email to pawfectmatch@gmail.com. We will post your dog to our site, which will cross-post to PetFinder.com, Pets911, and 1-800-Save-A-Pet. We will forward inquiries about your dog to you. We do ask that you consider a donation to PMR&R to help defray our operational costs.

I found a dog on the street and would like you to take it in.

North Carolina law requires that anyone who finds a stray dog must make a 'reasonable' attempt to find the owner before the dog can be considered for disposition (owned or euthanized). You must post notices in the neighborhood and in the local papers - the Raleigh News and Observer and other papers post Found Pet notices for free - for at least three days, recommended five days. Also, take the dog to a veterinarian or Animal Control Shelter to have is scanned for a microchip. Once these are done, you can consider the dog not claimed.

Read the answer to the first response - we do not have extra foster slots available for taking in strays. If you would like to become a Temporary Foster, we will consider taking the dog into the PMR&R program. You will need to complete a Foster Application and send photos, and work with us to get the dog vetted and processed. Once the dog is adopted, you can choose whether to retain Foster status with PMR&R.

Where are you located, what are your hours?

PMR&R is an organization of volunteers and foster homes, and we have no physical shelter or location for you to visit. Please see the next question. 

How can I visit one of your dogs?

There are two ways for you to visit our dogs:

  • Come to one our our events (listed on the Home Page and the Events Page). We try to have as many of the foster dogs at the events as we can, but cannot always have all of them there. If there is one in particular you want to meet, call or email us and we will make every effort to have that dog at the event.
  • File an Application to Adopt, and we will be happy to forward it to the foster parent and ask them to contact your to arrange a visit. We do NOT setup visits without an application on file, both for safety reasons and to reduce the high number of casual puppy browsers. We all have full time jobs in addition to our volunteer work, so we need to ensure that only serious visitors are accommodated.

What is your Adoption Fee?

Our Adoption Fee is $400.00

What does your Adoption fee include?

Our Adoption donation includes:

  • All medical coverage for the dog to date, according to the age of the dog (vaccinations, deworming, heartworm preventative, flea and tick preventative, treatments as required).
  • Microchip insertion and registration.
  • Spay or Neuter (already done if the dog is more that 5 months old, included in the Spay/Neuter Addendum to the Adoption Contract if the dog is younger than 5 months). If the dog is not yet altered, we will pay for the spay or neuter if you bring the dog to our veterinarian, otherwise we will reimburse you $100  upon proof of procedure. Spay/Neuter MUST be completed by 9 months of age unless veterinarians suggest otherwise.
  • A leash and collar set. 

Why is your Adoption fee so high?

Actually, the PMR&R adoption donation does not even cover our costs. We have every dog we rescue fully vetted, vaccinated, microchipped, spayed or neutered, and treated for any medical issues. We provide heartworm and flea and tick preventative to all of our foster dogs. In addition, we sometimes have to treat dogs for heartworms, Parvovirus infections, mange, ringworm, intestinal worms and parasites, injuries, and other medical conditions that usually come from the shelter or stray environment. We also sometimes pay for grooming or training. Combined with the costs of traveling all over North Carolina to rescue and adopt the dogs, maintaining a Web page, and other logistic costs (printing costs, phone costs, etc.), we do not break even from the Adoption Donations.

In fact, we have to conduct Fund Raising activities to stay afloat. Please remember that we are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization - no one is making money from rescuing these dogs. Quite the opposite - our volunteers pour heart and soul, sweat and tears, and yes, money, into saving these lives. 

Do you adopt to folks out of state?

Yes, we do and we have. There are a few conditions that must be met:

  • You must work with us to locate another rescue organization in your area that is willing to perform a Home Check at your location. PMR&R will provide the Home Check check list and criteria, and the other rescue will conduct the Home Check and report back to us.
  • We will not ship a dog, ever, under any circumstances. You must drive to the foster location and pick up the dog yourself, or arrange for a "foster transport". We will take care of the adoption paperwork at that time.

What does "pending" mean on the end of the dog's name?

When an application to adopt has been reviewed and approved, and we have agreed to a date and time for a home check for the adoption, we change the dog's status from "available" to "adoption pending". The system we use changes the name of the dog by appending "pending" to the end of the dog's name, to show that the dog is pending an adoption. It is not adopted yet - not all Home Checks end in an adoption - but it is likely to be adopted soon.

Do I need to submit different applications for different dogs?

No, one application is all you need - it will apply for any of the dogs in our program. If you are interested in others than the one you applied for, please send us an email.

Do you accept or adopt out cats?

No, we only work with dogs.

Do you have any dogs under 20 pounds that are housebroken, don't chew, etc....?

No. Several points:

  • We rarely get dogs under 20 pounds. They are so popular that they are usually quickly pulled from shelters, and so rarely are in danger of being put down. Therefore, we rarely see them in need of rescue in shelters.
  • All of our dogs, with the exception of courtesy listings and the rare owner surrender, come from shelters. Shelters vary in quality, but most are not pleasant places. Most of our rescues come with issues that need to be dealt with, and sometimes all of those issues are not completely dealt with before they are adopted.
  • Puppies are puppies. They chew. They pee and poop. They bark and bark and yap and yip. If you want a puppy, you need to be ready for the patience and responsibility that are required.

Can we keep the dog for a few days for a 'trial adoption'?

No. We are extremely busy, and simply do not have the time for this added process. In addition, we would not have control over your activities with our dog, and we are not comfortable giving up that responsibility. We are fairly thorough in our reviews and home checks. If we have to make multiple home checks we will consider it, but we will not leave the dog until the adoption is complete.

Is the puppy spayed or neutered already?

If the puppy is less than 5 months old for a female or 7 months old for a male, it is not yet altered. Our veterinarian believes that early alteration can lead to developmental issues, and we follow his advice. We will have ALL adopted dogs neutered, and we will pay for them (if done with our vet), but not before 5 months of age for females or 7 months for males, and before they are 7 months old for females or 9 months for males.

Can we skip the spay or neuter?

Absolutely not.

Are microchips safe? Do they cause cancer?

Pet microchips are safe, and all research to date shows that they do not cause tumors in dogs. Please read this excellent report on the situation here.