Our Adoption Process
Sunny Saints is not a shelter facility, so if you call to ask if you can come today to see our dogs, that is simply not possible. All of our Adoptable Saints are in temporary private foster homes. The first step in our adoption process is to fill out an Adoption Application. After the application has been reviewed and approved, our Adoptions Coordinator will contact you to set up a phone interview. A home visit may be required, and if you live outside of our coverage area, photographs of your home and property may be used as a substitution for the home visit. When your home has been approved, we then set up the meet and greet with the dog that you are interested in. The dog typically can be adopted directly from the meet and greet and you can take your new best friend home with you. Upon adopting, you will be required to sign an adoption contract. An adoption donation is necessary to adopt a dog. Although our costs to foster and prepare a dog for adoption varies widely from one dog to the next, all adoption fees collected go toward paying the bills for all our rescued dogs, not just the dog you are adopting.
Sunny Saints was established to place our rescued dogs in the "right home," not just any home. We are dedicated to sending all of our Sunny Saints to loving, “forever homes” and it is important to us that you know everything that we know about each dog so that you can make an educated decision when adopting a dog from us. It is also equally important for us to know as much as we can about you so that we can help you to find the perfect dog for your situation. If we tell you that a certain dog isn't right for you, trust us. We want what's best for both of you.
We will do our very best to give you our honest opinion on the dog you are considering, however, we cannot guarantee the future health, heritage, or temperament of any of our rescue dogs.
All pets in our program will be spayed/neutered prior to adoption unless deemed medically inappropriate. Puppies too young to be spayed/neutered will be placed into their adoptive homes on a foster-to-adopt basis where the adoption will not become official until after they have had their surgery.
In order to maintain our 501(c)3 non-profit status, we are legally required to spay/neuter all pets before they can be adopted. Many vets feel it is inappropriate to spay/neuter a giant breed puppy too early, so when a family adopts a puppy thought to be too young for surgery, the pup is taken into their home in a "foster-to-adopt" status with all paperwork and adoption donations paid up front, but with it noted on the adoption contract that the adoption does not become final until the dog is spayed/neutered at an age deemed appropriate by the adopting family's vet, but no later than 6 months of age, and the certificate is given to Sunny Saints. The dog shall not be used for breeding prior to surgery, as that will immediately cause the adoption contract to become null and void and Sunny Saints shall reclaim the dog. During the "foster-to-adopt" period, the adopting family shall be financially responsible for the care of the dog, including vet bills. Sunny Saints will be financially responsible for ONLY the completed puppy shot series, microchipping and spay/neuter. If the adopting party lives near one of our primary vets, they may take the dog there for these services which will be directly billed to Sunny Saints, or they can take the dog to their own vet and supply us with copies of the billing statement and Sunny Saints will reimburse the adopting party up to the amount equal to that which would be charged at our primary vet only.
All dogs will have basic vaccinations, have been wormed and micro-chipped. Copies of all medical records in our possession will be forwarded to the adopting party. Their foster family will let the adopting family know the type of food they are used to eating so they can have it for them upon bringing the dog home. An adoption donation is required.
Sunny Saints will consider adopting to those who live outside California on a case-by-case basis.
Please understand that we may receive numerous applications for a single pet. If you apply for a pet, but then see that it has been removed from our Adoptable Saints page, one of two things may have happened. We may have received so many applications that we have closed the application process on an individual pet and are in the process of reviewing the applications received, OR the pet has an approved adoption pending.
Sunny Saints was established to place our rescued dogs in the "right home," not just any home. We are dedicated to sending all of our Sunny Saints to loving, “forever homes” and it is important to us that you know everything that we know about each dog so that you can make an educated decision when adopting a dog from us. It is also equally important for us to know as much as we can about you so that we can help you to find the perfect dog for your situation. If we tell you that a certain dog isn't right for you, trust us. We want what's best for both of you.
We will do our very best to give you our honest opinion on the dog you are considering, however, we cannot guarantee the future health, heritage, or temperament of any of our rescue dogs.
All pets in our program will be spayed/neutered prior to adoption unless deemed medically inappropriate. Puppies too young to be spayed/neutered will be placed into their adoptive homes on a foster-to-adopt basis where the adoption will not become official until after they have had their surgery.
In order to maintain our 501(c)3 non-profit status, we are legally required to spay/neuter all pets before they can be adopted. Many vets feel it is inappropriate to spay/neuter a giant breed puppy too early, so when a family adopts a puppy thought to be too young for surgery, the pup is taken into their home in a "foster-to-adopt" status with all paperwork and adoption donations paid up front, but with it noted on the adoption contract that the adoption does not become final until the dog is spayed/neutered at an age deemed appropriate by the adopting family's vet, but no later than 6 months of age, and the certificate is given to Sunny Saints. The dog shall not be used for breeding prior to surgery, as that will immediately cause the adoption contract to become null and void and Sunny Saints shall reclaim the dog. During the "foster-to-adopt" period, the adopting family shall be financially responsible for the care of the dog, including vet bills. Sunny Saints will be financially responsible for ONLY the completed puppy shot series, microchipping and spay/neuter. If the adopting party lives near one of our primary vets, they may take the dog there for these services which will be directly billed to Sunny Saints, or they can take the dog to their own vet and supply us with copies of the billing statement and Sunny Saints will reimburse the adopting party up to the amount equal to that which would be charged at our primary vet only.
All dogs will have basic vaccinations, have been wormed and micro-chipped. Copies of all medical records in our possession will be forwarded to the adopting party. Their foster family will let the adopting family know the type of food they are used to eating so they can have it for them upon bringing the dog home. An adoption donation is required.
Sunny Saints will consider adopting to those who live outside California on a case-by-case basis.
Please understand that we may receive numerous applications for a single pet. If you apply for a pet, but then see that it has been removed from our Adoptable Saints page, one of two things may have happened. We may have received so many applications that we have closed the application process on an individual pet and are in the process of reviewing the applications received, OR the pet has an approved adoption pending.