Adopting instead of buying: what it is really like

Rescue gets talked about either as a moral obligation or as a lottery of damaged animals. It is neither.

What you actually get

Most rescue dogs and cats are ordinary animals whose owners' circumstances changed: a house move, a relationship ending, a new baby, a death, money. A large share are under three years old. Many are already house trained, neutered, vaccinated and microchipped, which is £300-£500 of work included in an adoption fee of £150-£350.

You also get something you never get with a puppy: an animal whose adult size, coat and temperament are already known. A good rescue will have lived with the animal in foster and can tell you how it is with cats, children, being left, and the vacuum cleaner.

What is harder

The process is not quick. Application, home check, sometimes a wait. Good rescues turn people down, and it is not personal - matching is the whole job.

You will be asked to compromise. Most rescues will not rehome a dog with a strong prey drive to a house with a cat, or a nervous dog to a house with a toddler. Those refusals are the rescue doing what you would want it to do.

Some animals need work. Not most. But if you take one that does, understand what you are taking on and take the rescue's assessment seriously rather than assuming love will cover it.

Questions worth asking

• Why is it here, and what do you actually know about its history?
• Has it lived in foster or in kennels? Kennel behaviour tells you almost nothing about home behaviour.
• What is it like alone, and for how long?
• What has it been like with children, cats, other dogs - observed, not assumed?
• What support do you offer after adoption, and what is the return policy?

A rescue that answers "we don't know" honestly is a better rescue than one that answers everything confidently.

Breed rescue

Almost every breed has a dedicated rescue, and they are the best-kept secret in this subject. They know the breed, they assess properly, and they often have young dogs. If you have your heart set on a breed, look there before you look at litters.

On this site

Adoption adverts are free for verified rescues and always will be. They sit in their own section with their own URLs, because rehoming is not selling and it should not look like it.