When You Visit The Shelter

After you have thoughtfully considered whether you are ready to adopt a dog, including understanding the responsibilities & commitment, determined the type of dog that would be best in your home, and are prepared for the costs of owning a dog, then it is time to pay a visit to the Shelter!

When To Visit

The Shelter is open to the public six days a week. Weekends are normally very busy, so if you can plan your visit on a weekday it will be a little less hectic. CLICK HERE for our hours. Please plan your visit with the understanding that the adoption application process must begin at least one hour before our scheduled closing time.

Come Prepared

Be sure to review our page Choose The Right Dog For You and make some notes about your needs, living situation and lifestyle, and bring them with you to the shelter so our staff can help you find the perfect dog for your situation!

Our Dog Rooms

The Shelter has three separate dog rooms with over 100 kennels. While you are welcome to walk through the dog rooms, we suggest that you consult with a staff member or volunteer who will be able to direct you to the dogs, or types of dogs, that you are most interested in.

Interacting With Our Dogs

As you can imagine, we have visitors every day who just want to pet or play with the dogs. We know that their intentions are good, but being relinquished to an animal shelter is a drastic change and a stressful experience for most of our dogs. Even though we make every effort possible to make a dog’s new shelter home welcoming, it is still often a place where dogs will be confined, separated from their previous families, and exposed to more noise due to the close proximity of other dogs. These environmental changes are very stressful for most dogs. Over stimulation from complete strangers can create even more stress and trauma. We are very attentive to keeping stress to a minimum for our dogs so they can adjust to their new environment. For this reason, we limit interactions with the dogs to staff, trained volunteers and serious adopters.

Please, for your safety and the well-being of our dogs, DO NOT TOUCH OR PUT FINGERS IN KENNELS!

You are certainly welcome to view all of our dogs at your leisure, but if you want to interact with one of our adoptable dogs, you must first have an approved adoption application on file. If you don't find the dog that is right for you on your first visit, but will continue to come back until you do, we recommend that you complete and submit an adoption application. Once approved, your application remains valid and on file for six months.

To save time, you can download an adoption application, complete it, and bring it with you! Just click on the Download icon below.