FAQs

No. All stray dogs need to go to your local county shelter to serve a legal stray hold.

Generally we do not take owner surrendered dogs. Occasionally we do if the dog is in dire circumstances. Primarily we hold strong to our mission of rescuing dogs in high kill, overcrowded shelters facing immediate euthanasia risk or dogs in other states who are at risk of going to high kill shelters. Generally speaking, the Pacific NW is rich with dog lovers and people seeking to adopt. Owners looking to surrender their dogs generally do well and find placement with rehoming their own dog via social media and a posting on Petfinder. Oregon Humane Society and local county shelters also accept owner surrenders and generally have good adoption rates. We really try to reserve our resources and foster spaces for dogs with no other options who are facing immediate euthanasia. Those dogs have no one advocating for them and no resources available to them.

Agave Dogs Rescue does not have a shelter location. We are a foster based rescue with volunteers housing rescue dogs in their homes until adoption. All of our foster homes are within 45 minutes of Portland, Oregon. The benefits of being foster based are that our volunteers are able to work on skill building with each dog individually such as: learning to live in a home, potty training, crate training, leash walking, some basic obedience training during their time in foster. By living with each of our dogs, our volunteer foster homes can provide potential adopters with considerable information about what it's like to live with the dog they are interested in. This additional information is helpful for adopters to know so that they can choose a dog that best matches their lifestyle. Dogs are less stressed and less at risk for disease in a foster setting versus a shelter setting.

Most of our dogs come from Texas and California. Both of these states have a notable pet overpopulation crisis. We have also gotten dogs previously from Alabama, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Idaho, Korea and Mexico. Our main focus at this time is to assist United States high kill shelters and rescue partners overflowing with dogs.

Fees range from wavied to $550 depending on age, breed, behavior, medical needs, etc. Our adoption fees support our mission and enable us to continue to save hundreds of dogs per year. Adoption fees include spay/neuter, vaccines to date, microchip, flea/tick/heartworm preventatives and initial worming. All adoptions include a free vet visit at Pet Samaritan Clinic in Portland, Willamette Valley Animal Hospital in Milwaukie or Tualatin, or First City Vet Hospital in Oregon City. All dogs will have been examined by a licensed veterinarian prior to adoption and if they are from out of state, they will have a health certificate from a licensed veterinarian deeming them healthy and approved to travel. Adoption Fee Explained

We always keep adoption applications on file and your application can apply to any of our available dogs. You do not need to fill out another one. If you see a different dog you're interested in adopting just shoot us an email or message on Facebook and let us know you have an adoption application on file and are interested in a different dog than the one you initially applied for.

No, we do ask that all members of the family including any dogs in the home attend a meet and greet to ensure the best possible fit for everyone.

Generally we will only adopt puppies under 6 months or dogs that we know have successfully lived with children to families with children under age 5. Our goal is always dog bite prevention to the best of our ability between children and dogs.

On average a dog’s stay here is 1 - 4 weeks in a loving foster home.

Your contract states that you will always return the dog to us. If at all possible, we do try to help troubleshoot the issues you're having before a return is finalized. We work with several dog trainers that we can connect you with for troubleshooting any issues if you're willing to try that first. If you truly decide the dog needs to be returned, please send us an email or give us a call and we will schedule a time to return your dog as soon as possible. We are foster based so sometimes we do need a little time to coordinate a foster home that the dog can be returned to.