Anyone who adopts may also become a foster or volunteer and vice versa. Therefore, our application process and paperwork is the same whether you are applying to foster, volunteer and/or adopt.

Once we receive this completed form, it will be assigned to an application processor/counselor, usually within 48 hours. If you do not hear from a processor within this timeframe, please email applications@shihtzu-rescue.com.

Adoption Application Process – Four Step Checklist

Step 1 – Application

PLEASE EMAIL LSSTLARAPPS@shihtzu-rescue.com for an application.

You must be 21 years old to apply and head of your own household.

The person applying must be the person who will own and care for the dog.

You cannot apply for someone else or for a dog to give as a gift.

Step 2 – Veterinary Records

If you have never owned a pet you may skip this step.

Ask your veterinarian to email at least the last two years of the veterinary records for

your current and past pet(s).

Veterinarians should still have records on file for several years back for any past pets.

The EMAIL address is:  lsstlarapps@shihtzu-rescue.com

Step 3 – References

You must have three (3) references on the application form.

Please be CERTAIN to include their email addresses.  Our application processor will contact the references via email.

Only one can be a relative.

Step 4 – Home Visit

Once we have received and reviewed your first three steps (completed application, vet

records, and three completed reference questionnaires) we will schedule a time for one of

our volunteers to come to your home for an interview.

During this home visit our volunteer will look around your house/apartment and yard for

any potential hazards (such as poisonous house plants, gaps in fences, etc.) that may

need to be corrected before you receive your new family member.

We reserve the right to deny any adoption for any reason.

POLICIES AND OTHER INFORMATION

Most of the dogs we get in come from shelters. Therefore, we rarely get in a dog that we would feel comfortable placing in a home

with small children. Most of our dogs require a home with children no younger than eight. We do not adopt to families with

children under eight years of age unless there is already an adult (older than six years old) Lhasa Apso or Shih Tzu in the family and we

can securely determine that the children in the household have been taught to respect pets.

We are not looking to “get rid” of our dogs. We are looking for the BEST possible home for each and every one of them. Therefore,

we do reserve the right to refuse to adopt a dog to any family for any reason.

OUT OF STATE ADOPTIONS

We do adopt to certain people out of state. We may ask that you come to Texas to meet and pick up your dog. We believe you, too, want

to be certain that this is the dog for you, so we ask that you arrange to stay a day or so getting to know your new family member

before you travel back home. Only under certain circumstances will we ship a dog and, of course, it will be at the adopter’s

expense. The typical shipping fee is $350.

If you decide that you can’t keep the dog, you are responsible for getting him or her back to us as well.

If you live in another area of the country, but could not find a dog in your area, check our NATIONAL Shih Tzu Rescue website,

www.usshihtzurescue.com. You can fill out an application there and the national coordinator will forward your application to the

representative nearest you.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

We do not adopt to households with un-spayed or un-neutered pets unless the pet is being shown for conformation or there is a

verifiable medical reason that it is not altered.

The average life span for a Shih Tzu can easily be 15-16 years. We try to match the life span of the dog to a family. Understand that

we do not want these little guys to be homeless again in just a few years.

Adopting a new family member should involve a well-thought-out and deliberate process. We purposely take our time in finding

just the right home for our dogs. This is not an impulse “purchase.”

We ask for lots of information, including reference statements from at least three good friends/relatives and your veterinarian. If

you are not willing to gather this information to help us make a decision, please do not apply with us. We designed the application

to be very thorough, and our process for approving an applicant is just as stringent.

If you are applying to adopt a puppy in most cases, we will require that you have another small breed dog of

a similar age. Shih Tzus and Lhasa Apsos like companionship and need a friend with whom to play.