Puppies & their adoption donation

All TLC puppies have a $400 tax deductible adoption donation - they will be up-to-date on their shots, microchipped and if over 4 months old, have their rabies shot and licensed for the County of Ventura.  All puppies are either spayed or neutered prior to adoption - no exceptions.

Why $400?

Simply put, puppy adoption finance the hundreds (thousands) of dollars we invest into the other TLC adult dogs (many over the age of five).  So when you adopt a TLC puppy, you are in essence saving two or more dogs - your new puppy and another(s) in need of medical treatment.

Adoption donations are not 'purchase prices'... we are not in rescue to make money but to save dogs' lives in the shelters.  It is not unusual to have $500 or more in medical costs to get an adult healthy, and we've had some $1,500 to $4,500+ vet bills on some dogs we have pulled out of shelters and saved from dying.

Puppies are a LOT of work

Conservatively speaking, shelter staff believe at least 50% of their current adult dogs share these common traits:

         1) The mindset of "I don't want someone else's headaches... I want a puppy so I can start fresh without bad habits"

         2) The dog was gotten as a puppy but the owner did not (or could not) properly house-train, causing them to be dumped at a shelter when the frustration of a dog peeing and pooping in the house became too much.

         3) Cute as a puppy, it grew too big (too noisy, too aggressive) and no longer cute (or the owner no longer had the time to spend), they relinquished the puppy - now an adult dog - to the shelter system.

         4) The puppy was an impulse decision and not thought-out ahead of time.

The first year

The first year of any puppy's life is the most energy-draining, expensive (despite all of the things we get done for any TLC puppy) and labor intensive time of their (and your) entire life.   It is not uncommon to require months to potty train a puppy.  The items destroyed as they cut their new teeth can mount up quickly.  Once the novelty wears off, it is no longer fun to get up at 4AM to let them out when they need to go potty.  Our lives become too busy for daily walks, unexpected pregnancies and job changes occur, etc.

Why is the adoption donation nonrefundable?

At TLC, we make it a practice to foster puppies to pay for our true love of rescue - the older dogs no one else wants.  We know they are probably already potty trained, might have a few bad habits easily corrected, but their marketability and percentage of getting out of a shelter alive are minimal.  We do our absolute best to pull one senior dog for every four dogs we save from the shelters.  As soon as we adopt one dog, we head back into the shelters to pull another one... and usually funding the bailout of that dog with your adoption donation.

We are a rescue and seldom does an adoption donation cover the expenses of the average dog in our rescue.  Our ability to save dogs from dying is funded more by private donations made by generous citizens than from adoption donations.  We, unlike shelters, are not funded by budgets and taxpayer dollars.

Anyone can love and adopt a puppy, but it takes very special people to love and adopt an adult or senior dog... However, if the $400 adoption donation for a TLC puppy is too much for your pocketbook ~~~ AND you are not interested in adopting a TLC adult dog which has a lower adoption donation ~~~ there are THOUSANDS of unwanted dogs in our local shelters that desperately need a home (and will be $50-$100 less, depending if the microchip activation and registration is paid for by the source, the dog has their rabies and license, etc.).   

You, as a taxpayer, have already partially funded the care, maintenance and housing of the MANY shelter dogs available for adoption in our local shelters simply by paying taxes! 

PLEASE take the time and compassion to adopt one!