We are no longer adopting outside the state of Wisconsin in most cases. This is due to challenges with home visits, Certificates of Veterinary Inspection, and arranging the return of dogs when an adoption is unsuccessful. We will only consider exceptions for prior adopters, and if a dog has special needs that have made finding a suitable home challenging. In the latter case, we will note in the dog's bio that we will accept applications from neighboring states, and we will require applicants to have had experience with similar special needs. You would need to make arrangements to get the dog from their foster families home.

We receive many applications and inquiries and normally cannot individually contact applicants about newly available dogs. We ask that you keep an eye on our Petfinder and Facebook pages, and then send an email to wbtradoption@gmail.com when there is a dog you are interested in, asking us to consider your application for that specific dog.

Meetings do not take place until late in the adoption process, after we have received your application, determine it is potentially a good fit, checked references, had the foster home review applications, and have done a home visit. Every dog is in a foster home and we ask foster homes to arrange meetings once we are fairly certain it is likely to lead to adoption.

We will acknowledge receipt of your application via email within three days. If you have not applied for a specific dog, we will ask you to let us know when you see one you are interested in and email us. If you have applied for a specific dog, we will try to provide some information on our application review timeline, and let you know if we have additional questions about your application. If you do not receive any response within three days, please email wbtradoption@gmail.com to make sure we have received the application.

After that initial reply, it often takes up to two weeks to work through the adoption process and make decisions. We try to let everyone know once a decision has been made; however, it is fine to check in after a week or two if you haven’t heard anything, as we do have a lot of emails to keep track of and occasionally miss an applicant when notifying those who were not selected to adopt a particular dog.

We do not have puppies in our rescue very often, but it does happen occasionally. Most of the Boston Terriers who need our help are adult dogs.

We do consider applications from families with young children when a dog can appropriately be placed in a home with young children. If we have said a dog needs a home without young children, it is based on information from the home that surrendered the dog, and/or our observations of the dog’s behavior in its foster home. We are also cautious about placing dogs who are not good with children in homes that expect to have children in the future, as we generally cannot know to what extent the dog's behavior around children will improve with time, and we are looking for the forever home for each dog.

We require that all other pets in the home be spayed or neutered and up to date on appropriate vaccinations unless there is a medical reason they cannot receive vaccination updates, and we will verify this information with your veterinarian. Other requirements are usually specific to the particular dog.

There are certain situations in which we will often have more follow-up questions to determine if a home may be appropriate for a given dog. For example, we need to know the circumstances if you have previously surrendered a pet to a shelter or rescue, and often have concerns if there are other dogs who do not live inside with the family. Such situations are dealt with on a case by case basis, so they are not necessarily exclusions from adopting, but please do not be surprised or offended when we have additional questions. We must ensure all applicants we consider are willing and able to take the best possible care of any dog they might adopt from our organization.

A fully fenced yard is required in certain situations, such as dogs that are flight risks, or sometimes dogs who have little to no leash training and cannot reliably potty and exercise on leash. If a dog's information says that a fenced yard is preferred, that usually means that the dog is used to having a fenced yard available and that we will prioritize applicants who have a fenced yard, but we will still consider applicants who are otherwise a good fit and are committed to giving the dog sufficient exercise on leash.

We cannot offer any particular timeline for adoption because it always depends both on what dogs are in need of homes and on what other applications we receive. We are always aiming to find the best home for a particular dog, not to find a dog for a particular applicant. In general, a willingness to adopt within a wider age range and to work on more training issues can make it easier to find a match, but we still cannot promise you will be matched within a given timeframe.