An ordinary person should know at least some things about adoption and its pros and cons if he or she is thinking of purchasing/getting a new puppy.

First of all the adoption process is quite a long one because of the birocracy and all the paper work implied. Generally speaking, the dog shelters ask and require information when somebody comes for a dog because the processes going on in a rescue center are quite impressing and people there try to make as many puppies happy by finding them a secure family where to live in.

A dog shelter goes through several steps before putting the dogs/puppies out for leaving them into foster. So as to start, the dog is taken from the street and, if there's no information about it's health record, it is taken to a veterinarian to be checked up of diseases and parasites, to be taken up to date on injections and tests for worms. If not already done, the dog will be spayed or neutered as soon as medically possible and usually microchipped.

The next step is to verify the dog, then find a foster caring family while the placement process and papers are begun. Shelters try to find out places where the dog keeps on to being taken care and loved. They screen all possible owners to ensure the dogs will have loving homes. Personality of the dog is matched to the ones of possible owners from a need and as make    an effort to acquire a permanent home and to predict returns. However, with all this fuss and striving, sometimes an adoption just does not turn out to be good. In these cases, the shelters should have a state in the adoption contract that the dog must be taken back there. It's also good to know that rescue-adoption is a safe mode to purchase a healthy dog. When going to a pet shop, you never know where the puppy comes from, its condition and health.

If taking into consideration the adoption of a dog from a shelter, one should be prepared of waiting, too.  Fostering is a great way to get to know a breed of dog before you adopt. It is also a very rewarding experience and helps a rescue effort greatly.

There's also a question raising out of the fee asked by the shelter. There are people complaining it's too much and that dogs should be bought cheaper. But think a little that rescuers managed to care and bring to a better life a pet which was left on the streets by its rightful master. A rescuer did all the medical analyses and invested time, money and affection to turn a frightened, hungry and terrorised dog into a normal one. Without the fee you pay for purchasing a healthy animal, that precise rescue shelter wouldn't probably even exist and a lot more dogs would die starving or killed by owners for their own benefit.Rescuers care enough to have researched and know what really happens to those "free to a good home" pets - the neglect, abuse and abandonment that these animals, deemed of no value, will suffer.Rescuers lose a lot of energy in their so called “war” to close down the puppy mills and back yard breeders, the places that bring grief, and use animals as objects, that harass the animals and the uninformed and unsuspecting peoples that love and lose their beloved pets because of  that particluar greed and yearn of more and more money.

And last but not least, there are the rescue poliecies which each family taking a puppy home should know about. The Adoptive Family has to telephone the adoption coordinator or the foster care person two days after the date of the adoption, and one more time after a whole week, to let the shelter find out how things are going with their new family member.

Remember that shelters are available for questions, problems, or comments for as long as the adoptive family needs. That's why they have proper trained persons to stay and talk to you. On the other hand, shelters reserve the right to do visits at the new home of the puppy at any time.

For the first 2-3 weeks after adoption the dog may have potty accidents, be depressed, withdrawn, stressed or calmer than "normal." Rehoming is hard for all dogs, each dog can manage stress in an own way so the person who took care of him at the shelter is always welcomed for a visit as much as the dog usually recognize him.