The other day I celebrated 3 years of my dog adoption business, Pawdoption Guide. I’m happy to see how far I’ve come in this business and this very podcast is one of my favourite things I’ve created to date. I really appreciate you being here, week after week!

Over these past 3 years I have talked with and helped a lot of dog adopters and without fail I find that there’s one part of the dog adoption process that always trips people up and that is the dog adoption application.

Why does the dog adoption application do this to people?

One, they don’t expect this to be the very beginning of the process, they expect to get some feedback on the dog or more information before putting in this effort. Many people viewing dog adoption profiles aren’t necessarily sure about the dog at this point so it can be jarring to think of expending much time or effort to just find out a bit more information.

Two, they are overwhelmed by the difficulty of the application itself. Dog adoption application questions can be hard to answer, they can be lengthy and preparation is likely required.

Lastly, most people don’t enjoy interviews and the dog adoption application can sometimes feel like an interview on paper. Most people are shocked at some of the more complex questions on the application and suddenly feel frustrated and offended by the barrier the application can be to dog adoption. It feels a bit like a test and so I do find it brings out a lot of insecurities in adopters and it’s very easy to just give up at this point and say “Hey, I don’t need this, I’ll just go get a dog from that farm, the next town over.”

How you can overcome this hurdle in the dog adoption process:

Use social media to your advantage

Prepare for the applications before you start: get your references and vet info ready, make sure your pets are up to date on vaccines and annuals (this matters!) and use my Are You Ready to Get a Dog Freebie or get my Application Survival Kit to give you the full picture of how to make your application excel.

Try to embrace this part of the process: prepare so you can get good at it, don’t be afraid to apply to more than one dog at a time, save your answers to your application on a Google Doc or even screenshot your answers so that you can reuse responses for future applications with the same questions.

Submit general applications by finding dog rescues within your search radius that take general applications. This process often allows you to apply once and if approved, the dog rescue wwill keep you on file or will take you on as an approved adopter and give you first dibs for compatible dogs.

Lastly, get all the help you could need within the Pawdoption Guide Membership Experience, Not only do you get the Application Survival Kit (for half the price I might add) but you also get my Southern Ontario Dog Rescue Spreadsheet which will help you immensely in finding a compatible rescue dog. On top of this there’s opportunities to ask questions during biweekly Q&A calls and within the private community along with a host of other great dog adoption and integration resources.

LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:

Simple prep for the dog adoption application: Are You Ready to Get a Dog Checklist Freebie

www.pawdoptionguide.com/areyoureadytogetadogchecklist

Your tool to conquer applications and stand out amongst the crowd: Application Survival Kit

www.pawdoptionguide.com/applicationsurvivalkit

Get assistance with all things dog adoption (start to finish - including puppy training and integration training) here: Pawdoption Guide Membership Experience

www.pawdoptionguide.com/pgme