Tara's House Animal Rescue, Inc.

Columbia, Maryland

Tara's House is a 'virtual' animal rescue, meaning we do not have a brick and mortar shelter available for public visitation, or that houses our dogs. Instead, we are a network of volunteers who allow our rescued dogs to live with us in foster care until they are adopted. We harness the full power of the Internet to adopt dogs by using email for correspondences (we do not accept phone calls or return general inquiry phone calls), and accept only online adoption applications. We do, however, hold monthly adoption shows, the location of which is advertised in our calendar and upcoming events page. Operating as a virtual shelter allows us to run lean operations and put a higher percentage of adoption fees and received donations toward the care of the dogs we pull from high-kill shelters.

What does this mean for you? Well, it means we will primarily correspond with you via emails to answer your questions and take you through the adoption process. You will need to submit your Adoption Application online. Please do not expect or request phone calls for general inquiries or questions; we will call applications accepted by our Adoption Committee for a telephone interview, but all other communications will be email-based. We thank you for understanding our operations and helping us to run a lean organization so we can save more dogs and make them available for adoption in the Washington, DC Metro Area.

If you are uncertain what breed or mix of dog would be best for your family just ask us for assistance. We can assist you in selecting the right pet for you and your family. Additionally, we are also available to assist you after adoption if any issues or problems (i.e. training, house-breaking, etc) you may have during the adjustment period. Please note, that during our application process, you will be required to commit to a 30-day minimal adjustment period. Please send these inquiries to info@tarashouse.net.

Complete your adoption application online at www.tarashouse.net/adoptionapplication.html by filling in all required information, including your veterinarian information, landlord, etc. We know our application may seem lengthy, but our questions are necessary to evaluate you as a candidate for a Tara's House dog and match you with a dog that would be the best fit -- for both you and our pet! If you do not currently have a vet, please indicate the vet you intend to use for your new dog. When all questions are answered, click submit to send to our Adoption Committee.

2) Initial Telephone Interview.
Within 3 - 5 days after online submittal of your application a Tara's House representative will conduct your initial interview by telephone if our Adoption Committee decides to pursue your application. If your adoption application was submitted in person during a monthly adoption show, we will review your application and conduct the initial interview in person on the spot.
If you do not hear from a Tara's House representative within 5 days after submission, please assume we are not going to pursue your application. We apologize in advance for not being able to contact every applicant we do move through our process due to the number of applications we receive and are processing at any one time.

3) Reference Check.
A Tara's House representative will call all references, especially your vet and landlord (if applicable), if we wish to proceed with your application after the initial review.

4) The Home Visit.
If Tara's House finds all references give positive feedback and every other requirement has been met to this phase of our process, one of our Adoption Committee members will contact you to arrange a brief home visit. We will ask you to demonstrate a day in the life of your potential adopted dog and evaluate the environment and conditions for the dog.

5) Adoption Approval.
After the home visit, our Adoption Committee convenes - usually virtually - to discuss your application and lessons learned as we worked through each phase of our process. From this collaborative review, our Adoption Committee will make the final decision on your application and inform you of their decision in short order.
We do not release any information collected from references, the home visit, or any other source used to make our decision on applicants.
If you are approved to adopt a Tara's House dog, you must sign and submit to Tara's House our legally binding adoption contract along with our adoption donation, as well as pick your new dog from the applicable foster home within three days following our notification that you have been approved, unless we have notified you that other arrangements to pick up the dog will be made. Our adoption fees are as follows:

$270 for dogs 4 - 6 months old;
$250 for dogs 6 months and older;
$270 for purebred dogs; and
$50 for kittens and cats.
Approved adopters for senior dogs (8 years +) will receive a 20% discount off our adoption fee ($200).

We make a LIFETIME COMMITMENT to our Tara's House pets. We will accept pets adopted from Tara's House back at any time, if they are not human or dog aggressive -- even YEARS later if the adoption is no longer working out. Refund Policy: If for any reason you choose not to keep the pet you adopted, you must notify Tara's House immediately. If you notify Tara's House and return the pet within 7 days of adoption, you may receive a replacement certificate for a comparable pet (if deemed appropriate by the Board of Directors after review of the return), valid for 90 days from date of return. If a certificate is given it may be redeemed only by you and it is not transferable. Adoption fees are not refundable under any circumstances, but are tax deductible.