Midwest Birddog Rescue

Additional adoption info

Illinois Birddog Rescue, Inc. requires all of our dogs to be placed first and foremost as pets. We will place dogs into hunting homes, but they must live indoors as part of the family. Only dogs that have been tested on upland birds and have had a blank gun fired over them will be considered for hunting/pet homes. The reason for this is that many of our rescues have suffered from terrible abuse by old school training methods. It takes months of care and rehab to help a once formerly abused dog overcome their past. We also require fenced in yards for all of our dogs and puppies (Traditional or Invisible)and non-smoking homes. BOTH OF THESE REQUIREMENTS ARE NOT NEGOTIABLE.

All of our foster homes give the rescue dogs lots of TLC. While in foster care our dogs will be:

Socialized with other dogs, people, and children.
Cat tested if possible.
Crate trained and housebroken.
We take great pride in making sure all of our rescue dogs are healthy before being adopted. All of our rescues will have been:
Tested for heartworm disease and treated if necessary (10% of our incoming dogs need treatment at a cost of $400 per dog).
Serology tick borne illness tested for Lyme disease, Ehrlichia, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Anaplasma if the test is available and treatment if the dog has any positive antibdies present. This important step in our pre-adoption vetting sets Illinois Birddog Rescue apart from the other Pointer/Setter/Mixed breed rescues in the Midwest. It typically costs IBR- $500 to $1,000 to help one of our infected dogs to get better because we understand that if not caught early, the consequences of untreated Lyme disease, Ehrlichia and most importantly Rocky Mountain spotted fever (which can only be diagnosed by a $120 Serology test yet is the most common illness we are treating for) will eventually cause these dogs pain and suffering, and in many cases kidney failure, cancer and death. We are hopeful that because we are testing our dogs and puppies, our adopters will have a lifetime of happiness with their adopted pet and not be blindsided with a rush to the doggie Emergency room (which I hear about all too often from chatting with potential adopters that have lost their pets) when their dog begins to show symptoms later in life, when it is almost too late to treat. All of us in Pointer/Setter Rescue are getting our dogs and puppies from the same shelters across the Midwest and United States. The only reason IBR treats so many infected dogs and puppies is because we know these dogs are the most at risk as many were hunted in tick infested areas, were not protected by flea and tick preventative and our incoming percentage of infected dogs is over 80%. If you are considering adopting from another rescue--do your homework and make sure that a Serology test IDEXX 371 or Antech SA330 has been done. Please read our Ticked Off!
Fecal tested for intestinal parasites including giardia and coccidia and treated if necessary.
Complete Blood Count,(CBC) and chemisty for our senior or high risk dogs. This includes heartworm positive dogs or dogs with high antibody levels for tick borne illnesses. Extra blood work helps us determine the severity of the dog's illness.
Spayed or neutered once the pet is deemed healthy enough.
Vaccinated for parvo/distemper, (older dogs we may do parvo/distemper titers only) and vaccinated for rabies.
Examined by a vetting professional, and
microchipped.
We ask for a $325 non-negotiable adoption fee for our adult dogs and $375 for all dogs less than one year of age. On average our cost to fully vet one of our dogs or puppies is approximately $400-$500, depending on the amount of neglect they have experienced. Only through generous donations and fundraising can we keep the level of our vetting protocals above the national average. We want our adopters to have their pets for a very long time and that is why we go above and beyond what a typical rescue would do to make sure our pets are healthy prior to adoption.
When adopting one of our rescues, we want to make sure both you and the dog will be a good match. Here's how our procedure works:

Complete and submit the online adoption application
Your application will be reviewed by all board members and the foster care provider.
You will receive a call for a phone interview
If approved, we will then arrange for you to speak at length with the foster care provider and meet the dog you are interested in.
A home check will be done to assure the safety of the rescue dog in its new home environment. Because of the intense hunting instincts these dogs posess, we require their forever homes to have safe fenced in yards.
Because we want to make sure our dogs live long healthy, happy lives, we will only place our dogs into non-smoking homes.
At the time of adoption, the fee will be collected and an adoption contract signed.
In the weeks following the adoption a member of our group will contact you and do a follow-up obedience or dietary home visit, if needed. We want to make sure you and your new family member are completely happy and healthy!