Adopting at
Shultz's Guest House
Ready to find the dog of your dreams? Our goal is to make this a wonderful experience for you and help our dogs find loving homes. We are excited to work with you in finding the right fit for your family.
Unlike other shelters, we require you to be an approved adopter with a scheduled meet and greet in order to come on-site. We do not allow drop-in visits. We are fortunate to have access to an amazing facility, but we are located on private property and it’s our responsibility to be respectful to the owners.
Please be aware that if you apply for a dog, they may have already found their forever home by the time of your scheduled meet and greet. We operate on a first-come, first-served basis and do not hold dogs. All applications are processed in the order they are received. Thank you for your understanding.
We highly encourage that you learn about our adoption process below prior to completing an application to ensure a smooth process for everyone.
Please Note: On occasion, our replies to your application may go to your spam folder. Please add adopt@sghrescue.org to your “Safe Senders” list and be sure to check your spam folder if you do not hear back from us within 48 hours*.
During certain times when we have an unprecedented volume of applicants, we ask that you please be patient as our response times may exceed our normal 48 hours.
Read Our Guidelines
We know you're excited to bring a new puppy into your lives, but we encourage you to read through our adoption guidelines prior to submitting an application.
Learn more about what to know before adopting below.
Fill Out An Application
The more detail, the better! By getting to know you, we can better work with you to find the right fit for your family.
We encourage you to select a few of our available dogs to meet when submitting your application. Photos only do so much, and you never know who you might fall in love with!
Wait to Hear From Us!
Give us up to 48 hours* to review your application, and check-in with your vet and references. Every family situation is different, as is every dog.
Our goal is to ensure that the dog you want fits your lifestyle so they land in the right home, for both your benefit and theirs.
Schedule a Meet & Greet
As we do not allow drop-ins, we'll work with you to schedule a private appointment to come on site and meet the right fit.
We require everyone in the household to be on-site for the meet and greet, including resident dogs, so we can be certain all family members are on board with the decision.
What to Know Before Applying
Adoption Guidelines
We may ask for employer contacts if we feel that verification of Work from Home (WFH) status or pet friendly work place details are needed.
If you rent your current residence, we will require verbal approval from your landlord and understand if there are any breed restrictions.
Children in the home must be at least five (5) years of age in order to qualify for adoption.
We will require your vet to confirm that all cats/dogs in the home are up-to-date on all vaccines and routine care.
Existing pets in the home must be spayed or neutered before we will consider adoption.
Our adoption coordinators will guide you in the decision making process if we feel the dog you are interested in is not the right fit.
Adoption Fees
Owning a dog can be expensive. We try to provide affordable adoption fees, but we ask that you consider all of the costs (seen and unforeseen) prior to adopting.
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$250 for Senior Dogs (Over 7 Years Old)
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$550 for Puppies
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$500 for Dogs Over 6 months who have been altered prior to SGH
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$600 for dogs altered while at SGH
Our adoption fee barely covers the cost of a young healthy dog, let alone the cost of saving those who need more medical care or training.
Fees from the younger, more adoptable dogs help offset the cost of caring for the others. In any given year, our adoption fees only cover approximately 80% of our program costs.
Our adoption fees include:
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Vaccinations Costs – Distemper, Bordetella (Rabies if applicable)
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De-worming
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Fecal Testing
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Flea & Tick Preventatives
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Veterinary Exams
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Other Illnesses/Treatment
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Health Certificates (TN and MA)
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Transport from Tennessee to MA
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Food
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Daily Care
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Shelter Facilities/Operation
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Non-essentials (i.e. toys, treats, beds)
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Spay/Neuter Procedures for dogs above age of 6 months*
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Additional expenses may include, medical treatments and procedures, training programs, and more.
*For dogs less than 6 months of age who have yet to be spayed or neutered (due to being too young), adopters will be required to sign an agreement and put down a $50 deposit confirming that when the dog reaches 6 months of age they will be altered per state regulations.
We are a privately owned grassroots 501c3 organization. The majority of our funding comes from donations and adoption fees. Many of the dogs we take in have medical needs that exceed the costs of their adoption fee. We are always very grateful for any additional donation you can provide to help us continue our rescue work and support the pups who are in need.