The CRLNE Surrender Process
The Collie Rescue League of New England incoming collie and re-homing process begins when a family contacts us to assist in the difficult decision to find a new home for their collie (or collies). If you choose to have your collie be considered to enter our system call us at 1-800-296-3265 We will ask you to download, fill out the application, and mail the forms in.
All collies entering our program are kept in private foster homes and are treated as one of the family. They will be cared for as if they are our own dogs, receiving much love and attention. The collie will receive veterinary care, training as needed, and be professionally groomed. Our foster families get very attached to their foster collie and care very much about their future happiness. Each placement is a very thoughtful and thorough placement. We don’t place on first come first serve but rather we are dedicated to matching each collie into a family and home environment where they will be most happy.
We carefully match your collie's needs with the environment and lifestyle of an adoptive home. The more information we have, the smoother the transition will be to the proper foster home, and eventually a well matched permanent home.
When your collie is adopted into a new family your personal information will remain confidential as will the adopters'.
CRLNE assists the new family with transition and is available to the adoptive family and collie for the collie’s lifetime. If for any reason an adoptive family must give up their collie CRLNE asks the family to contact us for the collie to return to the League.
CRLNE was formed out of love for the Collie; our volunteer driven organization is passionate about this special breed. Our goal is to help you keep your Collie's tail wagging.
There may be a wait until there's an opening in a foster home, as Collies in pounds and shelters are top priority. Please let us know if yours is an emergency situation.
Please call us today at 1-800-296-3265 or email us at collierescueleague@crlne.org if you’re considering have your collie come into the League.
Dog for Sale ??
by Stuart Hemming, Former CRLNE Director of Foster Care and Transportation
You have probably seen the posts on some form of social media (Craigslist, Uncle Henry's ...) where an individual is looking to re-home their dog for one reason or another. If you haven't, you might not want to look! It is not just Collies and Shelties but all breeds and it is not just re-homing but it is also puppies for sale.
Have you wondered exactly how much screening of the adopter/purchaser is performed? Is it just about the placement fee or do they really seek a great home for their dog? How good a matchmaker are they? Why are they re-homing the dog? Is it for medical reasons of the dog or the owner, behavioral issues of
the dog, maybe a death in the family, recognition that it just wasn't a good fit,
are they moving and Lassie can't go, is the dog stolen or is it that the current "owner" is trying to profit from the resale of the dog. Hopefully you gasped at the last few questions because it really does happen! People buy a dog inexpensively and then try to resell the dog for a profit. Hopefully, the seller is telling you the real reason for the re-homing.
Maybe a friend or neighbor has told you they plan to re-home their pet and you wonder- what do they know about placement? Do they have the ability to screen an adopter? Can they separate the good homes from the homes that might not be so good?? What is the health of the dog? Are they willing to provide a health certificate? What happens if the adoption doesn't work? Can the dog be returned? If the dog is returned what will happen to it? Will the seller be available to provide advice during the transition and afterwards? In the middle of the night you start to list the criteria they should be considering. Before long you are fully awake and wish you could fall back to sleep. These are just a sample of questions to consider!
I thought it might be beneficial for you to understand a little bit of what happens "behind the curtain" at CRLNE to paraphrase the Wizard of OZ. CRLNE - Collie Rescue League of New England and New York is the breed specific rescue I am associated with. Many reputable rescues operate in a very similar
manner. All our potential adopters have completed a thorough application that includes veterinary and personal reference check, a profile of the home (current and past pets, adults, children ...) and a dose of financial reality. If that information is validated then a phone screen is conducted and a home visit is
scheduled. How many Craigslist posters will do this??
On the flip side CRLNE is assessing the personality of the Collie to see what type of home will be best. Considerations include children, small animals, crates, household activity, reactions to sounds/moving vehicles, other dogs etc. In all we have four pages of questions we ask the foster home to help us figure out what makes this Collie tick! In conjunction with the intake document which is completed by the prior owner and conversations with the foster family we build a profile of each collie. The goal is to answer the question - What does this Collie need to flourish in their new home?
Another important consideration for the individual looking to re-home is do they have a contractual obligation to return the dog to the breeder? This is most often referred to as a "Breeder Contract". As CRLNE adopters are aware we have a provision in our adoption agreement that commits us and an adopter to the Collie for their lifetime. If anything changes in the adopters home the Collie can be
returned to us.
So, do you think you could re-home a Collie or Sheltie? If you are aware of someone attempting to take on this huge responsibility for a Collie in New England or New York you might want to refer them to CRLNE at 1-800-296-3465. CRLNE also has wonderful relationships with Long Island Sheltie Rescue,
Maine Sheltie Rescue, Twin Tiers Sheltie Rescue and many other collie rescues throughout the United States. Seriously, we have no less than 6 people involved in intake, applications, transporting, adoptions and fostering of each Collie. So you really do want to "pay attention to what's behind the curtain!" I
hope this information is helpful and informative.