Animal Welfare Professionals

Hi,
If you conduct onsite meet and greets with potential adopters and their dog with a dog they are interested in adopting, do you have them sign a waiver?  If so, could you please share a copy of your waiver with me? 

Also, from an open adoption concept, do you ever require a meet and greet between dogs? Or conduct them not onsite? 

Any and all information about dog-dog meet and greets would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!
#AdoptionsandAdoptionPrograms
#Behavior,TrainingandEnrichment

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Stephanie Cohen
Humane Society of Pinellas
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Hello Stephanie,

We didn't have a waiver for meet and greets but there was always 1 or 2 staff members in the meet and greet. I always thought that  meet and greets in a less stressful environment would be ideal even if just going for a walk together on or off property. It is hard because the potential adopter sometimes  misjudges their dog's comfort level and the shelter can be stressful for the adopters resident dog so you may not get an accurate assessment of either dog's behavior towards each other.

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Christine D. Calder DVM
Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Behaviorists
Calder Veterinary Behavior Services
www.caldervbs.com

Veterinary Behaviorist
Behavior Specialist, MPF
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Hi Stephanie!
Here’s a link to the meet and greet waiver that is used at Austin Pets Alive. Several years ago, APA moved to an off leash meet and greet system- similar to playgroup where resident dog and shelter dog are introduced in a play yard setting with a catch pen/fence greeting first and without the tension/restriction of a leash. We found many dogs that display leash reactivity are actually quite social, but the leash intros were preventing many adoption pairings that could have actually been successful. I would preface that an organization experienced with running playgroups daily and someone experienced with off leash intros would be important before moving to this.
Not all dogs require a meet and greet for us- if a dog has a history of not always getting along with dogs in the past or previous incidents, depending on the dog we may strongly recommend/require it. However, not for every dog because that can be a barrier and often we found it is more effective/efficient to set the adopter up for success with slow intro guidance and resources.

Here’s a link to the m&g waiver as well as dog-dog intro - hope that helps!

https://americanpetsalive.org/resources/off-leash-meet-and-greet-release

https://americanpetsalive.org/resources/introducing-a-new-dog-to-your-dog



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Clare Callison

American Pets Alive
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