Jerry's Rescues

Our Adoptable Pet List

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News

Due to recent events Jerry's Rescues is being forced to close down. Please consider all dogs on our available pet list as needing urgent placement! We have about 70 dogs that need to be placed by the end of May 2010...mostly big dogs.

On March 8, 2010, after working for the same company since October 1984, I was informed that my position had been eliminated...which actually is not the whole truth. It was eliminated in the US...and given to a person in China or India. After May 7, 2010, I will no longer receive a paycheck. This means that Jerry's Rescues cannot continue to function as my paycheck funded the rescue. I will be selling my home and moving...somewhere...don't know where yet, but I cannot afford to stay in my current home. We have been actively sending dogs (mostly small/medium size dogs) to other rescues since August 2009 due to a significant reduction in my salary, but have had very little response helping to place large dogs. We would greatly appreciate any help placing the big dogs, as the only other alternative is not one we would like to happen.

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We often receive applications for out of state adoptions. Although we are not opposed to out of state adoptions, we PREFER to adopt to homes that are within a 3 hour drive from Pulaski, TN. In the event the adopted animal needs to be returned to us, this will allow us to be able to drive the distance needed to pick up the animal. We have found through experience that it is EXTREMELY difficult to remove an animal from their adoptive home and have them returned to us when the animal is not within a reasonable driving distance from us. We MAY make exceptions if the perfect home is further away, especially if the person has successfully adopted from us previously or is known by us, or the pet is harder to place, such as senior and special needs pets. For those exceptions, transport can possibly be arranged through a volunteer network of transporters or via a ground pet transport company.
** We will NOT allow our rescue dogs to be shipped on commercial airlines. **
We do allow shipment on a private airplane.

***** A note regarding long distance adoptions *****

Remember YOU as the adopter are responsible for transporting the dog back to us should the adoption not work out. You are **REQUIRED** to return the dog to us per our contract, so ability to transport to return the pet to us is absolutely essential for a long distance adopter. We will assist with transport by meeting you part way, but, as stated in our contract, the cost of transport is the adopter's responsibility...and we WILL charge you for transport. DO NOT expect us to drive to meet you part way, then expect us to refund your adoption fee should we need to drive part way back to pick up the pet.

As a long distance adopter:

1) you **MUST** be prepared to work with any behavior problems encountered
2) you need to be committed to make this adoption work
3) you need to realize that the pet may exhibit different behavior in your home than what we have observed...there is NO guarantee that the pet will exhibit the same behavior we have observed while in our care

If you have any doubts as to whether you can make the above commitment and accept the possible consequences of a long distance adoption, then it is best not to apply to adopt a pet long distance.
Remember that we spend more time processing out of state adoptions and will need to make long distance phone calls or arrange transportation. If you have any doubts about adopting long distance after you have submitted an application to us, please tell us immediately so that we will not spend unnecessary time processing your application. Also remember to carefully consider how you will get your selected dog from us to you and be prepared to follow through to get it done.

Who We Are

We are NOT the Lewisburg or Pulaski local animal shelter! We are a self funded private all breed rescue. Please understand that we are a very small private organization that does not have the financial backing, facilities, or staff of much larger organizations...but that doesn't mean our animals aren't well cared for and are just as deserving of a home! We are the only organization that actively strives every week to help those animals at local shelters that are only funded to function as Animal or Rabies Control. There are many great dogs that never make it out of this shelter as we do have limitations! We try to save as many as we can, but we also know that we cannot save them all. When we are successful with adoptions, that means we can save more lives! We are often the ONLY hope the shelter dogs have to continue living. We generally do not accept dogs from private individuals. Our schedule is flexible so please email or give us a call if you are interested in meeting our animals.

Adopting a friend

The first step in adopting a pet from us is to Submit an Adoption Application if you are interested in a particular pet...or even if you are just wanting to find a particular pet. If you are filling out the adoption application to request a certain type of pet, we can keep your adoption application as a request and notify you if we rescue the sort of pet you are looking for.

We do home visits for most of our adoptions. Adoptions outside the state of Tennessee require a home visit. We MAY on occasion waive the home visit if the adopter can provide excellent vet and personal references.

All animals are up to date as can be on vaccinations. Puppies which come to us unvaccinated are kept at our rescue for at least 2 weeks before they are available for adoption to ensure they have not been infected with parvovirus or some other potentially lethal disease. If you find that the animal you have adopted is not for you, it is stated in our contract that you may return the animal within 2 weeks and either receive another animal or a refund of the adoption fee, as long as we determine that the animal has been given sufficient time to adjust to their new home. If we determine an adopter has not even allowed sufficient time for an animal to adjust to their new home but still desires to return the animal, we will only refund 50% of the adoption fee.
As stated in our contract, you are required to return the animal to us if you can no longer keep the animal, even years after the time of adoption. The adoption fee refund is only available within the 2 weeks following adoption, and ONLY if the animal is returned to us.

When you adopt an animal from us, you are giving us the chance to save another! We know we cannot save them all, there's just too many homeless pets. Please help us to save at least one more by adopting one of our wonderful animals...and PLEASE spay and neuter ALL your pets!

If you would like to adopt an animal that is old enough to be spayed/neutered but has not yet been spayed/neutered, they will be spayed/neutered before leaving our rescue - NO EXCEPTIONS! You may pay the adoption fee in advance, we will schedule an appointment with our veterinarian, then you may take your new pet home after it has been spayed/neutered. We know how many adopters like to have a very young puppy, but we have found from experience that it is much easier to house train an older puppy...so please consider an older puppy, you won't be sorry! Don't pass the adult and senior animals by either, they are very often very good, loving animals and we have found they also adapt very well to a new environment.

In order to be in compliance with Tennessee state law 44-17-503, we are required to collect a refundable deposit of no less than $25 from the adopter when any unsterilized animal is adopted to ensure that the animal is sterilized. We require a $100 deposit for any unsterilized animal. The deposit is refunded when the adopter furnishes veterinarian confirmation within 10 days of when the sterilization is required to be performed. Tennessee state law 44-17-502 states that the animal must be sterilized within 30 days of the adoption for animals over 6 months of age or within 30 days after the animal reaches 6 months of age. Only puppies deemed by our vet to be too young or too small to be altered are allowed to be adopted unaltered.

***** Our Adoption Fees *****

The adoption fee varies depending on the amount of care that is given to the animal. Most adoption fees range from $35 (lowest adoption fee is for unaltered puppies...but an additional $100 refundable deposit is required to adopt an unaltered puppy) to $100, possibly more if the animal has extraordinary medical expenses. The majority of our adoption fees are $90 for mixed breeds and $100 for purebreds. You will get complete medical records with each adopted animal. If the animal is old enough and we have had them long enough they will be sterilized prior to leaving us.

Our rescue expenses are entirely funded out of our pockets. Our adoption fees barely cover routine vetting for our dogs and if any extraordinary vetting is necessary then our adoption fee won't cover the vetting for that dog. If you think our adoption fees are too high, then you need to check with a vet to see what they would charge you for the same vetting that we do for our dogs. All dogs are wormed, vaccinated (as age appropriate), spayed/neutered, dental work done if necessary, and groomed if necessary. We could not continue to save dogs and would find it necessary to discontinue our rescue efforts if we did not charge an adoption fee that would cover routine vetting for most dogs. You may be able to go to a government funded shelter and pay a lower adoption fee, but they are able to charge lower fees because they do get government funding, while we do not. Some shelters will include vetting with that fee, while others do not include any vetting. Vetting is always done and always included with our adoption fee.

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We have a very reasonable adoption contract, and it is a legal document that will stand up in a court of law.

We do not use extreme temperament tests on our dogs. We live with our dogs and assess how they interact with us and the other dogs in a home environment on a daily basis. We give our dogs time to adjust to their new environment and really get to know our dogs.

Click on the banner below to find out more about ShelterCare pet insurance!

Our Location

We are located 3 miles from the Pulaski town square. Our dogs are housed at our private residence so we do not have regular hours.

All visits are by appointment only.

All persons interested in adopting one of our dogs must complete an adoption application and be approved before visiting.

Jerry's Rescues
Pulaski TN 38478
Phone:
931-637-0472

We prefer email!

Click on the image below to contact us by email!



Click here to see our adoption contract

Submit an Adoption Application

Click here for a list of pets at this shelter

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