1. Complete and submit an online Adoption Application giving us as much information as possible.
2. Complete a telephone interview followed by a home visit or Skype call so we can see your home, your other animals, and get any questions cleared up. Sometimes we do this Skype call so you can see the dog you want to adopt in action and meet its rescuer. In many cases we can combine the interview, home visit/Skype call into one session.
3. Once approved, you will be asked to pay an adoption fee. which is $300 USD, or if you live here in Mexico $1500 pesos.
4. We arrange transport for your dog and you will pay that fee which generally runs between $100 and $250 USD for west coast transports. Read more about your dog’s journey from La Paz to you and how that is done below under “How does my adopted dog get from La Paz, BCS, Mexico to me?”
5. You agree to the Adoption Agreement and send that back to us.
6. You get your dog and begin a wonderful adventure together!
7. We hope you will send us photos and updates for our Happy Tails page!

Complete an adoption application and tell us as much as possible about yourself, your home, other pets in the home, your environment, how long will the dog be alone during the day, etc. and one of our adoption coordinators will help you ensure your new dog and you are a good match. You are not alone in this process and after you have received your dog, we will continue to support you as your dog settles in and becomes a part of your family.

Complete an adoption application with as much information about your particular criteria in a dog as possible. What kind of home will the dog live in, how long will it be alone during the day, are you looking for a calm, lap dog or one that is more active for jogging or hiking with you, one that gets along with cats, is great with small children? Our adoption coordinators will help you evaluate the dogs available and which one might be the right fit for you and your family.

Our dogs are primarily rescued from the streets or outlying area around La Paz. To learn as much as possible about their medical condition, they are given a physical exam including blood tests for diseases common to this area. Some are given other tests depending on their age, where they were found, and any symptoms they displayed. They are treated and this is documented in their veterinary record, along with all vaccines, deworming, and preventative care. This record is provided to adopters prior to the dog being transported. You can read more about our veterinary protocols in the adopters handbook here.

Our adoption coordinators will help you understand how to prepare your home and how to help your dog adapt. We have a document called Pet’s first 30 days that you should read to help you understand how a dog transitions when being moved from one home or environment to another. In addition, we have an online community of adopters, volunteers, and fosters (including the person who fostered your adopted dog) that share information, updates, medical information, results of DNA tests, photos, etc. Adopters from the same area share trainers they found and like, great pet stores, vets, and even arrange play dates with other adopters of Baja Dogs. It is fun to see dogs that knew each other in La Paz have a chance to play together again. Our goal is to continue to support you and your adopted dog for the rest of the dog’s life.

We have many ways of getting dogs transported and each of these methods has many variations depending on the time of year, size and weight of the dog + kennel it travels in, destination city, whether the flight has any connections and the layover time, availability of volunteers, etc. Here are some of the more common methods:

1. Someone traveling to the same airport that your dog would fly into agrees to be the “pet escort”. These pet escorts generally fly out of Cabo International Airport which is about a 3-hour, one-way drive from La Paz.
2. Experienced volunteers drive the dogs up the Baja (about 1,000 miles) to the LA area where they are fostered overnight and flown out of LAX. A volunteer from either the destination airport or LA flies with the dogs. For the human, we buy a round trip ticket while the dogs only need one-way. This is only cost effective when there are 4 to 7 dogs going to the same city and all adopters can meet their dog at the destination airport for the same flight.
3. Same as #2 except flying dogs out of San Diego. We do not have a volunteer network equal to that in LA so the volunteers driving, must also meet the plane with the pet escort and help check the dogs in the same day as they cross the Mexican/US border as there are no overnight accommodations in San Diego that allow for 4-7 dogs.
4. We fly dogs from the local La Paz airport to the Tijuana (MX) airport just south of the border. The pet escort takes the dogs across the border via the pedestrian entry where the dogs are picked up, fostered overnight, and then flown out. The pedestrian border entry is very difficult as there are no carts available and the pet escort needs to be able to manage all of the kennels on foot for about ½ mile. With this method we may limit the number or size of the dogs + kennel due to this part of the journey.

Municipal shelters receive funding from the government, generally through your tax dollars. As a non-profit rescue organization, we do not receive this type of assistance. Our average cost per dog is $454 USD without including any transport fees. We make up for the shortfall between the adoption fees we collect and our actual cost with crowdfunding campaigns, fundraiser events, private donors, and sales from our store.

An advantage you have when you adopt from us is that we have a lot of information on each of our dogs because they are in foster homes. We can tell you which are fostered with cats, small children, other dogs, etc. Instead of being in a shelter, these dogs learn to be good family pets prior to adoption.