Our adoption process begins with an ONLINE ADOPTION APPLICATION.

We are all volunteers and work full time jobs so quite often you will not be able to reach someone instantly via phone or email.

We respond first to people whom have applications in as we are better equipped to answer questions and make recommendations of dogs that might be a good match when we have the application in hand and know a bit more about your home, your work schedule and your lifestyle.

If you email us or call us without doing an application, please understand that it is very difficult for us to make dog recommendations for you if we do not have your application. We really appreciate your patience with our adoption process and for understanding why it is so important to submit an application first.

Many people don't want to spend the time to fill out an application unless they know for sure they will be able to adopt a dog. We understand our application is lengthy - this is the basis from which we begin to try to "match make" a dog to you, as well as you to a dog.

However, please consider that seven days a week, we are spending hours upon hours of our own time (we don't get paid), getting these dogs from shelters, running them back and forth to vet appointments, caring for them on a daily basis at the boarding facility, washing their bedding, getting their food (some require weight loss diets) and medicine and supplements, cleaning their ears, bathing them or taking them to the groomer, exercising them, sometimes going to dog training appointments, taking them to meet adopters, the list goes on. It is truly mind boggling the amount of work that we are putting into these dogs.

Serious adopters should fill out an online adoption application and then follow up with an email to CampCockerCathy@gmail.com and please mention if there are any dogs in particular you are interested in meeting.

Volunteers review the adoption applications a couple of times a week. Sometimes we can review them the same day, sometimes it can take a few days (we all work full time and Cathy is often swamped with the day to day rescue tasks). The next step to adoption is a phone interview by one of our volunteers, you may be contacted by Fran or Chris. The phone interview is to talk to you more about some of our dogs, try to learn more specifics about what your expectations are and for us to go through some of the dogs that may be a possible "match" for you and give you a bit more detail about each one. This is also an opportunity for you to talk to a Camp Cocker volunteer at length to ask us more questions about our rescue process, our adoption process and any general questions you might have about working with our rescue group. We would also love to share nutrition guidance if you do not know how to read food labels. We encourage all adopters to check out DogFoodProject.com an amazing resource for nutrition and giving your dog the best chance for longevity and health.

Some adopters know right away what dog they are most interested in meeting, other adopters are open to meeting several dogs. Camp Cocker cannot place a hold on any dog while an adoption is still pending, but we can try our best to move the adoption forward as quickly as we can if we know you are seriously interested in a specific dog.

Next we schedule a home safety check. About eighty percent of our adopters live in Northern California and we have a network of volunteers in many parts of the state that help us with home safety checks. The mission during a home safety check is to help you, the adopter, to check your home for dog proofing, and also point out any other types of things that you might not have noticed (such as snail bait or chemicals in the garage that are within reach of a dog, or a front door that faces a busy street where a dog can slip out, or a backyard gate that needs repair).

We also ask that all members of the household be present at this time, because it is important that all members of the home are equally enthusiastic about bringing a new dog into the family. Even if there is one person who will be the primary caretaker of the dog, we want to make sure everyone is prepared for the long term commitment of a dog. We want everyone in the home to be in the mind set of not leaving doors open, or the backyard gate open and also mindful of guests who come in and out - always keeping an watchful eye on the new four-legged family member so they don't escape.

Once a home safety check has been passed, then the adopter is pre-approved and now ready to adopt a new four-legged cutie pie!

Every adoption is a unique situation and depending on logistics of where you live and where the dog is, we try to come up with a plan for how you can meet the dog and the adoption can take place.

Most of our dogs in located in the Los Angeles area, either in boarding or in foster homes. Depending on where you live and if you have an idea of whom you might like to adopt, we try to come up with a plan. We've had adopters fly down or drive down to Los Angeles and meet all of the dogs, spend a whole day here, then make a decision about which dog they might like to adopt. We've had other adopters who felt they were leaning towards one particular dog and we've actually ended up driving the dog up to meet the adopters somewhere halfway (we've done many adoptions in the middle of the state, in the parking lot of Harris Ranch Restaurant). Some months when we have three or four adopters lined up in advance, we will rent a cargo van and load it up with crates and dogs and drive all the way up and all of the pre-approved adopters meet us at one spot.

Every adoption is a unique situation. Once the adopter is pre-approved, at that point we work with the adopter to find the fastest way for them to meet the dog(s) so that one lucky Camp Cocker doggie can begin his/her new life living as a much loved pet!

There are many groups out there who call themselves "rescue" but what they actually do is quite different than what we do. If someone is willing to sell you an animal without a thorough screening process, this is animal wholesaling, not rescue. Animal wholesalers are not likely to vet the animals, they most likely get the animals either for free or for very little and then spend as little as possible on the care of the animal while they are trying to rehome it. Their goal is to rehome the animal as quickly as possible for the maximum profit. The more animals they can move, in the shortest amount of time, the more money they can bring in.

This is NOT what Camp Cocker does. In fact, as much as we dislike a dog being in a boarding facility, sometimes it is more important to be patient and wait to match that dog up to the right home, than to just hurry up and get it adopted in order to move it. We not only spend an enormous amount of money on boarding expenses, we also spend an unusually high amount on veterinary care. Rescuing Cockers is a breed that is prone to medical problems, ears, skin, eyes. Here is an example of how we take dogs with eye problems to the opthamologist. Every dog we rescue costs us much more money than we can ever hope to bring in on an adoption fee. We are constantly operating at a loss.

We view an adoption as not the purchase of a product and we feel that you can't put a price tag on the value of an animal. In our minds, every animal is priceless and their value is far richer than the donation you are making when you adopt him/her.

When you adopt from Camp Cocker, you are making an adoption donation that is in the spirit of supporting our rescue group! Here is the recommended minimum donation by age: puppies six months of age or younger $500, "tweens" seven months of age up to eleven months of age $425, young whippersnappers of one to two years of age $350, adults three years of age or older $300. Thank you for understanding that your adoption donation is going to support our rescue group as a whole - and it is only with donations that we can continue to volunteer our time and efforts to continue to rescue future dogs in honor of your dog's adoption.