FAQ - 2nd Chance Dogs

FAQ

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Did you know?

By adopting a dog, you will make a FRIEND FOR LIFE!

Questions about us

Did you know?

We give life time support to all the dogs we rehome

Questions about dog welfare

Did you know?

We are a 100% NO Kill rescue organization!

Adoption Questions

If you see a dog that you’re interested in, it’s quickest to enquire using the form under the dogs’s profile, make sure your information, email and telephone numbers are correct before hitting the send message button – we receive a large number of enquiries so we appreciate your patience. 

You can also call us or you can send us a message on one of our social media platform all of which can be found by clicking on the relevant icons at the bottom of this page.

Your interest in a dog is only confirmed when you’ve heard from a member of the 2nd Chance Dogs team.

Yes of course... please click on the link below to fill in our adoption application.  

Adoption Application

Yes of course, if you need any additional info please send us an email to : info@2ndchancedogs.org

or send us a message on our facebook page and we are happy to provide you with any additional info, we can also arrange a live messenger or skype vdeo call so you can meet the dog live 🙂

When we say that our "dogs are ready for adoption” this means that our dogs are healthy and ready to be placed in a home.

All of our dogs upon arrival to our center receive tick and flea treatment, dewormed and receive all of their Vaccines. They are also immediately tested for Heartworm, Lyme, Ehrlichia Canis & Anaplasmosis by means of the 4DX test. Furthermore they are also tested for Leishmania by taking a blood sample and sending it to the Government vet services.

Adoption Donation


£ 140
Spaying or neutering
Deworming
Vaccines
4DX Test (Heartworm, Lyme, Ehrlichia Canis & Anaplasmosis)
Government vet services Leishmaniases test
Microchip with lifetime registration
Tick & Flea Treatment

+ Additional Adoption Donation for Dogs that will travel abroad


£165
Rabies Vaccination
Passport
Trainer Evaluation
Pre Flight Check by a Registered Vet
Transportation to the airport
IATA Travel Crate
Government Traces Certificate

Dogs adopted that are traveling abroad

All pets that are traveling abroad to their forever home, by law need to get their rabies vaccination, a passport so that they can travel, a pre-flight check preformed by a qualified registered vet and a Government traces certificate issued by the vet services in Cyprus. Then in order to fly we transport them to the airport that they will depart from and safely place them into a IATA Certified Travel Crate.

Just to make sure that you know what you are getting we have a qualified Trainer which will undertake an evaluation of the dog that will soon be part of your family, we want to be sure that you are fully aware of the dogs character, temperament and behaviour.

Adoption Donation Info here

We believe that there is a dog for everyone, but sometimes it can take time to find the perfect match. Anyone is welcome to visit and to rehome from us, if they can meet the welfare needs of that particular dog.

2nd Chance Dogs requires that you provide your dog with annual veterinarian visits, full set of vaccinations and inoculations recommended by your veterinarian and as required by law, and, to provide your dog with other veterinary care as needed. It is further required that you:

Maintain your dog in a fenced garden
You must provide a tax bill or mortgage statement as proof of home ownership OR a lease stating that you are allowed to have a pet. We also require your landlord’s phone number so that we can speak with him or her
You must provide an ID with current address.
You must be at least 21 years of age.
The entire household must be in agreement about adopting a dog prior to adoption.
If adopting a young dog or a pup, you must be willing to take puppy classes or training classes
If you own a dog now and want to adopt another. We require you to show your dog’s veterinary records to show it is up-to-date on its shots and that your current dog has been neutered. Please note that to prevent adding to the population of unwanted dogs, it is 2nd Chance Dogs standard policy that all our dogs are neutered/spayed.
We do not do mass adoptions as we believe that each dog needs time, love and attention to settle in to a new environment. If someone is adopting two or more dogs at the same time and they are not siblings or have been together in our centre, then the new environment together with another stressful pet can cause unwanted problems.
We take many things into consideration when making a decision about placing our dogs in homes. Every situation is different, so please understand that we are trying to make the best match for both you and our doggy friends.

Yes, you can! Many dogs enjoy the company of others and a big part of the assessments with the dogs that arrive at our centre is to determine whether we feel they would like to live in a home with another dog.
When the newly adopted dog is ready to come to your home. Doing the introductions correctly with our expert advice is the best way to successfully introduce your new dog into your home and to your other pets.
However, please be aware that whilst we will be as flexible as we can be with our rehoming criteria, if you have your heart set on a specific dog it still may be that we feel, based on their individual needs, that they are not suitable to live with another dog. If this is the case, we will discuss this with you during your application and do our best to find the right dog to suit you and your current dog.

Yes, you can! Part of our intake procedures is to assess how the dog is around other animals, we have many dogs that we feel would like to live with a cat and we’ll give you advice on the best way to introduce your new family member.
However, please be aware that whilst we will be as flexible as we can be with our rehoming criteria, if you have your heart set on a specific dog it still may be that we feel, based on their individual needs, that they are not suitable to live with a cat. If this is the case, we will discuss this with you during your enquiry and do our best to find the right dog for you and your cat.

Yes, we do. Although every dog is different and some dogs would like to live with children whereas others would prefer an adult-only home. If you are looking at dogs on our website their profile will specify the home, they are after.  It is also equally important to educate the children in the family on how to be safe around dogs and how to act responsibly around dogs. We do allways advise that children should never be kept alone together with any dog no matter how good a temprament and charachter the dog has.

During the application process we ask all our potential adopters what property type they live in. Many of our dogs have happily gone to live with new owners in flats and we rehome to this type of property regularly. We treat all of our potential adopters and dogs as individuals as we recognise that everyone’s circumstances are different. If you live in a flat, you can still rehome a dog - in fact, many of our dogs have happily gone to live with new owners in flats.

Congratulations, we’re so pleased you would like to add a dog to your expanding family! Each situation is examined carefully and we will advise you as the adopter with great care.
Always taking into account both the adopters family and the dogs welfare. It also depends on the dog’s temperament that you are adopting.
It can take up to several months for a dog to completely settle in with their new home and family. Having a new-born baby brought into their environment soon after being rehomed can be very stressful for a dog, and is in fact one of the reasons many new parents feel they can no longer keep their dogs.
We will take everything into consideration prior to making a decision. In general we would prefer that you should consider to adpopt a dog after you give birth, however as allready said we will treat each case individually.

In most cases the dogs that arrive to us are from pounds so we have little to no information about their history, however we have qualified trainers and behaviourists that we perform a compulsory behaviour assessment on each dog on intake, we also run full health tests on intake to check if the dog is healthy.
We are completely honest and will inform you everything we know in order to make sure the rehoming process will be successful. We document everything from the intake date, it is utmost important that you as the adopter of the new family member are made aware of any disease the dog has or any behaviour issues as we do not want you to have any surprises. For us it is important that the dog’s welfare is looked after but also that you know what you are getting when you adopt a dog from us.

Yes it is standard procedure that one of our home checkers visits your home, why? because we want to make sure that the adoption will be successful and the environment that the dog will live in plays a huge role in this success, Our home checker will be able to notice something that you may have not even thought of to help secure the dog against dog theft or escape, a home check will also serve another function, you can ask our home checker as many questions as you like and they will be able to give you friendly professional advise.

YES, we really care about what happens after the adoption, our team follows up on all our adoptions for the life span of the dog, yes it is part of our adoption contract as well, we are there for all our adopters, we have an adopters group which all our adopters are added to, you will feel like you are part of a greater community. We like to think that our adopters are like our extended family. We are there 24/7 if you need support, advice, or have any issues that may only have come up even a year after the adoption occurred. We promise that we will never ever give up on any of our rescues even after they have been adopted. One of our volunteers keeps regular contact with all of our adopters and we request regular updates about the dogs status, health or any other issues that you may want addressed..

When we rehome a pet, we make a pledge to ensure their well-being for the rest of their lives. This means that owners can call on us for support and advice weeks, months and even years later.

We pride ourselves on a thorough behaviour and veterinary assessment that helps us match each dog to the right person. Sometimes a home may not be a perfect fit. If that is the case we will discuss this with you and if appropriate, suggest alternative options.

We rehome to all different types of homes from houses to flats! It really does come down to whether your home is the best match for one of our dogs.

We will be honest if we don't feel you are eligible to rehome a particular dog. Please don't take this personally as factors such as working hours, holidays or regular commitments could mean it isn't the best environment for the dog. As a responsible rehoming organisation we would be doing a disservice to ourselves, the dog and to you if we were to rehome a dog somewhere that we didn't see as their forever home.

We know people have their hearts set on certain dogs and it's disappointing to hear they won't be coming home with you but our experts will have made the decision knowing the dog as well as they do, and not wanting to cause undue heartache in the future.

A dog will be reserved for you once you have signed the adoption contract and paid the adoption donation. It is possible to reserve a dog for a short period, such as until you return from holiday but we need to know this upfront prior to signing the adoption agreement each case will be considered separately, our main goal is to make sure our dogs have the best shot at a 2nd chance for life with their new family.

We give lifetime support to all our adopters, we are very vigilant with our adoption process and are proud to say we have very seldom any dogs returned to us, we work hard to ensure that each dog is matched correctly to a home and would rather not adopt a dog out if we feel that the dog or family are not suited for each other. We have an extensive network of volunteers that can assist as well as an extensive network of qualified trainers that step in and help sort out if any issues arise. In the event that things really don’t work out we are there for our rescues and will gladly take back one of the dogs we have adopted out at any time. Why? because we love all of our dogs.

Dogs adopted from 2nd Chance dogs are healthy. Our expert vets evaluate the condition of each dog upon arrival. Ill dogs receive appropriate treatment for their ailments immediately.
Immediately upon arrival into our care all of our dogs have the 4DX test (heartworm disease, Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, and anaplasmosis), All the vaccinations, deworming, rabies inoculation, flea and tick treatment and the government veterinary services Leishmaniosis test. Furthermore, our organization 2nd Chance Dogs keep the animals under our care current on all of their vaccinations, and we spay or neuter our pets when the age and condition of the dog permits it.
When we say our pets are available for adoption we mean that they are healthy and suitable for adoption.

Yes all dogs that arrive at our centre are neutered/spayed immediately if their health permits it, if not they are treated and once they are healthy enough they are neutered/spayed.

You want the result of your dog-selection process to be that you and your family choose a dog that is the best possible match for your home and lifestyle. So along with being prepared for the work that it can take in the beginning with any new dog, knowing what common mistakes that enthusiastic, often first-time future dog owners make when they pick a dog to adopt, you can do your best to avoid them! Here they are, to help you avoid picking the wrong pet…

Don’t decide on a breed of dog that sounds like the best match for your home, without taking into consideration the often WIDE variation in physical and personality characteristics of individual dogs. We are here to help and inform you about the dog’s character and temperament.
Make sure to spend time and get to know the actual dog you are going to adopt as much as possible, before deciding to adopt that individual dog. If you don’t live close by then we are happy to take videos of the dog with other dogs for you and also with humans as well as with children so you can see for yourself how your next best friend interacts.
Don’t adopt a new dog without doing some self-reflection, planning and research first. How much time do you have in your life right now to bring in a new dog that may require training? Are you financially ready if your new dog is injured, or gets sick?
Don’t make an impulse decision. It can be overwhelming when there are so many adorable furry faces begging you with their sad yes to “pick me pick me” and take them home! If you get emotional, take a more objective family member or friend along to make sure you are making as good and rational choice of a match for your lifestyle and dog experience.
Don’t let your kids sway you to pick an inappropriate dog. While involving your children in the dog adoption selection and adoption process is a wonderful way to teach them about responsible dog ownership and many other important life lessons, you as the adult need to make sure the pet you adopt is a good selection.
Do involve children in age-appropriate decision-making parts of the adoption process: they can help pick out the new pet’s toys, or a colour of collar, and certainly making sure they and the dog get along is important too!
Finally talk to us and be honest, we are here to help and since we know our dogs better than anyone else we can help you.

It is really simple , for detailed info please check this link here www.2ndchancedogs.org/adoption-process/


Step 1 FALL IN LOVE & CHOOSE YOUR DOG

We’re thrilled you’re considering taking the first step: a visit to our website and see the dogs  available for adoption. www.2ndchancedogs.org/dogs/ If you need advise as to which dog would fit into your lifestyle then just connect with us and we would be thrilled to give you all the advise needed.


Step 2 FILL IN THE APPLICATION FORM

You’ll fill out an application form here and talk about the kind of dog you have in mind with an adoption coordinator. They know each of our dogs available for adoption and can help you focus on those that are ideal for your life and home. here is our adoption application : www.2ndchancedogs.org/adoption-application-2/


Step 3 HOME CHECK

Once we recieve your Adoption application for the dog you have chosen, we will contact you immediatly to arrange a home visit

The reason we do a home visit is to give you advise if any changes or modifiactions need to be done in order to keep your new best friend safe and sound aswell as to assess if the home is best suited for the breed of dog you are thinking of adopting.

During the home visit we can also answer all your questions and help you understand the needs of the dog that you will be adopting.

 

Step 4 ADOPTION CONTRACT

If the home check goes well, we will then send you our Adoption Agreement which you as the adopter and we as the Rescue organization will sign.

The reason why we sign an adoption agreement is so that we are legally agreeing to pass over the ownership of the dog to you and that you as the adopter from that moment onwards, be the legal owner of the dog. We will also transfer the microchip onto your name by informing the microchip database registrar that the dog is now under you the adopters name. The agreement also states your abligations towards the dog and our commitment to be there to assist you when ever you need our support.

We commit to lifetime support to all the dogs we rehome.

At this point you will also need to pay the adoption donation, Please click here to see how much the adoption donation is and what it covers.

https://www.2ndchancedogs.org/adoption-donation/


Step 5 A CALL WITH ONE OF OUR TRAINERS


One of our dog trainers and behaviourist will call you ahead of you receiving your new dog to go through any questions you may have, also to give you advise on how to help your new dog settle into your home.

Since the dogs in our care all go through a behaviour assesment programme we will give you advise specific to the dog you are adopting to make the whole adoption procedure run as smoothly as possible.

You will also get advise about how, what and when to feed your dog, how to exercize the specific dog, and any other info specifically about the dog you are adopting. Of course you can also ask us any questions you have that we have not allready answered.

The main point is to give you the knowledge needed and support to welcome your new family memeber into your home succesfully.


Step 6 FOREVER AFTER

We will arrange to bring the dog (your new best friend) to you, if needed to help you with the introductions to the other pets you have in your household.

In short we are proud that we have nearly no dogs coming back to us after being adopted out, as we really care and work hard to ensure each and every adoption is set up to succeed.

Adopting a dog is a life long commitment so we will be in contact with you for the lifetime of the dog that you have adopted, we will check in and help you with any issues you may be facing or just to get a glimpse of the highlights and good times.

Our motivation and fuel to keep on doing what we are doing is to watch those that we have rescued thrive!

Deciding to adopt a new dog into your family is a major decision, keeping in mind that a dog’s life span is anything between 12 to 18 years it is a serious commitment.
Our process can take anything between 10 days to a month during this time you will have expert advice and assistance to ensure you are ready to make this a success.

Yes, we do rehome dogs internationally,

We do this responsibly and will only rehome to a country that we can support our adopters 100% with our network of volunteers and trainers. Ensuring that the dog that is rehomed is the perfect fit for the home being physically able to perform a homecheck which is a compulsary function of our adoption process. We also ensure that the dog we are rehoming is 100% healthy. We work vigilantly to ensure that we are not rehoming dogs with behaviour issues and or dogs with disease, we will carry out a comprehensive behaviour assessment by our qualified trainers and behaviourist, dogs are checked and biochemical analysis of blood is carried out to ensure dogs are healthy.

However, oddly enough our long term goal is to bring about a change and to stop rehoming internationally completely.

Our mission is to teach the Cyprus human population to treat dogs with compassion and respect allowing them to live their lives without pain, suffering and to bring an end to the euthanization of stray and abandoned dogs.

We need to change the culture and local mentality to that of an adopting culture rather than a culture of buying a purebred/designer dog which is seen as an "in" thing inCyprus. 

It is important to understand what the situation is in Cyprus, why it is hard to only rehome locally. 

Most rescue organizations in Cyprus are overwhelmed with abandoned dogs, since there are few people to adopt the only solution is rehoming dogs abroad. We understand that this is not the solution and is not sustainable so we are working hard to change this, we need to put a stop to this and the only way forward is through educating the public.
In order to achieve our mission, 2ND Chance Dogs takes a “prevention and cure” approach.
On the preventative side, we are setting up our Youth Education program by September 2020, which aims to help and to create a more responsible attitude to dog welfare among tomorrow’s dog owners.
In April 2020 we are starting Community Dog school to assist dog owners and to help prevent dog abandonment by providing high quality, welfare friendly advice on dog training and behaviour during fun, educational courses based on up-to-date scientific research.
The classes will give owners and dogs the foundations they need to develop a strong bond, cope with everyday domestic life and avoid some of the common pitfalls which lead to behaviour problems which in most cases leads up to dog abandonment.
On the curative side, our re-homing centre in Nicosia has the mission to save, re-rehabilitate and rehome as many stray and abandoned dogs as possible.
To understand this better, it is important to understand that in Cyprus the local culture here is that a dog that is in a shelter or rescue organization is a dog that is dirty , diseased and has ended up in a shelter because the dog has a problem, THE TRUTH IS quite the opposite in Cyprus we face a grave problem of dog abandonment, we have very few stray roaming dogs, whatever strays are out and about are picked up by a community or municipality dog warden where they are taken to a pound (usually really bad cages) for 15 days and if not collected are then euthanized.
Laws for micro chipping are in place and it is mandatory however no one enforces the law and hence few are interested in microchipping their dogs.

(Municipality pound photo) 
Municipal Pounds are more like hell holes....

Dogs are taken to these so called pounds, most of the councils and municipalities buy services from ex pig farmers/cattle farmers or third party individuals. 

Most of which know nothing about dogs, nor do they care. They get paid to get rid of the problem

DOGS FOR SALE
There are many dog owners who buy dogs from breeders/ pet shops or import them from other countries as they like how a specific breed looks like
So without researching what they are getting into, they will buy a dog to finally find out that they cannot cope with the breed that they have chosen and will abandon the dog to the municipality or even worse leave them out in the mountains somewhere to fend for themselves.
Back yard breeders are everywhere, they breed dogs irresponsibly.
The classifieds are full with dogs for sale and is a thriving business because exactly the local culture is: that they would rather buy a dog than go to a shelter to adopt a dog.

HUNTING DOGS
Hunting dogs are the ones that suffer the most, we have 60 000 hunters in Cyprus each hunter can have up to 4 dogs, they have been taught through culture from father to son that the hunting dogs should be kept in a cage all year round and let out only for hunting and that this is their purpose. Most of these hunting dogs (mainly pointers) are in terrible condition, hunters own fields in the rural areas literally middle of nowhere, if you take a drive in rural areas you can find a plethora of hunting dogs in cages all over the island. The cages are filthy dogs are emancipated and in poor condition, water bowls are usually filthy green, this is outright animal abuse. If this were in the UK these people would be prosecuted, unfortunately here there is no one to prosecute them

If the dogs are not good at hunting, they will be abandoned in the fields to fend for themselves if they are lucky enough not to be shot.

This is Bo- Muffin http://www.newsincyprus.com/news/175628/call-for-information-after-dog-found-taped-up-at-kouris
We took him on, we would never be able to find him a home in Cyprus,  unfortunately so we have found him a wonderful home in the UK as we have no other choice.
Bo-muffin after we took him on https://www.2ndchancedogs.org/details/210/bo-muffin/

Some more links with videos and articles:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1436832259779899
http://www.easterncyprus.com/archive/17-hunting-dogs-found-dead-at-aradippou-farm-83029.htm
http://www.newsincyprus.com/news/147572/animal-party-calls-for-reform-of-hunting-dog-law
http://www.in-cyprus.com/paphos-dog-owner-charged-with-animal-cruelty-neglect-after-dead-dog-found-in-cage/
www.newsincyprus.com/news/147572/animal-party-calls-for-reform-of-hunting-dog-law
www.in-cyprus.com/rescue-of-hunting-dogs-sheds-spotlight-on-sad-plight-of-strays/

OWNED DOGS ALLOWED TO ROAM FREE

In the villages most of the dogs roaming around but they have owners, they are allowed to roam free (most are not neutered or spayed) When the pups arrive they are dumped at the village pound and the story just repeats itself.

PEOPLE AGAINST NEUTERING THEIR DOGS

Many people don't want to neuter their dogs as they believe it is good for the mother to have at least one round of pups.

Sometimes they will keep one of the pups and dump the mum and the other puppies at a pound or in the middle of nowhere or even worst on the highway.

Some people believe that its evil to neuter the dog as this will not allow it to enjoy the miracle of mating and having pleasure.