Adopt
Why
should I
adopt a Golden?
Why On Earth Would Anyone Want To Adopt A Rescued Golden Retriever?
“After all, aren’t they like used cars? Who wants someone else’s problems? If the dog is so wonderful, why would anyone give him away? If he was a stray, why didn’t someone try to find him? I’d rather buy a golden puppy so I know what I’m getting, and besides they’re so cute!”
Golden rescues often hear a variation of this conversation. Many prospective golden owners are just not convinced that owning an older (i.e, 6 mo. ) “pre-owned” golden is better than buying a puppy. But there are a number of reasons why adopting a golden retriever from a rescue that carefully screens and evaluates its goldens can provide an even better alternative.
Unfortunately, many folks think dogs that end up in rescue are all genetically and behaviorally inferior. But, it is not uncommon for us to get $500-1000 dogs that have either outlived their usefulness or their novelty with impulsive owners who considered their dog a possession rather than a friend or member of the family, or simply did not really consider the time, effort and expense needed to be a dog owner.
Not all breeders will accept “returns”, so choices for giving up dogs can be limited to animal welfare organizations, such as rescues, or the owners trying to place their own dogs. Good rescues will evaluate the dog before accepting him/her (medically, behaviorally, and for breed confirmation), rehabilitate if necessary, and adopt the animal only when he/she is ready and to a home that matches and is realistic about the commitment necessary to provide the dog with the best home possible.
Choosing a rescue dog over a purchased pup will not solve the pet overpopulation problem (only responsible pet owners and breeders can do that), but it does give many of them a chance they otherwise would not have. But, beyond doing a “good deed”, adopting a rescue dog can be the best decision and addition to the family you ever made.

Rescue A Golden and Get A Devoted Friend For Life!


I want to Adopt a Golden
If you are interested in adopting a Golden Retriever from SGRR and you reside in the state of Oklahoma, please complete and submit the following contact form. After we review your information, an SGRR volunteer will contact you within a few days to discuss the application and adoption process and to answer any questions you may have. SGRR is an all-volunteer organization and your patience is appreciated.
Adoption Fee For Dogs
- Spaying or neutering
- Heartworm test
- Bordetella, Distemper and Rabies vaccines
- Microchip with lifetime registration
What is included in the adoption fee?
Puppies (under 1 year) $350
Youth (1-8 years) $300
Seniors (9+) $150
Temperament evaluation
Spaying or neutering
Tests & treatment for Heartworm, tick-borne diseases, intestinal parasites.
Bordetella, Rabies, and other age appropriate vaccines.
Microchip with lifetime registration to SGRR.
– Each Golden entering our adoption program is given a wellness check by one of our partner veterinarians prior to being adopted. As such, they are spayed or neutered, brought current on vaccinations, tested (treated if necessary) for heartworms & tick-borne disease, microchipped, and started on monthly heartworm preventative. While every effort is made to identify and treat any medical condition that may be present, no health guarantees are provided after adoption.
Application & Adoption Process
Step One
Let us know you are interested in adopting by completing and submitting the “I want to Adopt a Golden” form on the “Adopt” page of our website at https://www.soonergoldenrescue.org/adopt. All applicants are subject to an approval process. Sooner Golden Retriever Rescue, Inc. reserves the right to reject any application.
Step Two
An SGRR volunteer will contact you by telephone within a few days to conduct a phone interview where we can gather basic information about your interest in adopting and to provide you information about the application and adoption process.
Step Three
If after the phone interview we determine that you meet our basic adoption criteria, and if you wish to continue the adoption process, the volunteer will provide you with a copy of the written adoption application by email or snail mail.
Step Four
Print out, complete and return your written application electronically by scanning and emailing or faxing, or you may return a hard copy by snail mail to our PO Box. Your written application will be reviewed, and if appropriate, it will be assigned to a home visit team volunteer.
Step Five
Your home visit volunteer will contact you to schedule a mutually convenient time to drop by for a visit. All family members must be home for the home visit. It may take up to several weeks for a home visit team volunteer to be available to conduct your home visit, so your patience is very much appreciated.
Step Six
The home visit is an informal opportunity to discuss the adoption process and for us to gather specifics about the type of Golden you are interested in. Seeing the physical environment where your potential Golden will live helps us better match available Goldens to potential adopters. This is also an excellent opportunity for us to answer any questions you might have. The home visit volunteer may bring along a Golden “demo dog” to help assess your needs.
Step Seven
After your home visit, the home visit volunteer will report their findings to the SGRR Board of Directors who will then make an adoption approval decision. All Board decisions are final.
Step Eight
If approved, you will be eligible to adopt a Golden that is well matched to your family. Within a few days you will be contacted by a volunteer with the adoption coordinator team. This may or may not be the same volunteer who conducted your home visit. Your adoption coordinator will work with you to match the right available Golden to your family.
We cannot guarantee that you will be matched within a particular time frame. Be aware that the more restrictive your adoption criteria, e.g. age, sex, color, etc. the longer it will take to find an appropriate match. The matching process can be lengthy, but the rewards of a perfect match are well worth the potential wait. The adoption process is NOT on a first come, first served basis. Our sole purpose is to find the best possible homes for our rescued Goldens. They deserve it!
Step Nine
Once your ideal match is made, it’s time for you to formalize your agreement with SGRR by signing the adoption contract and paying the adoption fee. After your Golden is placed in your home, you will be provided copies of any vet records we may have as well as any tags in our possession. The adoption contract requires that if exceptional circumstances arise during the entire course of your adopted Golden’s lifetime that leave you unable to care for the Golden anymore, you MUST return the Golden so SGRR.
Step Ten
Enjoy the lifelong love from your rescued Golden Retriever.
Here are the Top 10 Reasons You Should Consider a Rescue.
Reasons to Adopt
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1) Housebroken
With most family members gone during the work week for 8 hours or more, housetraining a puppy and its small bladder can take awhile. Puppies need a consistent schedule with frequent opportunities to eliminate where you want them to. They can’t wait for the boss to finish his meeting or the kids to come home from after school activities. An older golden can “hold it” much more reliably for longer time periods, and usually the rescue has him housebroken before he is adopted.
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2) Intact Underwear
With a chewy puppy, you can count on at least 10 mismatched pairs of socks and a variety of unmentionables rendered to the “rag bag” before he cuts every tooth. Also, you can expect holes in your carpet (along with the urine stains), pages missing from books, stuffing exposed from couches, and at least one dead remote control. No matter how well you watch them, it will happen–this is a puppy’s job! An older dog can usually have the run of the house without destroying it.
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3) A Good Night’s Sleep
Forget the alarm clocks and hot water bottles, a puppy can be very demanding at 2am and 4am and 6am. He misses his littermates, and that stuffed animal will not make a puppy pile with him. If you have children, you’ve been there and done that. How about a little peace and quiet? How about an older rescue golden?
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4) Finish the Newspaper
With a puppy running amok in your house, do you think you will be able to relax when you get home from work? Do you think your kids will really feed him, clean up the messes, take him for a walk in the pouring rain every hour to get him housetrained? With an adult dog, it will only be the kids running amok, because your golden will be sitting calmly next to you, while your workday stress flows away and your blood pressure lowers as you pet him.
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5) Easier Vet Trips
Those puppies need their series of puppy shots and fecals, then their rabies shot, then a trip to be altered, maybe an emergency trip or two if they’ve chewed something dangerous. Those puppy visits can add up (on top of what you paid for the dog). Your donation to the rescue when adopting an older pup should get you a dog with all shots current, already altered, heartworm negative and on preventative at the minimum.
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6) What You See Is What You Get
How big will that puppy be? What kind of temperament will he have? Will he be easily trained? Will his personality be what you were hoping for? How active will he be? When adopting an older dog from a rescue, all of those questions are easily answered. You can pick large or small; active or couch potato; goofy or brilliant; sweet or sassy. The rescue and its foster homes can guide you to pick the right match. (Our rescue is full of puppies who became the wrong match as they got older!)
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7) Unscarred Children (and Adults)
When the puppy isn’t teething on your possessions, he will be teething on your children and yourself. Our rescue routinely gets called from panicked parents who are sure their golden is biting the children. Since biting implies hostile intent and would be a consideration whether we accept their give-up, we ask questions and usually find out the dog is being nippy. Parents are often too emotional to see the difference; but a growing puppy is going to put everything from food to clothes to hands in their mouths, and as they get older and bigger it definitely hurts (and will get worse, if they aren’t being corrected properly.) Most older goldens have “been there, done that, moved on.”
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8) Matchmaker Make Me a Match
Puppy love is often no more than an attachment to a look or a color. It is not much of a basis on which to make a decision that will hopefully last 15 years. While that puppy may have been the cutest of the litter; he may grow up to be super active (when what you wanted was a couch buddy); she may be a couch princess (when what you wanted was a tireless hiking companion); he may want to spend every waking moment in the water (while you’re a landlubber); or she may want to be an only child (while you are intending to have kids or more animals). Pet mis-matches are one of the top reasons rescues get give-up phone calls. Good rescues do extensive evaluating of both their goldens and their applicants to be sure that both golden and family will be happy with each other until death due them part.
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9) Instant Companion
With an older golden, you automatically have a buddy that can go everywhere and do everything with you NOW. There’s no waiting for a puppy to grow up (and then hope he will like to do what you enjoy.) You will have been able to select the most compatible dog: one that travels well; one that loves to play with your friends’ dogs; one with excellent house manners that you can take to your parents’ new home with the new carpet and the new couch. You can come home after a long day’s work and spend your time on a relaxing walk, ride or swim with your new best friend (rather than cleaning up after a small puppy.)
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10) Bond–Golden Bond
Goldens who have been uprooted from their happy homes or have not had the best start in life are more likely to bond very completely and deeply with their new people. Those who have lost their families through death, divorce or lifestyle change go through a terrible mourning process. But, once attached to a new loving family, they seem to want to please as much as possible to make sure they are never homeless again. Those goldens that are just learning about the good life and good people seem to bond even deeper. They know what life on the streets, life on the end of a chain, or worse is all about, and they revel and blossom in a nurturing, loving environment. Most rescues make exceptionally affectionate and attentive pets and extremely loyal companions.