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Pet Adoption Process Meeting and Adopting Your New Best Friend

Adopting a pet is a very exciting time but it is also a serious commitment. We strongly encourage anyone thinking about adding a fuzzy member to their family to do their research and be ready for this long-term commitment. Take a moment to read through this short but helpful document: Are You Ready to Adopt? Please also carefully consider the financial and time obligation. Our team will work closely with you to determine the best fit with the goal of setting you and your new pet up for success!

Our History

Our Mission

Our Principles

Our team will provide as much information on each animal’s history, disposition and health as we have. Please note that for some animals we may have little history. Our goal is to set you and your new pet up for success so honesty and transparency is our policy!

Please note that you must be 21 years of age or older to adopt a pet. We adopt cats and dogs out in the mid-Atlantic region.

Making a Connection

Meeting Adoptable Pets

There are several ways to meet our adorable adoptable cats and dogs.

Whether you meet pets at our Adoption Center or Meow Palace, a foster home or an offsite adoption event, the steps to the adoption process will be the same.

Our process is constructed to set you and your new pet up for success. It includes both parties providing as much information as possible so that we can work together to find the best fit for you and your lifestyle.

You will complete an Adoption Questionnaire, participate in an in-person or telephone interview and then finalize our Adoption Agreement before taking your pet home.

If the animal you apply for is determined not to be a best fit, we will suggest others for your consideration.

View Available Dogs

View Available Cats

The Screening Process

Adoption Questionnaire & Interview

Your first step is to complete our Adoption Questionnaire online. Once received, an HT rep will contact you via phone or e-mail.

If you are renting your home, we require proof that you are allowed to have a pet as well as any breed or size restrictions. We do not want you or your pet evicted!

If you have pets or had pets in the recent past, we require your veterinarian contact information to verify that your pets are current on vaccines and spayed/neutered. We require that all pets in the home be spayed/neutered unless prevented by health reasons.

Making it Official

Finalizing Your Adoption

Pet Adoption Agreements

The Agreement to Adopt is completed online through a link texted to your cell phone. This is a legal contract to protect the animal, the adopter, and the organization. Your HT representative will review this closely with you.

Adoption Fees

Adoption fees are paid online by credit or debit card when the Agreement to Adopt is completed. Adoption fees range depending on the type of animal. Adoption fees go towards your animal’s expenses as well as others in our program. Fees cover vetting, spay/neuter, transport costs, food, boarding, behavioral training, and overhead. It is important to note that while your animal may not require all of these things, many other animals in our system do. Thus, any “extra” money from adoption fees goes to help those animals needing additional lifesaving care. When you adopt from Homeward Trails, you are not saving just one life but many others as well.

Completing the Process

Taking Your new Pet Home

Once the Agreement to Adopt is completed and the adoption fee paid, you are ready to take your new pet home!

Please get your dog or cat home safely. Please bring a leash and collar for your dog (we strongly recommend a harness or martingale-style collar to ensure that the dog cannot slip away) and an ID tag.

For your cat, please bring a secure carrier.

We love to get going-home pictures of you and your new pet to share on social media. Our rescue partners, fosters, volunteers, and staff love nothing more than seeing our animals go off to happy homes!

We don’t want your relationship with Homeward Trails to end when you leave with your new pet – we are here to provide ongoing support, resources, and advice.

Clear the Shelters Adoption Weekend – August 31 and September 1

Reduced and Waived Adoption Fees! Join Homeward Trails as we participate in NBCUniversal Local’s 10th annual Clear The Shelters nationwide pet adoption event. Help us clear the Adoption Center and our foster homes August 31 and September 1 – many of our adoptable cats and dogs will have reduced fee and fee waived adoptions. Homeward Trails Manny Law Adoption Center 11116 Fairfax Station Rd. Fairfax Station, VA 22039 Saturday, August 31 10 AM – 4 PM Sunday, September 1 10 AM – 4 PM Our nation’s animal shelters are facing a capacity crisis and need your help now to get pets from shelter kennels into the couches of loving homes! Since its 2015 inception, Clear The Shelters has led to more than one million pet adoptions and raised more than $4.5 million. The 2023 campaign resulted in more than 158,000 adoptions – lifting the all-time adoption total past one million – and raised over $575,000.
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Helping Happy Hounds – Fee Waived Hound Adoptions

As you may or may not know, Virginia animal shelters are filled with Hounds. These amazing dogs are most often discarded by callous hunters, found starving wandering the countryside. Many never make it as hunters and are then tied up to chains or left along the side of the road like old furniture. A good number of them do not make it out of shelters alive.But these dogs – like all dogs – are amazing and worthy of families. We just cannot get them families fast enough to stop them from dying in our shelters when there is no more space.And so we are trying something new here. ALL HOUND DOGS ADOPTED FROM HOMEWARD TRAILS WILL BE FREE. Yes, we are WAIVING ADOPTION FEES for Hounds for the foreseeable future.We hope that will entice well-matched applicants to consider a Hound now. Use the money you save on training, treats, toys.We think all dogs are worthy. But the reality is that some take extra incentives. Some have more barriers to getting adopted. And the result is well, more end up dying. And no – this does NOT mean we are just giving dogs away. All applicants will still go through our application/screening process to ensure good homes. This is just us trying to save more dogs by eliminating one more barrier to adoption. And hey, Hound lovers can use all the extra money they can get to buy treats, right?Help us help these Hounds. Our program Helping Happy Hounds is live NOW. Let’s save some lives!
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Our Current Supply Needs – Can You Help?

Each year Homeward Trail spends thousands and thousands of dollars on supplies to care for our animals and support the general operations of our organization. We always strive to keep our costs as low as possible so that we can spend every extra dollar saving more lives. One simple way you can help is by donating these supplies – everything from postage stamps, to cleaning supplies, to ink cartridges and paper, to dog and cat food and litter. Our wish lists are updated regularly so you can always find our most current needs. Please consider donating supplies to help us cover the cost of these items. The more we are able to get donated, the more animals we can help. Thank you! Adoption Center Wishlist Meow Palace Wishlist Dog Enrichment Wishlist Trails Home Farm Wishlist Farmhouse Wishlist Trails UP Wishlist Puerto Rico Wishlist
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Clear the Shelters Adoption Weekend – August 31 and September 1

Reduced and Waived Adoption Fees! Join Homeward Trails as we participate in NBCUniversal Local’s 10th annual Clear The Shelters nationwide pet adoption event. Help us clear the Adoption Center and our foster homes August 31 and September 1 – many of our adoptable cats and dogs will have reduced fee and fee waived adoptions. Homeward Trails Manny Law Adoption Center 11116 Fairfax Station Rd. Fairfax Station, VA 22039 Saturday, August 31 10 AM – 4 PM Sunday, September 1 10 AM – 4 PM Our nation’s animal shelters are facing a capacity crisis and need your help now to get pets from shelter kennels into the couches of loving homes! Since its 2015 inception, Clear The Shelters has led to more than one million pet adoptions and raised more than $4.5 million. The 2023 campaign resulted in more than 158,000 adoptions – lifting the all-time adoption total past one million – and raised over $575,000.
Learn More