Misty's is the kind of home that AAS holds out for, no matter how long it takes: someone who will stick it out if there are any rough patches, and Misty was a very unsocialized dog when AAS got her. She took a lot of work. AAS fully participates in the "rough patches" whether it is to help with big bills that we knew were coming (hip or knee surgery is not uncommon) or big bills that are a surprise, or even small bills if the home is the perfect match for a dog.

For example, an old, big dog with chronic ear infections untreated for so many years that the ear canals are scarred and treatment must be constant, sometimes forever, with spinal degeneration so he mustn't be exercised too strenuously, and shouldn't ever be alone again after being alone on a rope for ten years. The new owner is a perfect match but needed a bit of financial help for awhile. She and the dog got it, because that is what ethical rehomers do. The love that shines in both their eyes is worth a million dollars!

Behaviour problems are handled the same way by ethical rehomers. AAS dogs are first in foster/boarding homes so that we can assess them under real conditions (not in concrete and steel cells): in the home, in a pack, off-leash, around men and children. We find out if the dog loves to swim or is a stick and ball freak. Will it do anything for food? Is it object-possesive? More often than not, problems emerge that must be dealt with before rehoming and so AAS pays trainers and behaviourist to work with our dogs to get the kinks out, and if ongoing training support is needed, we provide that too whenever needed, for as long as it's needed.

AAS dogs are tattooed and microchipped in our name and those records are shared with the new owner, but stay in our name forever because this is our dog if the need ever arises. We made a promise to the dog that we would make sure that nothing bad would happen to it again and we can't keep that promise if we don't bother to keep track of the dog.

Ethical rehomers don't pass dogs onto any other group to rehome without knowing where the dog they "rescued" ends up.