Good to know! Thanks for the responses.

Most rescues have their own adoption process. I would recommend using Petfinder to identify a dog or dogs you are interested in then going to the website of the rescue itself to determine the application process.

The rescue I fostered for required an application be completed/submitted before they would answer questions about specific dogs. They were stretched thin and it weeded out a lot of the lookie loos, I guess. So sending an email via petfinder wouldn't have gotten you a response.

I only used Petfinder to choose our dog. Then I emailed the rescue contact directly and we went from there.

We are ready to adopt a dog. I have searched Petfinder extensively and submitted four inquiries over the past couple of days to two different organizations, through the Petfinder website.

According to the website my inquiries were forwarded to the rescue groups. I don't want to bombard the volunteers at the rescue groups, but wondering if I should contact them directly. Our acceptable dog pool is pretty limited due to allergies and a few other requirements so there are few dogs out there that fit our criteria. Id like to make sure I'm navigating the process the right way and not spinning my wheels.

If you successfully adopted through Petfinder did you contact the shelter/group directly or was the Petfinder contact system sufficient?

Thanks.