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Our Mission

Lakeshore PAWS is a volunteer-run, nonprofit 501(c) 3 organization in Porter County, Indiana. Our vision is to create a culture of compassion and partnership in Northwest Indiana that will one day assure that every pet born has a stable home and care throughout its natural life.

Adoption Policy

**PLEASE NOTE: In order to adopt from us, you must be 21 years or older. If you currently have dogs, you must be able to prove that they are up to date on their rabies vaccine, get regular heartworm preventative, and are spayed or neutered. If your dogs are not fixed, up to date, or on heartworm preventative, you will be denied.**

Thank you for inquiring about our adoption process! We hope that you can find a furever family member through our rescue.

Our adoption process is fairly simple compared to most others:
1. Fill out an adoption application: Our application only takes a few minutes to fill out. An application can be filled out on our website or at our shelter.

2. Meet our available dogs: Once you have an application on file with us, you may meet our available dogs! We get new dogs in every single week, so if you don’t find your forever family member on your first visit, we encourage you to stop back in again. Your application is good for 6 months, and we would be happy to work with you on finding that perfect companion.

3. Meet and greet: If you have another dog(s) or small children, we do require that they meet the dog that you are interested in. We call this a “Meet and Greet.” In order to qualify for a meet and greet with another dog, your application needs to be approved and your current dog MUST be up-to-date on all vaccines AND spayed/neutered. If all goes well during the meet and greet, then you are ready to move on to the next step of our adoption process. PLEASE NOTE: If you have dogs currently, then your meet and greet must be scheduled before you bring your dogs to our adoption center. Please do not show up with your current dogs as we will not be able to do a meet and greet on the spot. You may schedule a meet and greet in person or over the phone once you have met the dog you are interested in.

4. Foster-to-Adopt program: If you have children, dogs, cats, or any other pet that the new dog would be interacting with, we strongly suggest that you participate in our Foster-to-Adopt program. This is a period of three days where you can take the new dog home and make sure that they are a good fit for your family. This gives you a chance to see how everyone interacts together before you commit to fully adopting and making the new dog an official member of your family. If, for any reason, the situation of bringing in a new dog does not work out, you may bring the pet back to our adoption center. Please note that this program excludes puppies.

5. Finalizing/Adopting: If you didn’t need to take advantage of the Foster-to-Adopt program and are ready to make it official with your new pet, then you may adopt (majority of the time, same day!) To adopt or to participate in our Foster-to-Adopt program, your application must be approved. Once it is approved, then it is just a matter of filling out some paperwork and paying the adoption fee!

6. Pricing: All of our dogs are spayed/neutered, up-to-date on all age appropriate vaccines, and microchipped. All adult dogs are also given a heartworm test if current one is not on file. All puppies are de-wormed. They also come with free rabies and distemper vaccines for life as well as one free wellness check up within 10 days of adoption.

-Puppies (8-16wks): $350 adoption fee + $100 refundable spay/neuter deposit
-Puppies (altered): $350
-Adults (1 yr– 6yrs): $300
-Seniors (7yrs+): $100
-Purebred Puppies: Price varies. Must be spayed/neutered before they can go home.
-Designer Breed Puppies: Price varies. Must be spayed/neutered before they can go home.
-Purebred Adults: Price varies. Must be spayed/neutered before they can go home.
-Designer Breed Adults: Price varies. Must be spayed/neutered before they can go home.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to call our office at 219-476-7297!

  • day hours
    Monday CLOSED
    Tuesday 12PM - 6PM
    Wednesday 12PM - 6PM
    Thursday 12PM - 6PM
    Friday 12PM - 6PM
    Saturday 11AM - 3PM
    Sunday 11AM - 3PM
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