Thank you for your interest in Compassion Without Borders (CWOB). CWOB has been bringing brighter futures to animals in need on both sides of the border since 2001. We have personally rescued and transported thousands of dogs to Northern California for a better life. In 2017, we started our own adoption program. We would like to give you a sense of who we are and how our adoption program works.
Muttopia, our shelter in Santa Rosa, is our safe haven for the dogs we rescue. We are a private shelter with a small staff, so we meet with potential applicants one-on-one by appointment only. This gives you a good amount of time with the dog(s) in which you have expressed interest.
Since our shelter does not have public adoption days, the process begins with identifying the dog (or dogs) that you think would be a good fit and submitting our adoption application. This allows us to know more about you and make sure we find the best possible match for our dogs. Our online application is at https://cwob.org/adoption-form.html
The standard adoption fee for our adult dogs is $250.
The standard adoption fee for our puppies 5 months and younger is $350.
All of our adult dogs are spayed/neutered, fully vaccinated, microchipped and have received regular flea/tick treatment while they’ve been under our care. Puppies are vaccinated to their current age, microchipped and given flea/tick treatment.
We rescue and transport dogs living in impoverished areas on both sides of the border, with a focus on Puerto Peñasco, Mexico and the Central Valley in California. We have a Veterinary Clinic & Rescue Center in Mexico with a dedicated staff that provides care and shelter for the dogs until we transport them to Santa Rosa for adoption. The dogs from the Central Valley are housed at shelters or with local rescue groups until transport.
CWOB is unique in that we personally meet and evaluate each dog before we rescue them. Our Co-Founder, Dr. Christi Camblor, is a veterinarian and we have several veterinary technicians on staff or as volunteers who accompany us on rescue trips. We assess the health of each dog very carefully. We often take some of the harder medical cases since we are fortunate to have the veterinary resources to treat and rehabilitate those animals. We also assess the temperament of the dogs and knowingly will not rescue any people aggressive dogs. We personally transport the dogs to our shelter and give each dog the time they need to be fully ready for adoption.
Most of the dogs we rescue are either homeless stray or abandoned dogs. That said, their history is often unknown.
Most of our staff and many volunteers have years of experience with dogs, either personally, or professionally, so we can tell you what we have observed. Shelters and transporting can be stressful for the dogs and they are much more relaxed and show more of their true personality after spending a week or more at Muttopia. Their online profiles reflect what we know at the time and we update them regularly.
The health of our dogs is of upmost importance to us. All the dogs receive full veterinary exams, heart worm and blood testing, treatment for whatever medical issues they have, fully vaccinated, spayed/neutered, dewormed and given flea/tick treatment. All previous medical findings are disclosed to potential adopters. We do suggest scheduling an appointment with your veterinarian after adoption to start a relationship between your new dog and your vet. All of our dogs are adopted ‘as is’ and all future veterinary care is the responsibility of the adopter.
It’s important to us to get our dogs in good homes as quickly as possible, so we do not place adoption holds on our dogs.
Your adopted dog can be returned to us at any time. Adoption fees are non-refundable.
It’s important to us that our adopters live in the Northern California area. We like to meet the adopters in person to make sure the dog is the right match for you. Also, if the dog has to be returned for any reason, we need to ensure that the dog is easily accessible to us.