Adopting a Spanish stray dog: A comprehensive How-to Guide

Wondering about adopting a dog from Spain? This is our process so wonder no more.

We know that adopting a dog is one of the most important decisions of your life done best when you have all the information you need at hand.  Our charity with more than 10 years’ experience understands this, so we have written a blog to guide you through our adoption process, so when you are ready to adopt a dog from Spain you know what to expect.

First Steps in your adoption journey

Everything starts with a small action that will set up a process in motion and for you, this will be a scroll through the huge number of dogs available for adoption on our website. The excitement of adopting a dog starts here.  This is where your dream starts taking shape. You may see a dog that you like or maybe you have no preference and would like to talk to us more about the different dogs for adoption.  Either way, the next step will be to contact our charity via email or Facebook messenger.  You can then sit back and expect to receive a reply within 24 hours when a member of our team will describe in further detail the different dogs available as well as finding out more about you. Do you have a garden, have you had dogs before? Do you work? These and many other questions will help our charity to identify the most suitable dog for your lifestyle and circumstances. Be prepared to be flexible and to follow the advice of our experienced volunteers who may suggest a different dog from the one you initially had in mind.  You will not regret it.

You will be asked to fill in a pre-adoption form. This is a three-page document with many questions to get a clear picture of who you are, your experience with dogs and current circumstances.  Once you send this completed form back to us via email, the adoption committee will review it and ensure that the chosen dog and you are a perfect match.

A home check – Getting closer to adopting a dog

The next step in the process will be to perform a home check. This is a home visit carried out by an expert volunteer who will examine your home and garden to ensure they are suitable and safe for a newly-adopted dog to live in.  We will contact an external organisation that specialises in home checks. We will send the home checker your pre-adopt form information together with the profile of the dog you have chosen. The home checker will then contact you directly to arrange a convenient date and time to visit your home.  This will be usually done during a two week timeframe although this may vary.  The home checker on arrival to your home will introduce herself, meet you and any other person living with you and examine the house and garden in detail.  Upon completion, the home checker will send a report to our charity for review. Following its findings, we will make a decision to approve or fail your application to adopt.  Whatever the outcome we will communicate this to you via email.

Your dog adoption application is approved

If approved a member of our team will call you for an in-depth conversation about what you can expect from your new dog on arrival. They will discuss with you the most frequent issues dogs exhibit on arrival and how to manage them. They will reiterate the importance of having a positive reward approach to educating your dog, as well as how to keep your dog safe and stop them from escaping. They will give you advice on the best food as well as the most secure harness.  This is also an opportunity for you to really consider if you can give a new dog the commitment it requires.

Shortly after this conversation, you will receive several emails with lots of information that range from how to welcome your dog, to how to keep him safe or how to choose the right behaviourist.  The information aims to provide you with the knowledge and tools to ensure that the adoption is a success. It is important that you read all the documents thoroughly, ideally several times.  

We will discuss and agree with you on the best date for the dog to travel to you from Spain. The final date will take into account transport availability, the time needed to prepare the dog and your own availability to ensure that if you work you have at least two weeks at home to settle your dog.

You will also receive an email with a contract and an invoice for the dog travel and preparation costs, that is, vaccinations, neutering, blood tests and passport.

We will request and send you a copy of the dog blood tests. These tests aim to check that the dog does not suffer from three of the most common Mediterranean diseases which are Leishmaniasis, Filariasis, and Ehrlichia.  If the dog is positive to any of these conditions, we will describe the condition, prognosis, and treatment in detail so you can make a decision on whether to proceed with the adoption.

During this period we can also send you on request videos of the dog and if you have cats, a cat test will be performed. Cat tests are useful as a guide on how your dog feels about cats, but they cannot be considered infallible. 30% of dogs that perform well on these tests may react badly to cats once they are in a home living with them.

The timeline from home check to welcoming your dog can vary from two weeks in some cases to six weeks in others.  It will all depend on whether the dog has had all the vaccines, the blood tests and whether there is space in transport.

The date for your adopted dog to travel to your home is approaching.

During the last two weeks prior to the dog arriving to you, we will send you further information to help you prepare ahead of welcoming your dog. You will also receive an approximate date and time of arrival of the dog to your home.

Two days prior to the dog leaving, we will post on our social media channels a happy video of the dog leaving the pound to go to the DEFRA Kennels. This is where the TRACES documentation will be finalised. A Defra vet will check that all the paperwork is in order and that the dog is fit to travel and enter the UK. This is a legal requirement for all abroad dogs to enter the UK.

For you, this is a time of great expectation whilst you wait for your adopted dog to arrive. It is a good idea to do a final check and ensure that food harness, lead, collar ID, bowls, and dog insurance are ready waiting for your dog. The team will send you a tracker where you can follow the transport taking the dogs on their journey through Spain, France and finally the UK.

Your adopted stray dog is here!

Following your dog ‘s journey to you on the tracker is one of the most exciting parts of this process. On the agreed arrival day you will already know if transport will arrive on time or may be delayed as most probably you would have been following the tracker addictively for two days. Either way, the transport driver will call you one hour prior to arrival to ensure that you are at home and ready.  This is the time for you to confirm your address and if necessary give them further instructions on how to best find your address.  Your excitement cannot get any higher!

Shortly after you will see the van arriving to your home. Your dog is here! On arrival, they will introduce themselves and ensure that you are the adopter. They will then go into the van and retrieve your precious dog and take it safely on the lead into your house.  This is a time for everyone to be extra careful and ensure that the dog is never given to you without it being secured on a lead. Your dog will be worried and scared and constantly seeking ways to escape.  Once the dog is in the house take him directly to the garden as he will need to relieve himself.  Have some water ready and some food. Do not worry if he does not eat but it will be important that he drinks water to hydrate. Please ensure that transport gives you all the paperwork for the dog which will include the DEFRA paperwork and the passport.  You can now kindly send them on their way to continue to deliver more dogs to other equally excited awaiting adopters.

Your dog is now with you and you are now the proud adopter of a Spanish Stray Dog.  You have helped to change the life of a dog in need. The time to start understanding your dog starts here so you can both enjoy a wonderful life together knowing that our charity will continue to support and guide you.

Thank you for adopting a dog from Spanish Stray Dogs UK!