Give up a Golden

Surrendering a Golden Retriever to GoldHeart

It is never an easy decision to give up your Golden, and the reasons why this can happen are many. Often owners do not have enough time for a dog and/or the ability to meet the expenses associated with responsible dog ownership. Owners may encounter health issues or a family member discovers they are allergic to the dog. A job may require relocation and dog friendly housing is not available, or perhaps a family is facing divorce or other financial challenges.

If your need is temporary, ask family, friends and co-workers if they will care for your dog. If you need to find a temporary foster home for your Golden due to an emergency, hospitalization or military deployment see additional information below.

Regardless of your reason, seeking out GoldHeart, dedicated to fostering and caring for Golden and golden-mix retrievers until a forever home can be found, shows you have your dog’s best interests in mind. Dogs cannot fend for themselves, and do not do well in pounds or shelters, and sadly, in some shelters, they may be killed. Advertising for homes is also risky as individuals may misrepresent their intent. At GoldHeart you can rest easy, since all dogs are initially matched to approved foster homes and after fully vetted, forever home placement always focuses on the best-fit for each dog (all homes go through a rigorous approval process including reference checks and on-site home visits).

For GoldHeart to accept a Golden Retriever into rescue, it cannot have bitten anyone, and it must be able to live peacefully with other dogs. Our dogs are adopted by families and we must be certain that under normal circumstances, the dog will never be a danger to anyone in the family. All of our foster homes have their own dogs. Therefore, we cannot take a dog that shows aggression toward other dogs. We will discuss and evaluate your dog with you to verify it does not demonstrate aggression toward humans or other dogs.

If you have a dog to surrender, please contact us by

(1) Email at [email protected] or

(2) Phone at 410-877-9697

Please provide your name, telephone number, the name, and age of the dog, the needed surrender date (advise if the dog is in an unacceptable situation that may affect his health or well being), and any other pertinent information that will help us expedite the process

A GoldHeart representative will contact you within 48 hours to discuss the intake process, and if your dog is accepted, we will schedule bringing your pup into our rescue at a mutually agreeable time.

GoldHeart will require you to sign a legal surrender form that states the dog has never bitten a person.

View/Download Intake Form
View/Download Surrender Form

Need to find a temporary foster home for your Golden due to an emergency hospitalization or military deployment?

PACT for Animals may be able to help. PACT stands for People + Animals = Companions Together. Their mission is to provide programs that benefit companion animals and their owners. This includes providing temporary foster homes for beloved companion animals so their owners do not need to surrender them because of a temporary military or medical crisis. To learn more please visit www.pactforanimals.org.

Another resource for military dog owners is http://dogsondeployment.org/.