Host: What criteria must an adopter meet to adopt a pet from a shelter?

Michelle Otis: Again, that is going to depend on the shelter that you are at. Most shelters are independent, private, non-profit organizations and they have the right and do create their own criteria for adoption. It behooves shelters to limit the amount of criteria that they put people through and focus more on matching, making the right match and that's what we try to do at my shelter is we try and stay away from criteria and work more towards education and counseling and just trying to find the right match. What we find is that when trying to make a lifetime placement, the most important factor in that is that the people be able to bond with their adopted dog and if the dog does not meet their expectations, than that's what's going to prevent placement from being successful. So our most important criteria is that the adopter really bond with that animal and feel like that animal is going to be a family member.