Please review before completing the Courtsey Post application
The Appalachian Highlands Humane Society (AHHS) offers courtesy posts as a service to help pet owners responsibly rehome animals in their care. Our goal is to provide visibility for pets in need while ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the animals and the community.
Application Review
Submitting a Courtesy Post Application does not guarantee that the post will be approved or published.
All courtesy post requests are reviewed by AHHS to ensure accuracy, appropriateness, and alignment with our posting guidelines. AHHS may edit, decline, or remove a courtesy post at its discretion.
We appreciate your patience as our team reviews each request carefully.
AHHS Role & Responsibilities
Animals featured in courtesy posts are not under the care, custody, or ownership of AHHS.
AHHS has not evaluated these pets and cannot verify their health, temperament, behavior, or suitability for adoption.
Because these animals are not in AHHS custody:
- AHHS cannot provide medical or behavioral assessments
- AHHS cannot guarantee the accuracy of information provided by the owner
- AHHS is not responsible for any communication, decisions, or adoption outcomes
Owner Responsibilities
By submitting a Courtesy Post Application, you acknowledge and agree that:
- You remain fully responsible for the care, safety, and wellbeing of the animal
- All animals submitted for courtesy posts must be spayed or neutered and up to date on rabies vaccinations, with documentation provided
- You will provide accurate, honest information about the animal
- You will handle all communication, screening, meet-and-greets, and adoption arrangements directly
- You are solely responsible for any agreements or outcomes related to the courtesy post
Liability
AHHS assumes no liability for any actions, outcomes, agreements, or incidents arising from courtesy post listings. All arrangements are strictly between the current owner and potential adopters.
What we look for when screening an adopter:
Is the animal a good fit for the existing family members (people and animals) in the home?
Does the family rent or own? Is their landlord okay with them adding a pet?
Where will the animal be kept when they are not home? Where will the animal sleep?
Are their current pets well cared for/up to date with vaccines and exams?
Once you feel comfortable with someone you should set up a meeting with them. If they have other animals it may be good to meet at a mutual place with just the person the first time, and then consider taking the animal you are re-homing to the adopter’s house to meet the other pets in the home. Some people feel more comfortable going to the adopter’s house to see where their animal is going, while some people do not feel it is necessary. We do not typically do home-checks at our organization.
If your pet is microchipped, make sure that you get all the information from the new owner. You must call the microchip company to release the animal out of your name and give them the new owners information.
At The Appalachian Highlands Humane Society, we have a responsibility to make safe adoption placement decisions for the people and animals we share our community with. All of the dogs we care for are evaluated as individuals. We gather information about each dog from multiple sources (staff, foster placements, previous guardians, volunteers, etc.). While we evaluate each animal on a case-by-case basis, in general, The Appalachian Highlands Humane Society will not adopt out dogs who:
- Have a damaging bite history towards children or adults
- Do not show warning signs before they attempt to bite
- Have severely injured or killed another dog
- Cannot be safely handled due to aggressive behaviors
- Show offensive aggression towards humans (actively decreasing the distance between themselves and the person they are aggressive towards)
- Stalk children in a predatory manner
- Show uninterruptible aggression towards other dogs
- Show poor bite inhibition (degree to which dog moderates tooth contact in the case of a bite)
Bites that are determined to be fluke bites are not considered aggression. Fluke bites are
bites by a dog that occur during uncommon circumstances that are not likely to be
repeated (e.g. while in acute physical pain, while with puppies during lactation, while
under sedation, etc.).