Why Rehoming on your own is the best option

  • You can provide the best description of their personality, pictures of them in a home setting, and know best what kind of home would be the best fit for them.

  • The best way to ensure they go to that ideal home is to rehome on your own. You can meet potential new families directly, get to know them and pass on any important information.

  • CRHS staff and volunteers work hard to ensure all animals in our care have a clean, safe place to stay, get plenty of socialization and enrichment, and receive the medical care they need while awaiting their new  homes. But as hard as we try, the shelter does not compare to a home. It’s stressful for pets to stay in a new place especially one full of unfamiliar sights, sounds, smells, people, and other animals.

  • As the stray holding facility for La Crosse County, Coulee Region Humane Society takes in any lost animal found within our county on top of animals surrendered to us (over 2,000 animals a year). It is always a precarious balance in ensuring that we have adequate space and resources available to provide the best possible care for those animals. If you choose to rehome your pet instead of bringing it to CRHS, you are saving a kennel for an animal that truly has nowhere else to go.

Although truly aggressive or dangerous behaviors may be able to be properly managed in the right environment, they most often cannot be “trained” out of a dog. If a pet is a danger in your home, they will likely continue to be a danger in another home. If you are considering rehoming a pet whose behaviors pose a safety risk, you must make sure that the new home is both fully aware and equipped to take on and manage those behaviors. Not doing so puts innocent people or animals in harm’s way.

If you are re-homing a pet adopted from Coulee Region Humane Society, please notify us at 608-781-4014.

Rehoming Tips

If you choose to rehome your pet on your own there are a couple of things we recommend.

Have some questions prepared to ask any potential adopters.  This helps generate a conversation between you and the potential new family and will help both parties determine if the pet is the right fit for their home.

Ask for a small rehoming fee to help ensure you only receive serious adoption inquiries.

Have both parties sign an agreement when you’ve found your pet’s new family - this helps to establish clear transfer of ownership from you to the new family.

Provide copies of veterinary records. Proof of spay/neuter and record of vaccinations that are still current are most important to pass along; as well as any records detailing if the pet has any medical diagnosis (history of urinary crystals and is on prescription food, diabetes, heart murmur, etc).

    • How many adults live in your home?

    • How many children live in your home and what are their ages?

    • Do you own any other animals? If yes please list the species and number of each species.

    • What experience do you have with this breed/type of pet?

    • What are your reasons for wanting to adopt this pet?

    • What characteristics and/or behaviors are you looking for?

    • What concerns, if any, do you have about bringing this animal into your household?

    • Are there any reasons you would surrender the pet to a shelter or rehome them?

    • What characteristics and/or behaviors are you not willing to work with?

Sample Transfer of Ownership Agreement

Online Rehoming Resources & Benefits

  • Reduces strain on animal shelters, easing overcrowding and allowing them to focus on critical cases.

  • Facilitates faster placement of pets into new homes, minimizing their time in shelters.

  • Enables personalized matches between pets and owners, considering the pet's needs and the owner's lifestyle.

  • Reduces stress for pets by minimizing transitions through a shelter environment.

  • Saves on shelter costs, allowing for more efficient allocation of resources.

  • Offers a supported option for rehoming, reducing the likelihood of pet abandonment in the community

CRHS Community Rehoming Page

this is where you keep the animal at your house and network with other people through our Rehoming webpage.

Home-to-home placements are far less stressful on animals needing a new place to live and it decreases the number of animals in our already crowded shelter.

All dogs and cats MUST be spayed or neutered to be eligible to be posted on our Rehome Page. Rabbits, small animals, and exotics do not need to be altered.

Click here for Dog Rehoming Form
Click here for Cat Rehoming Form
Click here for Other Animal Rehoming Form

Other Online Rehoming Resources

Disclaimer: Coulee Region Humane Society does not officially endorse any of the options listed below, this list is simply comprised of some of the options you will find with a quick search online. Our best advice – do your research!

Rehome by Adopt a Pet

Home To Home®- CRHS Referral
Craigslist - La Crosse - Pets
Wisconsin Rehoming Group

You may also find success on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Please note that Facebook does not allow the use of Facebook Marketplace to rehome pets, however you can still post on your page as well as utilize rehoming Facebook groups like Responsible Rehoming - Wisconsin.