These are fabulous questions! I recently wrote an article on how to adopt a foster dog (https://tailwagwisdom.com/how-to-adopt-a-foster-dog/). I also encourage people to have a goal for their dog. This could be small or big (companion to guard dog). For example, I wanted a dog to be a therapy dog for kids. So, he also needed to fit those criteria as much as possible. I love questions and you have covered almost all of them. Keep up the great work! Terri

I feel sorry for the poor dogs it's hard enough as it is getting adopted. Very few dogs would meet that criteria. I adopted a dog that had been abused. Found he growled at people and other dogs. Had a few toilet accidents in the house. 10 months later and with training he is the most lovable and loyal dog. If I had asked all those questions I probably would have missed out on adopting a great dog.

So sorry to read that Ace has passed away, our dog passed just two weeks ago. I was reading this, in hope that one day, we could adopt another. We're a long way off yet, we have some healing to do. You have some really good suggestions on what to look out for. Have you been able to take another chance?

I asked many of these questions and the answer to all of them was "we don't know". I ended up with an insecure aggressive dog. Quincy was abused and the rescue organization I got him from literally just rescues unadoptable dogs and tries to get unsuspecting people like me to adopt. When I pushed on the questions I was told either adopt or don't. I took him home since he was 12 years old and clearly needed help. As a result, I can't let him near other dogs or my family/friends. He trusts me but that's it. It's a lonely existence for me. If a rescue organization doesn't answer these questions, walk away and find another organization.

In my experience, a lot of shelters would have trouble answering some of those questions. For example, the questions about barking and vocalization: When a dog is in a shelter environment it is in an unfamiliar and stressful situation. Of course it barks.

And it is very common for dogs in shelters to urinate in their runs. Shelters are staffed by volunteers for the most part, and dogs in shelters don't always get walked as often as we would like. They often don't have the chance to go outside to relieve themselves.

With regard to interaction: In my experience, shelters deliberately don't let dogs interact.

These questions would be very fair to ask someone who's fostering a dog for adoption. But a lot of them wouldn't be suitable for adopting a dog directly from a shelter or pound.