Dog rehoming FAQs

You can start the process by registering online. We’ll ask you questions to find out more about your lifestyle, and to help us determine the sort of dog you’re looking for. This information will help us match you with the right dog for you.

We have a simple four-step rehoming guide that explains every stage in the journey to finding a pet – learn more about our rehoming process

Here at Battersea, we assess all of our dogs individually and create a rehoming profile for them. We’ll then use this profile and the information you give us during your registration to match you with a dog that we think would be best for you.

This may not always be the dog you thought it would be, which is why we ask that you see the registration form as a way of registering your interest in rehoming, not an application for a specific animal. In general, the more open-minded you are about the type of animal you are looking for, the likelier it is that we’ll be able to make a match. Don’t worry - we’re experts in making sure we find the right home for our dogs and the right dog for your home, and we’ll advise you if we think we’ve found a potential match.

We’re always happy to talk about our dogs and understand you might want more information than is on our website about a particular individual. However, as we have specific rehoming criteria for each dog under our care, we like to have these discussions after your registration.

At this point, we’ll also have your criteria and can then determine whether we think a dog is a good match for you, as well as potentially make you aware of other dogs we think may be your ideal pet.

Our rehoming fee is £220 for dogs (over six months), £350 for a pair of dogs, or £275 for puppies (under six months). We accept cash or debit/credit card as payment (we are unable to accept cheques). Included in this cost are the following:

• Microchipping
• Initial vaccinations, flea and worming treatment
• Neutering
• A collar, identification tag and lead
• Starter pack of food, advice and special offers
• Four weeks’ free Petplan insurance as your dog settles into their new surroundings

Something to bear in mind is that our rehoming fee is just the beginning of the costs involved with owning a dog. We would recommend that before making the decision to rehome, you investigate the costs of pet food, pet insurance, grooming and fees at your local veterinary centre so that you are fully prepared for the financial implications of bringing a dog into your home.

Once you’ve completed our online registration form, we’ll handle the rest. Your rehoming registration will be open for up to three months, and in that time, we’ll do our very best to try and match you with a pet that best suits you and your lifestyle. It’s true that it can take a bit of time for us to match you with a pet – but we promise it’s time well spent. We’re committed to getting to know every animal at our centres before finding a match that works for our dogs and for you wherever possible.

If we are not able to match you with a dog within three months, we’ll let you know and offer guidance to help you continue your search beyond Battersea.

Where we are regrettably unable to make a match, this can be down to a variety of factors, including the many dogs we regularly take in with specific medical and behavioural needs. In these cases, we promise it isn’t personal – it simply comes down to the specific needs of our dogs and cats at any given time.

Battersea does not currently rehome service dogs. If you are looking for trained service dogs, we would suggest contacting Assistance Dogs UK for a list of all accredited members and working charities.

Where you are able, we ask that you complete the online registration form to register your initial interest in rehoming from us. However if accessibility issues are preventing you from completing the form, please call us at 0800 001 4444 so that we can help you to register with us.

Here at Battersea, we match you up with a dog we feel would be best for you and your whole family. When we assess our dogs, we consider any information we have from their previous owners and their behaviour with us to determine what age of children we feel they would be suitable for.

Some of our dogs are not suited to living with children. Should you have your heart set on a particular dog from our website that is sadly not right for your family, we will do our best to find another dog – the right dog – for all of you.

In all rehoming cases, we take your safety and the safety of our animals very seriously, so we can be cautious about rehoming to families with young children. This doesn’t mean there won’t be a dog that’s suitable for your family, but unfortunately it might be harder for us to find you one.

Congratulations, we’re so pleased you would like to add a dog to your expanding family!

We recommend you consider rehoming a dog once your baby has arrived. This is because it can take up to several months for a dog to completely settle in with their new home and family. Having a newborn baby brought into their environment soon after being rehomed can be very stressful for a dog. It’s one of the reasons many new parents feel they can no longer keep their dogs.

Please also bear in mind that we can be cautious about rehoming to families with young children – for your family’s safety and the safety of the dog. This means it might be harder for us to find you an animal.

A lot of the animals we rehome need owners with first-hand experience as they have unique needs, and in some cases, require specialist care. Matching you to the right animal is important to us, so it can mean that if you haven’t owned a pet before it might take us longer to find you a perfect match.

Don’t worry, if we can’t find the right dog for you, we’ll direct you to other ways to continue your search beyond Battersea.

Should you be moving quite soon, we may recommend you wait until after you have moved and settled in before rehoming a new dog. This is because it can take up to several months for a rescue dog to completely settle in with their new home and family. A change in your new dog’s environment can be very stressful for them.

You are still welcome to register now and continue with the next steps of finding the right dog for you after you've moved.

Should you have a holiday planned soon, we may recommend you wait until after you return before bringing a new dog home. This is because it can take time for a rescue dog to completely settle in with their new home and family. If you’re going on holiday, your new dog would likely have to stay in boarding kennels or have unknown people look after them, which would be very stressful for them so soon after leaving a rescue kennel environment.

You are still welcome to register now and continue the with the next steps of finding the right dog for you after you return.

Battersea has many foster carers who provide safe and calm foster homes for dogs who need some time away from the kennel environment.

Find out how to become a dog foster carer.

Unfortunately we do not allow dogs to be rehomed as surprises, as this is one of the main reasons that dogs are brought into us by their owners.

Adding a new dog as a member to your family is a big commitment, so it’s important that every member of the household is fully on board with the reality of having a dog and the personality of the dog itself, including any behavioural or medical challenges it could have.

If you live in a flat, you can still rehome a dog – in fact, many of our dogs have happily gone to live with new owners in flats.

During the registration process we’ll ask you about the property you live in. We’ll then use all the information you give us to match you with a dog that we think would be best for you and your home. Once a potential match has been found, we treat each registration on a case-by-case basis as we recognise that everyone’s living circumstances are different.

Please be aware that even if you have your heart set on a specific dog, it may be that we do not feel that a flat is the right environment for them. If that’s the case, it doesn’t mean there won’t be another dog that’s suitable for your home and circumstances. Rest assured, if we can’t find an animal for you within three months, we’ll offer plenty of guidance to help you continue your search beyond Battersea.

During the registration process we’ll ask you about any outside space you have access to. In some cases, it can be beneficial for a dog to have their own dedicated outdoor space, for instance so that they can be trained without being distracted by other dogs or where they require off-lead exercise.

Once a potential match has been found, we treat each registration on a case-by-case basis as we recognise that everyone’s living circumstances are different. If you live in a home without access to a garden, it doesn’t necessarily mean we won’t be able to find you a dog, but we want to be honest that it’s likely to be more difficult to find a match for you.

If we’re unable to find you a companion after three months, we’ll let you know and offer guidance to help you continue your search beyond Battersea.

After registering, we might ask for photos or videos of your home or garden. This is decided on a case-by-case basis, for example we may want to check that your garden is suitable to exercise an energetic dog. If you live in rented accommodation, we may ask you to provide written permission from your landlord or housing authority, confirming that they are happy for you to keep a pet in the property