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I looked around the shelter, found my Puffy, filled an application out and had to have my landlord agree in writing, then the shelter dropped her at the vet's for sterilization and I picked her up. I paid for the sterilization (which was not necessary but that's another story) and got a big discount on the adoption fee because of that.

I also adopted another dog where I had to have a home visit! But I was approved

I think mostly these are barriers they put up to discourage those who are not truly motivated! I wouldn't worry too much about half-assing your "application".

Mine was somewhere in between. I found my dog at a rescue group through petfinder.com, emailed and filled out a brief application, then went and met the lady in charge of the rescue group and met my pup. She did bring his crate to our apartment before I picked him up, but after I met, so she could see where he would live (this was NYC, so clearly no yard required!). She was supposed to do a follow up visit 2 weeks later to see how he was doing but that never ended up happening. There was no reference check or anything, but I think she went heavily based on her gut instincts from meeting me-- if I'd seemed off, she may have called my references.

Our county runs a shelter and has a list online of all the available pets. You get in, take a number, and then let the clerk know which kennel you want to see (you can walk around and look at dogs in the kennels while you wait). Then they put you in a fenced off area to bond with the dog, and you can either look at another one or adopt this one.

It ends up costing $200+ if you get a dog that hasn't been fixed yet, but we have had amazing luck so far! Both of our pups are pound puppies and they are amazing. Never have had an accident in the house, and are both semi-trained.

We found our pup on petfinder.com. He was posted there through a small local rescue, but he was living with a foster family who found him. We filled out an application, and the foster mom called us and asked some questions. We had to put the phone number of our vet, landlord, etc. but I'm not sure if she called all those places. Then when his foster mom agreed to let us adopt him, we paid a $75 adoption fee and he was ours!

We got our pup from the Humane Society. We stopped in "just to look" and fell in love with a chubby puppy. In order to adopt him our landlord (my mom, ha!) had to approve, and the other dog that lived in the house had to come to the shelter to meet the puppy while being supervised by a dog behavior specialist. We took him home that day!

We applied with a local pug rescue (long questionnaire) and then did a phone screen, home visit and then and initial meeting with our pup. Once we decided we wanted to bring him home we paid the fee and got him. They checked in on us through email for a couple months. It was with the extra steps because 1. We knew we were giving a good home to a dog that really needed it. 2. He had already been to the vet, had shots and was given a clean bill of health. No surprise health conditions after we got him home.

Good luck! I think rescuing/adopting pets is so rewarding!

I only adopted my littlest cat. Basically the process went like this:

Arrive at local animal control
Ask to see the kittens
Get let into the cat cage
Get mauled by kittens
Fell in love with the runt
They boxed her up for me
Said the fee was $10 for adoption
Said they couldn't break a $100 so they gave her to me for free

Went home and she's been a perfect fit for our family. We lucked out but she is the sweetest, snuggliest cat ever. And she always has a smug look on her face like she's owned us forever. Good luck adopting

I've adopted two cats, one from the Humane Society and one from a rescue organization. Our dog came from a breeder.

Humane Society-filled out application, showed a copy of my apartment lease showing pets were permitted, walked around and found my kitty. We bonded in an individual room then I picked him up the next day (he had to be micro-chipped before I could take him home and they couldn't do that until the next day).

Rescue group-filled out application and took kitty home the next day (I could have taken him home that day but my schedule didn't work for that)

Breeder-filled out online application including past pet history/description of house & yard/etc, went to meet the breeder and puppy in person, took puppy home once she was ready to leave mom

We also found a dog we wanted (before the one from the breeder) from a rescue group outside of a pet store and tried to adopt it but they wouldn't allow us because we lived in a different city.