To be considered as a guardian of these magnificant animals there are certain requirements that must be met. Your property must be fully fenced with fence height of 1.8 metres (consideration will be given to slightly lower heights if placement is for a senior, or a less active dog).

You must allow the dog access to your home. We will not, in any circumstances, place a dog in a home where it will be 100% outside. If you own a cat you must be realistic in your expectations of an early peaceful relationship. German Shepherds are high drive animals and it will take work for a cat and dog to live together harmoniously. If you have more than 2 house cats please do not even consider a German Shepherd, we feel it will cause too much stress for all concerned.

Dog's to order - while our adoption application does offer you colour and coat choice we do not 'rescue to order' so requests for large bone, dark masked, standard coat with guarantee on hip dysplasia and strong ear set are best directed to a breeder. Please consider the financial outgoings of owning a large breed dog.

Large breed dogs do create a financial outlay of around $1,500 per annum to feed, register, and vaccinate, without any other additional vet costs due to illness or accident. Many dogs are relinquished by their owners for this very reason. Please be sure you are in a financial position to be able to maintain a German Shepherd Dog.

Thank you for considering adopting a German Shepherd Dog, your application will be processed at our earliest opportunity.  Please be mindful that we are a volunteer organisation and it may be a couple of days until we are able to respond. In some cases messages do end up in spam so if you have not heard from us within a week please send an email direct to info@gsdrescue.org.nz so we can followup.