Reference checks done? Check! Home visit done? Check! Applicant is not a horse’s patootie? Check! Everyone in agreement they should get the dog? Check! Now for the biggie – the Final Approval. This sets the stage for sending the contract, getting the adoption fee paid and getting the dog on its way to the new home.

Once the applicant has moved on to this stage:

1. Log into the back end of your website and then select Dog Adopters:
2. The Submitted tab comes up first, so you are going to want to select the Initial Approval tab, since that was the last step done. ), find the application you are wanting to review, then click on it. Once there, select the applicant.
3. That will bring up the application.
4. The applicant’s Time Line will now have an entry for final approval. It looks and acts just like all the others, but will pull in the email which your admin has set up for this final step.If this application is for a dog to be matched up with the adopter later, you are done! Once the applicant selects a dog you can note it on the dog’s screen and send the contract. (See our cheat sheet “Using the Contract Module.”)
5. There you will see an Add Dog section where you can select the dog you want to adopt out from the drop-down box of available dogs.
6. Once selected, the dog’s profile blurb will appear just to make sure you have the right dog and for future reference. If you scroll down past that just a bit, you will see the Send Contract buttons. If you hit yes, then the email crafted by your admin will appear (you can make any changes you want).
7. If all is well and good in the world, once you click the Adopt Out [Name of Dog] button, the contract will go winging its way to the adopter!

Now you can sit back and relax while the adopter fills out the contract and sends it back to you! Maybe meditate on how much time you just saved not having to complete, print out and get the contract to the adopter! And think of the trees that haven’t been killed with all the paper work! More of them now for Fido to lift his leg on while taking a walk with him.

What the next steps are when rescue receives the contract back is covered in our “Using the Contract Module.”