Resources
Running a rescue means answering the same handful of questions over and over — do I really have to license my dog, why does the vet keep testing for ticks, what does a rescue have to tell me before I adopt. These are the long answers, written down once.
Everything here is sourced. Where a rule comes from a New York statute or a state or federal agency, the link is in the text.
Since 15 December 2025 every shelter and rescue in the state that adopts out animals has to be licensed. What Article 26-C requires, what it means for fosters, and what an adopter is now entitled to be told.
The license from your town clerk, the rabies schedule the license depends on, the spay and neuter agreement for young puppies, and the quiet weeks a new dog needs to believe it is staying.
Blacklegged ticks carry Lyme disease, anaplasmosis and babesiosis, and in the Northeast they stay active on any day above freezing. Why tick prevention here is a twelve-month job.
It happens to good owners. The options in Saratoga County, in the order worth trying them, and what to have ready before you call a rescue or a shelter.
Getting one dog from intake to adoption, line by line: the exam, the vaccines, the tests, the surgery — and the part the adoption fee never covers.
Still stuck?
None of this replaces asking. If your question is not answered here, email us — and for anything medical, ask your vet, who knows your dog.
Every dog we save is paid for by donations and cared for by volunteers. ABC Animal Rescue Incorporated is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit — gifts are tax-deductible.