You can provide the best description of their personality, pictures of them in a home setting, and know best what kind of home would be the best fit for them.

The best way to ensure they go to that ideal home is to rehome on your own. You can meet potential new families directly, get to know them and pass on any important information.

CRHS staff and volunteers work hard to ensure all animals in our care have a clean, safe place to stay, get plenty of socialization and enrichment, and receive the medical care they need while awaiting their new  homes. But as hard as we try, the shelter does not compare to a home. It’s stressful for pets to stay in a new place especially one full of unfamiliar sights, sounds, smells, people, and other animals.

As the stray holding facility for La Crosse County, Coulee Region Humane Society takes in any lost animal found within our county on top of animals surrendered to us (over 2,000 animals a year). It is always a precarious balance in ensuring that we have adequate space and resources available to provide the best possible care for those animals. If you choose to rehome your pet instead of bringing it to CRHS, you are saving a kennel for an animal that truly has nowhere else to go.

• How many adults live in your home?

• How many children live in your home and what are their ages?

• Do you own any other animals? If yes please list the species and number of each species.

• What experience do you have with this breed/type of pet?

• What are your reasons for wanting to adopt this pet?

• What characteristics and/or behaviors are you looking for?

• What concerns, if any, do you have about bringing this animal into your household?

• Are there any reasons you would surrender the pet to a shelter or rehome them?

• What characteristics and/or behaviors are you not willing to work with?

Reduces strain on animal shelters, easing overcrowding and allowing them to focus on critical cases.

Facilitates faster placement of pets into new homes, minimizing their time in shelters.

Enables personalized matches between pets and owners, considering the pet's needs and the owner's lifestyle.

Reduces stress for pets by minimizing transitions through a shelter environment.

Saves on shelter costs, allowing for more efficient allocation of resources.

Offers a supported option for rehoming, reducing the likelihood of pet abandonment in the community

Foster-Based rescues don’t have a physical building. Instead they are a network of citizens who open their homes to fostering animals while they await for adoption. This can provide a lot less stressful of an environment while that animal waits to find its new home than being at a facility because they are in a home setting. Although shelters like CRHS also have foster networks, they typically aren’t as large, meaning shelters must be selective about which animals they send into foster care.

Brick and Mortar animal shelters have a physical building where they primarily house the animals in their care, like Coulee Region Humane Society. This type of environment can be quite stressful for pets, as they are surrounded by unfamiliar animals, smells, and noises on top of being interacted with by unfamiliar. To pets it can seem similar to staying at a vet clinic to the vet. Oftentimes brick and mortar shelters have the added responsibility of acting as a stray holding facility. This also means that the availability of kennel space may be at the mercy of stray animals found and brought in by animal service officers or members of the public. This does not necessarily mean that any given rescue will have more availability, but it does mean that a shelter is more likely to be reserving resources for lost or stray pets, unforeseen medical emergencies or for people experiencing a housing crisis.on text goes here

It is important that you, the pet owner, do proper research to feel comfortable with where your pet is going. While you are reviewing the list of local options, and while you do any additional searching on your own, you may want to consider the following:

• Ideal options should be foster-based. This will provide an environment that is less stressful during your pet’s transition to a new home.

• Is the rescue a 501C (3)? This is a tax-exempt status assigned to credible non-profit organizations dedicated to a specific purpose, such as animal welfare. This designation is a good standard to look for in your search.

While euthanasia is always a last resort, it is a possibility for animals with medical conditions or behavior concerns that cannot be treated or managed in a shelter. If your pet falls into either of those categories or you are uncomfortable with the euthanasia policy, then rehoming on your own may be the best option. If you’d like to learn more about CRHS’s euthanasia policy, contact our staff at (608) 781-4014 or frontdesk@couleehumane.com

Legal Owner – The legal owner of the animal must be the one to perform the surrender. If necessary, the owner can also give permission over the phone or in writing for someone else to surrender their pet.

Age - You must be at least 18 years old to surrender an animal.

Identification - A driver’s license or state-issued ID is required.

Please bring all vet records to your surrender appointment.

Once the surrender appointment is complete, you will sign a legal document relinquishing ownership to the Coulee Region Humane Society.

Non-Wisconsin Residents - If you live out of Wisconsin, by law, you are required to have a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection (CVI) and a current rabies vaccination certificate for your animal before transporting him or her into the state. A CVI must be done at your vet clinic, in the state you reside in, before surrendering your pet.

Out-of-County Residents – We do require a $50.00 fee per animal for surrenders owned by out-of-county residents.

There is no fee for La Crosse County residents to surrender but monetary donations are greatly appreciated.

Please call us during regular business hours to get the process started (608) 781-4014.