Where are you located?

We do not have a physical facility and operate entirely out of foster homes in the Rockville, Maryland area.

How can I contact you?

We are 100% volunteer-based and have zero paid staff. All our volunteers work full-time jobs and have lives and families of their own, so we ask for your patience in hearing from us. The best way to contact us is to email at info@keytolionsheart.org!

Where do you adopt to?

Because we require potential adopters travel to us to meet their dog of choice prior to adopting, we are only able to complete local adoptions. We adopt to Maryland, Virginia, DC, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. We can adopt to other East Coast states on a case-by-case basis.

How can I meet your adoptable dogs?

We arrange private meet and greets with approved adopters. If you are not yet an approved adopter, you are welcome to attend one of our adoption events to meet some of our available dogs.

What is your adoption process?

Our adoption process consists of an online application, background check, two personal reference checks, landlord/HOA check if applicable, veterinary check if applicable, phone screening, and virtual home visit. Once all these steps have been completed you will receive tentative approval to adopt, pending an in-person meet and greet with your dog of choice.

What are your requirements for adopting?

We require all adopters be at least 23 years old, enroll their new dog in professional training within 3 months of adoption, and spay/neuter their dog if adopting a puppy under 6 months old. If you have current pets in the home, all must be spayed/neutered, up to date on their core vaccines, heartworm test, and annual wellness exam, and receive monthly heartworm and flea/tick prevention. Electric fences are approved on a case by case basis and will be discussed during our application process. If a you have a pool on your property, we do require a secure fence or secured safety cover to ensure the safety of any adopted dog.

What are your adoption fees?

Our adoption fees vary based on the age of dog you are adopting. All our available dogs are up-to-date on age-appropriate vaccines, altered if age-appropriate, dewormed, microchipped, and receive monthly heartworm and flea/tick prevention.

• Puppies under 6 months: $400

• Adults 6 months - 7 years: $350

• Seniors 7+ years: $250

I submitted my online application, now what?

Congratulations, you’ve taken the first step to adopting! Our team is entirely volunteer-based, so we ask for your patience as we begin to process your application. You will hear from a volunteer within one week of submitting your application. Please notify your references that we will be contacting them via email. If you do not receive an email within one week of applying, please check your spam mailbox to ensure you haven’t missed our communication. You can also email info@keytolionsheart.org to check on the status of your application at any time.

I am approved to adopt, but am going out of town for the weekend. Can you hold the dog for me?

Unfortunately we cannot hold dogs for any reason. We are entirely foster-based, so holding an already adopted dog in a foster home prevents another shelter dog in need from taking that foster spot. We ask that you wait to schedule any meet and greets until you are 100% prepared to take the dog home.

What breed is this dog and how big will it get?

We are not breed experts by any means! The breed identification of our dogs is based solely on our judgement and best guess. We make no guarantee on the breed of our dogs. Similarly, we cannot know how big our puppies will be full-grown. If we know both or at least one of their parents it helps our assessment, but unfortunately we don’t always get that luxury. We ask that you keep an open mind if you are interested in adopting a puppy. If you are set on a certain size of dog, you probably want to consider an adult dog instead.

I’d like to foster-to-adopt to make sure the dog is a good fit for my home. Can I do that?

Unfortunately we do not have a foster-to-adopt program. Our fosters are able to adopt their foster dog, but we cannot hold the dog or prioritize the foster over other adopters. Fostering is integral to our operation and simply put, we cannot continue saving dogs without committed fosters!