Surrender Prevention
Part of being a responsible pet owner is committing to care for your pets for the duration of their life. Sometimes pet owners experience challenging behaviors in their pets or temporary personal hardships – making pet owners consider giving their pet up to the HSHA as a result.
Before turning to this option, consider contacting us for guidance and reviewing the information below to discover possible solutions to the problem. But, if you are forced to give up your pet, HSHA encourages you to make every effort to find it a new home with a family member, friend, co-worker, or other caring person.* Please exhaust all possible options before coming to HSHA.
*Please note, for any pet(s) previously adopted from HSHA, a signed contract was completed at the time of adoption, stating that the pet(s) would be returned to HSHA if the adopter could no longer keep them. Please contact our Intake Center at 717-564-3320 option 4 to schedule a time to return the pet(s)
Consider these resources, tips, and tricks to prevent surrendering your animal to the shelter:
- Call your local vet or contact our Veterinary Resource Center to make sure any unwanted behaviors are not a result of a medical condition/issue.
- HSHA’s Pet Food Bank
- Low-Cost Vaccine Clinics
- Visit our Resource Library for valuable information
- Try GoodPups Virtual Training. You will receive one free week of virtual training and a plan will be customized to you and your pet’s needs.
- Home2Home Animal Adoption. Keep animals out of the shelter through this online interactive pet placement platform that helps pet owners find new homes for their pets.
- If you are experiencing domestic violence or are displaced from a natural disaster, please review information on our SafeHaven program for temporary pet placement.
If you have exhausted all options, please see information on surrendering your pet: