Westville, Indiana
Contact before visiting
Confirm visiting arrangements and animal availability directly. Some rescues use foster homes, appointments, or a mailing address rather than a public shelter.
About this organization
Giant Paw Prints Rescue is an all-volunteer dog rescue founded in 2012. Its work centers on rescuing dogs, helping them recover and matching them with homes that can meet their needs. The rescue works with foster families and has a Dog House used in its care and socialization work. Current dog stories describe shelter transfers, medical recovery and individual behavior needs; an animal’s care or alteration may still be in progress. Community donations support food, veterinary treatment and other care. The organization publishes its contact locality as Westville.
How adoption works
Apply through the rescue’s own adoption page. Applicants must be 21 or older. The process includes an interview, veterinarian and three personal-reference checks, a home visit and a meeting with family and resident pets. Only one reference may be family; none may live with you or share a household with another reference, and all three must be reached. Renters need a landlord letter allowing the type of dog. Resident pets must be vaccinated, on heartworm and flea/tick prevention, and altered, with a veterinarian-verified medical exception to alteration. Authorize the veterinarian to release records; an unverifiable veterinary reference stops processing. Dogs whose history is unknown are not placed with children under 12; individual dogs may have additional limits. The form describes initial processing as days to a week, while the adoption page allows 2–4+ weeks for the full process. If there is no response after 2–3 weeks, the application likely is not being considered for that dog; submit a new application for a different dog. Published fees are $400 for adults and puppies over six months, with a $10.50 Square card-processing charge, and $500 for younger puppies. Those puppies must be altered at six months; veterinary proof earns a $100 refund. Confirm the fee at the exact six-month boundary and what care is complete. The application asks about care, training, exercise, household agreement and follow-up visits; it is nonbinding, does not guarantee placement and includes a liability release. Ask for the final adoption agreement and any return, trial or other refund terms before committing.
Meeting the animals
Contact the rescue about a particular dog and arrange the meeting through its application process. The team assesses interaction with the family and other pets, and every adopter receives a home check. Although the site describes a Dog House and a meet-and-greet room, the reviewed pages do not publish general walk-in adoption hours or establish a visitor entrance. Confirm the meeting location and time before traveling. Westville 46391 is the rescue’s current own-site contact locality; this approximate postal map does not identify a foster home or a promised public entrance.
Areas served
Adoptions are matched within a reasonable distance so volunteers can meet the family and pets and perform home checks. The rescue says these requirements can be difficult for homes farther away than Indiana, Illinois or Michigan; this is a travel and matching qualification, not an absolute three-state rule. Ask about your location before applying. Its Visit with Rivet outreach page invites local Valparaiso and Westville inquiries for free rescue-awareness visits, usually evenings or Saturdays; confirm current availability because the page’s dog-age narrative is not dated.
Services
Dog adoption, recruited fostering and volunteering. Fostering is free, with food, toys and veterinary bills covered by the rescue. The full foster application requires age 21+, an interview, veterinary and three reference checks, and a home visit. Its household question says children must be over 12; clarify this before applying. Foster references have the same one-family-member and separate-household limits as adoption references. The form asks about household agreement, landlord contact, current pets, exercise, containment, medication, veterinary transport and adoption events; it does not state a universal fence requirement. Foster dogs are not guaranteed housebroken; be prepared to train them with love and patience. Placement is not guaranteed. False answers or noncompliance can lead to forfeiture of the foster dog, and the agreement assigns handling responsibility and includes a liability release. If fostering must end, return the dog to the rescue and try to provide two weeks to find another foster. Young volunteers must be at least 16 with a legal-guardian waiver. Roles include feeding and grooming, kennel care, application/reference review, home checks, transport, events and administration; use the linked volunteer application and confirm role requirements. The separate Visit with Rivet program offers free local community outreach about rescued dogs, subject to current availability. HUGS donations support the rescue’s own dogs; rescue veterinary preparation, food and alteration are not presented as a public clinic or pet-food pantry.