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FREE printable dog adoption kits
► Posted under FREEBIES, philanthropy by Heather
I might be a total cheeseball, but this year I really wanted to celebrate my dog’s birthday in some small way. And what better way to celebrate than with a free printable that honors adopted dogs, and the families who adopt them!
Read on for the whole story, or skip to the bottom to get the goods. ; )
Meet Charlotte
Although I just celebrated Charlotte’s birthday, it’s a bit of a guess as to how old she is (she’s six… ish). I do know for sure when I adopted her, though: April 5, 2008. At the time, I was regularly volunteering at a shelter. Although I wasn’t really looking for a dog of my own, I could tell Charlotte was special – and that being at the shelter was already getting to her. I took her home so she’d have a quiet place to stay until the next adoption day, and before I knew it she wasn’t going anywhere. She was meant to be with me! It was the best non-decision I ever made. : )
Since then, she has been by my side at every step – she’s my shadow, and I couldn’t lose her if I tried. She’s a heck of a swimmer, a lightening-fast sprinter, and can turn on a dime. She loves riding in the car but makes for an absolutely terrible passenger. She sits six inches from the fireplace all winter, sleeps all the way under the covers at night, and loves to eat kale (what kind of a dog loves kale?). She protects me against absolutely everyone whether I want her to or not (sigh). She can learn a new trick in a weekend or less, has never torn up a single thing in the house, ever, and has made enemies with deliverymen in more than one city. In short, she’s way more than I bargained for… and she’s everything to me.
Here she is, my incredibly loyal, intelligent, ornery, and absolutely-perfect-for-me dog:
Nothing makes me happier than seeing Charlotte wag that little bit of a tail! I love her so, and I’m proud that she’s an adopted dog. It was the right decision for me, and perhaps adopting a dog from a shelter or rescue was the right decision for you and your family, too. If that’s the case, Charlotte and I have a little gift for you. : )
Charlotte’s birthday gift to you: Free printable adoption kits!
If Charlotte could talk, she’d say: I was a shelter dog, and I’m a great dog, and I’d like to thank people who adopted other dogs like me.
But since she can’t talk (or type, or use graphic design software), I’m going to have to do the thanking for her – with a free printable adoption kit! It comes in both pink and blue, and it includes:
• Certificate of adoption (worded to be child- or family-friendly)
• Printable circles with a variety of phrases
• Recipe for dog treats
• Bag tags so that your dog can share the treats with their “friends” : )
If you download and use this kit, thank you – from the happy dog who’s watching me type this, and from me, too. : ) And, now that I’ve talked your ear off about Charlotte, I’d love to hear about your dog! Leave a comment and tell me all about them!
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Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 at 7:13 am
[...] are the printables collections from Chickabug in pink and blue. You can download them from her blog. How cute are [...] -
Monday, February 6th, 2012 at 1:10 pm
[...] (typeof(addthis_share) == "undefined"){ addthis_share = [];}When I designed free printable dog adoption kits last year, this is exactly the sort of happy celebration I was hoping they’d be a part of! [...] -
Friday, April 13th, 2012 at 3:52 pm
[...] FREE adoption certificate for any and all of your furry family members (available in blue or pink!) just click here. Get your downloading fingers & color printer ready. Before you know it, you’ll be [...] -
Thursday, June 7th, 2012 at 4:31 pm
[...] are the printables collections from Chickabug in pink and blue. You can download them from her blog. How cute are [...] -
Tuesday, July 17th, 2012 at 11:08 am
[...] cute free pintables for the adoption certificate can be found here, at the Chickabug [...] -
Friday, August 17th, 2012 at 10:49 am
[...] Download the FREE kit at the Chickabug blog. [...] -
Thursday, October 11th, 2012 at 10:21 am
[...] for cat lovers today: a free printable cat adoption kit! Since putting out my free printable dog adoption kit, I’ve received many requests for a cat adoption kit, too. How could I say no?! I’m a [...] -
Monday, October 15th, 2012 at 8:22 pm
[...] Dog adoption kits Chickabug. Share this:FacebookTwitterEmail [...] -
Sunday, February 3rd, 2013 at 1:45 pm
[...] For the collars, because the pups were so small, we bought hair rubber bands (again from the Dollar Tree) which worked great. I cut out circles of Shrinky Dink plastic with a hole punched and put out permanent markers for the kids to decorate a dog tag. After I shrunk them, I used little jewelry clasps to connect the collar to the tag. Each child could have an Adoption Certificate that I found here. [...] -
Tuesday, February 19th, 2013 at 11:27 am
[...] I had some sage advice to give her, but I don’t – I’m a proud mommy of precisely one dog. ; ) But, as I told Leah, I know a whole lot of women who do know what they’re doing when it [...] -
Monday, February 25th, 2013 at 2:47 pm
[...] Here’s birthday girl Ruthie, adopting a toy puppy and filling out his official adoption certificate. [...] -
Tuesday, February 26th, 2013 at 6:10 pm
[...] collections from Chickabug in pink and blue was a huge help. You can download them from her blog. I modified the printables found there for my daughters [...]
Brenda says:
Heather - this is so sweet! It brings a tear to my eye! What an adorable dog you have! Our dog (Max) had to go live with my husband's sister when we moved to Hawaii (we were afraid he was too old to "make" the flight). This makes me want to go adopt another one! Happy birthday to Charlotte!!
Heather - Chickabug says:
Thank you, Brenda!! For such a particular lil' mutt, Charlotte really is a cutie (although I could NOT be more biased). : ) I really feel for you that you couldn't bring your dog with you to Hawaii - that must have been SO difficult for you, I can only imagine!! Maybe this really is a sign that the time is right for a new pup? (I'm such an enabler, I know!) ; )
Jill {peasandthankyous} says:
Heather this is one of the greatest ideas I've seen! We just finished fostering 7 little puppies who were found at four weeks old, living under a car hood in the woods. We had them for six weeks and saw them through thick and thin and just loved them to pieces... especially the one who we adopted as our own : ) I can't wait to share this with the babies new moms and dads!! Happy birthday to your beautiful Charlotte!!
Heather - Chickabug says:
Oh Jill, I have to tell you, you brought tears to my eyes with your story. What a wonderful thing that you did for those puppies!! I know it's the hardest thing ever to let them go - it makes me smile BIG TIME that you kept one lucky pup! : )
Sara says:
Even my mom is hooked on your blog! She just told me to read this and it made me cry...sooo sweet! Charlotte is one lucky pup :)
This kit is such a great idea and so makes me want to adopt a 6th member to our fam...for now though we're set with our 9 lb shih tzu, Melanie. Thanks for the story, Heather, I'm definitely hanging onto this for the future!!
Heather - Chickabug says:
Aw, Sara!!! That is so super nice of you to say - and I can't believe your mom reads my blog! Not even MY mom reads my blog!! ; )
Emily Peak says:
Both of our dogs are from the Humane Society - Eddie and Tootsie. They are the BEST dogs I've ever had. They're pretty low-key, never really bark and love to snuggle. Of course they hog the bed, wake up early on the weekend (before the baby) and chase any bird, squirrel or bunny in our yard:0) But, we love them!!!
Heather - Chickabug says:
Eddie and Tootsie - those are perfect doggie names! They sound like feisty, LUCKY pups. : ) (Charlotte says she agrees about the whole bird, squirrel and bunny thing, too.... LOL!)
Maria Davis says:
I'm so excited to have found this!! You are going to laugh, but I'm actually using this for my DAUGHTER'S birthday party :) She wants a puppy themed party (she is a little puppy obsessed)! For the favors, I'm giving each child a stuffed puppy. I was going to try and create my own adoption certificates, but then I found this!!! So thrilled. Thank you!!!
(oh and I do have a dog who we adopted from a shelter five years ago (and she will be getting a bday party this year too) so I understand the love) ;)
Heather - Chickabug says:
That's so cute, Maria!! I didn't even think of using the set for a party (surprising, since I think about parties 99% of the time...). ; ) I hope your daughter and her friends love their adopted "puppies"! : )
R Potatoes says:
Absolutely love this! We adopted our Murphy 5 months ago. I am so printing one of these out for him!! XO XO XO
Rosecrystalcat says:
We have 7 animals (4 cats & 3 dogs) adopted from shelters & an 8th (another cat) that found us just last month when he was is bad shape. This is an increible story of Charlotte! We drove 5 hours each way for Courtney 6 years ago when we thought Kira wasn't going to make it through the summer...she did and loved her new puppy which brought out the puppy in her (7 yrs at the time).
Heather - Chickabug says:
What a wonderful rescue story!! That just warms my heart. It's so good to know that there are people out there who will go so far out of their way to rescue a dog in need. No wonder more animals keep finding you! ; )
Laceelola says:
Thank you
Michelle Chafin says:
These are adorable:) Provided me with an idea for Easter.
Aimee says:
I adore this! I am going to have to share this with my blog readers. Thank you for putting this together.
Heather - Chickabug says:
Thanks Aimee! I just checked out your blog - it's wonderful! I'd be so happy if you shared the adoption kit with your readers. : )
CJ Fraze says:
I absolutely love these!!! My best friend is a sponsor for the Cocker Spaniel rescue in DFW & makes something for all of the dogs that are adopted....GREAT!!!
Jennifer @ Double the Fun Parties says:
Hi Heather - This is so perfect! My parents had to put their sweet basset hound down last week, and just adopted a rescue dog yesterday. My girls and I are going to make a little surprise celebration for "nameless new dog" today. If I get any good photos, I'd love to share this on http://doublefunparties.com this week, if it's OK by you. Thanks again!
Heather says:
I would LOVE that Jennifer! Thank you!! You can see I really just took the quickest of photos for this post... to be able to see the kit used at a real "welcome party" would be so fantastic! : )
I hope the new pup is settling in, and that your parents are doing well. What a roller coaster of a week - I feel for them, in both their loss and their new happiness!
Jennifer @ Double the Fun Parties says:
You're so sweet! The little party meant the world to my mom. I'll have the photos up on Tuesday -- they aren't great; it was a pretty gloomy day. If it's OK, I'd love to include your images of the two collections -- they'll look better than my photos!
Heather says:
Please do include my pics if they would be useful! : ) Let me know when the post is up, I'd love to share it on facebook!
Debbie says:
We just adopted our Lil Boo, a 5 lb. Pomeranian, newly married, we each had lost our pets earlier, mine to cancer and his after being hit by a car. We love our Boo. Thank you for this printable, I can't wait to get it framed along with his picture! Debbie from the Northwest
Heather says:
What a cute name for a cute little dog! : ) Thanks for sharing your story, Debbie!
jennifer says:
so super cute!!!! do you have one for cats or kittens?? =)
Heather says:
Not yet, but that's a great idea! I'll put it on my list : )
erika says:
My daughter and I are part of an animal rescue association in Monterrey, Mexico. www.prodan.org.mx all parties are of animals and this year celebrates 9 and 5 to be part of PRODAN, thank you very much for sharing, the party stay beautiful because of you. Sorry 4 my spelling :S
Heather says:
That's so wonderful, Erika! I'm thrilled that you'll be using my printables for your party. Thank you! : )
Kaitlin says:
Oh I so absolutely just died over this. First off, Charlotte is a stunner, what a lovely lady! Both of my boys are adopted, and I was a shelter worker for six years. I blog about dogs, and absolutely promote adoption. This was such a bright spot in my day, thank you!
Julie @White Lights on Wednesday says:
Hi Heather! I made the Pea-Mutt Butter Treats for our English Bulldog Maggie last night and she loves them! Thanks so much for the recipe.
I'm featuring your recipe and printable on my blog today. :)
http://whitelightsonwednesday.blogspot.com/2012/02/pea-mutt-butter-dog-treats-for-maggie.html
Heather says:
Thank you so much Julie!! I LOVE the feature (and Maggie)! : )
Kim Jackson says:
I love this! Perfect for my daughter's 6th birthday puppy adoptathon party. Thank you!
Laura says:
We just adopted Darcy from the pound a few days ago. I can't say enough good things about adopting. I am grinning ear to ear right now while your prints are downloading. Thank you so much for sharing. She is our first adoption and she is the sweetest best thing!
Heather says:
Congratulations Laura!! Aw! How exciting for you and for Darcy (who is SO cute btw). I'm totally grinning ear to ear now, too! : )
Lisa Blendowski says:
Heather, I just stumbled across this and am IN LOVE! I have been in dog rescue for the past three years and this is perfect!!!! THANK YOU FOR SHARING!
Heather says:
Thanks Lisa!!! To have these end up in the hands of a dog rescuer is just fantastic! And BTW, I checked out your blog, and your pups are gorgeous. Lucky dogs! : )
Carmel Leyland says:
What a fantastic idea you adoption certificates are, my granddaughter is adopting a little dog tomorrow and this was just the kind of thing I was looking for, I want her to enjoy her little dog for the rest of it's life so I think it is important that she understands this is a real commitment, so we have drawn up a contract that has promises that she has to make to Princess Lola ( previous owner named her) and she has to sign it and agree before the adoption is finalized.
Thank you so much, We will help and guide Rosie with her new life time friend and we will make sure she is a loving and understanding owner.
Heather says:
That's so wonderful Carmel!! Congratulations to Rosie AND to Princess Lola. She's a lucky dog to find her way into your family! : )
lemondedis says:
dites... y'a pas les mêmes pour chats ?!?... mon chat est tout déçu !... il y a bien quelques petites choses que je vais pouvoir utiliser pour lui, mais on aurait aimé un "vrai" kit "chat" !... sinon, j'adore ce site, et votre action pour des causes auxquelles j'adhère totalement (prévention du cancer du sein, adoption animale...)
Heather says:
There will be a cat kit coming soon! : )
Natalie says:
Love these but cant get it to open. Am I doing something wrong? I click on the download link and its blank. Appreciate any help please! :) Thanks so much in advance.
Heather says:
Hi Natalie! It should open right up when you click to download. I'll email you!
Lilly says:
I have tried and tried to open this file but all i keep getting is a blank page, am I doing something wrong? Thanks
Leah says:
Hi Lilly! I just emailed you! : )
Lisa says:
Thanks for the certificates. Our Huskies Kal and Lena had six puppies. All but one are going to be rehomed ( a little sad cause we've grown so attached to them) but realistically we can't keep a total of 8 dogs especially of this breed in our city home. I wanted to include an adoption certificate for the new owners to go along with their new puppy packages when they take their bundle of fur home. Thanks for these. They are great!
holly says:
i wanted to open these and type the kids and dogs name on the sheet, but its asking for a pdf password to do so. :( these are adorable
Victoria says:
Hi! I am not adopting a dog, however I am throwing my daughter a "puppy party" and they are stuffing their own puppies so these are going to be perfect. Thank you so much!
Heather says:
That's so sweet! I REALLY love puppy parties where you can adopt a toy puppy - I think it's a good lesson to sneak in with all the fun! ; )
Linda says:
I love your adoption kit. I have 5 dogs, 3 from Freecycle and 2 from animal shelter. I donot need 5 dogs, but so glad to have given them a forever home.
Heather says:
Aw : ) Isn't that how it goes? They keep finding their way home, I know! I would have a whole pack by now if Charlotte would be able to get along with other dogs in the house. But she's definitely meant to be an "only child"!
Mimi says:
These printables are perfect for my daughter's "Dog Rescue" 8th birthday party next week. The kids will each be adopting a stuffed animal puppy from our "rescue center." They'll also be making the dog treats and then we're donating the treats to our local Humane Society. Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful resources!
Heather says:
That's so wonderful Mimi!! I love the idea of making the treats at the party and then donating them. That's just so great : )
Heather says:
This is great! But wheat flour is bad for dogs. They need a gluten free recipe. I wonder if you could substitute brown rice flour instead?
Heather says:
You can, yes! Or garbanzo bean flour, that's better than rice.
Heather says:
I wonder if you could make a similar certificate to present to the foster family? It's so rewarding to foster, knowing that the perfect home has been found for the dog! I'd love to use this certificate for the adopting family but would also love one to give to the foster family that's letting the dog go. They are truly the bridge!
Heather says:
That's a nice idea!
Mrs.Charlie Williams says:
Oh my Heather! Charlotte is adorable!!
Our stories are almost the same. I had just put in an order & was cruising your pages & saw this. My husband is a Veterinarian & we got a call a year-n-half ago from someone that told me about a puppy that was being abused by a family, including the children. She wanted to know if I would come get him if she could get to him.
He would come to her house to be fed. I told her You BET I will! I jumped in my car & raced over there, praying the whole way that she could gain his trust. She did, & I finally got him to come to me after about an hour & put him in my car & took him to the clinic.
His name is Bandit, this was the name the original family gave him. He's a mix of Jack Russell & maybe Yorkie/Terrier , we're not really sure. He weights 16 lbs. & now is 4 years old.
I spent about 4 hours with him that night at the clinic. I wanted to bring him home with me so bad, but I already had 2 dogs here & one of them (English Bulldog) does NOT like other dogs,only Miller,(another rescue) who he grew up with. He was very aggressive with others. BTW, we tried every way we know how to stop him from being that way, but nothing worked.
It broke my heart to leave him that night, but every night after that I spent EIGHT months of going to the clinic every night & spending several hours with him. During the day he was able to stay in the Secretaries office. But when she left at 5:30pm every day, I knew he would just be in a cage.
The 1st day I picked him up, my husband ran bloodwork on him & we gave him his shots. We found out that he had Heartworms! They had not been giving him heartworm pills. That was Not good news. We knew it was not going to be an absolute that we could get rid of them. During the first 2 weeks, he stole my heart & everybody else that works there. We had to start the treatment & pray he would be healed.
He unfortunately, had a bad reaction to the treatment & it darn near killed him, but he's s little fighter. Because of that, we had to wait several months before we could try it again but this time with some different meds to help & again praying the heartworms wouldn’t kill him before we could start them again.
We were told that he was around 2 years old at that time. He had been adopted by these cruel people. The kids would pick him up & throw him on the ground. He was chained in the yard, yelled at & mistreated so badly. To this day, he's scared to be picked up & it scars him to death if somebody raises their voice. When football season was here, we would yell at the TV & he would VERY quietly ease out of the room with his tail tucked between his legs.
This just broke my heart! I told my husband, we are not going to be able to yell at the TV ANYMORE. And how are we going to do that? lol
Where my story relates to yours is, because of the heartworms, we had to get him well before we could adopt him out. We wanted to be SURE he was getting everything he needed. This process took 8 months! And during that time, one of the other Dr.'s there kept asking me, "When are you going to find him a home Charlie"? For some reason, in the back of my mind, I knew he was going to come home with me. I don't ever remember thinking that he wouldn't till he asked me that.
It then hit me, I CAN"T let him go home with ANYONE else. No one would take care of him like I do. That's when I knew he had worked his way into my heart. Like you said ,"It was the best non-decision I ever made."
My English Bulldog who was my baby, passed away. He was 12 years old. A few weeks after he died, I knew it was time to give Bandit a home. I had to get him out of that into a home. I was so torn up about the loss of my Bosley, but I knew I had to do something for Bandit & it was time. I was either gonna have to give him to someone else or bring him home with me.
He is my shadow & my heart. He’s soooo smart & loves to watch TV. He’ll sit & watch a whole animated movie with you. lol. He’s had a ruff little life but gets spoiled rotten now.
Our other sweet little rescue Miller belonged to my mother & when she passed away, we kept him. He’s a Shih Tzu/Terrier Mix & now is 14 years old.
He also, was a rescue that someone brought into the clinic & told us, they wanted to put him to sleep, because they were told they couldn’t have an animal where they lived. He was a 6 month old puppy! People can be so crazy! My mom wanted a puppy so we took him to her & he was her joy for the last 2 years of her life. Now he’s ours
I just want to say Thank You for doing such a wonderful thing for the adopted animals with the printable's & your adoption. You are a good soul & I loved your story!! <3
Heather says:
Oh, this is the sweetest story Charlie!! Thank you for sharing it with me! I got teary-eyed reading about Bandit's hard life and then the wonderful new life he has now with you. : ) Just beautiful. He won the doggie lottery when he found you and your family and my heart is just bursting to think about how happy he must be. : ) I think rescued dogs KNOW they are lucky, they really do!
Emily says:
Thank you so much for making these, they are adorable. As a dog lover, mom to 2 rescued yorkies & a volunteer dog rescuer (through United Yorkie Rescue,) I really appreciate you posting your story & advocating for shelter dogs. If only more people would adopt from a shelter or a rescue. So many amazing dogs just waiting for a family to call their own.
Thank you for adopting Charlotte. Happy birthday Charlotte! Here's to many more happy & healthy years. <3
Heather says:
Thank YOU for all you do!! I'm such a fan of breed-specific rescues since there's that (totally outdated) idea you can't adopt a purebred. Obviously, purebreds show up at shelters ALL the time, and rescues like yours go the extra mile for breeds in need. Big wags and kisses from Charlotte to you and your pups! : D
Sandra says:
Thank you so much for the free things here. I LOVE LOVE the free dogie things .
Heather says:
Thanks Sandra! : )