Section Six: Documentation

Regardless of whether or not you choose to be a 501c3, you'll still need to document everything you do.  Once you've taken on any responsibility for an animal, it's your responsibility for the rest of your life!  Because of that you'll want to keep a log of every single animal you've come in contact with through your rescue.  Every single animal will need it's own file.  Every single file should contain a form stating where it came from (shelter name, owner name and address with owner surrender form, or stray and where and when you found it as well as the means of listing it as found), any medical care it received, an intake information form stating the condition of the animal when it came in, and the ultimate location the animal went to.  Even if you have animals with terminal illnesses or that pass from injuries or accidents, log it and keep it!

Among the multiple forms you'll need to write and keep are:

• Intake form - this form will give the date and location an animal came from, the animal's species, breed, guesstimated age, weight, breed or mix, sex, altered status on intake, color and markings, fur type and length, and the name you've given it or that it came in with. I highly recommend adding in the condition / status report to this as well that lists a place for you to fill out any injuries that are present, any scars the pet may have, whether the pet is over, under or at ideal weight, any dental issues that are obvious, behavior / temperament issues that are observed, etc.  
• Medical form - this form will have the basic info on the dog (name, breed, sex, age, markings / color, etc) as well as lines to document dates and dosages for dewormings, heartworm and flea / tick preventative doses, combo and rabies vaccines along with the rabies certificate information (date, vet name and certificate number), any treatment or procedures done by the vet, etc.  This form will be copied and the original will be given to the new owner when adopted.  My form has a space at the bottom for the ultimate disposition of the animal (adopters info, or if death the reason and date and attach all medical forms as documentation, transferred to another rescue, etc).  This is also the form you'll attach the sticky labels from the combo vaccines to.
• Owner surrender form - make sure you fill out everything on this form, have the owner sign it, have a witness for you sign it if possible, write the owner's ID number or attach a photo of the ID that you took, and if you can, download photo of pet with owner to your computer and print it out and staple to the form.  This information and documentation will be your proof that the owner gave you the dog, so there can't be too much information on here!
• Transfer form - It's common for rescues to transfer dogs between each other.  We're in an area with a LOT of hounds that are homeless.  Sadly, finding adopters for them here is nearly impossible.  They can get one from the local on line site, so why would they adopt one from a rescue?  However, there are many great rescues up north that love the hound breeds and have approved adopters waiting for them.  I highly recommend reaching out to northern rescues.  Let them know you'd like to help the high kill shelters here and pull dogs for them and send them up.  We can vet them much cheaper too and if we can find volunteer transporters we can send them highly adoptable dogs at a tiny fraction of what it costs them up there.  It saves a lot of lives.  In doing so, you'll want to have a transfer form.  It needs to list the basic info on the dog, list your rescue and the rescue it's going to.  Make sure it says you're transferring ownership of the dog to the new rescues and that you've disclosed all information regarding the pet's health and temperament and are not liable for any medical or behavioral issues after transfer.  Keep this copy with a copy of the intake and medical form in your files and send the originals with a COPY of the transfer to the new rescue.  You always keep the original transfer form.
• Adoption application - This is the very first step any new adopter will take in bringing home one of your foster pets.  There are multiple applications on line and many rescues will happily share a copy of theirs with you.  After I've completed the entire course outline here I'll start to load my forms as well.  You're welcome to copy it and make any alterations to fit your rescue.
• Adoption contract - This will outline what you expect of the new owner.  Like the application, you'll keep the original in your file with a copy of the medical form and the original intake form.  New adopters DO NOT need the intake form unless you choose to give it to them.  I never sent it to adopters, only to rescues if transferring.  

As I screened adopters, I also printed out emails and other forms of communication and had a spot on the bottom of my application where I could keep notes about phone conversations, documenting dates and times and who I spoke with to confirm vet information, landlord confirmation, etc.  

Over time there will be other forms you'll develop.  I had them for my foster homes, my shelter coordinator, transporters as well as transport cover sheets and fax cover sheets.  But the ones listed above are a good start.  Again, I'll create the forms on here after the course outline is done and you're all welcome to copy those and edit them in any way for your own rescue.