Explanation of Filter Categories

Please bear in mind, the majority of our dogs are in shelters and pounds in the Republic of Cyprus. Testing our dogs are good with cats, dogs, children is only a guide and they will need careful introductions with all residents.

Good with Cats

We do rehome our dogs to home with cats, but please bear in mind the environment they are being tested in. It is not always an accurate assessment of whether a dog is good with cats when they are tested in a shelter with a lot of other distractions and also the dog may be quite stressed in the shelter environment. They usually need to be tested while on a lead, for the safety of the cat, which can also affect the accuracy of the test. Also dogs can act very differently outside compared to living in a home with a cat.

It is also dependent on the resident cat, how confident they are around dogs, and whether they have lived with dogs before.

Whatever we have advised regarding the cat testing or previous experience the dog has had with cats, careful integration with cats is vitally important to keep the resident cat safe and to ensure a successful adoption.

We have filters on our website to help you decide which dogs might be suitable if you have resident cats:

Has lived with cats – This is for dogs who have either lived with cats before, has socialised with cats or we are more sure they will be fine living with cats.
Has passed a cat test at the shelter – This is for dogs who have passed a cat test carried out specifically to assess their reaction to cats, but they have not actually lived with cats before.
Unknown – The dog has no previous experience that we are aware of and has not had a cat test, but we can perform one on request.
No – The dog has failed a cat test.

Good With Children

We do rehome our dogs to homes with children, we will categorise the age of children we would consider rehoming the dog with based on previous experience around children. Some may have lived in foster or in previous homes with children. Some may have met children at the shelter. We do our best to give as much information on their experience around children and categorise them accordingly.

Over 5 – We would place this dog with children over the age of 5 years, they should have had interactions with young children previously.
Over 12 – We would place this dog with older children, this may be purley due to lack of exposure to younger children, or the dog may be nervous, or they may be bouncy or large and a risk of knocking the child over.
If you have younger children than 5 years old it is always worth dropping us an email to see if we do have any dogs ok with younger children.

Good with Dogs

We assess all our dogs at the shelter as to whether they are good with dogs. They get as much chance to socialise with other dogs as possible when they are let out of their enclosures. Some do share enclosures with other dogs.

Some dogs may be good with female dogs or male dogs, or may be good with all dogs. It is always best to speak with your adoption coordinator about your resident dogs and how the dog you are interested in is with your type of dog.

As with cats, even with dog friendly dogs, careful first interactions are so important.

Age Groups

All our dogs have estimated dates of birth as the majority of them are found as strays and we do not know their exact age. In the filtering:

Puppies – Under 1 year (possibly will be un-neutered if too young)
Youngsters – 1-3 years
Adults – 3-7 years
Oldies – 7+years

Size

The size of the dog is not always easy to give an exact estimate, especially with young puppies when the breed mix is unknown. We use weight as a rough guide, although we will adjust based on height as well. The rough guide for the size categories:

Small – Up to 10kg
Medium – 10-25kg
Large – 25-40kg
Very Large – 40+kg

Adoption Fee

The adoption fee differs across the different shelters based on the costs involved for the shelter to prepare their dog for adoption. For example, dogs from Ayia Napa Pound have some of the vet preparation costs covered by the Pound and the adopter pays only for the Brucellosis Canis blood test and the flight costs. Also some dogs have sponsors so their adoption fee is lower to help try and find the dog a home.