FAQ's

Time, patience and a lot of tender loving care will be vital to ensure your new adopted dog settles into their new home and environment. Our adoption team will talk you through what you can expect, and provide ample resources and advice to help you settle in your new arrival. 

Rescue dogs are incredibly adaptable, and we’ve been delighted to watch our dogs take to their new lives across the world with such joy and resilience. Our team have extensive experience matching dogs to the right home, helping to make the settling in phase as seamless as possible: but if you do experience any issues, we will be happy to refer you to one of our recommended behaviourists in the UK if needed. 

We pride ourselves on our in-depth knowledge of all the dogs in our care, and are committed to providing honest and transparent information. It is nobody’s best interest for us to lie – this would simply set the dog up for failure, and would lead to lots of unhappy adopters!  

We will always be upfront about any known behavioural traits and will only ever place dogs in homes where the adopter is fully aware of and prepared for specific characteristics that may need to be considered while they adjust to life in a new home. 

What’s more, if there’s a specific element of your lifestyle that may need catering for (for example, a family with young children), we will do our best to prepare and familiarise your dog with this prior to their leaving the shelter. We take our adoption responsibilities seriously. 

It’s hugely important that adopters enter into the journey of rescuing a former street dog with healthy expectations. For a rescue dog to thrive in their new life, they require patience, care and consistency. It may take your dog time to adjust to their new surroundings, no matter how easy-going their true nature, and you may not see their full personality emerge for a little while. This is what makes adopting a dog so special and uniquely rewarding: whether it takes days or months to form, the bond between rescue dog and adopter is one built on mutual trust, compassion and understanding. 

We pride ourselves on our street-to-sofa adoption service and take great care to prepare our dogs for their new lives before they leave the shelter. All dogs are given collar-and-lead training, and we enjoy teaching them basic commands (or more complex tricks to our eager learners!) Your dog will be toilet-trained in their current kennel/farm environment – fair warning, however, this doesn’t always translate to house-training! That said, we find most of our dogs pick this up within a matter of weeks. 

With a team of full-time staff living round the clock at The Farm, and a number of regular visitors and volunteers, our dogs have ample opportunity to interact and make friends with different people. They’re also able to socialise safely with other dogs on The Farm, thanks to the ‘bubble system’ we have in place. This means there is far less risk of fighting and territorial behaviour than in most large shelters; the living environment on The Farm encourages them to build good habits around dogs of all ages. 

However, please be aware that shelter life is rarely best suited to a domestic dog’s needs and large numbers of dogs living together are more prone to squabbles and scraps. We’re always on hand to break up fights on the odd occasions they arise but you should be aware that, coming from a shelter environment, your dog may need time and training to help them adjust to life in a home and learn perfect pet etiquette. 

Yes! All Jai Dogs are microchipped prior to travel. You’ll simply need to register your dog’s microchip to your name once they’ve arrived, for which we’ll provide instructions. 

Yes! Your dog will have been administered their full course of vaccinations against diseases including: parvovirus, distemper, hepatitis, parainfluenza and leptospirosis.  

All our dogs receive a TITER test, an antibody blood test which confirms the absence of a wide number of diseases, including rabies. They are also administered with tapeworm treatment, and all medical paperwork will be officially endorsed prior to travel. Prior to travel, each dog will also receive a 4Dx snap test which tests for six vector-borne diseases, which includes heartworm, lyme, ehrlichia and anaplasma. If tested positive, your dog will be treated with a course of antibiotics to clear the infection. 

We regularly treat our dogs for worms, ticks and fleas at the shelter: however, please be aware that no flea / tick treatment is 100% effective. Your dog will arrive with their full vaccination and medication record. Rest assured that your dog will have been thoroughly vet-checked and treated before they fly to ensure they’re ready to start their new lives in the best possible health.  

We feel it our duty to also make every adopter aware of Leishmaniasis, a parasite inflection spread by flies. While there is little-to-no evidence of dogs catching Leishmaniasis from Thailand and the disease is mainly found in Southern Europe or anywhere warm where there are sandflies present, we recommend that all applicants read up on the disease in case you plan to take your dog abroad. While it’s an uncurable disease, dogs can live happy long lives with Leish on life-long treatment. 

Our standard travel routes vary slightly depending on which flights are available, but the most common route is via mainland Europe. Our dogs are safely loaded onto a flight at Bangkok airport, where they’ll likely travel to Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam.  

From here, we work with a network of trusted pet courier professionals, who will transport your dog for the remainder of the journey via the Euro Tunnel. Depending on where you’re based in the country, we’ll work out the most convenient drop off point possible, often a service-station as these are the easiest assembly points for multiple adopters and saves our couriers from having to prolong the onward journey.  

We’ll provide you with detailed information about your dog’s flight, collection and subsequent drop off in plenty of advance of their arrival. Please keep in mind that travel plans can be susceptible to change and delays: we do our best to keep things running smoothly, but your patience and understanding means an awful lot when dealing with factors outside of our control. 

To the UK 

We are committed to giving as many Thai dogs the chance to live a happy life overseas as possible, and do our best to keep rehoming costs as low as we can in order to facilitate this. We do not charge anything for the dog themselves – the adoption fee covers all elements of the rehoming process, including: flights, vaccinations and medication, microchipping, and travel paperwork. 

Due to an increase in travel costs, we work on a quote by quote basis but the total fee tends to be in the region of £1,500 – £3,500 which you should bear in mind.

From within Thailand 

Adoptions within Thailand are free of charge. As we do not charge a fee for our dogs, the only costs will be your travel to come and collect your newly adopted dog. 

If you’re able to provide a donation in your new dog’s name to help contribute towards our rehoming work, we’re always very grateful for gifts of any size. 

To elsewhere overseas 

We don’t tend to adopt our dogs to countries outside of the UK or Thailand. However, if you have a prior relationship with the charity (for example, if you’ve visited the shelter or adopted one of our dogs already) it may be possible for us to arrange to fly one of our dogs to you. Costs will vary depending on the size of the dog, where it’s being flown to, and a few other factors: the total fee can be anywhere between $800 – $3000. Please get in touch with us via [email protected] for more information. 

Please read our COVID-19 update for more information on how the global pandemic is affecting adoption timeframes. We’re confident that timings will return to normal once international transport restrictions are eased. 

To the UK  

In ‘normal’ circumstances, we advise that the Jai Dog adoption process takes around 3 months from start to finish:  

There are a number of factors involved in readying your dog for travel and arranging their journey home, including completing all necessary pre-flight vet testing and paperwork. We will keep in touch with you throughout the process, and send you lots of photo and video updates so you can see how your dog is getting on while you wait. 

As soon as your dog’s transport has been booked, we’ll let you know and explain the collection process to you in detail. 

From within Thailand 

Once you’ve decided you’d like to adopt, we’ll carry out our standard Compatibility Check, after which you can collect your adopted dog whenever you’re ready. The entire process usually takes no longer than a couple of weeks.  

You won’t be the first!! It’s well known that when a dog comes into your home, it’s hard not to fall in love, and there’s certainly been more than one “foster fail” over the years!  

If the dog is already promised to another home, it won’t be possible to arrange for you to keep them. However, if you’re looking after a dog who’s not yet got their onward rehoming confirmed, then we’re always happy to give their foster first refusal so long as their home and lifestyle can meet the dog’s needs long-term. 

If this is the case, we’ll need you to complete a full adoption form and we’ll take you through the standard adoption process. You’ll need to pay the adoption fee to confirm, after which we’ll be delighted to declare you an official Jai Dog Rescue adopter!! 

If for whatever reason your dog needs treatment or a trip to the vet while in your care, we’ll make sure that any costs are reimbursed by the charity. We ask that you liaise with us before any treatment so that we’re aware of any issues the dog may be facing. 

If you’re fostering a dog with known medical needs, we’ll be sure to provide you with a thorough treatment plan and any medical supplies you may need. We’ll be on hand to support and advise you throughout the process.

The amount of time varies from case to case. In some instances, it may only be a matter of days before your foster dog is ready to relocate to their forever home; other times, we may not have an onward home secured. In these instances, it may take months to find the perfect place for your foster dog, especially as we’re keen to ensure that repeat rehomings / multiple fosters are avoided. It is in every dog’s best interest to be offered as much stability and consistency as possible. 

We will always be upfront and honest about a dog’s circumstances when discussing a potential foster dog with you, and will try our best to give you an accurate estimate of how long the foster may last for. If you have certain dates or timeframes that you need us to be aware of, just let us know and we’ll make sure we accommodate for these. 

Our adoption team are always on hand to support our foster carers: throughout the time of your foster, be it for days or months, we’ll be here to help and advise you whenever you need us. 

As well as a wealth of advice and support, we’re also happy to provide key resources for those who need them. If you’d like help sourcing essential items for your foster dog (toys, bedding, food, etc.), please don’t hesitate to let us know and we’ll do our best to help.

There are a wide number of reasons that a dog may need fostering. It’s an unfair myth surrounding foster dogs that they are more difficult than most, that they’re “unwanted”. In fact, most dogs need foster care for far less troubling reasons. The most common of these include: 

• An adopter is unable to collect their new dog on their day of arrival  

With limited transport opportunities available for rescue dogs flying from overseas, we’re always keen to take advantage of flight spaces whenever they arise. Sometimes this means a dog’s adopters may not be available on that date (especially if these have changed at short notice) and in these instances, having a foster to bridge the gap for a few days or weeks ensures the dog doesn’t miss their chance to start a new life! 

• We haven’t confirmed adoption yet  

As above, if we feel there’s a good chance that a dog will quickly find a good home in the UK once arrived, and there’s a free space on a freedom flight home, we may choose to fly the dog over and place them in foster care while their permanent home is arranged. 

• An adopter’s circumstances change 

In the rare event that an adopter is no longer able to care for their dog, we may be able to help them find a new, more suitable home. The majority of the time, this need for rehoming bears no reflection on the dog themselves, it’s simply no long possible for their adopters to keep them.  

• A dog will benefit from in-person meetings 

If a dog has more bespoke needs (for example, if they are disabled), we sometimes choose to place them with an experienced foster who can meet with prospective adopters and allow them to learn more about caring for the dog in person. This significantly reduces the risk of the dog being “returned” and provides a vital opportunity for us to find the perfect adopter. 

To register your interest in becoming a foster carer for a Jai dog, you’ll need to fill in a Foster Form. This ensures we have all the information we need about you, your home and your lifestyle to hand, helping us to match you to the right foster. 

Once you’ve submitted a form, we’ll add you to our foster mailing list to ensure you receive any bulletins regarding dogs in need of foster care. This means you’ll be the first to hear of any new foster opportunities, which you’ll be welcome to apply for. 

Some dogs may be seeking a bit of extra care and attention – they may have behavioural issues or bespoke needs. In these instances, we usually look for experienced foster carers who have experience training or working with rescue dogs. 

But many are simply looking for someone to take good care of them while they wait to find their forever family, and in these instances, beginners are very welcome! 

As with our adoption service, we pride ourselves on our careful matchmaking process. We know our dogs very well and have a detailed knowledge of their individual needs: this allows us to match each dog to the right home. We take into account your own experience, lifestyle and location as well as the needs of the dog before placing a dog into foster. 

If for some reason we don’t select you to foster a dog you may have been interested in, please know that this is simply because we’re looking to find the most stable and suitable home for them to ensure they won’t need to be moved repeatedly prior to permanent adoption. We will of course keep you on our foster list and will be happy to suggest other suitable foster candidates in the future when the opportunity arises. 

Fostering a dog is one of the most incredible things you can do to help transform the life of a street dog. It’s a selfless act of love and support that provides invaluable stability at a time a rescued dog needs it most. 

In choosing to foster a Jai dog, you’ll be opening your home to them while they await their forever home. We’ll arrange the logistics to ensure that the process is as seamless as possible: your role is to provide a safe space and a happy halfway house for your foster dog.  

Jai Dog Rescue was previously registered under the name(s) Streetdog SOS (2019), and Bon Jardin (2017). Whilst there has been no change in our mission, governance or management, we rebranded the charity in 2021 to reflect our desire to focus on our mission and the work we do, rather than just the problem we face. 

Rest assured that our shelter, our work and our team remain unchanged. We remain utterly committed to our mission to transform the lives of street dogs in Thailand. We’re grateful for the continued support of our wonderful community of donors and supporters: thank you. 

You can set up a regular donation via credit/debit card or direct bank transfer: set up your monthly donation here. 

The fastest and most effective way to make a difference is to give a donation. We’re reliant on the generosity of our supporters, and are grateful for whatever you can spare. However small or large, your donation really can transform the life of street dog in Thailand. 

We’re also grateful for the support of volunteers: from fundraisers to flight buddies to foster carers.  

You can find out more about the different ways you can help here. 

Our mission is to transform the lives of street dogs in Thailand. Our vision is for a world in which every stray has its day. 

You can read more about our mission, vision and values here. 

Jai Dog Rescue is verified as both a UK registered charity (#1172313) and a legally registered charity in Thailand: we are truly international, with a concrete link between our work on the ground in Thailand and our UK / overseas adoption service.  

Our shelter is based in the central Thai province of Nakhon Nayok, in the heart of rural Thailand. Here, we are able to provide aid and emergency rescue at the source, and have the opportunity to witness first-hand the problem on the ground. We work 365 days a year within the community to transform the lives of street dogs in Thailand.  

The majority of our fundraising and adoption operations services take place here in the UK. We’re blessed to have a dedicated community of UK supporters who recognise the plight of stray dogs in Thailand and have a genuine desire to help.

If your sponsor dog is rehomed or passes away we will always write to you and inform you about the change in circumstance. We will then transfer your sponsorship to another Jai Dog on our sponsorship programme.

Wherever possible we try to choose a replacement dog of a similar nature, age or story but if you decide you would like a different sponsor dog you can of course email us on [email protected] and let us know which sponsor dog you would like to support instead.

It’s easy to sponsor a Jai Dog: you simply need to complete our sponsorship donation form. You can choose which dog you’d like to support, or select the ‘I don’t mind!’ option and we’ll choose for you. 

If you have any questions setting this up, or would prefer to pay via one annual cheque / online donation, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and we’ll be happy to help: [email protected] 

Your support will help fund our residents programme, providing food, medication, toys and other supplies for the dogs in our care. 

In return for your generous sponsorship, we’ll send you: 

• Two updates a year, letting you know how your sponsored dog is getting on, and sharing the latest stories and pictures of life on The Farm. 
• An official Jai Dog Sponsorship Certificate – perfect if you’re purchasing sponsorship as a gift for a loved one (or just for you to keep in pride of place!) 
• A letter from your Sponsor Dog, telling you all about their rescue story and how they spend their time on The Farm
• An Introduction to The Farm letter, giving you more details about where your sponsor dog lives and the layout of The Farm
• A polaroid style photo of your Sponsor Dog

Please note that we send our sponsorship pack and updates via email to keep charity costs to a minimum, save the environment and to put your donations to the most use on The Farm: all your donations go straight towards helping the dogs!

It costs as little as £10 a month to sponsor a Jai Dog. This will contribute towards the monthly food and basic supplies needed to keep them and their friends at the shelter healthy and happy. 

You can choose to increase your sponsorship to £25 a month – in addition to their food and supplies, this will cover any medical costs they may incur.  

Alternatively, for £50 a month, you can know that your sponsorship has helped still more of Thailands strays, preventing thousands more unwanted puppies from being born into a life of hardship and suffering – for £50 a month, we’ll also sponsor the sterilisation of one stray dog in your name. 

If you’d like to set up sponsorship of an alternative monthly amount (£10 minimum), please don’t hesitate to get in touch: [email protected]

Sadly, it is not possible to rehome every dog in our care. Age, temperament, disability or illness are some of the factors that determine whether a rescue dog will be able to adapt to life in a new home. 

But regardless of whether they end up living in our home or yours, we make a lifetime commitment to each and every Jai Dog: for those unsuited to adoption, we go to great lengths to ensure they have a happy, comfortable, and enriched life at our shelter. 

You can find out more about each sponsor dog’s unique history and circumstances on their sponsorship page.

The fastest and most effective way to make a difference is to give a donation. We’re reliant on the generosity of our supporters, and are grateful for whatever you can spare. However small or large, your donation really can transform the life of street dog in Thailand. 

We’re also grateful for the support of volunteers: from fundraisers to flight buddies to foster carers.  

You can find out more about the different ways you can help here. 

You simply need to fill in our Flight Volunteer Form, letting us know the details of your forthcoming trip. We’ll then be in touch to confirm and arrange everything with you directly. 

Of course, every step of the way. A member of the Jai Dog Rescue team will be there to meet you at the airport in Thailand and will help you through the check in process. Someone will also be waiting at the other end to meet you and your buddy when you land, and they’ll take over everything from there. 

Nothing! We sort all the costs and paperwork in advance, so there’s no additional cost incurred for you. Your buddy will simply tag along on the same ticket as you, so once you’ve booked your travel, that’s all you need to do. 

UK and Scandinavian regulations restrict the use of flight volunteers, so unfortunately you won’t be able to accompany a dogs as a flight buddy if you’re flying direct to the UK.   

However, the majority of airports and airlines in mainland Europe support flight volunteer initiatives. Eligible airlines include: Aeroflot, Air France, ANA (All Nippon Air) Asiana, Austrian Airlines, China Airlines, EVA, Finnair, JAL (Japanese Airlines), Korean Air, KLM, Lufthansa, Qatar, Swiss, and Thai Airways. 

We prefer flight volunteers who have flights scheduled to / via: Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam

You can fly from anywhere in Thailand: however, Bangkok is the preferred location as it’s easy for the team to get to, and therefore means shorter transit times for our dogs. 

You can fly from any of Bangkok’s airports, although the majority of European flights go from Suvarnabhumi (BKK).

Flight volunteering is a wonderful way to help a dog make their journey home.If you’re flying from Thailand to anywhere in mainland Europe (even if this is just a stopover on your way back to the UK), you can add an animal to your ticket. We sort all of the paperwork and costs, so it won’t cost you a penny and requires no admin from you. 

This is a vital means of transporting rescue dogs, and is a method utilised by hundreds of rescue shelters all over the world. It helps us keep our adoption costs to a minimum: it’s hugely expensive to fly a dog from Thailand to the UK on its own, but adding them to a human passenger’s ticket ensures they’re classed as excess baggage which is a much cheaper.

The fastest and most effective way to make a difference is to give a donation. We’re reliant on the generosity of our supporters, and are grateful for whatever you can spare. However small or large, your donation really can transform the life of street dog in Thailand. 

We’re also grateful for the support of volunteers: from fundraisers to flight buddies to foster carers.  

You can find out more about the different ways you can help here.