Adoption Center

The SCCR Adoption Center is located at 570 N Smith Street in Palatine, IL. This space has been designed to be as much like a home as possible, while also providing a beautiful and inspiring place for our community and volunteers to give back.

This innovative vision for animal sheltering is meant to relieve dogs of the stress they experience while in a traditional shelter by providing a bright, warm, welcoming and safe home-like environment to the dogs in our care.

A spacious living room area with couches and a relaxed environment will allow a comfortable atmosphere for meetings with potential adopters while providing a more realistic picture of the dog’s true behavior. The majority of our dogs will still remain in foster homes, but the SCCR Adoption Center allows us to complete families 7 days a week!

Adoption Center

The SCCR Adoption Center is located at 570 N Smith Street in Palatine, IL. This space has been designed to be as much like a home as possible, while also providing a beautiful and inspiring place for our community and volunteers to give back.

This innovative vision for animal sheltering is meant to relieve dogs of the stress they experience while in a traditional shelter by providing a bright, warm, welcoming and safe home-like environment to the dogs in our care.

A spacious living room area with couches and a relaxed environment will allow a comfortable atmosphere for meetings with potential adopters while providing a more realistic picture of the dog’s true behavior. The majority of our dogs will still remain in foster homes, but the SCCR Adoption Center allows us to complete families 7 days a week!

How Does It Work?

  • Submit an application
  • Be at least 21 years of age
  • Be able to show a valid photo ID
  • Make sure your pets are UTD on vaccines, and spayed/neutered
  • Let us know if you will be bringing any current dog(s)
  • Check your lease or HOA for breed and weight restrictions
Don’t forget to bring your mask!

Adoption Center Hours
Monday – Friday: 9-11am and 3–7pm
Saturday – Sunday: 9am–7pm

After you submit an application, an adoption counselor will reach out to coordinate the best time to come in.

From there, our dogs go into cozy foster homes or the Adoption Center where their foster parents and volunteers get to know the dogs’ personalities, likes, and dislikes. We use that information to find the perfect match with a potential adopter.

After a dog has been in a foster home or at the Adoption Center for at least two weeks, they will go active on our website. Potential adopters are then invited to apply for the dog they’re interested in and a volunteer will let them know the next steps for how they can meet them!

Remember to take things slow and allow plenty of time for decompression and settling in. Follow the 3-3-3 Rule: in the first 3 days, your new dog may be overwhelmed with their new surroundings. After 3 weeks, they will start to feel more comfortable. After 3 months your pup should be fully settled into in their home!

Our Process Our dogs come from over-populated and under-resourced shelters – both locally, and from shelter partners in the South. Before coming to us, these dogs are first temperament tested to make sure they are social with people and with other dogs. 1 We then take them to our veterinary partners where they receive treatment for any outstanding health issues, and are spayed and neutered. 2 From there, our dogs go into cozy foster homes, where their foster parents get to know the dogs’ personalities, their likes and dislikes, and we utilize that information to find the perfect match with potential adopters. 3 After our dogs have been in a foster home for two weeks they will have the ability to come to the adoption center, where potential families have the opportunity to make an appointment and meet them any day of the week—making adoption not only the right choice, but the convenient one! 4

Additional Information

We incur significant expenses to rescue each dog in our care, including veterinary treatment & surgeries, food, shelter pull fees, transportation, etc. When you adopt from SCCR, you aren’t “buying” a dog. Your donation goes toward the care of your adoptive dog, but more importantly it helps make it possible for us to further our mission of responsibly rescuing more dogs and placing them into loving forever homes. All Second City Canine Rescue Adopted Dogs receive the following:

  • Spay/Neuter Surgery
  • Age-appropriate Vaccinations
  • Microchip
  • De-worming
  • Heartworm Test (and treatment, if positive)
  • Flea & Tick Preventative
  • Heartworm Preventative
  • 30 Days of Pet Insurance

Please note that we are unable to make any guarantees of future health, temperament, size, or breed of your adopted dog. We do our absolute best to create safe & healthy environments for the dogs while in our care.

We expect our adopters to do the same.

Adoption Fees

Puppies (8wks–6mos) $425
Adults 7+ mos $380
Seniors 7+yrs $150
SCCR is grateful for a bequest from Ms. Geraldine van der Meyden for enabling this vision to become reality.

Additional Information

We incur significant expenses to rescue each dog in our care, including veterinary treatment & surgeries, food, shelter pull fees, transportation, etc. When you adopt from SCCR, you aren’t “buying” a dog. Your donation goes toward the care of your adoptive dog, but more importantly it helps make it possible for us to further our mission of responsibly rescuing more dogs and placing them into loving forever homes. All Second City Canine Rescue Adopted Dogs receive the following:

  • Spay/Neuter Surgery
  • Age-appropriate Vaccinations
  • Microchip
  • De-worming
  • Heartworm Test (and treatment, if positive)
  • Flea & Tick Preventative
  • Heartworm Preventative
  • 30 Days of Pet Insurance

Please note that we are unable to make any guarantees of future health, temperament, size, or breed of your adopted dog. We do our absolute best to create safe & healthy environments for the dogs while in our care.

We expect our adopters to do the same.

Adoption Fees

Puppies (8wks–6mos) $425
Adults 7+ mos $380
Seniors 7+yrs $150
SCCR is grateful for a bequest from Ms. Geraldine van der Meyden for enabling this vision to become reality.

If you haven’t already, make sure to join our Monthly Membership Program!

Joining the Inner Circle is one of the single most important things you can do to help us continue our lifesaving work! For as little as $10 a month, you will help us keep saving dogs just like your brand new best friend!