Services

We sincerely want to help every animal, though we’re frequently limited by space, time, and other resources at our disposal. The most important thing is to contact us so we can evaluate your individual situation and see if we’re able to help.

Please don’t hesitate to call us at (319) 975-8283. We will try our best to help you to the best of our abilities.

Adopt an Animal

If you’re looking to adopt a dog or cat, we welcome you to visit our shelter during open hours, or view our available animals here on our website!

Surrender an Animal

We take owner surrenders of dogs and cats at our shelter. There is a $50 relinquishment fee per animal. This fee goes towards the cost of any medical care that the animal may need before being eligible for adoption, such as vaccinations or spay/neuter. The fee also helps cover the costs of food, shelter, and the adoption process we have in place to verify that potential adopters are the right fit for the animal.

Please note that owner surrenders of an animal require prior contact with us & a scheduled appointment. We have state enforced limits on the number of animals we can have here at one time, so we need to make sure we have the space. Also, the animal’s health history can impact where we can keep them at our shelter. And processing a surrender requires that we have enough staff available to help too. We will always help you to the best of our ability, within the limitations of our resources.

Please start by sharing some information with us here: Dog Surrender or Cat Surrender

Reclaim an Animal

If your pet has been brought to our shelter, we will need proof of ownership, proof of current rabies vaccination, and the reclaim fee for you to reclaim them. Reclaim fees are as follows:
    • $65 if animal is microchipped or wearing a collar ID
    • $70 if animal is NOT microchipped and NOT wearing any type of ID
    • $20 per day/per animal for boarding
Note: Iowa state regulations require proof of rabies vaccination for animals being reclaimed from a shelter. If you do not have this proof, you will need to pay an additional $75 to reclaim your animal. You can then return to the shelter with proof of rabies vaccination later, and your $75 will be returned to you.

Stray Animals

Stray Dogs: We are contracted with Monticello, Anamosa, & Jones County to shelter stray dogs. If you have a stray dog that needs picked up, please begin by calling your city’s police non-emergency number, or the non-emergency county sheriff number. You may then call our shelter during open hours to pick up the dog if needed. We are currently not doing after-hours pickup for the safety of our staff & volunteers. Please also note that pickups can only be done on dogs that are contained to a fenced yard or on a leash. All dog pickups are scanned for microchip & attempted to be reunited with their owners. If no owner is found, the dog will be held for 7 days so that their owner has a chance to reclaim it from our shelter. If the dog is not reclaimed after 7 days, then we will begin the process of getting it ready to be adopted at our shelter.
  • Monticello Police: 319-465-3526
  • Anamosa Police: 319-462-4434
  • Jones County Sheriff: 319-462-4371
Stray Cats: We are currently not contracted by any cities or counties for stray cat pickup. If you have found a stray cat that is needing re-homed, please contact us for help.

TNR Program

We offer a Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program to help humanely manage community cat populations. Through this program, community members are responsible for humanely trapping feral and free-roaming cats and bringing them to us for sterilization. Cats are ear-tipped and tattooed during the procedure, then picked up by the trapper and returned to their outdoor location. The fee is $30 per male cat (neuter) and $45 per female cat (spay). AWF requests a one week notice prior to trapping as well as an approximate number of cats to be sterilized. To get started, please fill out our TNR Program Request Form.

Lost Animal

If you’ve lost your dog or cat, please call our shelter during open hours to see if it’s found its way to our shelter. You can also reach out to us via Facebook if you’d like us to share a photo & the missing information for your pet. We hope your pet is found soon, and we want to help spread the word! Please let us know if they’re found so we can update our post/lost list.

Microchipping/Vaccinations

We work alongside the Monticello Veterinary Clinic to hold low-cost microchipping & vaccination events at our shelter. Typically we hold one in spring and one in fall, when able. Watch our Events page, Facebook, or reach out to see if we have any upcoming clinics.

Nursing Home Visits

We’re happy to share the love of our animals with residents of local nursing homes! We offer nursing home visits to locations within 30 miles of the shelter. Please contact us so we can work out a plan around our schedule & animal availability.

AWF Dog Park

Our dog park is located on our land in front of our shelter, and is open from sun up to sun down free of charge. Learn more about our dog park here.