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Part B — For Adopters

This part of the Adopivo manual is for everyone who wants to give a rescue animal a home: from searching and your account to contacting the shelter.

Contents

Chapter 4 — Finding animals and shelters (no account needed)

You can search Adopivo without an account. You only need one to contact a shelter or to keep your favorites across devices (chapter 5).

How do I search for animals?

  1. Open the homepage or the Animals page.
  2. Use the filters: search (animal name), species, breed and age (both available once a species is selected), size (small, medium, large), country, and postcode / place with a radius (25, 50, 100 or 200 km — or unlimited).
  3. The homepage offers two additional toggles: “Only show shelters nearby” and “Adoption from abroad”. The abroad toggle shows a note explaining that Adopivo is purely a contact platform — Adopivo does not organize animal transport, does not conclude adoption contracts and does not collect adoption fees.
  4. “Reset” clears all filters.

The result list shows a card for each animal with photo, name, sex, age, size and distance. Click a card to open the animal profile.

How do I use the map?

The homepage map (Apple Maps) shows shelters as pins. Enter a place or postcode in the search field — it autocompletes — and you will see the shelters within your radius, with a matching list below.

How do I read an animal profile?

Every animal profile contains:

  • A photo gallery with all pictures of the animal — and, if the shelter has added one, a video that is only loaded from the provider after you click it (for privacy reasons).
  • A fact sheet: ID, sex, age, size, weight, neutered / vaccinated / chipped, compatibility with children, dogs and cats, current location, adoption radius and time in the shelter.
  • Text sections: description, character, health and requirements for the new home — as maintained by the shelter.
  • For animals that are only adopted together, a section listing the bonded partner animals with links to their profiles.
  • The “Contact” button (chapter 7) and the favorites heart (chapter 6).

Below every profile you will find the note that Adopivo only makes the introduction — enquiry, self-disclosure, pre-check, adoption contract and handover happen directly between you and the organization (chapter 9).

What does the adoption radius mean?

Many shelters only adopt out within a certain radius of their location, for example because they carry out home checks themselves. If your search location is outside an animal’s adoption radius, the animal will not appear in your search results. The radius is shown in the profile’s fact sheet.

How do I find shelters and organizations?

  1. Open the Shelters page.
  2. Filter by search (name), country and type of organization (“Shelter” or “Animal welfare organization”).
  3. Click an entry to open the organization profile with the sections “About us”, “Our mission”, “How an adoption works with us”, “Contact & address” and “Currently available animals” — depending on what the organization maintains, plus videos.

Adopivo lists verified shelters and non-profit animal welfare organizations only. Commercial breeders and commercial dealers are excluded.

Chapter 5 — Creating and managing your account

How do I register?

  1. Click “Sign up” at the top right.
  2. Enter your email address and choose a password (at least 12 characters, including three of the four categories upper case, lower case, digits and symbols). Repeat the password.
  3. Confirm the two required checkboxes for the Terms and the privacy notes.
  4. Click “Create account”.
  5. Open the confirmation email and click the confirmation link. No email? Please also check your spam folder — or request a new one via “Resend confirmation email”.
  6. After confirming you are signed in and taken to complete your profile.

How do I sign in?

  1. Click “Sign in” and enter your email and password.
  2. When signing in on a new device, Adopivo emails you a 6-digit confirmation code (valid for 10 minutes). Enter it and click “Confirm sign-in”.
  3. The device is then trusted for 30 days — no code is needed during that time (see “How do I manage my devices?”).

What if I forgot my password?

  1. On the sign-in page, click “Forgot your password?”.
  2. Enter your email address and click “Send reset link”. If an account exists for that address, you will receive a link.
  3. Open the link and set a new password.

How do I complete my profile?

Under My account → My profile you enter your first name, last name and date of birth. Important:

  • First name, last name and date of birth cannot be changed after the first save.
  • The date of birth is used to verify that you are an adult once you contact a shelter.
  • The address is optional and entered via the address search with autocompletion. It is required for enquiries about restricted dog breeds, so Adopivo can show the requirements that apply at your place of residence (chapter 8).

Which settings are available?

Under My account → Settings you control:

  • Email notifications for new messages — an email summary when a shelter writes to you; your Adopivo inbox is not affected.
  • Successful adoptions visible to shelters — shelters you write to can then see how many animals you have already adopted via Adopivo. Other adopters never see this.
  • Timestamps for read receipts — without this option the inbox only shows “read”; with it, the time is shown as well.
  • Share your location with contacted shelters — shows the shelter your city and the approximate distance (straight line). Your exact address and coordinates are never shared; you can revoke this here at any time.

Every change is saved immediately.

How do I manage my devices and password?

  • My account → Security → Your devices lists all trusted devices with last activity and expiry date. Use “Sign out” to remove a single device or “Sign out all other devices” for all except the current one. The next sign-in on a removed device requires a confirmation code again.
  • My account → Security → Change password: enter your current password, then the new password twice (same rules as at registration) and save. For security you will be signed out on all devices afterwards.

How do I export my data?

Under Settings → data export you can request a ZIP file with all data Adopivo has stored for your account (GDPR Art. 15) at any time, via “Request data export”. The download link arrives by email, stays valid for 7 days and can be used up to 5 times; after that the file is removed automatically. One export per 24 hours is possible.

Chapter 6 — Favorites

How do I save an animal?

  1. Click the heart icon on an animal card or in the animal profile.
  2. Without an account, favorites are only stored in your current browser. With an account they are saved and synchronized across all your devices.
  3. You will find all saved animals under My account → My favorites. Clicking the heart again removes an animal.

Chapter 7 — My inbox

How do I contact a shelter?

  1. Click “Contact” on an animal profile or an organization profile.
  2. Choose the subject — for an animal e.g. “Enquiry about [animal name]”, otherwise “General enquiry” — and write your message.
  3. On first contact, Adopivo asks whether you want to “Share location”: the shelter then sees only your city and the approximate distance — never your exact address. Alternatively choose “Ask anonymously”; you can revoke the sharing at any time in the settings.

Requirements for contacting a shelter:

  • an Adopivo account with a confirmed email address,
  • for restricted dog breeds additionally your address, date of birth and being an adult (chapter 8).

The contact dialog also notes: Adopivo is a contact broker — the self-disclosure, pre-check and adoption contract are arranged directly with the organization.

How does the inbox work?

  • Under My account → Inbox you find all conversations in the tabs All, Unread, Favorites, Archived and Trash. Items in the trash are permanently deleted after 30 days.
  • The search field searches subject, shelter and animal.
  • A conversation shows the entire history in one place. Reply via the text field and “Send” — messages are plain text; attachments and pictures are not possible.
  • “Read” tells you that your message has been read — the time is only shown if both sides have enabled timestamps (chapter 5, settings).
  • Per conversation you can set a favorite, archive, delete and restore.
  • Only you and the shelter can read the messages; on request Adopivo notifies you about new messages by email.

How do I block a shelter?

In a conversation’s menu choose “Block shelter” — after that you cannot write to this organization any more, and it cannot write to you. “Unblock shelter” lifts the block. If a shelter has blocked you, the conversation shows a note that you can no longer send messages.

Chapter 8 — Notes on restricted dog breeds

Some dog breeds (in German: “Listenhunde”) are subject to special legal requirements under regional regulations — for example leash or muzzle requirements, competence certificates or permits, depending on the federal state, canton or region. Adopivo shows this information directly on the animal profile.

What does the notice banner on an animal profile mean?

  • “This breed is subject to special legal requirements” — a concrete regulation applies to this breed at the displayed location; the requirements are listed below the banner.
  • “Mixed breed – please clarify the breed shares with the shelter” — mixed-breed dogs can include a restricted breed; in that case the requirements of the respective state or canton apply as well.
  • “This breed is regionally regulated” — the breed is regulated in several regions, but the exact region is not on file, so no concrete requirements can be shown.

If you are signed in and have added your address, Adopivo shows the requirements for your place of residence. Without sign-in or address you will instead see “Sign in to see the requirements that apply to you” or “Add your address to see the requirements that apply to you”.

How do I read the source references?

Each displayed regulation comes with four pieces of information:

  • “Legal basis:” — the official name of the regulation, linked to the official source.
  • “Legal text as of: [date]” — the version date of the cited regulation itself.
  • “Last checked on: [date]” — the date Adopivo last compared the information with the official source. These are two different dates: one describes the law, the other our check.
  • A freshness notice if the last check was a while ago (older than 90 or 180 days) — in that case please also consult the official source.
Important: Adopivo provides information about public regulations. This is not legal advice. The official sources always prevail — in case of doubt please consult the linked regulation or a lawyer.

Why do I need an address and date of birth for such an enquiry?

Which requirements apply depends on where you live — that is why Adopivo needs your address to show you the correct regulations. You must also be at least 18 years old to enquire about a restricted breed; your profile’s date of birth is used for this. If information is missing, clicking “Contact” first takes you to your profile and then back to the animal.

Chapter 9 — After first contact

Adopivo makes the introduction between you and the organization — everything else is arranged directly with the shelter or animal welfare organization, outside the platform:

  • Self-disclosure — the organization’s questionnaire about your home and life situation.
  • Pre-check / home visit — many organizations visit you at home before the adoption.
  • Adoption contract and adoption fee — both are agreed and handled directly with the organization. Adopivo does not conclude contracts and does not collect adoption fees.
  • Handover or transport — organized by the organization together with you; Adopivo does not organize animal transport.

The decision about an adoption rests solely with the respective organization. Tip: clarify open questions in the Adopivo inbox — that keeps the entire history in one place for both sides.

Continue to Part C — For shelters & animal welfare organizations →

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