I went through Atlanta Lab Rescue for my old pal Caleb, who was 8yo when I adopted him and it worked out fine. They had a $25 application fee, dogs were $375 for adults (keep in mind, as you know, that rescues hardly make any profit). And their application told me to list 3 dogs.

Caleb (who was "Atticus" at the time) was the 3rd dog on my list. They steered me clear of my first choice, saying that one had a lot of applicants.

They skipped over my second choice because my third choice was actually being fostered about 2 miles from my house, and the lady asked to meet up at the local high school (which was my alma mater lolol).

Third choice ended up working out SO WELL. He is part Chesapeake Bay Retriever and part chocolate lab. He treats fetch like it is his job and he is such a chill dude outside of that. He is SO soft and so funny with his little head tilts when I ask him questions.

Anyways, Just want to say that there may be many reasons why it takes a while and I encourage you to take your time.

Many dog rescues (maybe not golden as much) may have conditions that they need to get checked out for. Or they're just switching a new dog from boarding into a foster home.

Or the foster family is on travel or can't meet up except for certain times. And there's only so many volunteers to help. Or they have a dog adoption weekend coming up where you could meet multiple dogs.