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6 AVS rehoming partners · height limit 55cm · one dog per flat · checked August 2026

Project ADORE Singapore: How It Works

Project ADORE Singapore, the short answer: it is the scheme that lets a local mixed-breed dog live in an HDB flat, up to 55cm in height, one dog per unit. It has been permanent for 12 years and runs through 6 AVS welfare partners rather than through HDB.

The 15kg weight limit you have read elsewhere was dropped 6 years ago. One thing before you read on: we sell purebred puppies, and this is the one page on this site describing a route we make nothing from.

Read the AVS page

What is Project ADORE?

Project ADORE Singapore is the scheme that lets a local mixed-breed dog, a Singapore Special, live in an HDB flat, up to 55cm in height and one dog per unit. AVS has led it with HDB’s support for 12 years, and adoptions run through 6 welfare partners rather than through HDB itself.

Why this matters more than anything else on this site

Roughly 8 in 10 Singapore households live in an HDB flat, and most dogs waiting in a local animal shelter are Singapore Specials. HDB’s approved breed list is a list of specific small breeds, and a mixed-breed street dog is not on it. Project ADORE is the bridge between those two facts.

Puppy Singapore is the marketplace of an AVS-licensed breeding farm, licence BR25052. We earn when somebody buys a purebred puppy. Dog adoption Singapore searches send people to a shelter instead, and we get nothing from that.

That is exactly why this page can be straight with you. Nobody explaining ADORE from a seller’s website has an incentive to oversell it, and for a great many flat-dwelling households it is the better answer.

There is a narrower set of cases where buying is the honest answer: when the flat rules require a breed from the approved list, when an allergy makes coat type non-negotiable, or when a household needs a written health and ancestry record from day one. None of those applies to most people reading this.

Our guide to adopting or buying walks that decision itself, and the shelters page covers the organisations.

Project ADORE Singapore requirements, and what they cost you

AVS sets the Project ADORE Singapore eligibility conditions and publishes them on its own page. The short version is a height limit of 55cm, one dog per unit, 4 standing requirements on the dog, and a training programme the adopter has to complete.

Project ADORE costs are the ordinary costs of a dog, not a fee for the scheme itself.

What the scheme actually requires

The conditions attached to a dog adopted under Project ADOREA height limit of 55cm and one dog per residential unit, four standing requirements on the dog (licensed, microchipped, vaccinated, sterilised), a mandatory obedience training programme, and a Code of Responsible Behaviour for the adopter.The doglocal mixed breed, up to 55cmThe flatone dog per residential unitThe paperworklicensed, microchipped, vaccinated, sterilisedThe adoptertraining, plus the conduct codeNo weight limit. AVS removed the 15kg restriction in 2020 and formalised it in 2022.
Read off the AVS Project ADORE page on 26 August 2026, which AVS last updated on 25 August 2026. The AVS page is the authority; this figure is a summary of it.

The training condition is the one people underestimate

It is easy to read past. It is a mandatory obedience programme completed with the dog, by an AVS-accredited certified dog trainer or an ADORE trainer, and it is a requirement rather than a recommendation. Our notes on obedience training cover what that work involves.

How the process actually runs

You go to a welfare group, not to HDB. That single fact saves more wasted time than anything else on this page, because people reasonably assume a housing scheme is administered by the housing board. The Project ADORE Singapore adoption process runs step by step through the group, and the 5 steps below are the common shape of it.

  1. 1
    Approach an AVS rehoming partner. AVS names six of them, and each runs its own adoption process. There is no central ADORE waiting list and no application to HDB.
  2. 2
    Meet the dog, sometimes more than once. The group matches rather than sells, and will often suggest a dog you would not have picked. A dog that is quiet in a kennel can be different in a home.
  3. 3
    Expect a home visit. Not an inspection of your housekeeping. It is a check that the flat, the gates and the household suit that particular dog.
  4. 4
    Licence, microchip, vaccinate, sterilise. The four standing conditions. Groups usually have most of them done already, and will tell you what is outstanding.
  5. 5
    Complete the obedience programme. With the dog, after the placement, through an accredited trainer. This is the part of the scheme that continues after the dog is home.

Project ADORE step by step, in one list

People search for this in fragments, so here it is in the shape they ask for.

The 6 AVS rehoming partners

Named because AVS names them. We publish no fees, addresses, opening hours or contact details for any of them: those belong to the organisations, they change, and the AVS page is where the current list lives.

Action for Singapore DogsCauses for AnimalsExclusively MongrelsMercylight Animal Rescue and SanctuarySOSD SingaporeSPCA

How long the whole thing takes varies by group and by dog, and we are not going to invent a timeline for it.

A rescued dog waiting at a Singapore welfare group

Project ADORE and the K9 scheme are different things

People search for a Project ADORE K9 scheme as though it were one thing, and K9 adoption Singapore searches land on the same confusion. It is two schemes.

The main scheme rehomes local mixed breeds. A separate expansion rehomes the retired working dog, specifically the retired sniffer dogs of the K-9 units. Both put a dog into a flat that HDB’s breed list would not otherwise allow, which is where the confusion starts.

Two routes, one parent scheme

Project ADORE compared with the K-9 sniffer dog routeThe main ADORE route rehomes local mixed-breed dogs through six AVS welfare partners. The K-9 route rehomes retired sniffer dogs of four listed breeds through the SAF, SCDF and SPF K-9 units, and is open to the public rather than only to handlers.Project ADORElocal mixed breeds, Singapore Specialsup to 55cm, one dog per flatthrough 6 AVS welfare partnerspermanent since 2014The K-9 routeretired sniffer dogs, 4 listed breedspiloted June 2017, permanent 2018through SAF, SCDF and SPF K-9 unitsnow open beyond K-9 officersSearching for one and reading about the other costs weeks.
Both are administered under Project ADORE, and they take different dogs through different organisations. Source: the AVS Project ADORE page, read 26 August 2026.

The four sniffer breeds AVS lists are the Labrador, English Springer Spaniel, Cocker Spaniel and Pointer. Adoption drives are run by the K-9 units themselves, and they happen when dogs retire rather than on a schedule.

We know the mixed-breed route far better than the K-9 one, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. If a retired sniffer dog is what you want, the AVS page names the units to watch and that is where to go.

What Project ADORE does not cover

The scheme is narrower than its reputation, and the omissions are what catch people out.

Project ADORE versus the HDB list is the real choice here. The scheme is how you keep a non-approved local mixed breed legally, and the list is how you keep a purebred.

If you choose to adopt, the scheme is the route.

If you are set on a purebred in a flat, the other route is the breed list itself. The HDB-approved breed list sets out which breeds are allowed without the scheme.

Is dog adoption under the scheme free?

No, and a rehoming fee is normal rather than a warning sign. Each welfare group sets its own, and it usually recovers part of what the group has already spent on sterilisation, vaccination and microchipping.

We publish no organisation’s fee here. Fees differ between groups and change over time, and a stale number on a seller’s page sets the wrong expectation before you have even called. Ask the group.

Where the information on this page comes from

Information last checked 26 August 2026.

Project ADORE, answered

What is Project ADORE?
Project ADORE, the Project on ADOption and REhoming of dogs, is the scheme that allows a local mixed-breed dog, a Singapore Special, to be kept in an HDB flat. It is led by AVS with support from HDB, and it runs through six AVS animal welfare group rehoming partners rather than through HDB directly. It exists because local mixed breeds are not on HDB’s approved breed list, so without it a flat-dwelling household could not adopt most of the dogs in local shelters.
What are the Project ADORE requirements?
AVS states a height limit of up to 55cm and one dog per residential unit. Every dog under the scheme must be licensed, microchipped, vaccinated and sterilised, and the adopter must complete a mandatory obedience training programme with the dog, run by an AVS-accredited certified dog trainer or an ADORE dog trainer. Adopters also agree to a Code of Responsible Behaviour covering nuisance to neighbours. The conditions are set by AVS and the AVS page is the authority on their current form.
Is there still a 15kg weight limit under Project ADORE?
No, and this is the single most repeated error about the scheme, including on an earlier version of this page. AVS ran a pilot expansion from March 2020 that raised the height limit from 50cm to 55cm and removed the 15kg weight restriction, and that change was formalised in 2022. The live AVS page states a height limit and no weight limit. If a page quotes you 15kg, it has not been updated in four years.
Do I apply to HDB or to a welfare group?
To a welfare group. This is the procedural fact most people get wrong. You approach one of the six AVS rehoming partners, and the dog comes to you with the scheme’s conditions already attached. HDB supports the scheme and sets the flat rules it sits inside, but there is no ADORE application queue at HDB for you to join.
Is Project ADORE the same as the K9 adoption scheme?
No. The K-9 route is an expansion of ADORE that rehomes retired sniffer dogs, which AVS began as a one-year pilot in June 2017, made permanent in 2018 and later opened beyond K-9 officers to the public. The four sniffer breeds AVS lists are the Labrador, English Springer Spaniel, Cocker Spaniel and Pointer, and adoption drives are run by the SAF, SCDF and SPF K-9 units. Different dogs, different route, same parent scheme.
Can I keep any small dog in an HDB flat under ADORE?
No. Project ADORE is not a general exemption for small dogs. It covers the adoption of local mixed-breed dogs through the participating welfare groups. A dog that is small but is neither on HDB’s approved breed list nor adopted through the scheme does not become permitted by being under 55cm.
Does a purebred puppy qualify under Project ADORE?
No. The scheme is for local mixed breeds. A purebred is kept in a flat because its breed appears on HDB’s approved list, which is a separate route with separate rules, and buying a purebred that is not on that list does not become legal by pointing at ADORE. Our HDB-approved breed list page covers that route.
Is adoption under Project ADORE free?
No. Each welfare group sets its own rehoming fee, which typically recovers part of what it has already spent on the dog, and it also filters out impulse takers. Fees differ by organisation and change over time, so ask the group directly rather than trusting a number on a page like this one. We publish no organisation’s fee.
How long does the process take?
It depends on the group and on the dog, and we are not going to invent a figure. What we can tell you is what adds time rather than what the total is: meeting the dog more than once, a home visit, and the mandatory obedience training, which runs after the placement rather than before it. Ask the group at first contact.
Do I still need an AVS dog licence?
Yes. Licensing is required for every dog in Singapore and it is also a stated condition of the scheme, alongside microchipping, vaccination and sterilisation. A dog adopted under ADORE is licensed like any other dog, and the licence is annual.
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