The adoption process for the majority of the dogs taken from a Big Lake dog operation in January began today.

Saving Pets One at a Time (SPOT) is adopting out 275 dogs forfeited by Rich and Marjorie Sundberg housed with foster parents in the area in phases. The first 25 dogs will be adopted out this weekend.

“We are slowly but steadily getting them spayed/neutered, dentals done, other medical procedures performed and allowing them to recover from surgery prior to being adopted out,” said SPOT president Teresa Steiner in an e-mail.

All potential adoption parents will go through a rigorous application process.

SPOT is taking applications, reviewing them, then interviewing people over the phone. If approved, the prospective adopters are then invited to meet a few of the dogs and interviewed a second time in person to see if there is a good match, Steiner said.

The first round of personal interviews is tonight at PetSmart in Burlington from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and at the Mount Vernon Petco from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. There will be another round Saturday at Petco from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The sessions are not open to the public, only those who have been invited after filling out an application.

Those applications are available at SPOT’s website at http://www.savingpetsoneatatime.org as well as more details about the adoption process.

NOAH in Stanwood is also adopting out 22 of the Sundberg’s dogs. Applicants are meeting the dogs by appointment Friday and Saturday. Those applicants were pre-approved then drawn from a hat.

The Humane Society of Skagit Valley is also accepting applications for several dogs. It has already adopted out most of the dogs it was housing.