Well I checked with my wife (she is on the Board of Directors for the rescue we volunteer for).
I asked about your situation and asked if the process was the same for our rescue. I posted this out to the rescue group as a whole via email.
Naturally, she responded via email (from the living room)....ah...modern technology! Ha!
Here was her reply:
Hi Dear,
No, that's not our process. We answer any & all questions. We don't ask for an app deposit prior to taking the application, just once we complete the first step to move further. Many people have questions about the dogs or our processes & we try to answer them all to help them understand about the dogs or how we do things. Let me know if you have any other questions.