The wording in the rules is something like, all services are locked until population 500, except for adoption and the nanny. So, it's maybe open for interpretation whether pet adoption is included in adoption, but I think it's usually separately mentioned when it's involved in rules, so I'd think it's still locked...

Yeah, getting the dogs via befriending strays is allowed. It's just that I'm pretty bad at befriending strays, and with my empty templates, Lakewood doesn't really have strays, aside from the wolves. We did play with a wolf for a bit (it's kind of tempting to try one as a pet), but it got away and I'm not sure if we'll ever see it again. :P

Well, I'll figure something out. With luck, we may have population 500 next week in any case, which would solve the problem. Crossing my fingers for that. :)