There a millions of puppies (yes, there are puppies in rescue!) and dogs of all ages (young, adult, senior) and specific breeds in shelters or rescue organizations across Pennsylvania and the United States.  These dogs are not damaged, and deserve a chance at a happy life with a forever family.  Check out your local shelter, animal control or rescues for available dogs.

Visit one of these well-known sites where you can search available dogs by breed, age, size, and gender:

A reputable rescue will have dogs of all ages available for adoption!  If the rescue or website you are visiting only has puppies available, be cautious that you may not be supporting an actual rescue. A rescue will be as interested in you as you are in the dog.  Rescues will have you fill out an application, check personal and/or veterinary references, and perhaps make a home visit. The volunteers from these organizations will ask questions about previous pets or what qualities or personality you are looking for in your new best friend. It takes time to review applications to find the best fit and many volunteers have jobs as well, so please be patient. As you can imagine, rescues feel a great deal of responsibility to ensure they find a loving forever home for each animal in its care.

Another reason to Adopt

Imagine if your life situation changed and you couldn’t keep your dog anymore. Where would you take it if a family member or friend couldn’t and who would you trust? Most rescues and animal shelters are non-profit and rely on donations from the public and adoptions to stay afloat. Each animal that is adopted creates space for another pet in need to enter their program. When a dog is taken to a rescue it will live in a foster home until it is adopted. If needed, it will be examined by a veterinarian, brought up-to-date on vaccinations and spayed or neutered. The foster parents will monitor the dog’s attributes – behavior, personality, habits, and preferences to other dogs, cats, men, women, and children. This valuable information is used to determine the best type of home situation for each dog when placing it up for adoption, reviewing adoption applications and placing it in a new home.

Be aware that many websites and brokers that are advertising puppies for commercial breeding kennels will use the word ADOPT on their website. And some of the large ones offer virtually every breed imaginable.