No matter where you live, in a rural town or a big, cramped metropolis, there’s a place that has the dog who is perfect for you. That dog may not have been perfect for the people who gave him up, but that could be just your luck, and the dog’s. Always think locally first: homelessness is best solved if we look at our own communities and reach out a helping hand to an individual who’s fallen on hard times.
If you’re not sure where the local animal shelter is, start by consulting the telephone book and looking up animal shelter, animal control, humane society, or SPCA. That’s bound to yield a lead. Sometimes, the sheriff’s office has a few pens out back containing the unclaimed strays of the week. The town vet hospital might have a dog that someone "forgot" to claim after dropping him off for a medical procedure.
If you want to extend your reach, or if the pool of available local dogs hasn’t got quite the one you’re looking for, it’s time to turn to the World Wide Web. With its launch in 1995, Petfinder.com changed the face of dog adoption with its nationwide listing of available dogs at shelters and rescue groups across the country.
Speaking of rescue groups, they are excellent resources for finding a specific breed or type of dog, or a mixed-breed whose dominant ingredient is a specific breed. And there is one for every breed of canine. To locate these groups, simply type the breed of your choice plus the word rescue (for example, Rottweiler rescue) into your search engine and you’ll get more information than you imagined. You can even search by size of breed (the search terms small dog rescue might yield, for instance, the web site of Peke-a-Tzu Rescue, specialists in re-homing diminutive dogs). As part of its mission to promote the purebred dog, the Web site of the American Kennel Club also lists rescue groups by breed.
In some cases, you may need to travel some distance to get the dog your heart desires; in other cases, you may come across a rescue group that refuses to do out-of-state adoptions. The rules vary widely, but one thing is consistent: Breed rescuers will check your references and interview you before they release a dog. Please cooperate with these kind people as they do their due diligence, and don’t feel put off by their questions; understand that rescuers have seen what happens when dogs fall into the wrong hands, and they want to avoid future heartbreak for the dogs in their care. And that’s a worthy goal.
