The rescue I volunteer for (Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation) has:

1. A website where they post profiles of their adoptable pets and a streamlined application page that's mobile-friendly.

2. Frequent adoption events all over the area.

3. An active Facebook group where they post all their updates.

But honestly, OP, there isn't the same demand as there was during the pandemic. With RTO, people aren't going to adopt en masse.


4. Pets are also posted on Petfinder.

I checked Petfinder sporadically for years, but the listings are often out of date, so not really useful. And municipal shelters are largely full of pit mixes, which are not what we wanted.

A friend told me they followed Wolftrap Animal Rescue on Instagram. I stalked for a while, filled out an application, and 5 years later, we've gotten two dogs from them. Social media seems to work really well for WTAR.

Go with Lost Dog and Cat Rescue. They make it very easy to adopt a pet. They bring great dogs up from rural areas. They allow foster to adopt. They have many different types of dogs. They do not try to pass off an obvious pit bull mix as a lab/collie mix (and all of their pit mixes that I have met have been wonderful, well-screened family pets). Check out their list of dogs on the website and email the contact, if interested.

Our friend who works with lots of animal rescue/shelters recommended a particular organization. We went to an adoption event after seeing pictures of a particular litter of puppies. We met with the pups and chose one of those puppies to adopt.

A few years later I was walking said puppy (now adult dog) and saw another dog that looked like him. At the time we were looking for another dog and found out that dog was a foster. It so happened that he was from the same rescue as the first dog. We adopted him.

That first pup passed in 2022 and in the summer of 2023 we attended another adoption event to look for another pup. We went to meet one pup who turned out not to like our current dog. We ended up with another puppy from the same rescue.

Social media is a great way to market rescue organizations and the dogs available. It’s also a good way to announce when adoption events occur.

I have used petfinder previously. I found a dog on there back in 2012 who we adopted thru lucky dog rescue.
When he was nearing the end I started following lab Rescue on Facebook. First dog was a lab mix and I wanted another lab or lab mix.
Started the process thru lab rescue and adopted a choc lab ( he’s 76% lab per dna test) but it was the Facebook page that got me started with that group.
Social media is huge, that’s where you need to post avail dogs.

Lotsa questions...

I'll do my best to answer by sharing my experiences.

All of our dogs since we have moved to the general area have been rescues. We found our first at an adoption event. A local organization had setup at a local pet store and we had been looking for a dog. One day, we happened to come across them and they had a lovely lab mix that we immediately fell in love with and put in an application to adopt her. Bootsie was a great dog and with us for 10 years until she got bladder cancer.

The 2nd dog that we adopted overlapped with Bootsie and was being fostered by a coworker. We went to see her and she ended up ours - she's now 12 - Jack Russell/Beagle mix - who is pretty saucy for an older gal.

Our 3rd doggie is a COVID pup (just turned 5) and she came to us through Pet Finder. We had been looking for another dog and everybody was too. We found her about 45 minutes from us and she's been great. Some sorta hound mix.

We follow a few of the local organizations on social media and keep up to date with what they are doing. We'd consider fostering - I think the only hang-up is really how to get started and us committing the time.

Hope this helps!

I'm hoping that the community can chime in on how they go about getting their pet or start their search. This is more applicable to rescues since I know that when someone wants a particular breed, they will research breeders and go that route. That's totally fine in my book. I work with a smaller rescue and trying to understand the best ways the rescue can help get the word out about the dogs they have. So for those that were looking to adopt a new pup or rescue, how did you go about finding them? Some rescues have adoption events. Did you go the adoption events on a regular basis? Do you use Petfinder? Are the local rescues or shelters you tend to check websites on available dogs? Do you follow certain blogs, Facebook, instagram, etc accounts? In my time with working with rescues I tend to see people going to a rescue based on a past adoption with them. But how did you find that rescue in the first place? There are some great puppies and dogs that we couldn't take because so many or the rescues and shelters are so full. At the same time, I think (based on talking to people while running errands) that there are still a lot of families interested in adopting a new pet. So for me, I'm just trying to understand the best way to let people know about certain dogs that are out there and available, without being pushy. So many people tell me they just had no idea a certain dog was available. Also, not to be too greedy with asking for information...rescues always need fosters. Is there anything that would help some people consider fostering? What are most people hesitations? How could a rescue make the experience the best and easy for a foster? I am grateful for any input.