Adopt

Rural Dog Rescue

Rural Dog Rescue is a non-profit organization whose mission is to save the lives of dogs and cats in high-kill shelters in rural areas with euthanasia rates of 80% or higher.

Mission Statement: Forever true to The Underdog, Rural Dog Rescue is dedicated to saving the lives of dogs in shelters who are often overlooked for adoption or rescue. We save the dogs who are at most risk of being euthanized: the hounds, the black dogs, the seniors, the sick and the broken. We make a commitment to reserve a minimum of 50% of the dogs we save to The Underdog. Root For The Underdog!

Rural Dog Rescue's home base is in Washington, DC. We support several high kill shelters that euthanize in 72 hours and whose kill rate is 70% or higher in rural areas of Virginia, West Virginia, North and South Carolina. Rural Dog Rescue also helps dogs in need in Washington, DC and Maryland.

We are 100% volunteer and foster based and no salaries are paid. 100% of your donation and adoption fee goes to helping the dogs and cats of Rural Dog Rescue.

Address Map

Meet their adoptable pets

719 8th Street SE,
Washington, DC, 20003

See every new pet that comes to this shelter!

Create an alert, and we'll notify you every time a new pet comes in who meets your criteria.

Rescue FAQs

Washington, D.C area, including Northern Virginia and Maryland

  • 1. Submit Application
  • 2. Interview
  • 3. Meet the Pet
  • 4. Home Check
  • 5. Approve Application

Additional adoption info

Adoption area is Washington, D.C area, including Northern Virginia and Maryland. All adoptions require a completed adoption application. Our adoption coordinators will contact you soon after reviewing the application. Our adoption fee is $450 to help off set the costs of rescuing dogs in need. All dogs go to their new homes spayed or neutered, up to date on all shots, wormed (although a 2nd worming may be required), started on heart worm and flea and tick preventative and sometimes microchipped.

Although we try to be as accurate as possible, Rural Dog Rescue cannot guarantee the breed or full-grown adult size of any of the dogs or puppies in its care. Because many of these dogs were found as strays or are the result of irresponsible, unplanned breeding, we do not know the dog's exact background and can only list breed and size by our best educated guess. If exact breed and size are important to you, please consider adopting a dog from a specific breed rescue. We want our dogs to be adopted by people who will love and care for them forever for who they are - no matter what breed and size they turn out to be!

To read more about the application process, or to fill out an application, visit http://www.ruraldogrescue.com/adoption-process/

Adoption Application: http://bit.ly/rdradoptapp
Foster Application: http://bit.ly/rdrfosterapp

Adoption application

https://rdr.formstack.com/forms/adopt

Search for a dog or cat

  • Columbus, OH
  • Columbus, OH
  • Columbus Grove, OH
  • Columbus Grv, OH

Sorry, we can’t find that location! Please try again.

Animal Charities in Washington, DC

HeARTs Speak

HeARTs Speak develops resources that help shelter animals to be seen and find homes, ultimately transforming public perceptions of pet adoption, shelters, and animals in need. Each year our work helps nearly 1 million pets in your community and beyond.

Learn more

Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs

There is a tremendous need for new methods of sterilization that are faster, easier, more accessible, and less expensive than surgery. ACC&D works tirelessly to bring together key stakeholders to advance this field.

Learn more

Animal Legal Defense Fund

Every day, Animal Legal Defense Fund works to enact tougher animal cruelty laws, provide care and legal assistance for animal victims of cruelty, offer rewards to bring abusers to justice, and provide free legal assistance to prosecutors and law enforcement to put abusers behind bars.

Learn more