Where to get your dog

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If you want a dog just to be a family pet and/or Emotional Support Animal, adopting from a rescue might be the right choice for you. The upside of adopting from an ethical rescue is that they will take care of all the necessary initial vetting (vaccinations, deworming, neuter/spay, etc.) and provide a rehome guarantee in the event that you ultimately are unable to keep the dog. The downsides are that rescue dogs typically have an unknown background and most (but not all) will have some kind of health, temperament, and/or behavior problems that will need management and training.

What makes a rescue ethical or unethical?

The most important aspect of an ethical rescue is that they are responsible for the animals they take in. This means 1) taking care of initial vetting (rabies and other vaccines, deworming, etc.) prior to finalizing the adoption; 2) requiring that the dog be neutered or spayed prior to finalizing the adoption and covering the vet cost; 3) offering a trial period to ensure that the placement is a good fit prior to finalizing the adoption; and 4) providing the adopter with a guarantee that the rescue will find the dog a home if the adopter is truly unable to keep the dog (meaning all options and resources except rehoming have already been exhausted).

The second most important attribute of an ethical rescue is transparency. Rescue dogs are not for everybody, and in order to ensure that a placement is appropriate and will not result in rehoming, it is crucial that the rescue is honest about the dog's needs, behavior, and temperament. This means informing the adopter of what medical and/or behavioral issues the dog has and providing resources (canine behavior and enrichment education, ethical training resources, and a list of local behavioral veterinarians if necessary) to ensure that the adopter will be able to give the dog a permanent home.

Other things to consider when selecting a rescue are 1) whether the rescue requires ethical (i.e., force-free) training practices or supports force trainers; 2) whether the rescue conducts home checks to ensure that the placement is appropriate and the dog is not being placed into a hoarding situation; and 3) adoption fees, training fees, and the for-profit or nonprofit status of the rescue (high adoption fees can be a red flag but not necessarily).

Some rescues will refuse to allow someone to adopt a dog if they live in an apartment or have a small or unfenced yard. This would definitely be an issue for some dogs, but most people are willing and able to make reasonable accommodations (like daily walks) to attenuate these limitations, and the ethical thing to do would be to find homes for as many shelter dogs as possible, not prevent well-meaning people from adopting because they don't have acreage.

If a shelter or rescue advertises that they are no-kill, this really does not mean much. No-kill does not mean that they do not euthanize for QoL (quality of life) issues, including behavior problems (i.e., living in constant fear of their surroundings), and that is a good thing. No-kill simply means that a shelter or rescue has the luxury of being able to turn away dogs when the shelter is full or the dogs are not deemed adoptable. Many shelters, like DACC (Detroit Animal Care and Control) have no choice but to take in literally any dog who shows up on their doorstep, and when they are over-full they are required to euthanize for space (causing them to be labeled as a kill shelter). This has nothing to do with how ethical a shelter is, but it has everything to do with their resources and the system they are legally bound by.

How do you know if a rescue is right for you?

If you are looking for a household pet and have the time and resources to commit to fulfilling a dog's enrichment and training needs, adopting a rescue dog might be perfect for you. If you have children, other dogs, cats, and/or other pets, it will likely be more difficult to find a rescue dog who is a good fit, but an ethical and transparent rescue will find you a successful placement. If you are looking for a therapy dog, finding a suitable rescue dog will be difficult but definitely possible. If you intend to participate in dog sports, a rescue with the right energy level would be a good choice, as long as you are not planning on titling the dog for the purpose of breeding (the AKC and other registries allow altered dogs and mixes in most sports but not conformation shows).

What about purebred rescues?

If you intend to rescue a purebred dog, there are other things to consider. Ethically bred purebreds do not end up in shelters (except in rare situations where they are typically promptly returned to the breeder). When a purebred or "designer" dog ends up in a shelter, it usually means that the breeder of that dog is not responsible for the lives they create and is therefore unethical (and is likely to be unethical in other ways besides allowing their puppy buyers to abandon their dogs at shelters). Because of this, purebreds in shelters typically have health and/or behavior issues (otherwise they would still be in the home that purchased them), and they also tend to lack many of their breed's standard attributes. In other words, a purebred in a shelter or rescue is even more likely than a mixed breed to have special needs (medical treatment, training, etc.). Sometimes, the dog simply is not compatible with children and would do perfectly fine in a child-free home, but the dog still probably will not align with its breed standard because an ethically bred dog would be rehomed by the breeder rather than a rescue. If you are specifically looking for a purebred rescue, take these things into consideration and start by looking to the national breed club's website to see if they have any ethical rescues listed to begin your search.

Greyhound rescues

Many people are opposed to dog racing because they know that retired greyhounds often need help with socialization, house training, and learning how to use stairs, but these dogs are typically very well cared for and trained. Dog racing as a sport is not inherently unethical, but in places where it is illegal the dogs are often abused. Retired greyhounds are excellent for homes who need a lazy dog who sleeps most of the day but requires a brief period of strenuous exercise, and the rescues who take them from racing rings after they retire are typically good places to find a lazy dog.