The Best Seattle, WA Dog Rescues & Shelters in 2025

Resilient Hearts Animal Sanctuary

Resilient Hearts is a 501(c)3 nonprofit rescue that rescues animals from high risk situations and unites them with their forever families in the Puget Sound area. As a queer led organization, we are committed to accessible and inclusive programs for our entire community, and maintain a community safe space for anyone to share our animals.

Motley Zoo Animal Rescue

Motley Zoo Animal Rescue is the revolution of rescue. As a rock and roll-themed, foster-based, volunteer-powered rescue, we take in animals that have no one else. "Animals" primarily means dogs and cats, but as the name "zoo" implies, we take all kinds (as long as we have a foster home/ resources for that species). We work with shelters and owners who cannot keep their pets and through extensive veterinary care and training, we rehabilitate them and place them in loving, forever homes where the animals will never again be abandoned. More than 30% of the animals we take in are special or medically needy and require more extensive and expensive care. In all we work with all ages, breeds, many species and all different types of humans too- treating each as an individual so they can find the life and love they deserve.

Greyhound Pets, Inc.

John A. Hern Jr. founded Greyhound Pets, Inc. in 1985. John was a Coeur D'Alene, Idaho businessman who built a foundry business and owned Industrial Park real estate. Among John's many and varied interests, he held greyt admiration for ex-racing greyhounds and became committed to their care and welfare. As the greyhound racetrack opened in Coeur D'Alene John started a small side business providing feed and racing equipment to track kennels. He demonstrated his commitment to the dogs by being instrumental in building a track sponsored Greyhound Welfare Committee that reviewed track and kennel policies. John's first greyhounds were Roo and Babe, the two greyhounds featured in the GPI logo. John adopted several greyhounds after Roo and Babe. Ace was one of his favorites and was the subject of many of John's stories. John was the executive director of Greyhound Pets, Inc. for many years and oversaw expansion to include the Pacific Northwest and Southwestern Canada. John's generous bequest to the organization he founded has provided for GPI's continued prominence in the ex-racing greyhound rescue effort. The volunteers who continue in the efforts John began, honor his colorful leadership in finding homes for ex-racers. John is remembered and his love for ex-racing greyhounds honored in the Hern Greyt Works, GPI's kennel facility in Woodinville, WA.

Auburn Valley Humane Society

AVHS is a local, independent 501(c)3 non-profit, which relies on pet licensing fees, vulnerable pet housing agreements with the City of Auburn, shelter services, spay and neuter services, Thrift Store sales, Cat Cafe Sales, and generous donations from the community to fund the shelter, clinic, and educational programs.

Juno's Den

Welfare for Animals Guild (WAG)

Since 2001, WAG has placed dogs into new, loving homes. Our rescues come to us in many ways: owner surrenders due to unplanned life changes, over-populated shelters, and strays found wandering streets and fields. Prior to adoption, all of our rescues are spayed/neutered, receive all vaccines, are micro-chipped, and all other medical needs are addressed.

CHEW Dog Rescue

CHEW Dog Rescue is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to rescuing abandoned dogs, dogs scheduled for euthanasia due to shelter space limitations, and other dogs who need us. We are always looking to find additional foster homes and acquire funding for other essential elements of dog rescue to allow us to help more dogs in need. We strive to place our dogs in safe and loving forever homes. Additionally, we promote responsible dog ownership through the facilitation of educational and recreational activities and events. CHEW (Canine Health Education and Welfare) is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization.

The Pit Bull Pen

We are an all volunteer rescue specializing in bully breeds. We are facility based and prefer our dogs experience the home environment with their foster homes because the care they receive is superior to a shelter environment. Spay/neuter, microchip, vaccinations, training, socialization and lots of love are critical for producing well balanced and well behaved dogs.

Homeward Pet Adoption Center

Homeward Pet's mission is to transform the lives of cats and dogs in need through compassionate medical care, positive behavior training, and successful adoption while building a more humane community.

The Humane Society of Mason County

The Humane Society of Mason County (HSMC) is a private 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that serves the Mason County area of Washington State. Our organization adheres to a philosophy of a no-kill shelter and animal rescue. We believe in providing second chances for companion animals whether they are abandoned, abused, neglected or homeless. We believe that all animals deserve the chance to live, thrive and be loved in "forever homes!" It is our sincere desire to provide aid when needed and to create opportunities for these needy animals to have a second chance at life.

Seattle Humane

Founded in 1897, Seattle Humane proudly promotes the human-animal bond by saving and serving pets in need. We are one of the region's leaders in animal adoption, education and welfare. Seattle Humane is more than a shelter we are a community resource center, providing adoption services, a pet food bank and support for pet owners, low-cost spay/neuter surgeries and wellness exams, humane education for all ages and more. Our work is made possible by the support of a generous community, and through our outreach, advocacy and services we strive to ensure that animal companionship is accessible to all.

Old Dog Haven

Old Dog Haven is a small nonprofit group using a large network of foster homes to provide loving, safe homes for unadoptable senior dogs in need in western Washington. When we have room and the means, we take these dogs into our homes. We care for them as members of the family in permanent foster homes (what we call ‚Final Refuge‚) and provide all needed veterinary care for as long as they have a good quality of life. In addition, we assist rescues, shelters and owners in finding new homes for senior adoptable dogs through our website, social media and referrals.

Save A Mutt

Red Waggin' Rescue

Red Waggin' Rescue is a Washington State dog and cat rescue. We are a foster-based non-profit founded in 2012 in Eastern Washington. Our mission is to rescue, rehabilitate, and find homes for abandoned dogs and cats in need, ensure healthy pets through pet food education, cultivate the younger generation's love of animals, and build a community where animals are valued and celebrated. Every animal deserves to be loved and find a forever home! 100% of your donation will go directly to help animals in need.

Center Valley Animal Rescue

The Olympic Mountains provide the backdrop to Center Valley Animal Rescue (CVAR), a ranch with 32-acres of pastures, ponds, barns and shelters for large animals. The central building is home to small animals, an office, a medical room and storage. This animal rescue is the vision of Sara Penhallegon who in 2002, formed a 501(3) C Charitable Organization on the Washington State Olympic Peninsula. Sara and a handful of friends created a network of carefully screened foster care families to temporarily care for animals that were being signed over due to abuse or neglect or by people who simply could no longer care for them.

Saving Great Animals

Saving Great Animals is a matchmaking rescue organization focused mainly on dogs in the Greater Seattle area. We work tirelessly to match the best pet to your family based on breed, lifestyle and other factors. With more than 8500 lovingly homed since 2007, we are proud of our dedicated team and foster homes for bringing new life to pets with loving homes to last their lifetime. We adopt out only after a dog has been spayed/neutered, updated on shots, has received proper medical care and chipped. We are dedicated to lowering the dog reproduction population, which leads to millions of lost lives. We use a trial adoption program, which includes training and counsel, and dogs are only adopted after that period. As a result, our return rates are very low. We love every single animal we rescue and we are cradle to grave, staying in touch with adopting families for years, often adding new furry loves to their homes. Adopters must sign a contract, and this is to ensure that if for some unforeseen reason, the dog needs to be rehomed, he/she is returned to Saving Great Animals for rehoming. Our dogs are never to see a high-kill shelter again in their lifetime.

The NOAH Center

In 1988, Northwest Organization for Animal Help first opened its doors at our original shelter location on Camano Island. For more than ten years our staff and volunteers worked diligently to help animals in the community. As the need for help grew in our own community and across Washington state, we knew we had to expand our resources to better serve our mission to save more animals. After years of serving animals in our local community, we expanded our horizon by adopting a new approach to our facility, programs, and services. In 2003 we debuted our current location in Stanwood, WA where we introduced our expanded adoption and brand new transfer and low-cost spay/neuter programs. Since then we have created partnerships with more than 100 different shelters to transfer animals at risk of euthanasia to our facility for the second chance they deserve; we have developed the second-highest volume spay/neuter clinic in Washington state; and we have continued to expand our efforts to ensure healthy, adoptable and treatable animals across Washington state and beyond are given a second chance.

Prison Pet Partnership

Dealing with the challenges of today requires problem-solvers who bring different perspectives and are willing to take risks. Prison Pet Partnership emerged out of a pursuit to inspire and support the community, and a desire for actions to speak louder than words. Established in 1981, we’re an organization driven by progressive ideas, bold actions, and a strong foundation of support. Prison Pet Partnership (PPP) provides incarcerated individuals the opportunity to learn valuable pet care vocational skills to secure employment post-release. In addition to training, boarding, and grooming dogs, incarcerated individuals also have the opportunity to gain clerical and customer service skills. PPP identifies dogs in shelters and purpose-bred puppies to train and place as service, facility, and therapy dogs. Service dogs are trained to provide mobility assistance, respond to seizures, and to assist those who experience combat-related PTSD - increasing the independence of their handlers. Facility dogs are trained to provide assistance in clinical settings. Therapy dogs are trained to assist children in hospitals, domestic violence survivors in court, and seniors in assisted living facilities. Studies of the human-animal bond have reached the not surprising conclusion that humans benefit from the unqualified love and acceptance that only animals can provide. Incarcerated individuals earn certification as Pet Care Technicians, Groomers, Dog Trainers, and Veterinary Assistants. They love the dogs they care for and train and receive unconditional love in return. The positive mental health impacts to both the participants and dogs create a transformative experience for all involved. For years, Prison Pet Partnership has changed the lives of the incarcerated individuals who work with the dogs, the dogs who are given the chance to lead lives of service, and the individuals with disabilities who receive well-trained dogs to help increase their level of independence.

Seattle Beagle Rescue

Seattle Beagle Rescue is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit, Federal Tax ID #03-0377785, dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation, and re-homing of unwanted beagles, education of owners on responsible dog ownership, and education of the public on the beagle breed. We are a volunteer run organization that relies solely on tax deductible donations to help dogs from shelters that may be overcrowded and assist private homes that can no longer care for them, as well as dogs from other rescue organizations that may be overwhelmed with beagles needing new homes and laboratories releasing beagles from testing. We have partnered with high kill shelters, international rescue groups, domestic rescue groups and individuals to safely bring pups to the Pacific Northwest. We are able to provide various types of assistance for beagles in our rescue, such as foster homes, training or medical care until each beagle can be placed in an appropriate loving, permanent home. In some cases, we may be able to provide hospice care for beagles that may not be adoptable due to health issues, but still deserve the love and warmth of a home in their final days. We are a foster based rescue and do not have a traditional kennel facility. Our dogs are cared for by their foster families until we find a forever home for them. Therefore, our process to meet dogs and to adopt our rescue dogs may be different than an animal control facility, humane society or animal shelter.

Help Every Little Paw

Hope 4 La Pawz is a Washington State registered 501(c)3 non-profit in the US. We operate in Mexico under the name of Amigos de 4 Patas. Together we seek to end the suffering of stray and abandoned dogs in La Paz. We work with people in the local community who rescue dogs and foster them in their own homes. We provide food, veterinary care, supplies and support while we find permanent homes for these dogs. We are not a shelter or refuge in the traditional sense.

Mercer Island Eastside Orphans & Waifs

MEOW Cat Rescue (aka Mercer Island Eastside Orphans and Waifs) is a no-kill cat shelter located in Kirkland, WA in the greater Seattle area of Western Washington. MEOW, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit since 1997, places between 800 and 1000 animals into permanent homes each year.

The Humane Society of Jefferson County, WA

The Humane Society of Jefferson County WA operates the only open admissions animal shelter in Jefferson County. We provide care to all stray and unwanted dogs and cats impounded by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, the Port Townsend Police Department, and the Washington State Patrol. We provide loving care until they are returned to their owner or adopted into a new loving home. Every Jefferson County resident is welcome and encouraged to surrender a cat or dog that they can no longer care for to us. We will work for the best for the pet, We provide much needed services to the community, including low-income family spay/neuter clinics, wellness clinics for vaccinations and microchips, humane euthanasia and cremation service. All of our directors and officers are volunteers and do not receive any form of compensation. All of the donations received by HSJCWA go toward the operation of the animal shelter. The Humane Society of Jefferson County, WA. was incorporated as a Non-Profit Corporation in October 2008 and was granted tax-exempt status under section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code in March 2009. The Secretary of State of the State of Washington registered the Humane Society in its Charities Program in March 2009. During the years 2009 to 2011 HSJC provided a paid shelter attendant to assist the Sheriff’s Animal Control Officer and to keep the shelter open when he was on call. HSJC organized volunteers to help with the kennel cleaning, walking and socializing the dogs, and cleaning cat cages and socializing the cats. In November 2011 Jefferson County and HSJC made an agreement for HSJC to rent the animal shelter facility from the County and to have the complete responsibility for the operation of the shelter. HSJC was made the agent of the County to issue dog and kennel licenses and to collect shelter fees as specified in County Code. HSJC also entered into an agreement with the City of Port Townsend to provide open admittance shelter services to the City and the City of Port Townsend made HSJC its agent for the issue of animal licenses to residents of the City. Currently, HSJCWA employs a small but mighty team of 7; all of whom are dedicated and diversely talented individuals. HSJC has made many significant improvements to the shelter facility and will continue to improve both the facility and the service to the community.

Animals In Need

We are a small non-profit, volunteer based dog resue group dedicated to saving abandoned, abused, and neglected puppies and dogs in Puerto Rico, and locally. We typically rescue dogs that are in need of veterinary care. We provide all that they need until they are healthy enough to find suitable loving homes, and then place them where they can have the life we believe they deserve. For dogs that do come from Puerto Rico, they are fostered in private homes to ensure all dogs recieve proper care, all vet checkups and we observe personalities and dispositions to eveluate their needs and match them to best suited families. Goals: • Each rescue helps prevent future puppies from being born on the streets, thus reducing pet over-population. • Vaccinations to reduce diseases • Raise awareness of abuse and neglect, and bring about change • Improve the quality of life for everyone involved (people and animals). We can all help by spaying and nuetering our pets. If your pet is already altered, you can always help a friend, or help shelters provide that service as a volunteer.

HappyPaws Farm Humane Society

At HappyPaws Farm, our mission is to save dogs and cats that have been neglected, abused, or are in some other way in need of care. We also work with people to help them keep their pets. We are a no-kill shelter. Our animals live in a farm-like setting, not in cages. We are currently working towards opening an 18 acre cat shelter with an emphasis on helping feral cats and reducing their population. We will also take in regular cats with medical problems who are not infectious. The new shelter will also house dogs following surgery, for short periods. We also run a pet food bank for the low-income, on food stamps, who have animals. By running our own animal food bank we are able to pick up neglect cases, to spay/neuter, and provide vet care (as funds allow) and flea control. The need in these areas is tremendous. We also help low-income families by providing dog houses, fencing, flea control, wormings, and education. Our main facility is our sanctuary in Arlington, WA, north of Seattle. We provide seven acres of lush green countryside for the lucky animals that find their way to HappyPaws Farm. Some of these pets had owners who were terminally ill or nursing home bound; were in domestic violence situations; came from meth houses, or were saved from poor conditions in their homes. We work diligently to make our dogs and cats happy and to find them loving homes. We are a 501(c)3 federal tax-exempt agency and also a non-profit state agency and United Way agency. All donations are tax-deductible.

Whidbey Animals Improvement Foundation

WAIF’s Vision is to provide a safe and loving home for every companion animal. Compassion — All companion animals deserve a home where they will be treated with kindness and compassion. Respect — Animals possess inherent dignity, nobility, and innocence and deserve respect. Responsibility — In gratitude for the many ways companion animals enrich human life, we all share responsibility for their welfare. Community — WAIF’s greatest strength is the community’s passion, commitment, and generosity. People working together for the animals is the heart and soul of WAIF. Sound Business Practices — To sustain WAIF’s long-term viability, it must utilize core business competencies with integrity in innovative ways. What We Do WAIF manages animal adoption facilities in three locations on Whidbey Island (Coupeville, Oak Harbor, and Freeland). Through donations of time and money, WAIF operates with a life-saving philosophy to provide care for healthy, adoptable pets until they are placed into permanent, suitable homes regardless of time or space constraints. WAIF also operates two retail locations that help raise funds, but donations are vital to maintaining the current level of care for homeless cats and dogs, and to support low-income pet owners. There are many ways to donate and your help is always greatly appreciated.

Wet Noses Rescue

In Sayulita, fate brought together two extraordinary women – one American and one Mexican – who shared a deep concern for the well-being of countless sick, abandoned, neglected, and abused dogs and cats in the area. Their partnership began informally, as they joined forces to rescue, rehabilitate, and find loving homes for these vulnerable animals. Over time, their dedication and hard work paved the way for the establishment of Wet Noses Rescue. What once started as a modest backyard operation has now blossomed into a thriving 501c3 nonprofit organization with two dedicated facilities in Punta Mita. Join us in our mission to create a brighter future for these innocent beings, one Wet Nose at a time.

MustLuvBoxers Rescue

MustLuvBoxers Rescue is a registered Washington non-profit, Federal Charitable Organization 501©(3), all donations are tax deductible. Federal EIN #46-439159 We absolutely love the Boxer breed - and we're committed to making a difference in the Pacific Northwest. We're a small but mighty team of dedicated individuals who are working together, building on this foundation of compassion and inclusion to help both Boxers and the people that love them. Our Story What began as a Boxer forum with people from around the world - grew into a woman-led nonprofit Boxer Rescue in 2013. Today, almost a decade later we've acquired land for a rescue center and senior sanctuary and look forward to changing the lives of many more dogs to come.

Hello Pitty

We are a group of volunteers devoted to finding forever homes for unwanted bully breed dogs. No salaries are paid and 100% of donations go towards our mission. We do not have a facility and rely solely on foster homes. Our goal is to find foster and adoptive homes that are capable of providing resources, training, and care for underrepresented and misunderstood breeds. Outside of finding loving adoptive homes, we strive to present a positive image of the breed and clarify any controversy of negative stereotyping or press.

Charlie's Foundation

Their reality is..... Seniors are often deemed less adoptable and when shelters need space they are the first ones to be put-to-sleep. They often languish in the shelter system not understanding where they are and quickly shut down when they realize they will never see their beloved owners again. Most are in dire need of medical care and crave the simplest of human interaction. Most only receive the interaction they longed for when they are removed from their kennel once their time has run out. This is the most heart wrenching of realities knowing that the interaction only comes at the expense of ending their lives that fateful day. ​ Our Promise is..... To rescue and improve the quality of life for senior dogs. To be an advocate for spay and neuter programs and to help owners in need find low cost programs. To provide the best medical care, or in some cases the strength to compassionately let them cross over to The Rainbow Bridge.

Hearts4Doxies Rescue

We love every single animal we rescue and believe that staying in touch with our adoptive families, contributes to our high success rate. We solely rely on adopt donations and fundraising. As you can imagine, with mounting vet costs, we are always in need of financial gifts. Our dogs are adopted when they are completely vetted – spay/neutered, up-to-date vaccines and other proper medical care such as dentals. Hearts4Doxies Rescue is a matchmaking rescue focused solely on small breed dogs. We work tirelessly to perfectly match the best pet to your family based on breed, lifestyle and other factors. We are proud of our dedicated all-volunteer team and foster homes for bringing new life to pets with loving homes to last their lifetime.