Can anyone recommend a good rescue dog shelter from whom we can adopt a puppy?

We're looking for a puppy for our kids. We originally looked at Home for Good Dogs Rescue in Berkeley Heights but were dismayed by all the negative reviews we've seen across the 'net. Does anyone have an organization they like/can recommend/that you've had success adopting a dog from (anywhere in the surrounding area, up to and including NYC)? Thanks!

- Alex


We adopted from Home for Good Dogs but St. Huberts is seemingly the richest and classiest of the shelters.   It's always going to be a bit of a crap shoot, though.  


It’s quite a drive but the two amazing  dogs we have now and the wonderful dog who preceded them were adopted from North Shore Animal League. 


We got both of our dogs from North Shore Animal League. Our dog is presently taking obedience classes at St. Hubert’s. Both shelters are well run. 

If you choose North Shore, look into pre-qualifying. We didn’t know about this and spent several hours waiting for them to call references. Saturday’s are really busy. (Didn’t bother us since Port Wash is our hometown but it was a long wait!) 


You can also check out the Montclair Animal Shelter. I saw some cute pups on FB. Don't forget Mt. Pleasant Animal Shelter.


You can use petfinder.org or adoptapet.com and search by location, breed, size, age, gender.  Most shelters and rescues keep their lists pretty updated on those sites.


We had an excellent experience at Mt. Pleasant.  Although the manager clearly preferred animals to people, the other staff members were very helpful and asked good questions about what type of temperament we wanted, etc.  

We are VERY happy with our fur babies.


You can start by asking at local vets.  There are adoption days at PetSmart- next to Trader Joe’s; ask about their next one.  We got our four dogs- one at at time- by these means:

1- Posting on community board at Kings( do shops still do that?)about a local litter.

2- Lotsa time on Petfinders and repeated visits to individual shelters Mt. Pleasant was a fave, but after months of looking we found HER at Newark Humane Society.  We just walked in.

3- same as above, found HIM in Sayreville via petfinder posting.  Unfortinately they’ve closed.  We’ve always made a holiday contribution to the shelter where we got our dog- Sville always a handwritten thank you.

4- Our current guy we kinda walked-in to St. Hubert’s.  One note on St. Hubert’s they have a very high turnover rate.  First visit we saw a guy we needed to talk about 2 days later had already been sent to a shelter in another state.  Current guy wasn’t on view Tuesday; late AM Thursday we found him and took him home.

Wendyn mentioned Petfinders.org and Adoptapet.com these are large (nationwide) orgs with terrific reps.  Be prepared to spend quite a bit of time in your search. 

THANK YOU FOR ADOPTING A SHELTER PET!


We found both of our rescue dogs thru Petfinder.org. We found Sammy at a shelter in Hunterdon County - saw his pic online & fell in love. We found our next dog, Nilla, at a farm in Morris County. What's good about Petfinder is that you can ask for the type of dog (breed/age/sex) and then see all the "matches" that show up in a certain radius.

But adopting from Associated Humane in Newark would be SUCH a blessing to the animal adopted, since it is NOT the best shelter & has a high euthansia rate. Animals that are "rescued" from that place are lucky indeed..... Good luck! 



maggiesmom said:
We found both of our rescue dogs thru Petfinder.org. We found Sammy at a shelter in Hunterdon County - saw his pic online & fell in love. We found our next dog, Nilla, at a farm in Morris County. What's good about Petfinder is that you can ask for the type of dog (breed/age/sex) and then see all the "matches" that show up in a certain radius. But adopting from Associated Humane in Newark would be SUCH a blessing to the animal adopted, since it is NOT the best shelter & has a high euthansia rate. Animals that are "rescued" from that place are lucky indeed..... Good luck! 

Agree about AHS in Newark. And if you are on FB they have 2 pages. One under the shelter and the other is Friends of Associated Humane. The head volunteer Sherri Laraway is very helpful. I knew her from volunteering at the JAC and my rescue now pulls cats from that shelter.


The dog will really be for your whole family, right?


Another vote for Mt. Pleasant!  We've had our wonderful girl for 9 years.


We found all of our fabulous adoptees via Pet Finder. Our latest two adoptions were via Pet Finder and many years ago, we made our first adoption via Pet Finder. Our feisty bulldog came via the Bloomfield Animal Shelter and our new girl was a foster from a family who had her for almost a year in and were getting sadder by the day that she wouldn't find a home.  

Bloomfield Animal Shelter

https://www.petfinder.com/memb...

Animal Haven Centre Street, NYC

https://www.animalhavenshelter...


Good luck to you! 


I spent MANY hours on Pet Finder, which linked with many local shelters [so many in NJ!]  I eventually found my fur baby at Ruff Rescue in Mt Lakes.  Please keep in mind that any rescue is a crap shoot, and be prepared to stick out the commitment.

Good luck!


Avoid Home for Good Dogs like the plague. I couldn't believe all those operatic Yelp reviews could possibly be accurate. They were. And we have a lot of experience with rescues. 


We got our dogs from English setter rescues. Many breed rescues are fanatical, but in a good way. The foster parents take a lot of time to get to know the pups before they adopt them out. 





What happened to Furry Hearts Rescue in Maplewood, did they fold?


Not to my knowledge.  Gave Lisa some donated items 2 weeks ago.


Lisa moved her business out of town.


Want to add in another voice for AHS Newark (124 Evergreen Avenue, open 12 pm - 6 pm everyday): this shelter is overcapacity now and there are many, many adoptable pets there.  If you adopt from AHS Newark you will find your BFF and help save another animal who desperately needs the space that will be freed up, and in this way will have more time to find its forever home.  And yes, the sad truth is that AHS Newark euthanizes animals when they run out of space.



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