Dog shelters or Dog pounds are governmental or private shelter houses for stray or abandoned dogs and provide shelter to these animals until they find foster-homes, are claimed by previous owners or placed in other similar institutions. Dog shelters are the best possible sources of pet dogs for low-income families.



Some of these shelters are the so-called kill shelters, which mean that if a dog has health or temperamental problems that are no longer manageable within the available resources, then it will be euthanized or ?killed kindly?. At times even healthy dogs need to be euthanized due to lack of space or funding.

Some shelters, usually in the private sector choose to be No-kill shelters. These provide support to healthy and adoptable dogs for the rest of their lives or until they find other owners. However the drawback is that many animals are not accepted in these shelters due to lack of funds or space limitations.

A few of the private dog shelters provide low-cost spaying and neutering before the dogs are placed. Often initial veterinary care and vaccination (except rabies) are also provided to these animals.

Many aspiring dog-owners prefer pet shops to obtain their pets. However many of these dogs end up in dog shelters or are simply left out on the streets. Animal welfare organizations are now working to create awareness among the general public about the large number of adoptable dogs available in various dog shelters and the often-poor condition of dogs in the pet shops.

Once you do decide to adopt a dog from a dog shelter, the best would be to search for such organizations in your area in your local yellow papers. You may also search on the Internet for ?dog shelters? or ?animal shelters? with the name of your city.

After you find such a facility, you should visit it a few times and observe the staff interacting with the dogs while they go about their chores of cleaning the runs and feeding the animals. Note the behavior of the staff towards the dogs, and vice versa. It will help you in deciding if you want to adopt a dog from this particular facility or not.

Many of these dogs might already be home trained. However no history is usually available on stray dogs. But if you research well you are very likely to find a dog that is most appropriate for your particular economic and domestic situation. And most importantly you just might have saved an animal from being euthanized or having to live in a shelter house all his life.

So if you are a dog-lover on the lookout for a worthy canine companion, the nearest dog shelter is the place to go shopping.