The Best San Diego, CA Dog Rescues & Shelters in 2026

Bunny's Buddies

Bunny's Buddies works tirelessly to save dogs from slaughterhouses, the streets and kill shelters in Asia and the USA.

The Animal Pad

The Animal Pad is a non-profit, all breed dog rescue that focuses on saving dogs from high kill shelters and the streets of Mexico. We get them vet care, place them in foster homes and then find them loving forever families. A few years ago, we turned our attention to the street dogs of Mexico as there is very little help for them. Since then, we have developed a large rescue network in Baja California and we have a sister shelter in Ensenada that we focus on taking dogs from whenever funds allow.

A Way Home For Dogs

We are a free Pet Recovery Service assisting owners on a global scale. We also secure evasive street strays primarily in the San Diego are (occasionally Riverside). If the strays are not claimed at the local shelter systems and are in danger of being euthanized, we become their safety net pending kennel space. We rescue, rehabilitate and rehome when the dogs are ready and safe to do so.

Amazing Strays Rescue

From day one, our goal has been to help all dogs who need it. Big, small, medical cases, senior or puppy; ASR stands by our commitment- Lisa, Our Founder

The Liberty Dog Network

The Liberty Dog Network was established in 2022 and is a small, Southern California based dog rescue. We rely on fosters/people to open their home to care for the dogs we rescue. We provide all medical care and supplies to our fosters, they provide the home and supply the love.

The Barking Lot

Located on 10 acres in San Diego County, we adopt to anywhere in the US and Canada. It's our goal to find an excellent match suited to both you and each of our Temporary Barkers. Having rescued over 9,000 dogs since our inception in 2006, we are primarily volunteer run with a soft spot for the underdogs. Our Temporary Barkers come from all over the world as we have partnerships with Soi Dog Foundation in Thailand, Four Paws in Cambodia/Vietnam and Ark119 in Korea from which we've taken in over 1000 dog meat trade survivors. We also rescue heavily from Mexico where the abandoned dog population is extensive, the neglect is vast and the stories are heart wrenching.

It's The Pits

It's The Pits is a 501c3 canine rescue that coordinates the fostering and adoption of dogs that haven't yet found their permanent home. We specialize in American Staffordshire Terriers (Am Staffs), Staffordshire Bull Terriers ("Staffy's"), and American Pit Bull Terriers, but will do our best to help all breeds, often by referral to other local rescues that specialize in that type of dog. You can find many of these on our links page. We are located in San Diego county, as are all of our foster homes. We work alongside our fosters to give the dogs a temporary and loving home before they are placed into permanent homes. We rescue dogs from various shelters, evaluate them, ensure they are healthy, and then match them with the appropriate family. We take pride in matching the best dog for the individual family that contacts us. We do this by matching the activity level of the dog to the family's needs, as well as making sure that the other pets in the home work well with the new addition to the pack.

Mad Mutts

Our goal is to assist in the rescue and rehabilitation of at-risk dogs from shelters that need a little more time, a more home-like environment, more individualized support, and/or have minor medical issues. So many AMAZING dogs just simply do not thrive or show well in a kennel environment. We aim to help rehabilitate and rehome these dogs with the goal of quality homes over quantity of placements. Our small rescue works with local shelters and rescues in Southern California to network, transport, foster, and adopt.

Tragic to Magic

We are in the Baja California region and see first hand the homeless, hungry, scared and sometimes sick dogs on the streets. We take the animals in and keep the animals in our homes until they are fully vetted and ready to find a new home. We are just 3 people doing the actual rescue so we attempt to operate on a one-in one-put bases. Therefore, we work very hard doing adoption events, networking with other rescues and using social media to find them homes. We have saved over 120 animals in 2017.

Frosted Faces Foundation

FROSTED FACES FOUNDATION IS A 501(C)(3) NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION THAT DELIVERS THE PROMISE OF FAMILY AND QUALITY VETERINARY CARE FOR SENIOR ANIMALS WHOSE LOVE AND LIVES ARE IN JEOPARDY.

Heart of Gold's Shelter

Heart of Gold Legacy was established in December 2005 with the purpose of providing assistance to various organizations that promote the general welfare of animals. Gertrude Sissy, McGill, the benefactress of Heart of Gold Legacy, has given financial contributions to organizations that provide shelter and care to animals before the inception of the foundation. Sissy has been an active supporter of animal welfare all her life. With the help of Teresita Bacani, a long-time friend and business partner, Sissy's vision of helping the animals through the foundation came to fruition. A legacy has been finally fulfilled. To this date, many animal welfare organizations in the United States have benefited from the goodness of the heart of the foundation.

Mutt Scouts

Mutt Scouts is not a breed specific rescue. We're dedicated to saving every dog we can, regardless of age, breed, medical or behavioral needs. We are transparent about our Mutt's needs with fosters and potential adopters to ensure that once a dog becomes a part of our organization, they will know nothing but love and safety for the rest of their lives.

San Diego Humane Society

San Diego Humane Society, an open-admission shelter, is creating a more humane world by inspiring compassion and advancing the welfare of animals and people. Our lifesaving safety net has helped San Diego become the largest city in the U.S. to keep healthy and treatable shelter animals from being euthanized. We are a private, independent, nonprofit organization that is not affiliated with any other humane society or society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. With campuses in El Cajon, Escondido, Oceanside, Ramona and San Diego, we provide animal services for 13 cities within San Diego County. We not only care for more than 40,000 animals in our communities annually, but also share the expertise we have gained through our innovative programs with shelters nationwide so they can save more lives in their communities. While our influence is expanding nationally, our top priority is meeting the needs of San Diego. We provide exceptional care for all animals through world-class veterinary medicine, shelter and most of all: love.

Mission Bay Puppy Rescue

Rescue orphaned puppies, pregnant and their litters. We partner with amazing rescue teams in Bakersfield CA, the San Diego Humane Society and Country Animal Shelters across California as well as others to save as many pups and mamas as possible.

Second Chance Dog Rescue

Second Chance Dog Rescue (SCDR INC, dba Second Chance Dog Rescue) is a non-profit 501c3 (#26-3642128) organizations dedicated to saving homeless dogs. We rescue, rehabilitate and re-home dogs, primarily from local shelters, as well as dogs surrendered by their owners for various reasons, and dogs from Baja California, Mexico. Once we receive a dog, we provide medical care, including spay and neuter, and any necessary rehabilitation.

Baja Dog Rescue

Since the founding of Baja Dog Rescue, in 2010, we have rescued almost 12,000 dogs from some horrific conditions, in Mexico and California. We are a non-profit, 100% no-kill shelter. We operate on donations from the public and the time and money of our volunteers. We have raised funds to put rescued dogs through chemotherapy and to repair broken bones from car accidents or abuse. We aggressively treat puppies for Parvo, to our knowledge we have the highest survival rate of any rescue group in operation (85%). Many of our dogs are found starving or injured on the side of the road, often near death from being beaten and discarded by their owners. These dogs are typically days, if not hours, from death. We are the last resort for many of these dogs, other rescues will not take them due to the severity of their condition. The shelter is also used as a home for many dogs that are considered unadoptable. They continue to get the food, love, and medical attention needed to enjoy their lives. Baja Dog Rescue partners with where we are found every Saturday holding an adoption event. We are a rescue partner with the County of San Diego and are authorized to pull dogs from shelters. We rescue dogs that have been scheduled to be euthanized. We have a wide network that we use to rescue, treat, and rehome our dogs. We have a 50,000 sq ft shelter with almost 150 dogs inhabiting it at any given moment. We promote our available dogs, adoption events, and rescue operations through our Facebook site and our website. We go through almost 700lbs of dog food a week in addition to medical and cleaning supplies. All of our adoption fees and donations go right back into buying the food and medicine for the dogs at our shelter. We rely solely on the generosity of the public, our volunteers, and our own funds to keep the shelter repaired and to take care of the dogs. Our Challenges As a 501c non-profit, all volunteer organization we face many, many challenges, including feeding our dogs. We go through almost 600lbs. of dog food per week, and since our shelter is based in Baja California we receive no assistance from the Rescue Food Bank here in the U.S. All of our adoption fees and donations go right back into buying the food and medicine for the dogs at our shelter. No one in our organization takes a paycheck, and we rely solely on the generosity of the public and our own funds to pay for repairs to our shelter and major surgeries. We always welcome visitors and volunteers to our shelter. Volunteers can help walk the dogs, clean up pens, and help socialize or pups.

Open Arms Rescue

Open Arms Rescue focuses on smaller breed dogs. We are a Non-Profit 501c3 Registered Charity and ALL volunteer based organization. We are based in Imperial Beach, CA but we have volunteers who foster dogs for us all across San Diego County, Riverside and Orange County. We are always looking for more volunteers to help foster a small breed dog. We rescue dogs from shelters across Southern California and all the way into the Mexico -Tijuana Perrera (Dog Pound) and from the streets of Mexico down to Ensenada. We have volunteers that go down to Baja on a regular basis to help out with feeding, cleaning and finding dogs to bring into our rescue program. Dogs in the Perrera only have 3 days before they are euthanized. We rescue a lot of dogs from this shelter because they have no chance of being adopted before they are either euthanized or become sick from being exposed to disease (as they are not vaccinated there when they first come into the Perrera). We select dogs that are adoptable, we quarantine them at our vet in Baja, monitor them, vaccinate them and then transport them to the US straight into volunteers homes for fostering until they can be adopted out. We also take in injured dogs that require surgeries to become healthy and adoptable. Typically when a California shelter receives an injured or special needs dog that is in need of surgery that the shelter is unable to perform due to their limited funds/resources they will either put the dog to sleep or only exit it to an approved rescue partner who can get the necessary medical care performed. We take a lot of these cases in from these California shelters and our adoption fees help support the medical bills. All of our dogs for adoption are spayed or neutered, microchipped,fully vaccinated, flea/tick treated and de-wormed. We are always in need of volunteers to foster a small breed dog.

Rancho Coastal Humane Society

Rancho Coastal Humane Society is dedicated to saving lives of abandoned companion animals, promoting adoption into loving homes and offering education programs and support services that inspire and strengthen the human-animal bond.

Bichon FurKids Rescue

Bichon FurKids is a charitable not-for-profit organization whose members believe that our animal companions deserve to be cherished, cared for and protected. We value the loving contribution they make to our lives and are dedicated to assisting these loyal companions in finding forever homes — and a second chance at life. Our goal is to rescue bichons, bichon mixes and other small dogs who can no longer live with their original owners. Our Board and key volunteers are all dedicated, passionate and compassionate people who strive to make a difference in a dog’s life, assisting these FurKids to be adopted by loving owners who will care for and protect them as long as they live.

PAWS4thought Animal Rescue

PAWS4Thought Animal Rescue is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, all-breed animal rescue organization. Most of what we do is rescue dogs from shelters when they at risk of being euthanized, as well as abandoned, abused, and stray dogs in both the U.S. and Tijuana/Rosarito areas. PAWS4Thought is committed to reducing the number of dogs who are at risk of being euthanized or are left hurt and/or abandoned each and every day. Our primary goal is to rescue and rehabilitate these dogs in loving foster homes until they are adopted into their permanent “fur-ever” homes. We also focus on educating the public by providing information on rescue procedures, and we conduct low cost and free spay/neuter events to those who need these services. PAWS4Thought is a 100% non-profit volunteer organization that could not survive without the loving dedication and support of volunteers, foster families and sponsors who dedicate their time, homes and contributions to help save and support those without a voice.

Scratch My Belly

Animal Rescuers Without Borders, Inc.

The A.R.W.O.B. group is based in San Diego, CA and operates primarily in Mexico but also Southern California. We will come to the aid of any animal in need that crosses our path. Our belief is to do what we can in order to “Make a difference in their lives.” There is ongoing and tremendous need in Baja, however, we extend our outreach north of the border by accepting relinquished family pets, providing foster care for both dogs and cats from the full shelters in San Diego and of course by working in conjunction with other animal rescue groups in the community. The A.R.W.O.B. family believes in opening our hearts and homes to the abandoned and unwanted dogs and cats of both Mexico and Southern California, irrespective of age, sex, breed or size. Our rescued and fostered animals go through a period of quarantine which will last 3 weeks before they are placed onto the adoption list. Insuring our foster pets' health is priority #1. Our rescues also receive veterinary care both south and north of the border, socialization and training in the hopes that they will be placed in a “forever” home. We are also focused on educating foster parents, adopters, school children and others especially in Baja, Mexico on the care, feeding and prevention of unwanted litters of both dogs and cats (both pure or mix breeds)

Helen Woodward Animal Center

Helen Woodward Animal Center, established in 1972, is an organization where “people help animals and animals help people.” This unique nonprofit organization benefits the community by providing educational and therapeutic programs for people, as well as humane care and adoption for homeless animals. Helen Woodward Animal Center is a unique, private non-profit organization in San Diego County that has been committed to the philosophy of people helping animals and animals helping people for over 50 years. Located on 12 acres in Rancho Santa Fe, California, our nationally recognized Center provides a variety of services that benefit the community through educational and therapeutic programs for people, and humane care and adoption for animals. We are a no-kill facility that receives no government funding and relies heavily on tax-deductible contributions from private donors to continue our life-saving mission. Helen Woodward Animal Center is an organization in Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council since 2022.

The Cantu Foundation

In 2020, The Cantu Foundation emerged from the shared passion of its co-founders, Fatima and Jenna. Despite residing on opposite coasts, these two kindred spirits connected through social media, driven by their mutual desire to make a positive impact on the lives of dogs in need. Our foundation derives its name and inspiration from Cantu, an extraordinary rescue pittie who embodied the spirit of resilience. Cantu's unwavering determination to live his best life, despite facing challenges, serves as the cornerstone of our mission. At The Cantu Foundation, our primary goal is to offer a second chance at life to dogs from Baja California and Southern California. We believe that every dog deserves a loving home and an opportunity for a brighter future. Our approach is simple yet impactful. We operate as a fully foster-based rescue organization, sustained by the generosity of donations and the unwavering dedication of our foster families. When a dog enters our care, they receive not only shelter but also the love, attention, and rehabilitation necessary to thrive. Our vision for the future is ambitious but heartfelt. We aspire to establish our very own facility in San Diego, a central hub for our rescue operations. With this facility, we aim to streamline the process of saving dogs and expand our reach, ensuring more dogs find their forever homes.

Glad To Be Saved Rescue

We are a no kill foster home base rescue with an amazing team of volunteers that are committed to helping animals. Seeing a nonprofit to support our community's animals, we formed our organization to provide sensible solutions. We've grown considerably since then, all thanks to the helping hands and foster homes of this amazing community!

Angels of Rawley Foundation

My journey in dog rescue began in the latter part of 2013 when I was asked to transport a dog from a high kill shelter to a rescue. For the next 3 years I spent many hours transporting, fostering, and coordinating dog rescues. In October of 2016 I was told to return 3 potentially neurologically challenged dogs back to a high kill shelter. There was no way that I could do this. With the help of my amazing family and friends, I took in these 3 wonderful souls named Laverne, Lenny & Squiggy and started Angels of Rawley Foundation aka ARF. Laverne, Lenny and Squiggy have all been adopted into loving homes and they are thriving and living healthy lives. These three amazing little dogs, have been the “foundation” of why the team at ARF loves to do what we do and save lives, no matter what breed or their needs. I believe that "things happen for a reason” and "timing is everything." I know because of Rawley this is where I am supposed to be and what I am supposed to be doing to carry on her legacy.

Second Leash On Life

Saving Pets One at a Time

SPOT, Saving Pets One at a Time, is a leading San Diego County all-volunteer rescue organization whose main focus is to save dogs and cats in shelters who are at risk of euthanization and to help other dogs and cats in need as well. Our goal is to save treatable, trainable, manageable and misdiagnosed dog and cats. We rescue them and provide foster homes in order to give them the care, medical, behavior and training, they need until we find them their forever loving homes. Our ultimate wish is for all shelters to be empty ‚ meaning that no animal is abandoned, and no shelter kills one animal to make room for another. We promote and advocate for spay and neuter programs in addition to Trap, Neuter, Release (TNR) programs for feral cats.

Small Breed Rescue of Southern California

Small Breed Rescue of Southern California is an all-volunteer, non-profit, foster-based organization funded by donations. We are dedicated to taking in and caring for small breed dogs, small reptiles, and select exotic pets primarily from public shelters and other rescues. We are education and science-focused to help ensure that the animals that go into their new homes and their new families are set up for success! Our rescue is uniquely structured to rehabilitate animals who are at high risk of euthanasia due to manageable behavioral challenges, such as small dogs who are declining in a shelter environment and reptiles/exotics that have not been properly handled over their lifetime. We develop organizational and individual relationships to accommodate these specific assistance needs, which is one thing that differentiates us from other rescue organizations. Another is focusing on the two groups of animals that most would not usually combine. Initially, we started working with behaviorally challenged dogs under 15lbs who were not sheltering well. Because of our team's different skill sets, we decided to also work with reptiles on the side. The pandemic and the current shifts in the economy have drastically changed our direction to where we now care for more reptiles and exotics than dogs! With these shifts, we have also had to drop our weight limit on dogs down to under 10 lbs due to a lack of foster homes. We are always looking for new foster guardians who want to help us in our mission to save more lives with stability, commitment, education, and support. We provide everything you need no matter the animal type. Inexperienced? No worries! We will match the right foster pet to your skill set and comfort level as well as provide you with the training and tools that you need. Consider joining our team to foster a dog that needs a little patience, guidance, and TLC to come out of their shell, or foster one of our reptiles like a bearded dragon, ball python, or leopard gecko! We have assembled a support team that consists of experienced individuals who bring particular skills from the animal welfare industry that enable us to grow, educate, and enrich our foster community in a manner that supports our specific needs and those of our animals. The same support is given to our adopters. We will help you get ready for your new companion before they go home. Our goal is to set you up on the path to success so there are no broken hearts if we can avoid them. SBRSC remains interested in and committed to the welfare of the animals beyond the adoption process by providing continued education, training tips, resource references, and an open-door policy to our supporters. ~

The Rescued Dog