The Best Austin, TX Dog Rescues & Shelters in 2026

Austin Pets Alive!

Austin Pets Alive! is a unique 501(c)(3) nonprofit animal shelter pioneering comprehensive, innovative programs designed to save the animals most at risk for euthanasia. We provide public adoption services for companion animals which includes lifetime behavior support, as well as community support in re-homing or obtaining resources for companion animals through our Human and Animal Support Services program.

Austin Animal Center

Austin Animal Center is the municipal shelter for the City of Austin and unincorporated Travis County, providing shelter to thousands of animals annually as well as providing animal protection and pet resource services. We accept stray and owned animals regardless of age, health, species or breed. Our goal is to place all adoptable animals in forever homes through adoption, foster care, or rescue partner groups. Animal Services has numerous programs and partnerships designed to help pets in the shelter, in the community, and in your home.

Austin Bulldog Rescue

ABR is dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation, and re-homing of unwanted English Bulldogs, education of owners on responsible dog ownership, and education of the public on the English Bulldog breed. ABR takes in adoptable English Bulldogs from animal shelters, other rescue groups, and owners who can no longer properly care for their English Bulldogs. We provide for their medical and behavioral needs. Considering the Bulldog's background and your family's needs, we intend to make the best match. Every Rescue Bulldog is different: personality, temperament, energy, comfort with kids and other animals, medical needs, and more. We take all of these factors into consideration when making a furever-home match. We take our responsibility of finding forever homes for Rescue Bulldogs very seriously. All our rescued dogs live with families in foster homes in Austin, Texas. We often operate statewide and occasionally take in dogs from other areas of Texas, but we primarily service the Austin/NW San Antonio area. We do not run a shelter that you can visit.

Paws In Your Hands Rescue

At Paws In Your Hands Rescue (PIYHR), we adopt a progressive and thoughtful approach to dog rescue, setting us apart from traditional organizations. We operate without a physical facility, focusing instead on a strategic model that involves securing confirmed adopters before intervening in a dog's shelter life. This preemptive confirmation ensures that every rescue effort we undertake is with a definitive path to a loving, permanent home. Once an adopter is confirmed, we then formally rescue the dog and place them into one of our compassionate foster homes located in Texas. This step often represents the first time these dogs, many of whom were previously strays or confined in shelter environments, experience the warmth and safety of a home setting. By implementing this method, we significantly reduce the stress experienced by the dogs and efficiently manage our resources, allowing for a more focused and personalized care process. Our rescue efforts extend far beyond Massachusetts to Texas, where the need is overwhelming. The state faces one of the highest shelter euthanasia rates in the U.S., compounded by low spay and neuter rates and an overburdened shelter system. Thousands of dogs in Texas roam the streets or languish in overcrowded shelters, desperately needing rescue and a chance at a better life. We focus our efforts on these vulnerable canines, providing them a pathway to forever homes predominantly along the East Coast and in the New England region. Since our inception, Paws In Your Hands Rescue (PIYHR) has grown significantly, not in size but in capability and reach. Our operations remain intentionally small-scale to maintain effectiveness and ensure we never overextend our resources. At the heart of our efforts is our founder, Amala, supported by a dedicated group of volunteers whose profound love for dogs drives our mission. We have forged essential partnerships not only with veterinary providers—who offer us reduced-cost care—but also with overwhelmed rescues and overcrowded shelters. These collaborations have been crucial in extending our reach and impact, allowing us to rescue, rehabilitate, and rehome more dogs than ever before. At Paws In Your Hands, we pour extensive care, consideration, and love into every step of our rescues’ journeys. Our commitment to sustainable, impactful rescue work is deeply personal and informed by our founder Amala’s own distressing experience with a supposed reputable rescue. Amala was scammed by a Texas-based rescue that engaged in unethical practices—failing to provide vaccinations, medical care, or honest dealings, and ultimately delivering a severely ill puppy without any medical records. This puppy, only 12 weeks old and suffering from abuse, trauma, inbreeding, and severe lifelong medical issues, including parvo, miraculously survived. This experience has driven us to prioritize transparency and honesty in all our operations. We go above and beyond to ensure no adopter experiences what Amala did. While we strive to provide as much information as possible about our dogs, often their full histories remain unknown. Nonetheless, we are committed to making the adoption process as clear and positive as possible, prioritizing the well-being of each dog and the quality of the adoption experience.

Charlyne's Pound Puppies

Charlyne's Pound Puppies is a non-profit rescue group run by volunteers. Our founder, Charlyne McDaniel, began her crusade to help abandoned dogs and cats in 1995. Charlyne's Pound Puppies does not accept owner surrenders. Our commitment is to the animals in the Thorndale, TX pound and those who may have been abandoned at vet clinics or the surrounding countryside. All our dogs and cats must be spayed or neutered. We provide these animals with love, medical care, and foster homes until we can find them adoptive families.

Paws in Prison

Paws in Prison educates female inmates for greater responsibility and empathy through the rescue and training of shelter dogs to be adopted by the public. The women who participate in the Paws in Prison program are given an opportunity to earn certifications that could benefit them for job opportunities after prison release. OUR HISTORY. Over the years this unique program has grown, serving Lockhart, Seguin, San Antonio, Austin, and the surrounding Texas communities. In December 2007, Paws in Prison was established by founder Machellle Gaconnet to become the first women's only dog training program in Texas prison! Machelle saw how these programs had such a positive impact in various men’s prisons and was offered an opportunity to run one for women only at the correctional facility in Lockhart. In 2014 the program lost its funding through the contracted prison management group. As a result, Friends of Paws in Prison was established to financially support PIP. WHAT WE DO. We provide a unique training program designed to rehabilitate prison inmates through the dogs we rescue from our local shelters. Paws in Prison pairs rescue dogs from rural kill shelters with female inmates who learn to care for and train the dogs, through positive reinforcement techniques. Those dogs are then adopted by the general public. Since its inception, over 500 dogs have been placed into forever homes and thousands of women have been rehabilitated! We offer inmates the opportunity to learn the life skills of patience, responsibility, accountability, teamwork and compassion that they can take with them outside the prison walls as better wives, mothers, daughters, employees and neighbors. We provide inmates with the opportunity to learn skills within the animal care industry, and training certifications that can help them obtain jobs in their communities upon release. We believe in second chances, and have seen that compassion change the course of a life. We believe that by helping to heal another, an individual allows their own healing to begin. We believe that when you help someone else you make your own life better. We believe that with unconditional love, anything is possible.

Blue Dog Rescue

Blue Dog Rescue is an all-volunteer, charitable organization that works to find permanent, loving homes for at-risk homeless dogs in the Central Texas area, all the while preparing them for the best possible relationship with you! Most of our dogs come from Central Texas shelters where they might not have a chance at adoption due to size, color, breed, or medical condition. Because we are a network of foster families, there is no shelter facility

South Texas Boston Terrier Rescue

STBTR was born in July of 2016 with a vision and as an additional resource for Boston Terriers, and other brachycephalic breeds, that need rehabilitation, rehoming, medical treatment, and any other TLC including hospice care, in the Houston and greater Gulf Coast areas of Texas. We have expanded outreach to dogs in Austin, San Antonio, Laredo, Del Rio and other areas with the help of a volunteer base that now stretches state wide and into south Louisiana. We are strictly a foster based rescue – we have no facility. All of our dogs are housed in foster homes for vet treatment and evaluation.

Bastrop County Animal Shelter

Bastrop County Animal Services was established in 1998. We have grown since then and continue to do so as Bastrop County grows. Currently, we have 3 separate buildings containing a total of 90 large indoor/outdoor kennels and 8 play yards. We have 2 cat housing areas including our communal cattery. Bastrop Animal Services encompasses both Animal Control and the Bastrop County Animal Shelter. We offer animal control services 7 days a week from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm as well as limited emergency after hour and holiday animal control response. The animal shelter is open to adoptions and owned animal surrenders during normal business hours. Owned animal surrenders are accepted by appointment- with proof of residency and identification. We allow people looking for lost or missing pets 7 days a week when staff is present and working (typically 8am-4pm except for County recognized holidays). The Bastrop County Animal Shelter is a Public Service organization and “Open Intake Facility”- meaning that all dogs and cats within the County as well as those that are picked up by the City Animal Control Officers for Bastrop, Elgin and Smithville are housed here. We do our best to find adoptive homes and work with rescues to save as many animals as possible. Our “Open Intake” status prevents us from being “No Kill” as a policy, but we strive to remain “Low Kill” and typically have near “No Kill” save rates.

Highland Lakes Canine Rescue

Highland Lakes Canine Rescue is a non-profit organization designated as a 501-c(3) with the IRS. We are managed by a volunteer board of directors and operate entirely on private donations and eligible grants. Highland Lakes Canine Rescue was founded in 1999 as Highland Lakes SPCA, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, by community members who wanted to rescue homeless dogs in the Central Texas region. HLCR initially started as a “foster only” organization. However, through generous community support, a location was found near Marble Falls, Texas and HLCR became a no-kill dog shelter. Since then HLCR has built a kennel facility, outdoor pens and walking trails, has a staff and resident caretaker, and is blessed with an active and passionate group of volunteers who work tirelessly supporting HLCR and its mission. In 2019, we changed our name from Highland Lakes SPCA to Highland Lakes Canine Rescue to more appropriately reflect our focus and mission.

Austin Humane Society

The longest-standing no-kill, non-profit pet and adoption center in Austin We’re dedicated to saving Austin’s homeless cats and dogs, educating our community about responsible pet ownership, and reducing pet overpopulation. Serving our community since 1952, the Austin Humane Society (AHS) is the longest standing no-kill shelter in Austin. AHS transforms the lives of animals and the people who love them through life-saving programs that find animals homes, serve animals and people in times of crisis, prevent future homelessness through spay and neuter, and engage the community to be a part of the solution. Over the past year, AHS has unleashed hope for over 11,000 animals thanks to the generosity of our donors.

Heart of Texas Lab Rescue

The Heart of Texas Lab Rescue is a non-profit 501(c)(3), all-volunteer organization based in Austin, Texas. Our mission is to rescue Labrador Retrievers from shelters, pounds, abandonment , and other situations, and place them in loving, caring homes. The HOT Lab Rescue serves Austin, San Antonio, and surrounding areas. It is HOTLR's policy to accept and place dogs ONLY in the state of Texas. All of our dogs are microchipped, current on shots and heartworm prevention, spayed or neutered at 6 months of age or older, and being treated for heartworms if they are positive. We are always in need of volunteers to foster dogs, and help us with various other activities to help us achieve our goal of finding homes for our dogs.

Georgetown Animal Shelter

The Georgetown Animal Shelter is a municipal shelter, meaning it is supported by taxes like any other City department. It is an open-door shelter that accepts all dogs and cats found within the city limits or surrendered by owners that live within the city limits. It has been in the same location for about 25 years: on College St. near San Gabriel Park.

Throw a Dog a Bone Dog Rescue

Throw a Dog a Bone is an all-breed dog and cat rescue located in Austin, TX. We focus on saving dogs primarily in the rural shelters in South Texas. Many of these shelters have no exposure and very few resources. Our mission is to rescue as many of these dogs as possible and find them loving forever homes. What We Do We find dogs and cats in the rural kill shelters who are at risk for euthanasia and place them in foster homes. When they are ready to find a forever home, we place them up for adoption both locally and out of state. If we find an out of state adopter, we arrange transport. We follow our dogs throughout their transport and into their forever homes. How You Can Help We need volunteers to help us find all of the rural shelters in the state, donate supplies and volunteer in the rural shelters. We also need help transporting dogs, foster homes and veterinary technicians. Of course, we always need donations and help with fundraising as well. Please help us save more pups!

GALT-Central Texas - Greyhound Adoption League of Texas Inc.

GALT-Central Texas is a chapter of Greyhound Adoption League of Texas Inc., a national 501(c)3 non-profit organization. We are passionate about Greyhounds and our mission is to find the perfect home for these beautiful, sweet, gentle dogs! We place all dogs in foster homes upon coming into our group. This helps us get to know the dog and their personality before they go to their home. We pride ourselves in helping you pick the perfect dog. While the dogs are at their foster home, they are taken to the veterinarian to get spayed or neutered, all their shots, have their teeth cleaned, and heartworm tested. During this time, they are also evaluated for injuries or health problems. We host Meet & Greets at different pet stores and other locations to show off our greyhounds and to let people know what good pets they make. If you are looking for a good, healthy, wonderful dog as a pet, please consider adopting a greyhound.

Italian Greyhound Rescue Foundation Texas and Oklahoma

The Italian Greyhound Rescue Foundation (IGRF) is dedicated to helping Italian Greyhounds in need of our care. We have a national network of VOLUNTEERS that make our mission possible. This website caters to Oklahoma and Texas specifically. We are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and we rely on donations to keep the rescue machine running. As a foster-based Rescue, our volunteers and foster families are the foundation and most important aspect of our ability to do what we do-without foster families we can't take in orphans that need our help. All of our IGs live as members of a family until their forever home comes along. They are all fully vetted and any medical issues are addressed and disclosed to potential adopters. Education about this wonderful and quirky breed is a very important part of what we do as well. This breed IS NOT for everyone. Please ask lots of questions and browse all of our IG-related materials to help decide if an Italian Greyhound is the right dog for you!

Texas Humane Heroes -- No Kill Animal Adoption Centers

Texas Humane Heroes is a No Kill, private, non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization headquartered in Leander, Texas. Established in 1979, Texas Humane Heroes enhances the lives of pets and people through adoption, availability of our low-cost spay/neuter and vaccinations as well as family-friendly community events. We are 100% funded by donations, grants, and modest fees for services. Texas Humane Heroes does not receive any local, state, or federal government funding.

Saving South Texas

In August of 2022, Kaitlyn was contacted about adopting a dog from Victoria County Animal Services to prevent it from being euthanized. While the dog ended up getting adopted by someone else, a new fire to help the dogs from her hometown was ignited. Kaitlyn brought Allyson into the mix, who had been exploring the idea of a nonprofit to raise funds for animal organizations, and Saving South Texas was born. Shortly after, Allyson and Kara connected by chance on Nextdoor when Allyson was trying to find a home for an urgent dog. Kara was networking San Diego, Texas, dogs with the help of Bridget. The four of them partnered up and expanded their mission to helping animals in all of South Texas. Today, the primary focus of Saving South Texas is to help animals in high-kill shelters in South Texas through rescue partners and transportation to out of state shelters.

Lockhart Animal Shelter

Lockhart Animal Shelter staffers and volunteers will still be on-site even though the facility is closed to the public. These days will be used for deep cleaning and facility maintenance, along with the day-to-day care for shelter pets; including, but not limited to, feeding, watering, and exercising for dogs. The following services will also remain available even while the shelter is closed to the public: • Pet transports • Pet reclaims by appointment • Working with animal rescue groups for new homes The Lockhart Animal Shelter is located at 547 Old McMahan Road. Turn on Hwy 20 East off Hwy 183 (towards Bastrop), go exactly one mile and turn right on Old McMahan Road. The shelter is 1/2 of a mile on the right. Contact the Shelter at 512-398-4401; ext. 2 or email: lockhartanimalservices@lockhart-tx.org

Legacy Doberman Rescue

Legacy Doberman Rescue is an all-volunteer non-profit organization for the rescue of purebred Dobermans in Texas. Who is Legacy Doberman Rescue? LDR is four women spread out across three states and a small but mighty band of foster homes. We are not powerball millionaires. In our first six months we took in 24 dogs, including two litters of abandoned puppies. We have rehabilitated and placed 20 Dobermans so far! (We also had a board member finish her Dobermans Championsip, another put 23 titles on her two Dobermans and we had two human grand babies). We all work full time. Our rescue work is unpaid and expenses consistently exceed our adoption fee. We rely on foster homes and your donations to make this rescue succeed and save homeless Dobermans. We are asked almost every day to take on a new Doberman. We encourage you to foster a dog, make a monthly donation to LDR and participate in our ebay auctions. Every little bit makes a huge difference to the Dobermans who get to live fulfilling and rewarding lives with their new families.

A.D.O.P.T. - American Dog Owners for Proper Training

Acres of Love Animal Rescue

Our rescue is located in Southeastern Blanco County, Texas, where unclaimed pets from Blanco County Lost and Found Pets' Facebook page are housed and cared for until a new, forever home and family can be located. This is only after all resources have been exhausted to locate the owner. Acres of Love Animal Rescue is a no-kill rescue, which means no pet is killed due to lack of space. Many of our pets come here without ever having exposure to human companionship and care. With time, love and positive guidance, our pets are able to develop trusting, bonding relationships with people and live happy lives in forever homes. Community programs, workshops, and clinics are a few of the resources available to have area pets spayed, neutered, microchipped, and vetted as necessary for the well-being of every pet and pet owner. Please check out available programs and see how we may help you and your pet(s) stay together. The adoptable pets you see are loving, fully vetted sweethearts that are currently seeking their forever homes. Please adopt from a shelter or rescue and you will be saving multiple lives by adopting just one pet!

German Shepherd Rescue of Central Texas

We are a rescue organization that strives to save as many German Shepherds and German Shepherd mixes as possible from neglect, abuse, and premature death. We give dogs the chance to have the good life they deserve through rescue, adoption, referrals, and behavior counseling. We are a foster home concept rescue. We do not have a brick and mortar shelter to house dogs that we take in. All of our dogs live in an approved animal-loving private foster home. Our foster families welcome each new GSD or GSD mix into their home as a part of their family. The foster families show these incoming dogs the love, nurturing, training and nutrition that most of them have never known. We provide the needed medical care, food and ongoing preventative care. All of our dogs are spayed or neutered, microchipped and brought up to date on all of their vaccinations and immunizations before we place them up for adoption. Almost every dog we rescue will cost our rescue far more than the adoption fee we collect. As an approved 501(c)(3) non-profit, we make no money; the adoption fee is to help recoup some expenses so we can keep saving the lives of these precious, loyal, intelligent, loving dogs. We serve the Central Texas region, including Austin, San Antonio, Waco, Houston and Dallas. We cannot save all the dogs even in Central Texas; however, for each dog that is adopted, another can be saved, and if we can help someone resolve a problem and keep their dog we consider that a successful rescue. Our dogs come from all kinds of backgrounds. They end up in rescue for many reasons. Some dogs were loved by people who brought them into their lives and made them part of their family. Some come from people who have decided they no longer can care for the dog. They come from unwanted litters that happen because of lack of spaying and neutering. Some were lost or abandoned or neglected. The fortunate ones are rescued who otherwise would have been killed in shelters simply because of lack of space. Many that would have died from disease, hunger and exposure in the open have found sanctuary with people who are dedicated to leading them to a new, more promising life. Dogs are selected based on our best judgement of their temperament and adoptability. We temperament test and check all the history we can to learn as much as possible about the dogs we select for our program. If a dog is found we make an attempt to located their guardian, but most of the time no one comes forwarded. We provide the vet work needed, vaccinations, spay/neuter worming and treat what conditions we find. The dogs live in our homes and are treated like our own dogs (which they are) until they find a home that fits.

Central Texas Ruffugees

Lizzy’s Animal Hospice

Operation Barking Squirrel

OPERATION BARKING SQUIRREL is a Texas registered nonprofit that is seeking to fill the gaps in dog and cat rescue. We believe that all pets in rescue deserve a home of their own and we want to make that happen. We all see the pets that have been surrendered or dumped in Texas due to age, breed and no microchip to get them back to their parent, and, sometimes, no transportation to get them home.

San Marcos Regional Animal Shelter

The Adoption Center is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from noon to 7 p.m, and Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. It is closed Wednesday and Sunday for deep cleaning and animal enrichment. The Intake/Reclaim office is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m to 6 p.m. Those dropping off stray animals, owner surrenders, and owner reclaims are encouraged to call or email to make an appointment. If you found a stray dog or cat, please call 512-805-2655 for resources to help get the pet back home, or check our Lost/Found list.

Cuz i Matter Animal Rescue

Lifelong Friends Pet Adoptions

Lifelong Friends Pet Adoption Center is a non-profit 501c(3) organization that meets its operating expenses through donations and adoption fees. We would be delighted if you could make a (tax deductible) donation to our organization so that we can continue to find loving homes for animals that desperately need them.

German Shepherd Dog Rescue and Holistic Care Education Center

German Shepherd Dog Rescue and Holistic Care Education Center (GSDRHCEC) is a breed specific rescue located in Austin, TX. GSDRHCEC is a non-profit 501c3 and a volunteer based organization. We are funded entirely by private donations and receive no government support. About 50% of the dogs we rescue come from streets of Houston, 40% comes from shelters about 10% as owner surrenders. We are focused on saving German Shepherd from bad situations, rehabilitating and finding loving homes for them while educating fosters and potential adopters on how to maintain pet's health through daily lifestyle choices and how natural alternatives can be beneficial to pets when issues arise. We work with holistic vets to ensure that pets are not over medicated and treated naturally when possible, including essential oils, chiropractic care and more.