The Best Denver, CO Dog Rescues & Shelters in 2026

Summit Dog Rescue / Pod To The Rescue

We are a small volume rescue with a huge focus on humane education. We rescue dogs and cats and work with our adopters/fosters and the general public to educate about how to best support our companion animals so that their placements can be successful. Unwanted pets is at epidemic levels, and without education we won't make progress. Our rescue is unique in that we are run by multiple certified dog trainers and behavior professionals. We have a podcast called Pod To The Rescue, which is produced with the goal of providing evidence based behavioral support to adopters and fosters.

Jailbreak husky rescue

Jailbreak Husky Rescue is a 501(C)(3) and PACFA licensed organization based out of Colorado that aims to rescue, rehabilitate, transport, rehome and advocate for Siberian Huskies and other northern breeds that are at risk of being euthanized, abandoned, or in neglectful or abusive situations. Our mission has a specialized focus on pregnant or nursing northern breeds, including pre-natal and postpartum care, whelping, bottle, syringe and tube feeding, and breed-focused litter care and development.

Ho-Bo Care Boxer Rescue

Ho-Bo Care Boxer Rescue is a non-profit, all volunteer group in Colorado. We have been active and engaged in our community since 1972.

My Fairy Dawg Mother Rescue LLC

The Fairy Dawg Mother works with trusted partners in Colorado and nearby states to bring dawgs to the Denver Metro area, where they will have a better chance at adoption. We do our best to select dogs that will be highly successful candidates for placement with a new furever family, but change can be stressful for even the most easy-going dawg. Because of this, we work with foster families to start getting them stabilized, learn about each dawg's individual temperament, and provide training and guidance to the dawg.

PawsCo

PawsCo is a 501(c)3 animal welfare organization based in Denver, Colorado. PawsCo is dedicated to reducing pet homelessness by partnering with animal shelters and other rescues in order to help the most in-need animals ‚ those animals not thriving in a shelter setting.

Soul Dog Rescue

Soul Dog is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit animal rescue organization founded with the mission to spay/neuter and protect animals. Soul Dog is proactive in animal welfare, advancing the need for spaying and neutering our pets to reduce overpopulation. We travel to rural communities on Native American reservations, where spaying and neutering will only happen if it is nearly free or very convenient. Soul Dog works with volunteer veterinarians to provide the spaying and neutering service at no cost to the public. Donations are used to defray the costs associated with medications, supplies, and the operating cost for clinics.

Colorado Saint Bernard Rescue

Colorado Saint Bernard Rescue is a 501(c)3 non-profit that was founded in 1997, all volunteer organization dedicated to the rehoming of unwanted, abandoned, and abused Saint Bernards and Saint Bernard mixes.

Taysia Blue Rescue | Siberian Huskies & Alaskan Malamutes

Taysia Blue Rescue is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. We are a family of volunteers and advocates dedicated to helping local Siberian Huskies, Alaskan Malamutes, and their guardians. We are funded solely and supported by, the generosity of individuals and corporations in our communities. All our dogs are located in approved foster homes in the metro areas of Omaha, Lincoln, Kansas City, Des Moines and Denver. Taysia Blue does not have a physical building and does not have set hours of operation.

NOCO Humane

Welcome to NOCO Humane, your community partner for comprehensive animal welfare services in Larimer and Weld counties. We have expanded our reach and our impact, taking on the sheltering and care of animals in Weld County in light of the dissolution of the Humane Society of Weld County. Join us as we heal, nature, and protect more than 10,000 animals in the year to come!

Mamco rescue dogs

Our mission is to ensure that all rescued animals are treated as valuable members of society through quality veterinary care, regular grooming, and excellent nutrition. We are a foster based, 501c3 non-profit rescue, dedicated to the health and wellbeing of mother dogs and cats and their litters. We see our rescue dogs and cats through pregnancy, birth (whelping), nursing, weaning, and adoption. In addition to providing necessary care, we also work to socialize, train, and evaluate each animal to ensure that they find permanent forever homes. This involves establishing close and trusting relationships with our volunteers, adopters, and the community.

Colorado Corgis and Friends

Colorado Corgis and Friends is a 501c3 Dog Rescue specializing in Corgis and other lowrider breeds. Established in late 2019 by a group of Corgi-loving people who love and understand the Corgi breed and love all other dogs as well. The founding members have over 100+ years of experience owning Corgis and 50+ years in Rescue. It is our pleasure and passion to help homeless dogs in need, help struggling owners rehome their pets, and offer advice on training issues typical of this herding breed.

Dumb Friends League

One of the ways the Dumb Friends League can fulfill its mission to end pet homelessness and animal suffering is to influence the laws and policies that protect animals and enhance their welfare. Our Advocacy team works with policymakers, animal welfare agencies, law enforcement and the community to drive the policies that make Colorado a leader in protecting our furry family members. We hope to help you stay informed on issues in Colorado and across the country that impact animal sheltering and welfare and continue to make systemic changes that benefit animals and the humans that love them, now and in the future

Harley's Dream

Harley's Dream was established in 2016 in honor of Harley, a senior one-eyed puppy mill survivor who became the face and voice of the puppy mill dogs, earning the distinction of being the 2015 American Hero Dog for his work. Our mission is to create awareness and educate the public about the cruel commercial dog breeding industry (also known as puppy mills) and to rescue and rehome senior dogs in need.

RezDawg Rescue

RezDawg Rescue collaborates with several rescues in NM, AZ and CO to ensure the safe and comfortable transport of unwanted animals to rescues, shelters and fosters where they will have a chance at a forever home. We relocate dogs and cats from high-intake shelters, animal control facilities, and reservations in the Four Corners area to animal rescue partners and forever homes in Colorado. We provide transportation to foster homes and other partner organizations, offer medical care and low/no cost spay and neuter services, manage a network of foster homes for temporary shelter, and run adoption events so that these animals can find forever homes.

Foothills Animal Shelter

Foothills Animal Shelter is an open admission facility serving Jefferson County in the state of Colorado and is a member of the Metro Denver Animal Welfare Alliance. We are driven to make lives better for animals and people in our community. We are a Socially Conscious Animal Welfare Organization, creating the best outcomes for all animals that enter our care. We place every healthy and safe animal for adoption. We assess the medical and behavioral needs of homeless animals and ensure these needs are thoughtfully addressed. And, we alleviate suffering through thoughtful euthanasia.

A Friend of Jack Rescue

A Friend of Jack Rescue is a Colorado, foster-based 501(c)3 non-profit rescue dedicated to finding loving, lasting homes for unwanted dogs and puppies.

Front Range German Shepherd Rescue

Colorado Front Range German Shepherd Rescue is a small group of German Shepherd lovers in the Denver area who volunteer our time and talents to help homeless German Shepherds find new families and forever homes. We do not evaluate dogs to be service dogs. Colorado Front Range German Shepherd Rescue is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to rescuing and re-homing purebred GSDs. Our organization is 100% volunteer-run. We are always looking for new volunteers! We are always in need of volunteers. The opportunities to help include but are not limited to: • Fostering - this is always our biggest need • Dog walking for those in boarding facilities • Transport (picking up, taking to the vet) • Event help • Conducting home checks • Photos of our dogs, and events • Plus many other opportunities • Donate

Summit Dog Rescue

Summit Dog Rescue is an all-volunteer animal rescue organization that has saved the lives of thousands of dogs and kitties since 2009. Every single volunteer gives their time, energy, money, and more to support saving the lives of animals we rescue. SDR's mission is to save the lives of dogs and cats in need, educate the public about humane training methods and provide resources for low cost spay/neuter in underserved areas.

Up Pup and Away

Mile High Canine Rescue

Denver Samoyed Association

Denver Samoyed Association is a community of members passionate about the Samoyed Breed and committed to the preservation and advancement of the Samoyed. We are Samoyed fanciers located mostly along the front range area of Colorado, although we have members in other areas of Colorado, and even other states, and welcome members who share our passion and goals. As a club we work to educate our members and the public about Samoyed traits, training, grooming and temperament. We hold an annual 2-day Specialty Show with Conformation, Obedience and Rally, and a separate Agility Trial. In addition, we enjoy various social events, with and without dogs, during the year. We participate in a variety of activities with our Samoyeds, including Conformation Shows, Rally, Obedience, Agility, Weight Pull, Herding, CAT and FastCAT Trials. Summertime finds us pack hiking in the Colorado mountains, and winter is great for skijoring and sledding. DSA is a member club of the Samoyed Club of America and is a specialty breed club licensed by the American Kennel Club. ​At the end of a day, our Samoyeds are beloved members of our families, just as they were hundreds of years ago in their native lands.

EveryHope Rescue

Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies

Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies (GRRR), with a home base at Phoebe’s Place in Arvada, CO, is a mostly volunteer non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that helps rescue-rehab and place unwanted, abandoned or surrendered Golden Retrievers into loving forever homes. GRRR was founded in 1996 by Laura Terroux and has experienced continued organizational growth while working toward the goal of caring for our breed. GRRR re-homes approximately 300 Golden Retrievers annually. For more information on our organization, please visit our ColoradoGives.org profile. GRRR can assist you if you currently own a Golden Retriever that you, for any reason, are unable to keep. After evaluation, surrendered Goldens will be taken in by GRRR and provided with the appropriate veterinary care consisting of vaccination updates, spaying or neutering and a general health exam. They then reside at Phoebe’s Place until they are matched with new families. Please click here to surrender a Golden. GRRR can assist you if you are looking to add a special Golden to your family. GRRR volunteers will help you find the most suitable rescue Golden for your family based on your lifestyle needs and environment. Please click here for our adoption application. All dogs are either at Phoebe’s Place or, in some rare situations, are placed in a foster home in metro Denver. All visits to meet prospective adoptees are by appointment only, after an application has been submitted and evaluated for a possible match.

Big Dogs Huge Paws, inc

Big Dogs Huge Paws was founded on the core philosophy is that every "BIG" dog deserves a chance. Our goal is to make sure that every dog receives only the best of care, food, and training. We will also ensure that they are properly evaluated (medically and behaviorally) and placed according to their special needs. Our medical officer and veterinarian team will provide first aid training to all foster volunteers and health seminars about the latest developments in animal medicine. We work actively with professional behaviorists who train each foster home how to handle introductions, properly evaluate dogs, work through specific behavioral issues, etc. Foster families undergo training to ensure that the entire foster team is on the same page and has the tools they need for success. Eventually, our goal is to secure an actual facility where we can work with special behavioral or medical cases to give them the optimal chance of success! The dogs we have chosen to focus our rescue efforts on include Akbash, Anatolian Shepherds, Great Danes, Great Pyrenees, Leonbergers, Mastiffs (all types), Mountain Dogs (all types), Newfoundlands, Irish Wolfhounds, and Scottish Deerhounds. There is a huge need due to the fact that most of these breeds do not have any legitimate rescue options and there are always more dogs in need than any one organization can help. We will be taking a unique approach to public awareness and reaching outside of the box in our efforts. Community outreach and public relations are extremely important to Big Dogs Huge Paws. We believe that through being proactive and serving as a resource to the public as well as working together with the rest of the rescue community, we can decrease the number of dogs needing rescue in the first place and ensure that no gentle giant in need is forgotten or left behind. We have done a lot of research by talking with different local and national rescues and studying their organizational strengths and weaknesses. We have coupled that with our own first hand rescue experience and have decided the best way to protect the new rescue from the vulnerabilities and political issues that so many rescues suffer from is to build the management structure more like a true business. Our leadership team consists of an upper tier of Officers, a Senior Management Team, and Coordinators. Each member of our team is appointed by the officers based on their skills and abilities - rather than voted into office due to their popularity or the lack of other qualified candidates willing to run. Our primary goal with the organizational structure is to build a cohesive and respectful team of professionals who we can trust to "oversee" the daily operations and put together teams of volunteers to carry out the actual day to day activities. This strategy not only gets more volunteers involved, but removes the tremendous burden directors often experience in non-profit organizations. The directors "delegate" responsibilities which enables them to truly make a difference and not get bogged down with doing everything themselves. Our goal was to create a very positive and efficient working environment based on trust and merit to enable change and progress as we grow!

Front Range Freedom Rescue

Mile High Labrador Retriever Mission

The Mile High Labrador Retriever Mission, (MHLRM), a 501(c)3 non-profit public charity, is dedicated to alleviating the needless death and suffering of homeless or misplaced (lost and stray) purebred Labrador Retrievers, as well as Labrador, mixes mostly in high-kill overpopulated pet areas that typically are out of state. By rescuing and rehabilitating homeless Labradors in high-kill areas, vigorously promoting responsible dog ownership through active participation in pet-related events, and through our education program, we strive for a better life for each of our animals. The majority of dogs that you see available for adoption with MHLRM were previously in county pounds or shelters that find themselves at capacity and are forced to euthanize, or dogs that have simply "sat on the shelf" and not gotten adopted quick enough and have run out of time. Many of these facilities use euthanasia methods that are considered inhumane by the majority of the US population but are still being implemented (ie. the gas chamber method or "heart-stick" method). ​ We are active in the metro areas of Colorado and Texas, and we belong to an amazing network of volunteers across the country who have worked hard in very rural areas to help get Labradors to safety since 2009. We have rescued Labs and lab mixes from Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming to name a few. When we learn of a dog in need, we coordinate foster arrangements and appropriate health care where the dog is and also here in Colorado, and then we attempt to bring them here to Colorado and MHLRM, find them an amazing family, and give them a new outlook on life.

Rocky Mountain Puppy Rescue

Since 2010 RMPR has successfully rescued, vetted and re-homed over 11,000 animals and we are still going strong! Rocky Mountain Puppy Rescue is a licensed non-profit animal welfare organization whose mission is to save unwanted puppies, adult dogs, and cats from being euthanized in overcrowded kill shelters. We transfer, spay, neuter, and place these animals in our Colorado foster network until they are ready for adoption to their forever homes. The benefits of a foster home are tremendous, we provide the socialization that these animals cannot experience in a traditional shelter setting, enabling them to grow into balanced animals that will thrive in their forever homes. ​We promote our animal welfare organization through our public adoption events, and benefit New Mexico communities with our SPAY IT FORWARD program that provides life saving vaccines and spay and neuter services. Since 2012 we have spayed/neutered over 4,000 dogs and cats in our public Spay Program. In addition to these programs, we provide donated food to areas in need through our food network connections and educate the public about the need for spaying and neutering of their pets, proper exercise, feeding, grooming, and training.

Do Over Dogs - A Second Chance At Life

Do Over Dogs is a foster-based, 501(c)(3) organization that gives at-risk dogs from the shelter environment a second chance at life. We focus our rescue efforts on dogs and puppies that are at high risk of euthanasia.

Colorado Shiba Inu Rescue

Colorado Shiba Inu Rescue (COSIR) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the rescue and rehoming of Shiba Inus, and Shiba Inu mixes, in Colorado. While in rescue, all our dogs are spayed/neutered, vaccinated, microchipped, given heartworm prevention, and any/all veterinary care necessary to ensure they are healthy and ready for their forever homes. We also provide post-adoption training for our younger dogs, and maintain a lifelong relationship of support with our alumni. We have an all volunteer staff who donate their free time to saving Shibas because of their love and appreciation for the breed. The Shiba Inu is a very unique breed with very strong personality traits, and they are not for everyone! People often decide they want a Shiba because they are cute, without doing any research first, and don’t know what they are getting into. For this reason, many Shibas end up in shelters, surrendered by their owners, or abandonded. COSIR understands and appreciates the uniqueness of this quirky and difficult breed, and has the expertise to ensure each dog finds the right forever home. This challenging of a breed warrants an in-depth screening process for adopters, and our goal is to find each dog their FOREVER home, not just their NEXT home. COSIR takes in Shibas from animal shelters or other rescues, as well as from owners looking to surrender their Shiba in order to give them a better life. Shibas typically do not do well in shelter environments and are often deemed un-adoptable and euthanized. COSIR prioritizes taking in Shibas from local shelters and places them in foster homes. By doing this, we not only relieve the shelter load, so they can help other dogs, but we give a deserving dog a chance at life. We do not have a shelter facility for you to visit and meet our dogs. All of our dogs are cared for in loving foster homes. An adoption application must be submitted, reviewed, and pre-approved prior to scheduling a home visit to meet our dogs.

Aurora Animal Shelter

Aurora Animal Care has been serving the residents of Aurora since the 1950s. Aurora Animal Care was originally created to help control the rabies epidemic in Colorado by enforcing the state laws that required pet owners to vaccinate their dogs and cats against rabies. The City of Aurora soon realized that they needed a facility to hold stray dogs and cats. In 1968 the city leased space at 2155 S. Havana Street to be used as the city pound. The location was meant to be temporary until a proper shelter could be built. The pound remained operational for 13 years. Prior to the mid 80s, the eastern part of Aurora was vastly ranches, farms and open space. Animal Control Officers had to be experienced with handling dogs and cats, in addition to horses and other farm animals. On occasion they would respond to calls about wildlife and mountain lions. With the City of Aurora's growing population, the Aurora Animal Shelter was built in 1983 to house lost pets and facilitate adoptions. The Shelter is located at 15750 E. 32nd Ave., Aurora CO 80011. Over the years Aurora Animal Care has been a strong advocate against animal abuse and educating the public on the importance of spaying and neutering their pets. Since then the Aurora Animal Shelter has grown to a full-service, open admission animal shelter committed to protecting the animals of Aurora by providing shelter and care to the animals in the community. The division name was formally changed from Aurora Animal Care to Aurora Animal Services in 2015.