Rural Dog Rescue

Forever true to "the Underdog," Rural Dog Rescue is dedicated to saving the lives of high risk dogs in economically challenged, high-kill shelters in rural areas — dogs that are often overlooked for adoption or rescue.

Rural Dog Rescue was founded in 2011. We are based in Washington, D.C., and serve communities in D.C., Maryland, and northern Virginia.

We work with several high-kill shelters (who either euthanize dogs in 72 hours or whose kill rate is 70% or higher) in rural areas of North Carolina.

We focus on efforts on shelters that euthanize over 70% of dogs or euthanize in 72 hours, and we rescue a range of breeds and sizes. Our commitment is to rescuing the "underdogs" - dogs that are often overlooked in shelters because they are dark-colored, hounds, sick, injured, or senior.

To date, RDR has placed more than 2,000 dogs in forever homes.