Animal rescue organizations or groups offer you a great place to get your next family pet. These groups are all different in terms of how they are run and their adoption procedures, but they do have common goals. These groups work hard to locate a permanent loving home for unwanted or misplaced cats and dogs.

Many of these rescue groups rely on volunteers and donations to care for these pets while they are between homes.  They often rescue them from shelters, including kill shelters, and they also take animals which have been surrendered for various reasons and need a permanent, loving home.

They usually specialize in a particular breed because each dog breed is different, and has particular characteristics. Often when dogs come in to one of the rescue groups, there is no past history, so people experienced with the breed can usually identify any issues quickly and build up a profile of what type of home the dog will me most successful in.

When you begin looking for a rescue group to work with, you will find that most of these groups do rely on their hard working volunteers and support from the local community to operate.

You will also find a wide variety of animals available through these private shelters. Many of these shelters handle all types of animals and you will find kittens, puppies, and even older pets available for adoption. You might be surprised to learn that some groups even offer exotic pets such as reptiles, pot bellied pigs and even guinea pigs.

For the breed-specific rescue groups, you might also find other types of dogs. There are many pets available at petfinder.org; when you do a local search, you will see pets listed from many local shelters, and often, if it is a case of saving a young dog from being put to sleep because there is just no room (all too common thanks to the recession these days) these breed groups will step in even if it is not the breed they usually handle.