The Dog Rescue Network is northern San Luis Obispo County's most active large and medium sized dog rescue effort. Almost all of our dogs are at least 50lbs. On occasion, we have smaller dogs.

Adorable Sparkle was rescued of the kill-list at the Merced pound. Hundreds of thousands of these lives are ended every month in this country because people buy a pet rather than adopt a pet. If you buy a dog, rather than adopt, you are contributing to this cycle. Every breed of dog is available through rescue. Why not save a life instead of buying one??

We are located in Atascadero,CA., approximately 2 hours north of Santa Barbara, and 3 hours south of San Francisco.   If you are outside of our immediate area, check the pounds and shelters of your community. Thousands die every week. We cannot save them all. Any dog you adopt from the pound is a life saved.

To adopt a dog from us you MUST answer all the questions on the "Application" page. This helps us determine which dog might be the right fit for your family.

We require that any dog you adopt from us must be allowed to sleep in the house at night. Not the garage. The house. Our dogs are crate trained for this purpose.

You must have a fully fenced yard, attached to the house, with closing gates, in order to adopt from us.
You MUST exercise your dog everyday for AT LEAST 30-45 minutes. The dogs are just getting warmed up at 10-15 minutes, and need to go longer in order to drain their energy, and remain well behaved. This exercise needs to be controlled. That is on leash, or running along side you. Throwing the ball for a dog is "twinkie exercise" It is not controlled, and does not show leadership. It should be done in conjuntion with controlled exercise. Either before on leash exercise, to drain enough energy that you can better control the dog while on leash. Or after on leash exercise as "dessert" for being well behaved on the walk. The best thing to spoil you dog with is exercise. Just look at the smile on their face when you are done!

Greta,Maisy, and Willa just back from a good pack walk with my friend Leah Bauer-Booker, behaviorist of attaboy dog obedience and behavior. At the time this picture was taken, Leah was 7 months pregnant, and living with 6 cats and fostering kittens for the local shelter. Want a well behaved dog? One that can live with cats, other dogs, kittens, and babies too? Just exercise them until they smile!

I encourage everyone to check your local pound when looking for a new family member. These dogs (and cats) are in the most jeopardy. They have suffered the biggest betrayal as their owners have left them to die. On average, 79% of all animals that go to the pound are put to death. In some communities, like LA Counties, it is over 95%.
If looking for a dog to rescue, including a pure breed, go to the website
www.petfinder.com 
to find a rescue group close to you. They list rescued dogs in foster care, and those left at the pound, throughout the United States.

Also check the websites
www.1-800-save-a-pet.com
www.pets911.com
for listings of other rescue groups. You can also do a websearch for a particular pure breed.
                                                                                                                               There is no need to EVER buy a dog. In this country
we kill over 7 MILLION animals every year. 30% of those killed are pure breed.
Why are breeders creating more, when there are so many put to death every year.
Simple. To line their own pockets with $$$.

Especially when you consider that they have very little investment in the puppies they are selling. Deworming-$5.00. One DHPP vaccine-$5.00-$7.00. And then they sell them for $500.00-$900.00!!! How do they justify this except to profit from selling these little lives!

Our Available Dog List is kept current. We take the dogs off the list as soon as they are adopted.