Pet adoption is the process of transferring responsibility for a pet that was previously owned by another party. Common sources for adoptable pets are animal shelters, rescue groups, or other pet owners. Some organizations give adopters ownership of the pet, while others use a guardianship model wherein the organization retains some control over the animal's future use or care.
An animal shelter or pound is a place where stray, lost, abandoned or surrendered animals – mostly dogs and cats – are housed. The word "pound" has its origins in the animal pounds of agricultural communities, where stray livestock would be penned or impounded until they were claimed by their owners.
A puppy mill, also known as a puppy farm, is a commercial dog breeding facility characterized by quick breeding and poor conditions. Although no standardized legal definition for "puppy mill" exists, a definition was established in Avenson v. Zegart in 1984 as "a dog breeding operation in which the health of the mill’s dogs is disregarded to maintain a low overhead and maximize profits". They are cited as being a result of increased demand for household pets, especially after World War II. The Veterinary Medical Association of the Humane Society of the United States defines the main characteristics of a puppy mill as "emphasis on quantity over quality, indiscriminate breeding, continuous confinement, lack of human contact and environmental enrichment, poor husbandry, and minimal to no veterinary care."
An animal rescue group or animal rescue organization is a group dedicated to pet adoption. These groups take unwanted, abandoned, abused, or stray pets and attempt to find suitable homes for them. Many rescue groups are created by and run by volunteers, who take animals into their homes and care for them—including training, playing, handling medical issues, and solving behavior problems—until a suitable permanent home can be found.
The Genesis Awards are awarded annually by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to individuals in the major news and entertainment media for producing outstanding works which raise public awareness of animal issues. Presented by the HSUS Hollywood Outreach program, the awards show takes place every March in California. The awards have honored such well-known personalities as Michael Jackson, Aaron Sorkin, Anderson Cooper, Peter Gabriel, Ellen DeGeneres, Jane Goodall, David E. Kelley, Paul McCartney, Arthur Miller, Stephen Colbert, Oprah Winfrey, Prince, Jacques Cousteau and Ian Somerhalder, as well as journalists, film and documentary writers and producers, print and broadcast news outlets in the United States.
Best Friends Animal Society, (BFAS) founded in its present form in 1993, is an American nonprofit 501(c)(3) animal welfare organization based in Kanab, Utah with satellite offices in Atlanta, Georgia, Bentonville, Arkansas, Houston, Texas, Los Angeles, California, New York City, and Salt Lake City, Utah. It also has a partnership network with shelters, rescue groups and members in all 50 states and Washington, DC, to promote pet adoption, no-kill animal rescue, and spay-and-neuter practices. Best Friends has a 3-star 'Give With Confidence' rating from Charity Navigator.
Temperament tests assess dogs for certain behaviors or suitability for dog sports or adoption from an animal shelter by observing the animal for unwanted or potentially dangerous behavioral traits, such as aggressiveness towards other dogs or humans, shyness, or extreme fear.
Rocket Dog Rescue is a volunteer nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California, devoted to pet adoption and animal rescue. It is the most prominent of several local private organizations that save dogs from euthanasia by caring for them and finding new families. The program places dogs from animal shelters in the San Francisco Bay Area into foster homes while awaiting adoption. It also treats medical and behavioral problems such as socialization issues, neuters and spays the animals, and provides vaccines, so as to make their animals adoptable.
Benji: Off the Leash! is a 2004 American comedy-drama film directed, written, and produced by Joe Camp. It stars Nick Whitaker, Chris Kendrick, Christy Summerhays, Randall Newsome, Duane Stephens, and animal actors. It is the fifth film in the Benji series, and the last Benji film that Joe Camp has directed, produced, and written, until his death in 2024.
Hotel for Dogs is a 2009 American family comedy film directed by Thor Freudenthal in his directorial debut, and based on the 1971 novel of the same name by Lois Duncan. Starring Jake T. Austin, Emma Roberts, Kyla Pratt, Lisa Kudrow, Kevin Dillon and Don Cheadle, the film tells the story of two orphaned siblings, who secretly take in stray dogs along with their family dog at a vacant hotel.
Broadway Barks is an annual animal charity event held in New York City to promote the adoption of shelter animals. Founded by Bernadette Peters and Mary Tyler Moore, the event has been held every July in Shubert Alley, starting in 1999. Performers, many from Broadway shows, present adoptable cats and dogs, with the participation of many animal groups from the New York City area.
Black dog syndrome or big black dog syndrome is a phenomenon in which black dogs are passed over for adoption in favor of lighter-colored animals. Black cats are similarly reported to be subject to the same phenomenon.
The National Animal Interest Alliance (NAIA) is a non-profit organization in the United States dedicated to promoting animal welfare and animal husbandry practices, strengthening the human-animal bond, and safeguarding the rights of responsible animal owners and professionals through research, public education and public policy. The NAIA mission is "to promote the welfare of animals."
Cynthia Wade is an American television, commercial and film director, producer and cinematographer based in New York City. She has directed documentaries on social issues including Shelter Dogs in 2003 about animal welfare and Freeheld in 2007 about LGBT rights as well as television commercials and web campaigns. She has won over 40 film festival awards, won an Oscar in 2008, and was nominated for her second Oscar in 2013.
Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh (HARP), formerly known as the Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania, known commonly as Animal Rescue League Shelter & Wildlife Center (ARL), is an animal welfare organization founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1909. The ARL is a non-profit organization that offers various services to support both animals and pet owners alike. It is the only animal shelter in the Pittsburgh area that accepts both domestic animals and wildlife. The agency's shelter and clinic are located in Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood, while its wildlife rehabilitation center and boarding kennels are a few miles away in Verona, Pennsylvania. The organization maintains a contract with the city of Pittsburgh and accepts all stray pets that are apprehended by the Animal Control unit.
Vanessa Schulz is a South African born documentary filmmaker, director, producer, writer, editor, photographer and political activist. In 1998, she established 21paradigm.com; her projects include the award-winning Cull of the Wild and Cost of Freedom.
The Witness is a 2000 documentary film about animal rights directed by Jenny Stein. It was produced by James LaVeck. LaVeck and Stein's non-profit organization is Tribe of Heart.
Ron Davis is an American documentary film director, writer and producer. He is the founder of Docutainment Films.
Dogs On The Inside is a 2014 American documentary film about the rehabilitation program in which prisoner inmates are given care of stray and abused dogs at the North Central Correctional Institution in Gardner, Massachusetts. The film follows the pairings of prisoners and dogs from their first meeting through adoption into a loving family.
Sarah Teale is a British-American documentary film producer and director, known for her Emmy nominated HBO documentaries Hacking Democracy, Dealing Dogs, The Weight of the Nation and Kill Chain: The Cyber War on America’s Elections.
