Purebred Dogs in Shelters? You Won’t Believe What This TikToker Found!
Kayla Winrow—known as @salvage.souls by her 90K followers on TikTok—has fostered dozens of dogs from Oklahoma City Animal Welfare and no two have been quite the same. If you work in or around animal rescue, you’ll quickly learn that there are no rules about what kind of dogs end up in shelters. Puppies, purebreds, and even expensive rare breeds find themselves dumped, abandoned, and surrendered to shelters every day.
Somehow, the general public still seems to think you need to go to a breeder to get a puppy, a purebred, or a specific type of dog.
In a recent video posted to her TikTok, Kayla shows just how wrong this idea is. During a walk through the Oklahoma City Animal Welfare shelter, Kayla films groups of puppies, a purebred Mastiff puppy, small, medium, and large dogs, mellow dogs, well-trained dogs, dogs who do well with cats, social dogs, adventurous dogs, and even dogs who just want to be couch potatoes. You can find any type of dog at the shelter, and you do not need to go to a breeder to get what you want.
Can You Find Puppies At The Shelter?
@salvage.souls I promise, whatever you're looking for, you can find in a shelter 💔🥺 please consider adopting #rescue #adopt #foster #shelter #dogsoftiktok #dogs ♬ SomeoneYouLoved(Cover) – 十八闲客
Yes! According to data collected by Shelter Animals Count approximately “651,000 of the 3.2M dogs entering [shelter and rescue] organizations in 2023 were puppies under 5 months old. This has been steadily increasing and is 56,000 more puppies than 2019 and 28,000 more puppies than 2022.”
Now more than ever, puppies are available for adoption. Overbreeding and increased puppy mill output—fueled in part by the “designer dog” industry—have drastically increased the rates of puppies being dumped, abandoned, and surrendered.
As of this writing, Oklahoma City Animal Welfare alone has more than 100 puppies and young dogs in their care, including puppies as young as 12 weeks old.
Do Shelters Have Purebred Dogs?
Yes! Despite spending sometimes thousands of dollars to buy purebred dogs, many dog owners still surrender their purebreds to the shelter system. Believe it or not, as many as 25% of shelter dogs are purebred with the most common breeds being Labrador Retrievers, Chihuahuas, Border Collies, Australian Cattle Dogs, Pit Bulls and Bully breeds, Huskies, Beagles, German Shepherds and other working breeds.
How To Find a Specific Type of Dog For Adoption
If you have your heart set on a specific breed, a specific size of dog, or some other specific quality, you don’t have to go to a breeder to be satisfied. Most adoption websites allow you to filter adoptable pets by things like age, size, breed, and needs.
I have personally used Petfinder to find two of my adopted dogs and was able to filter by what I was looking for—a Chihuahua mix that was good with other dogs and cats.
If you want to adopt from your local shelter, all you need to do is visit in person to chat with staff and discuss what you’re looking for. The perfect dog for you might already be at the shelter, but if not you’ll at least have started the process and begun a relationship with the rescue staff that will help you find your new best friend.
If you live in or near Oklahoma City and want to help dogs in your local rescue system, visit Oklahoma City Animal Welfare online or in-person to see their adoptable dogs and cats.
