PetHarbor.com - a Great Tool to Help You Find Your Next Pet at a Shelter

I came across this great website a couple years ago when I was volunteering at an animal shelter taking photos of rabbits and other "exotics". It was very useful to help see when exotics were at other shelters so that I could go visit them and bring supplies to them. Fast forward to a few months ago, and once again the site is proving to be a very useful tool for me as I help my girlfriend look for a young red female miniature dachshund.

While most people know about www.PetFinder.com and it is a great tool as well in searching for a rescue or shelter pet, I have found that that site isn't always updated regularly by shelter volunteers. Most shelters do however, post pet photos to www.PetHarbor.com and also link them from there to their website. Rather than going to every shelter website to look for the pet you want, you can go to www.PetHarbor.com and search.

Searching for your pet online is very easy. First, you type in your zip code or city name. Then, a list of shelters will appear. Check off the shelters you are willing to drive to should your potential new pet appear there. Then click the "Search" button. Now search "Adoptable Pets" (and if you are ever have the unfortunate experience of losing a pet, there is also a button for searching lost pets that have been found and turned in). Here you can search for a dog, cat, or other (others include: cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, chickens, ducks, rabbits, guinea pigs, iguanas, fish, etc.). You can search by breed, gender, age, size, and even the main color! If no search results come up under the breed you are looking for, you can also search similar breeds by just checking off a box.

Unfortunately, shelters are very busy places and occasionally you will still run across a pet that has just been adopted out. For the most part however, I have found that this website is kept very up-to-date. While shelter workers or volunteers can mistake one breed for another, it is still faster to search through all the pets online rather than driving to shelter after shelter wasting time and gas.