Downtown Dog Rescue

Home
United States
South Gate, CA
Downtown Dog Rescue

DDR is a nonprofit organization that supports low income families care for their pets. https://bit.ly/SpayNeuterForm
(358)

Our Pet Support Space Counselors can be reached by calling 323-880-8259. We supply veterinary vouchers, pet food and other supplies as well as resources for individuals and families experiencing homelessness. You can help support our work by donating here https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/8WZMGM11XFGI?ref_=wl_share

08/30/2026

KIA is trying her best to live up to her brand name. This smart little puppy took a trip to Glendale and was super friendly with everyone she met and proved herself to be a good cafe dog in the making.
Let us know if you’d like to meet her!

08/28/2026

In 2013, Downtown Dog Rescue built our South Gate kennel from the ground up. From the beginning, it was never about how many dogs we could house. It was about the quality of life we could provide while they were with us.

Today, our dogs range from 4 months to 18½ years old, all with different needs.

Every day means twice-daily meals, medications, cleaning all day long, and lots of laundry. But it also means walks, car rides, training sessions, weekly pack hikes, and plenty of time playing in our four yards: the "Fort Yard", "Bridge Yard", "Main Yard" and "Senior Suite".

Every dog receives veterinary care, including spay or neuter, vaccines and a microchip, but care doesn't stop there. When needed, we provide blood panels, diagnostics, specialized treatment and even weekly acupuncture for some of our dogs.

Our full-time kennel manager Jenny, part-time team members Cesar, Christine and Julie, along with our volunteers, make sure every dog receives individual attention, affection and time to just be a dog.

We can't control how long they wait for a home. We can control the life they have while they wait. But the kennel isn't meant to be their forever home. If you're thinking about adopting, come meet a DDR dog. Help make one of our dogs' wait finally over. You can meet our dogs at our kennel by appointment.

08/26/2026

Street outreach requires us to meet people where they are, not where we think they should be.

She is unhoused. She already has an adult pit bull that she trusted Dr Hoffman to neuter. And recently, someone gave her a puppy as a gift. From the outside, it's easy to look at this situation and immediately see another problem. How will she ever find housing with two dogs? Why would someone give her a puppy when she is already struggling? If taking care of herself is difficult, how can she take care of two dogs?

These aren't unreasonable questions. Was getting a second dog going to make finding housing more difficult? Probably. Would explaining that to her change the fact that she now had a puppy in her arms? No.

So what was our job in that moment? Was it to explain why having another dog might make her life more difficult? Or was it to continue building a relationship that might eventually result in both dogs being vaccinated, spayed or neutered, and receiving veterinary care? We chose the relationship.

Those of us doing outreach often think about the future. We see the barriers ahead and want to solve them. We may see permanent housing as the most important goal. But it may not be her most important goal today.

Accepting a situation for what it is doesn't mean agreeing with every decision someone makes. It means understanding that judgment doesn't get a dog vaccinated. An argument doesn't get a dog spayed or neutered. Telling someone what they should have done doesn't build the community trust to scale the number of spay and neuter surgeries needed to make a significant impact.

08/25/2026

About a month ago, while doing outreach, we met Max and his owner, who is homeless. Max wasn’t neutered, so we explained that to receive ongoing free veterinary care through our program, he would need to be neutered. His owner wasn’t ready. He said no. We respected his decision and moved on.

A couple of weeks later, we saw them again. This time, something had changed. Max’s owner told us he was ready to have him neutered.

But when Dr. Hoffman examined Max, the plan changed again. Max was much older than his owner realized, and he was extremely thin. Before considering surgery, Dr. Hoffman wanted to know why. We ran bloodwork. Max is diabetic.

So the neuter is on hold. The priority now is getting Max stable and teaching his owner how to give him insulin, something he is willing to learn because he loves his dog and wants to take care of him. As of today, that’s where we are.

We talk a lot about the importance of spaying and neutering, and it is central to the work we do. But getting pets sterilized isn’t simply about scheduling surgeries. It’s about building relationships with people who may need time to trust us, time to make a decision, or help with something we never anticipated.

If we had looked at Max’s owner the first time he said no and decided that was the end of the story, we might never have discovered that Max was sick.

So the neuter is on hold. The priority now is getting Max stable and teaching his owner how to give him insulin, something he is willing to learn because he loves his dog and wants to take care of him. As of today, that’s where we are.

Because we run our own community pet clinic, we can take on cases like Max. When you become a monthly DDR clinic supporter, you are making a difference for pets that would likely not access the care that they need.

08/21/2026

Benji and Max came to Downtown Dog Rescue to get neutered and vaccinated at our community clinic in Maywood. Their person loved them enough to make the difficult decision to surrender them to DDR, knowing we could give them the care they needed and find them their next loving homes. Thanks to Honest Groomers in South Gate, they are feeling fresh and comfortable. Benji and Max are ready for adoption!

They've already been loved once. Now we're looking for the people who will love them for the rest of their lives. Please share and help us find Benji and Max their forever homes.

08/19/2026

Come out this Saturday to The Urban Pet in South Pasadena and meet our wonderful dogs who are available for same day adoptions. All sizes, ages, and breeds. Not ready to adopt, we are always looking for fosters. .

08/18/2026

We’re so happy to share that SUMMER has been adopted! 🎉 Her new family previously adopted PAX from us in 2016. We’re incredibly grateful to have them open their hearts and home to another Downtown Dog Rescue pup! 💜

08/16/2026

We rescued FRANCO as a wee adolescent in 2020 from Downey Shelter. All these years later he’s not only shown patience as he waits for a home but he’s developed a into a real love bug 😍
We are hoping this special boy doesn’t have to wait too much longer for a forever home. Let us know if you’d like to meet him!
❤️

08/15/2026

Chocolate Chip is only five months old, and right now, he is living in a cage at our clinic. He was abandoned and has nowhere else to go. Our clinic can keep him safe, but it is not where a kitten should grow up.

Chocolate Chip urgently needs a foster home, or even better, a forever home where he can finally feel safe and loved.

Please DM us if you can foster or adopt him. If you can’t take him home, please repost his video. The right person may be someone you know.

08/14/2026

Max and Benji came into our rescue this week, but their story started before that.

Their owner originally reached out to us for help getting them neutered. They were temporarily housed, getting by, and had received a Section 8 voucher while waiting to find permanent housing.

Then, in the course of one week, everything changed.

Their temporary housing fell through, and finding housing that would accept a Section 8 voucher and two dogs proved incredibly difficult. Their owner was facing the reality of living in a vehicle for weeks, maybe months, with Max and Benji staying in a hot car. They loved their dogs enough to ask themselves a painful question: What kind of life can I give them right now?

They wanted Max and Benji to have what they could no longer provide—a stable home, someone who could afford their care, and someone who would love them as much as they did. So they made the decision to surrender them to us.

Sometimes love means letting go.

We support their decision. Surrendering a pet during a housing crisis is not necessarily a failure of commitment or love. Sometimes it is an extraordinarily difficult decision made because someone believes it is what is best for the animals they love.

Max and Benji are safe with us now. They have been neutered, received the veterinary care they need, and soon they will be available for adoption after being groomed.

Address

5270 Atlantic Boulevard
South Gate, CA
90270

Website

http://www.downtowndogrescue.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Downtown Dog Rescue posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Downtown Dog Rescue:

Want your business to be the top-listed Pet Store/pet Service in South Gate?