Rescue dogs for adoption and rehoming in and around Belfast

The kennels that rehome dogs to Belfast families are all outside the city, and the rescues in this section list their dogs with us from this update. Assisi Animal Sanctuary, founded in 1997, is at Conlig near Newtownards, about 10 miles east. Almost Home Animal Rescue NI is based in Moira, about 14 miles south-west, and leans on some 220 volunteers. The Barn Animal Rescue is at Carrowdore in County Down, about 14 miles out, and some of its animals stay in Newtownards.

Smaller groups with no kennels of their own post their dogs on PAW, an adoption website, and we show each dog under the name of the group caring for it. On 6 November 2026 that meant Paws and People in Banbridge, Little Paws Rescue NI with dogs in Craigavon and Newtownabbey, Friends Of Rescue NI with fosterers in Belfast and Antrim, and Animal Connexions in Banbridge.

Found a dog in the city? Belfast City Council sends its dog wardens to collect it, from 8am to 8pm every day except public and bank holidays, and keeps strays at its kennelling provider, Nutts Corner Boarding Kennels near Crumlin. In Northern Ireland a council can sell or put down a seized dog that is not claimed within five days, and nidirect says a finder who would like to keep the dog can ask the warden about buying it after that.

Owners reclaim a dog at Nutts Corner with photo ID and a daily rate of £20, plus the chip fee if it isn't chipped. The council won't release a dog until it sees a current licence or you buy one there and then.

Assisi charges £170 for a dog and £200 for a puppy, and contributes towards neutering when an animal leaves before it has been done. The Barn sets a fee on each of its PAW listings: £200 or £250 for the adult dogs it had on 6 November 2026, and £300 for its Saluki cross puppies.

Paws and People asked £100 for its older dogs, £150 for adults and £200 for puppies that day, and Little Paws Rescue NI £250. Almost Home doesn't publish a fee, so ask it when you apply. Budget £12.50 on top for the dog licence, or £5 at the concession rate.

Each rescue sets its own adoption fee, and Dogs Trust charges £287.50 for a puppy or adult dog in Northern Ireland (where you also need a dog licence). The fee usually covers neutering, microchipping and first vaccinations, and each rescue confirms its own fee.

Every rescue here starts with an application form, and each adds its own steps (Assisi, Almost Home):

• Assisi: a call, then visits. After your form it rings you, suggests another animal if the first isn't right, and may ask you to visit a dog more than once. A dog you already own comes to meet the new one at a later visit, and it never rehomes on the same day.
• Almost Home: the right match. Its application asks about children, working hours and your garden, and you promise to bring the dog back to Almost Home if you can't keep it. It says it will hold out for the home that suits the dog best, and turns people down when one doesn't.
• The Barn: vaccinated and insured. Its PAW profile says every animal leaves chipped, vaccinated (kennel cough included) and treated for fleas and worms, with a voucher towards neutering and 5 weeks of free insurance.
• Licence before collection. In Northern Ireland you need your own dog licence before you take the dog, and the rescue commits an offence if it hands one over without seeing it.

Two larger Northern Ireland charities rehome dogs but aren't on our pages. Dogs Trust Ballymena is the Dogs Trust centre for Northern Ireland, and the USPCA rehomes from Newry. We don't list either, so look at their sites too.

Our guide to dog rescues in Belfast and Northern Ireland compares the rescues side by side, and if you were searching for puppies for sale in Belfast or anywhere in Northern Ireland, read our rescue puppies guide first. The Staffy, lurcher and older dogs pages list the dogs ready now, and dogs further out, in Fermanagh, Tyrone or County Londonderry, are on our Northern Ireland page.

Giving up a dog of your own? Our Belfast rehoming page covers the routes.