Rescue dogs for adoption and rehoming in and around Edinburgh

The one dog rescue we list inside the City of Edinburgh is Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home at Seafield. You apply to the rescue for the dog you want: we don't rehome dogs ourselves, and each rescue runs its own application, visits and fee.

This page also covers about 25 miles around the city, so it shows the greyhounds at Greyhound Rescue Fife, whose kennels are at Gairneybank near Kinross, about 20 miles north of Edinburgh, and the spaniels Springer Rescue Scotland has in foster homes in Fife. When we checked on 29 October 2026 that was 21 greyhounds, 14 dogs at Seafield and 2 Springers in Fife. Each animal's card shows how far it is from Edinburgh.

In Scotland, a person who finds a stray dog must by law return it to its owner, or take it to the council's officer for the area or to the nearest police station, and say where it was found. A Scottish finder who keeps the dog must keep it for at least one month, and becomes its owner after two months unclaimed.

The mygov.scot stray dog page says to report a dog you can't reunite to your local council, or to your local police station outside normal working hours, and that it is an offence to keep a stray dog without contacting the owner or reporting it. Its council list sends Edinburgh finders to the council's general contact page: the City of Edinburgh Council's dog page covers out of control dogs, and when we searched its site on 26 October 2026 we found no separate stray dog page.

Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home suggests checking the collar for the owner's details, taking a calm dog to a local vet to have its microchip scanned, and reporting the found dog to a local shelter such as the Home. If you can't find the owner and no shelter can take the dog, it says you must report it to your local council dog warden.

Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home charges £250 for a dog aged 6 months to 9 years, £350 for a pair, £150 for a dog over 9 and £300 for a puppy. Every animal goes home with a month's pet insurance, and dogs with a small supply of the food they have been eating.

You can also buy its adoption pack for £30, with some of the essentials for your dog, one free training session and two free paddock sessions.

Greyhound Rescue Fife asks for a donation of £180 when you adopt a greyhound; its greyhounds go home vaccinated and neutered, with a special collar, lead and muzzle.

Each rescue sets its own adoption fee, and Dogs Trust charges £300 for a puppy or adult dog in England, Wales and Scotland. The fee usually covers neutering, microchipping and first vaccinations, and each rescue confirms its own fee.

These are its own rules (its rehoming process). Apply only when you are ready: every dog on its site is ready to go, so a rehoming can take as little as a week.

• One application per dog. You apply online for the dog you want, and it aims to tell you within a week, by email or a phone call of at least 20 minutes, whether you are through.
• No drop-in visits. It stopped open visits in 2020: a successful applicant is invited to meet the dog, an invitation is not a promise of a match, and when several applications fit, it moves forward with the people who can visit earliest.
• Read the profile. A dog's profile may ask for a private garden, an adult only home, an experienced or active owner, or a home away from the city centre, because some dogs find busy areas too overwhelming.
• Settling in. Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home recommends waiting at least a month before letting your dog off the lead, and checks in with you a little while after you take it home.

Two rehoming centres near Edinburgh, Dogs Trust West Calder and the Scottish SPCA's Balerno centre, are ones we name but don't list. Search their own sites for their dogs.

• Dogs Trust West Calder is at Bentyhead, West Calder, EH55 8LE, in West Lothian. You can browse on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 4pm; Wednesday and Friday mornings are by pre-arranged appointment.
• The Scottish SPCA has its Edinburgh & Lothians rescue and rehoming centre in Balerno, EH14 7JU, its oldest centre. The Scottish SPCA also rehomes animals; search on its own site.
• Dog Aid Scotland, based in Edinburgh, has no kennels: its dogs stay with their owners until a match is found, and then the dog comes to stay with you for two weeks.

This page's filters narrow the dogs to puppies, older dogs or greyhounds, where Greyhound Rescue Fife's dogs appear. Each dog's card shows its distance from Edinburgh, so you can see which rescue is a short trip and which is a drive.