Rescue dogs for adoption and rehoming in and around Truro

The rescues around Truro cover mid and west Cornwall. Closest is K9 Crusaders Dog Welfare, an independent charity with kennels at Bissoe, near Truro, which serves the whole of Cornwall and says it takes all dogs, including those other rescues have turned down as hard to rehome.

St Francis Dogs Home in Newquay, about 10 miles away, has rehomed dogs since 1955 and now keeps many of them with fosterers. NAWT Cornwall, the National Animal Welfare Trust's centre on the outskirts of Hayle, about 17 miles west, rehomes dogs and cats. Every profile here links to the rescue that cares for the dog, and you apply with them: we don't rehome dogs ourselves.

In England, if you find a stray dog and can't contact the owner, you must report it to the council. Cornwall Council takes reports by phone or online, and its Dog Welfare and Enforcement Officers collect strays in working hours, with a contractor on weekday evenings until 10pm and at weekends. There is no 24 hour service, and at busy times you may be asked to keep the dog until the next working day.

Owners have seven full days to claim a dog; after that the council rehomes it. Getting a dog back costs at least £100, plus £20 a day if it goes into kennels and £55 for an out of hours collection, so a microchip and a tag with your details are the fastest way home (the council's stray dog page).

NAWT Cornwall charges £250 for a dog, and every animal it rehomes comes with 4 weeks' free Petplan insurance. Many Tears Animal Rescue, whose dogs near Hayle live in a foster home, asks £350 for a dog over 6 months, £425 for a puppy under 6 months and £160 for a dog over 9 or one with serious ongoing medical needs.

K9 Crusaders says its fee may change, so ask for the current figure when you book; each dog goes home vaccinated, neutered, microchipped, flea treated, wormed and vet checked. St Francis Dogs Home charges an adoption fee unless a dog's page says otherwise, but publishes no figure.

Each rescue sets its own adoption fee. Dogs Trust charges £300 for a puppy or adult dog in England, Wales and Scotland, and Blue Cross fees start from £235 for dogs aged 8 or over and £335 for dogs aged 1 to 7. The fee usually covers neutering, microchipping and first vaccinations, and each rescue confirms its own fee.

None of these rescues lets you walk round the kennels and pick: you apply or phone first, and visits are by appointment (K9 Crusaders says its kennels are not open to the public).

• K9 Crusaders: meet, then a home check. Look at its dogs online or phone, then meet the dog at the kennels in one of its secure exercise fields or its Meet and Greet Barn. One of its home checkers visits, the dog has a final vet check, and you collect from Bissoe. Don't use satnav with its postcode: its directions page says you will end up miles away.
• St Francis: Cornwall homes only. St Francis Dogs Home rehomes only within Cornwall, meets you at its premises first and home checks every adoption. Each dog's page says which children, dogs and cats it can live with, and every dog comes with rescue back up for life.
• NAWT Cornwall: register your interest. At NAWT Cornwall you register interest on the dog's page; matched applicants are contacted in the order they applied, then you visit, perhaps more than once, before the dog goes home.

People also search for the RSPCA Cornwall Branch, a self-funded charity registered separately from the national RSPCA, with its Venton Animal Centre at St Columb. It rehomes its own animals through its own site, by appointment, and we don't list RSPCA animals.

German Shepherd Rescue Elite has kennels at Callington, in east Cornwall, about 36 miles from Truro, so its dogs sit outside the area these pages cover. Many Tears Animal Rescue is a national network based in Carmarthenshire; its dogs near Hayle are in a local foster home.

Looking for a particular kind of dog? The French Bulldog, Chihuahua, lurcher, crossbreed and puppies pages each list the dogs near Truro today.

Need to rehome your own dog instead? Our Truro rehoming page sets out the local routes, including St Francis Dogs Home's surrender form for Cornwall dogs.