Dog shelter outcomes · DMV · Maryland
A well-resourced metro county on the demand side of the DMV — strong adoption capacity, low intake per resident. Here is how its dogs actually fared, in the open.
The headline · 2025
live-release rate — of every dog whose outcome was decided, 90.6% left the shelter alive (adopted, returned to owner, or transferred to rescue).
EXACT rate Maryland reports owner-requested euthanasia separately, so this is a measured Asilomar rate — not a floor. Owner-requested euthanasia (end-of-life / medical, at the family’s request) is excluded, the way the field standard does.
The trend · 2021 → 2025
Where the dogs went · 2025
The live-release rate is one number; transparency means showing the whole denominator — including the deaths, separated honestly by kind.
Bar width is proportional to count, out of 4,328 decided outcomes. 84% left alive; the headline 90.6% live-release rate is higher because the 302 owner-requested euthanasias (mercy cases) are set aside from the denominator, per the Asilomar standard.
By shelter · every reporting year
Each row links to the state source.
Live-release rate = (adopted + returned to owner + transferred out) ÷ (live outcomes + non-owner euthanasia + died in care). Owner-requested euthanasia is excluded (Asilomar / Shelter Animals Count standard). Dogs only.
A demand-side county. Prince George's County takes in roughly 4.4 dogs per 1,000 residents — far below the rural rate of 20–70 — and places nearly all of them. That's the metro half of barkhood's thesis: well-resourced suburbs have adoption capacity to spare while under-resourced rural counties euthanize for lack of it. Counties like this one are where dogs from the strained counties can go. See the full DMV picture →
Methodology · the glass wall