📊 Real data — every figure on this page comes from Virginia Dept. of Agriculture & Consumer Services (VDACS) Animal Custody Records (dogs only, CY2021–2025), with a source link on each year. Generated from the barkhood database. 📑 View the pitch deck (PDF) →
← All counties · The data

Dog shelter outcomes · DMV · Virginia

Loudoun County, Virginia

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.

≥ 93.3%dog live-release rate (2025)
✓ no-killabove the 90% benchmark, every year
2.8dogs taken in per 1,000 residents
11reporting shelters (6/9 complete)

The headline · 2025

≥ 93.3%

live-release rate — of every dog whose outcome was decided, ≥ 93.3% left the shelter alive (adopted, returned to owner, or transferred to rescue).

FLOOR · ≥ Virginia merges all euthanasia into one figure, so owner-requested (mercy) cases can’t be separated out. This rate is a conservative floor — the true live-release rate is at least this high.

The trend · 2021 → 2025

Above the no-kill line, every year.

100% 90% · no-kill 85% 92.295.495.993.893.3 20212022202320242025

Where the dogs went · 2025

1,256 outcomes decided. Here is every one.

The live-release rate is one number; transparency means showing the whole denominator — including the deaths, separated honestly by kind.

1,256 outcomes decided 1,172 left alive  ·  84 did not
1,172 left alive  ·  live-release rate ≥ 93.3% 84 did not 903Adopted · 72%259Returned · 21%80
903Adopted72%
259Returned to owner21%
10Transferred to rescue0.8%
80Euthanasia (undifferentiated) — merged total — owner-requested can't be separated, so the rate is a floor6%
4Died in care — a medical signal, not a choice0.3%

Bar width is proportional to count, out of 1,256 decided outcomes. 93% left alive; this is a floor — Virginia merges owner-requested euthanasia into the total, so the true live-release rate is at least 93.3% and likely higher.

By shelter · every reporting year

11 reporting shelters

Each row links to the state source.

Canines & Kitties Rescue

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
20252112034≥98.1%floorVDACS report
20242732502≥98.4%floorVDACS report
20231762070≥100.0%floorVDACS report

Equine Rescue League Foundation

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
2024000—floorVDACS report
2023000—floorVDACS report
2022000—floorVDACS report
2021000—floorVDACS report

Friends of Homeless Animals

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
20251982095≥97.2%floorVDACS report
202424224110≥95.6%floorVDACS report
20232542492≥98.8%floorVDACS report
20222912852≥99.0%floorVDACS report
20212882750≥98.2%floorVDACS report

Little Buddies Adoption and Humane Society

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
2025000—floorVDACS report
2024000—floorVDACS report
2023000—floorVDACS report
2022000—floorVDACS report
2021000—floorVDACS report

Loudoun Community Cat Coalition

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
2025000—floorVDACS report
2024000—floorVDACS report
2023000—floorVDACS report
2022000—floorVDACS report
2021000—floorVDACS report

Loudoun County Animal Control and Public Animal Shelter

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
202579672770≥91.1%floorVDACS report
202496188177≥92.0%floorVDACS report
202382779149≥94.1%floorVDACS report
202291284744≥94.8%floorVDACS report
202166260170≥89.4%floorVDACS report

Save the Tails, Inc.

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
202531290≥100.0%floorVDACS report
202344430≥100.0%floorVDACS report
202239420≥100.0%floorVDACS report
202174700≥100.0%floorVDACS report

Saving Snoots Animal Rescue

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
2025500≥0.0%floorVDACS report
2024120≥100.0%floorVDACS report
2023440≥66.7%floorVDACS report
20221050≥71.4%floorVDACS report
2021430≥100.0%floorVDACS report

Sweet Life Rescue

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
2024000—floorVDACS report
2023880≥100.0%floorVDACS report
20221480≥57.1%floorVDACS report
20211050≥50.0%floorVDACS report

The Cats At Longstreet

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
2025000—floorVDACS report
2024110≥100.0%floorVDACS report
2023120≥100.0%floorVDACS report
2021000—floorVDACS report

The Humane Society of Loudoun County

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
2025541≥80.0%floorVDACS report
202419180≥100.0%floorVDACS report
2023671≥87.5%floorVDACS report
2022650≥100.0%floorVDACS report
2021430≥100.0%floorVDACS report

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. Loudoun County takes in roughly 2.8 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

What's measured

  • Dogs only. barkhood is a dog-handling service; cats and other species are out of scope.
  • Source: Virginia Dept. of Agriculture & Consumer Services (VDACS) Animal Custody Records, the mandatory state record — linked per row.
  • Completeness 6/9: 6/9 of the county’s reporting facilities filed in 2025; gaps are shown, not guessed.

Why this rate is honest

  • Euthanasia is merged — Virginia reports all euthanasia as one figure, so owner-requested (mercy) cases can’t be excluded. We publish the rate as a floor (≥), never overstating it.
  • Deaths are shown, not hidden — the denominator and the euthanasia figure are on the page.
  • Per-capita intake uses U.S. Census 2025 county population (449,749).