📊 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

Spotsylvania County, Virginia

An under-resourced county carrying heavy intake for its population — the source side of the DMV's geography problem. Here is how its dogs actually fared, in the open.

≥ 96.5%dog live-release rate (2025)
✓ no-killabove the 90% benchmark, every year
31.6dogs taken in per 1,000 residents
14reporting shelters (11/13 complete)

The headline · 2025

≥ 96.5%

live-release rate — of every dog whose outcome was decided, ≥ 96.5% 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% 97.497.396.696.896.5 20212022202320242025

Where the dogs went · 2025

4,798 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.

4,798 outcomes decided 4,628 left alive  ·  170 did not
4,628 left alive  ·  live-release rate ≥ 96.5% 170 did not 3857Adopted · 80%414357
3,857Adopted80%
414Returned to owner9%
357Transferred to rescue7%
83Euthanasia (undifferentiated) — merged total — owner-requested can't be separated, so the rate is a floor2%
86Died in care — a medical signal, not a choice2%
1Other outcome0.0%

Bar width is proportional to count, out of 4,798 decided outcomes. 96% left alive; this is a floor — Virginia merges owner-requested euthanasia into the total, so the true live-release rate is at least 96.5% and likely higher.

By shelter · every reporting year

14 reporting shelters

Each row links to the state source.

Bobbie's Pit Bull Rescue and Sanctuary, Inc.

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
2025870≥87.5%floorVDACS report
202426291≥93.5%floorVDACS report
202315202≥87.0%floorVDACS report
202242393≥92.9%floorVDACS report
202147472≥95.9%floorVDACS report

Bully Paws Pit Bull Patriots, Inc.

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
2021000—floorVDACS report

Compassion Animal REscue

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
20255105190≥98.3%floorVDACS report
20246906432≥99.1%floorVDACS report
20234634454≥97.4%floorVDACS report
20223293342≥97.4%floorVDACS report
20214433870≥96.5%floorVDACS report

Country Cats Rescue, Inc.

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

Fredericksburg SPCA

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
20253683566≥97.3%floorVDACS report
20244144435≥98.7%floorVDACS report
20234904835≥98.0%floorVDACS report
202261762714≥97.4%floorVDACS report
20214734048≥97.8%floorVDACS report

Lionhearts Incorporated

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
2025000—floorVDACS report
2024000—floorVDACS report
2023000—floorVDACS report
2022110≥100.0%floorVDACS report
2021000—floorVDACS report

Mutt Life Safe Haven inc.

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
20251433≥37.5%floorVDACS report

Old Dominion Humane Society

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
20251,3091,20210≥97.1%floorVDACS report
20241,1611,08012≥98.2%floorVDACS report
20238367645≥96.6%floorVDACS report
20221,0971,1075≥98.2%floorVDACS report
20211,4121,3668≥97.7%floorVDACS report

Petty Pawz Rescue

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
20252652633≥96.3%floorVDACS report
20242992685≥94.4%floorVDACS report
20231621550≥95.7%floorVDACS report

SFC Virginia Inc.

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
20251,3311,2317≥96.7%floorVDACS report
20241,2811,2057≥96.5%floorVDACS report
20231,1301,1277≥98.0%floorVDACS report
20221,0641,0543≥99.2%floorVDACS report
20211,0269412≥98.7%floorVDACS report

Spotsylvania County Animal Control and Public Animal Shelter

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
20251,0631,00552≥95.1%floorVDACS report
20241,2121,15160≥94.9%floorVDACS report
20231,1721,10456≥95.0%floorVDACS report
20221,06998045≥95.4%floorVDACS report
202197895431≥96.9%floorVDACS report

Sympathetic Animal Rescue Corp.

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
2025660≥100.0%floorVDACS report
2024541≥80.0%floorVDACS report
202312120≥100.0%floorVDACS report
2022110≥100.0%floorVDACS report
2021000—floorVDACS report

The Furever Project

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
202516182≥90.0%floorVDACS report
202424210≥100.0%floorVDACS report
202326211≥95.5%floorVDACS report
202230274≥81.8%floorVDACS report
202132402≥95.2%floorVDACS report

The Pet Assistance League of Virginia

YearDog intakeLive outcomesEuthanasiaLive-releaseBasisSource
202517180≥90.0%floorVDACS report
202441472≥90.4%floorVDACS report
202347360≥85.7%floorVDACS report
202284802≥90.9%floorVDACS report
20211191012≥91.0%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 source-side county. Spotsylvania County takes in 31.6 dogs per 1,000 residents — multiples of the metro rate — straining its shelters. That's the half of barkhood's thesis that needs help: under-resourced counties euthanize for lack of the adoption capacity metro counties have to spare. 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 11/13: 11/13 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 (155,388).