Smiling Dog Rescue (SDR) began in January of 2007 when Rica was asked to help out a smiling pit bull set for euthanasia at a kill shelter in Southern Arizona. Being made aware of this one endangered and innocent life led to a greater awareness of a sad reality – the enormous number of pit bull and pit bull-type dogs who too often end their lives in high kill shelters – merely because of the way they look. Never looking back, SDR has since then rehabilitated and re-homed over 2400 unwanted, stray and abandoned pit bulls, bully type dogs, as well as many other types of dogs from all over southern Arizona.

We are committed to reducing the number of homeless, relinquished, abandoned and needlessly destroyed dogs both in Tucson and the rest of the country. This commitment has been directly dependent upon the great generosity of a system of foster homes as well as veterinary clinics, shelter workers, other rescues and volunteers who all work together with SDR to create a network that enables as many adoptable dogs on death row to be saved as possible. We strive to save as many adoptable dogs as possible – and statistically that means the majority of dogs in danger are pit bulls.

Dogs

We specialize in pit bulls and bully-type dogs, but all are welcome!

• Website
• Adoptable Pets listing websites
• YouTube videos
• Craigslist
• Professional photographer
• Social Media
• Adoption events

Occasionally we have Saturday events at the Petsmart on Grant and Swan from around 10:00-4:30. We also go to various annual Tucson events like Tucson Meet Yourself, the Arizona Animal Fair and Oktoberfest.