The data is clear: Dallas consistently finds itself going to the dogs.
Animal Services department records for animals taken home from the city’s shelter goes back a little more than 20 years, covering more than 123,000 adoptions. According to a Dallas Morning News analysis of the city’s data, dogs top cats every year and make up nearly 72% of the total adoptions.
Amanda Earl, assistant director of operations for Dallas Animal Services, said the city’s shelter is among the top five in the country for municipal adoptions.
In addition to cats and dogs, cockatoos, hedgehogs, opossums, snakes, horses, raccoons, multiple breeds of rabbits, and even the odd pot-bellied pig show up in the data.
Determining which dog breeds have been most popular depends a little on the proper counting of chihuahuas.
Adoptions of mixed-breed dogs top the list, at 21% of 88,000-plus dog adoptions from public facilities going back to 2005, according to The News’ analysis. For records where the city identified a specific breed, pitbulls land first: 12% of city dog adoptions.
“They’re the highest number of animals that we have, period,” Earl said of pitbulls.
Labrador retrievers are next, at a little below 11%.
Here is where the chihuahuas come in. By themselves, short-haired chihuahuas rank third with about 10% of dog adoptions. Combining long-haired and short-haired chihuahuas, however, nudge them past those labs and into second place: just above 11% of all dog adoptions since 2005, according to The News’ analysis.
Which isn’t to say Dallas is a dog-only place. Adoptions of cats number in the tens of thousands during the past 20 years. And 2025 set a record for the proportion of cats among all adoptions: almost 38%.
“Cats are becoming more popular than in the past,” Earl said.
Landlords have fewer restrictions about cats, she said, and it’s cheaper to own a cat than a dog.
“The economy has a lot to do with it,” she said.
Among specific breeds, Siamese cats have made their way home the most, more than five times as often as Russian blues or Maine coons.
Adopted cats show a specific breed less frequently than their canine counterparts – only 3% of more than 30,000 cat adoptions have one listed.
As with dogs, adoptions of cats peak in summer months and can remain strong around Christmas. June is the only month in which cats comprise as much as a third of total adoptions.
The strongest five full years for adoption have all come since 2017. Even at a little more than halfway through 2026, this year would rank 14th in the past 22 years.
The five busiest individual days for all animal adoptions in the past couple decades have all come since the beginning of 2023, according to The News’ analysis. Dallas Animal Services communications manager Julie Silva wrote in an email that the agency has no way of correlating high-adoption days with specific promotions or events.
The city’s data does not include adoptions from other nonprofit or privately operated shelters. According to the city’s website, all pet adoptions from the city’s shelter are free and first-come, first-served, although it’s possible to place a hold via the website, including of an animal in foster care. Those looking to take home a pet must be at least 18 years old and show ID. Most animals leaving the city’s care will already be vaccinated, spayed or neutered and carry a microchip.
The city’s shelter is open every day of the week.
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