Find the Top-Searched Dogs in Your State with Adopt a Petrics

Your new best buddy is waiting for you to adopt them.

January 1, 1970

As a prospective pet adopter or current pet parent, do you ever wish you had all the information about local shelter animals you ever needed in one place?

For Adopt a Shelter Dog Month in October, Adopt a Pet, North America’s largest pet adoption site, and Zoetis have launched Adopt a Petrics: an annual data report and campaign that allows you to access information on the most-searched and most-available dog breeds in the United States, as well as info about their personalities. Using this data, you can find the exact dog you want to add to your family.

“At Zoetis, we believe every pet deserves a healthy start and a loving home. Our partnership with Adopt a Pet reflects our shared commitment to the human-animal bond and the transformative power of adoption,” says veterinarian Dr. Heather Berst, cross brands medical lead at Zoetis. “During Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, we celebrate the joy that adopted dogs bring into our lives and reaffirm our dedication to supporting pet parents with the tools and care they need to give their new companions the best life possible.”

Between July 2024 and June 2025, Adopt a Pet collected a year of search data and used the info to spot patterns in adoptions searches. They found that 43 percent of adopters searched for certain breeds because of their specific personalities; the traits people were most often looking for were “affectionate,” “playful,” and “adventurous.” Sounds like the perfect pup to us.

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They also narrowed down the most searched for breeds. If you’re dreaming of becoming a parent to a Chihuahua, you are not the only one: the loyal and sweet dog had the most searches in America in 2024, followed closely behind by Labrador Retrievers, Dachshunds, German Shepards, and American Pit Bull Terriers.

If you are not sure what kind of dog you would like, you can use the Adopt a Petrics interactive map to find breeds or mixes with the characteristics and personalities you have in mind. You can even set up New Pet alerts that tell you when a dog with your desired traits becomes available. Alerts can include a dog’s breed, age, and size.

When you find your dream dog, you can join the thousands of people who have adopted a shelter pup. In the last year alone, through partnerships with 18,525 organizations, Adopt a Pet, has added 1,590,438 adoptable pets to its site, and 161,720 of those have found homes.

As the world’s leading animal health company, Zoetis’s mission for 70 years has been to make a difference in the lives of animals all over the world. With this campaign, the two brands are forever changing the futures of adoptive families and their pets — for the better.

“We are grateful for our partnership with Zoetis for many reasons, especially in October as we raise awareness of shelter adoptions,” says Jeannine Taaffe, chief executive officer at Adopt a Pet. “Local shelters are cornerstones in many communities, and giving them added resources and visibility helps them continue to deliver health and wellbeing to pets looking for their families.”

At the link below, see the most available dogs in your state and sign up for a New Pet Alert to be notified when pups become available near you.

CTA button here (link provided by partnerships team within a week or so).

Hilary Weaver

Hilary Weaver is the senior editor at Kinship. She has previously been an editor at The Spruce Pets, ELLE, and New York Magazine. She was a staff writer at Vanity Fair from 2016 to 2019, and her work has been featured in Esquire, Refinery 29, BuzzFeed, Parade, and more. She lives in New York City and New England with her family, which includes two herding pups, Georgie and Charlie.