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DARESS is a NO-KILL Animal Shelter who offers all our animal residents the opportunity to have a happy, healthy long life with a loving human companion or family thru our qualified adoption process. All animal's shot's are up to date and rabies vacinated by a qualified veternarian.

DARESS offers training services for you and your dog. Whether it's just basic obedience, competition obedience to specialized tasks, we can click you in the right direction.

DARESS can provide grooming services. Terriers, Poodles and Cockers a specialty.

DARESS Animal Control Manager Mariah, has successfully trained, instructed, and competed in AKC licensed obedience, conformation shows and grooming competitions for over 20 years. Additionally, she has been active in training assistance dogs for the past 10 years.

We decided to included our love for the Retrievers, and have opened our doors to take in special dogs in the hopes to help our women in need, but to also extend our helping hand to include those with special needs.

When we adopt a retriever, the world opens to many new pawabilities!

Not only can that dog become a special friend to one of our ladies here, but it can also be trained to assist someone with a disability. We provide training for not only the dogs, but for anyone who chooses to learn the methods we use. We have also extended our vast knowledge to include grooming, so that those who wish, can walk out with a viable profession.

The newest method of dog training, Clicker Training, is used as it teaches dogs quickly and effectively, while helping them to maintain an excellent attitude. Clicker Training is based on positive behavioral training techniques. It's easy for owners to use, and you will be thrilled with the results! The art of Clicker Training can be used in every aspect on one's life.

The work of DARESS is supported entirely by the donations of our members. Through the generous hearts and hands of people like you, we can ensure that animals who come into the care of DARESS will never again be alone, hungry, sick, afraid or in pain. We invite you to in helping to bring about the time when there will be no more homeless pets.

DARESS works with rescue organizations across the country, so that we can take in the homeless pets who are at greatest risk - abused, abandoned and special needs animals who are often "unadoptable" in shelters due to advanced age, behavioral troubles, illness or injury.

Many of these once-sad faces will need just a few weeks of DARESS care before they're ready to be placed in good new homes. Others, who are older or sicker, or who have suffered extra trauma, find a home and a haven here, and are given loving care for the rest of their lives.

DARESS does accept pets from the general public. Whether you need help with a pet who is already part of your family, or you've just rescued a homeless animal, you'll find resources herento help you 24 hours a day.

DARESS has a staff of friendly Animal Help Specialists who can provide advice to help people solve their pet problems, from assistance with feral cats to foster pet resources for men and women serving in the military.

Most of our dogs and cats live in group housing, so they need to get along well with members of their own species. We do have some housing for animals who prefer to live alone, but these spaces don't become available very often - simply because it usually takes longer to find good homes for these dogs and cats.

Your membership status and/or donations are not - and never will be - a deciding factor in whether we are able to accept an animal. Your donations to DARESS go straight to work creating new futures for the orphan pets who are currently in our care. Donations also support the work of DARESS far and wide, including nationwide spay/neuter programs and more, so that we can bring about a day when there will be No More Homeless Pets - when every dog or cat who's ever born can be guaranteed a good life in a caring home. Back to top

At the sanctuary, animals live in housing that is determined not only by species, but also by the level of care that each orphan pet requires. And so it goes for every pet who comes to DARESS, from friendly dogs to feral cats, abused burros, traumatized parrots and more. It sounds a bit complicated, but it's necessary to make sure that every animal who comes into our care is given everything they need for a healthy and happy life. It's also why currently available space - in an appropriate area of the sanctuary for the animal we're considering - is the biggest determining factor in whether or not we can accept a homeless pet. Back to top

There is no waiting list for admission at DARESS, for the simple reason that the homeless animals we help typically don't have much time left. In other words, they are the abused, abandoned and special needs animals who are often "unadoptable" in other shelters and rescue organizations. Most have already waited a long time for a chance at a new life, and by not relying on a waiting list for admissions, DARESS can act quickly to help them.

Some of the "highest profile" animals we've ever worked with were the displaced dogs and cats from Hurricane Katrina. Working with rescue groups and volunteers, we rescued and transported more than 6,000 animals out of the region, but fewer than 20 actually came back to the sanctuary. This rescue had almost no profile in the media at all. We wish it had been reported everywhere to help people understand some of the horrors that face abused and abandoned animals.

Because there are more than 4 million animals still being killed in shelters every year ... and simply "housing" these millions of homeless pets won't solve the underlying problems they face. That's why DARESS is working across two main fronts to save this last group of pets as quickly as possible.

Primarily here at DARESS we make a lifetime commitment to every pet who comes into our care. That means each of the cats and other animals who are here on any given day receive whatever they need to stay happy and healthy. And for as long as they need - from good food and clean water (a critical consideration here in the South) ... proper medical care and exercise ... plenty of love from staff and volunteers, plus much more! So the size of our facilities will always reflect that level of care, which as you can see, goes far beyond housing.

The second way DARESS is working to save these homeless pets is by sharing the results of our work to heal troubled animals. We do this by developing model programs - including effective adoption programs ... low-cost spay/neuter clinics ... and groundbreaking new animal care standards for shelters and humane societies. From Los Angeles to New York, you'll find many of these programs already at work ... saving the lives of homeless pets far beyond the sanctuary.

So what's the bottom line? The DARESS approach - directly helping the homeless pets at greatest risk, while working to solve the underlying problems they face in shelters and on the streets - has consistently led to fewer and fewer animals being labeled as "unadoptable" each year. And it far exceeds what we could have achieved by accepting more and more pets.

Just twenty years ago, there were more than 17 million animals being killed in shelters. Today, as you now know, that number stands at about 4 million. And together with the support of our members, DARESS will continue to work toward a day when every dog or cat who's ever born can be guaranteed a good life in a loving home.