On Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025, join NBC 7 and Telemundo 20 for the annual Clear The Shelters event. Head to San Diego County Humane Society’s campus on Gaines Street to meet the team and some adorable and adoptable pets.
Most shelter animals find their adoptive paw-rents within months of arriving at a local shelter. But for some hapless pets, years of their lives are spent waiting for their forever family.
In the last five years, the amount of time dogs — particularly large dogs — are staying in shelters before being adopted has increased, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which has exacerbated an overcrowding crisis at shelters across the country.
Why are some pets left at shelters longer than others?
A study published in 2021 in the National Library of Medicine looked at the characteristics of long-term shelter dogs in Austria and found that some of the longest-serving pets were older male dogs of a large size. They were neutered but were considered by adopters to be of a “dangerous breed.”…