Happy Dance Dog Rescue

We are a small all-breed dog rescue group looking to have a large footprint. Started in 2018, we fully vetted and find homes for 30 - 40 dogs each year. To date, our fosters are only able to handle small dog breeds, so we take in a lot of Chihuahua, Dachshund and Terrier mixes. The majority of our dogs come from the streets of the Rio Grande Valley, where there is a huge roaming dog population. (Shelters in the DFW area are easily able to adopt out small dogs.)  As a result, we get needy dogs with a variety of medical and behavioral issues. The photo above shows just a few of the dogs we've adopted out in 2026 (with a little help from AI).

So far in 2026, we've taken in dogs with heartworms, seizures, deafness, blindness, rotten teeth, missing limbs, severe infections and other maladies. Additionally, we've taken in dogs who are so traumatized by life on the streets they need months of training and conditioning to start to trust people.

During Covid, we moved from in-person adoption events to online adoptions, posting on Petfinder and Adopt-a-Pet. As the online venues have been very effective for us (95% of our dogs are adopted within a few weeks), we have stuck with it. 

Our Needs

We have no paid employees and we are fortunate to have pet store partners (big shout out to Hollywood Feed!) that donate dog food to us. The incidental expenses are minor and are paid out of adoption fees: leashes/collars, potty pads, pill pockets, etc.  ALL donations go towards medical expenses. Our standard medical treatment includes spay/neuter, all shots, microchip, heartworm testing and heartworm medication--and we are even able to fund most of that out of our adoption fees. But because we get dogs from the streets--the dogs who need rescue the most--we incur a variety of other medical expenses. Just in the past month, we've rescued 4 of what we call $1,000 dogs--dogs who se needed medical treatment totals that amount. In the case of our current dogs, it has been due to heartworms, required dental work and severe ear infections. From time to time, as we are able, we also pay for basic vetting for deserving dog owners who can't afford it. Our current, and constant, need is for funds for medical treatment of our foster animals.