All three of the dogs in my house are rescues that would have been put down if we hadn't adopted them. I work with The Barking Lot in San Diego, and we routinely drive up to Orange County to rescue dogs that are going to be out down. To be clear, there's nothing wrong with these dogs, they just didn't get adopted "in time." There are rescue organizations all over the US, and while you will have to jump through some hoops and pay an adoption fee, that is simply because we absolutely don't want these dogs ending up in puppy mills or fighting rings.