Get in touch
We'd love to hear from you.
Questions about adoption, fostering, donations, or partnerships — send us a note and we'll respond within a few business days.
Who you're reaching, and how fast
Barks of Love Animal Rescue is run entirely by volunteers. There is no front desk and no call center — every message goes to a person who also fosters, drives transport, or sits in a veterinary waiting room on their own time. That means we read everything, but a reply may arrive in the evening rather than during business hours. Knowing which inbox handles your question is the fastest way to get a useful answer, so here is how requests are routed and what to expect.
Adoption questions
Ask about a specific dog's temperament, medical history, energy level, or whether they'd suit your household. Include the dog's name and a sentence about your home so a coordinator can answer properly instead of trading three emails. Typical reply: 1–2 business days.
Application status
If you have already submitted an adoption application, reference the animal's name and the date you applied. Reviews include a reference check and, for renters, landlord verification, so most decisions take 3–5 business days.
Fostering and volunteering
Tell us your city, your weekly availability, and whether you have other pets or young children at home. Foster onboarding includes a short call and a home walkthrough, usually within a week of your first message.
Donations and receipts
Missing acknowledgment letters, duplicate gifts, corporate matching paperwork, or questions about how a restricted gift was used. Receipts are reissued within 3 business days; matching-gift forms are countersigned the same week.
Media, schools, and partners
Interview requests, humane-education visits, shelter partnerships, vendor tables at community events, and clinic co-hosting. Please include your deadline or event date in the first message.
Owner surrender inquiries
We are a small foster-based rescue and intake depends on available foster space. Describe the animal's age, medical status, and your timeline honestly; if we cannot take the animal, we will point you toward partners who may be able to.
If an animal is in immediate danger
Please do not wait for an email reply. Our inbox is not monitored around the clock and a delay can cost an animal its life. For a hit-by-car, poisoning, heatstroke, bloat, difficult labor, or any collapse, go straight to the nearest emergency veterinary hospital. For a stray, a bite incident, or suspected cruelty or neglect, call your city or county animal services agency — in Orange County that is OC Animal Care, and Los Angeles County residents should contact LA County Animal Care and Control. Once the animal is safe and stable, contact us and we will help with next steps, including foster placement and funding assistance where we are able.
Where we work
Our mailing address is a post office box in Fullerton because we do not operate a shelter facility. Every animal in our care lives in a private foster home, which is better for them and lets us direct donations toward veterinary care rather than kennel overhead. Adoption meet-and-greets happen at scheduled adoption events, at partner veterinary clinics, or — once an application is approved — at the foster home or the adopter's home. We serve adopters across Orange County, Los Angeles County, and the Inland Empire, and we place animals outside that radius only when we can arrange a safe, volunteer-driven transport and a reliable home check.
Physical mail, including checks, grant correspondence, and legal notices, should go to PO Box 4156, Fullerton, CA 92834. Please do not mail perishable donations. If you would like to drop off supplies such as unopened food, crates, blankets, leashes, or cleaning products, email us first and we will arrange a handoff point close to you rather than have you drive to a box.
Before you write
Many questions already have detailed answers on this site, and checking first usually gets you an answer in seconds instead of days. Our FAQ covers adoption fees and what they include, the full application and approval process, our lifetime return policy, foster expenses and who pays for veterinary care, and how our finances break down. Individual dog profiles list age, weight, medical status, and how each animal does with children, cats, and other dogs. Our news and updates section publishes dated rescue reports, clinic recaps, and impact numbers so you can see exactly what your support funded and when.
When you do write, a few specifics help enormously: the animal's name if your question is about a particular dog, your city, and whether you rent or own. Applications move faster when references answer their phones, so let your veterinarian and landlord know we may call. And if you have written once and not heard back within five business days, please write again — occasionally a message lands in a spam folder, and we would much rather answer twice than miss you entirely.