So you finally decided to open your heart and home to a new dog or cat, great!  There are many pet resources online where you can safely learn about, meet, and adopt your next animal companion.  One word of warning, you should be careful of classified ad sites that offer pets for sale as unfortunately many of the ads are scams.  Be safe and adopt your next companion from a respected rescue league or animal shelter. 

PetFinder
https://www.petfinder.com/
PetFinder is the most popular place to search locally or nationally for dogs and cats in foster care, rescue groups, and animal shelters.  There are so many great pets needing homes, Petfinder should be one of your first choices in locating the perfect pet for you.

PetHarbor
http://petharbor.com/
PetHarbor consists mostly of a national list of animal shelters with adoptable pets, as well as lost & found dogs and cats.  They work with animal shelters and animal control from various cities and counties.  If you ever find a stray pet this is also a place you can get help in finding its owner.

Visit Local Animal Shelters
Since not every shelter is listed on PetFinder or PetHarbor (and sometimes the ones that are don’t have the manpower to update their pet selection often) it’s important that you visit your local shelters.  You never know, your perfect companion may have just arrived and just hasn’t been photographed and put online yet.