Last Day for Free Dog Adoptions as MSPCA Shelters Run 19% Behind

Sunday, Oct. 25, is the final day of “Love is Fee-Waived,” a three-day push by MSPCA-Angell and five Massachusetts shelter partners to waive adoption fees for every dog one year and older, at a moment when dog adoptions across the organization are running about 19 percent behind last year and its shelters say they are full.

What is happening this weekend

The fee waiver runs Friday, Oct. 23, through Sunday, Oct. 25, according to an announcement from MSPCA-Angell and coverage by NBC Boston and Patch. It applies at MSPCA-Angell’s four adoption centers in Boston, Salem, Methuen and Centerville on Cape Cod, and at five partners in the Massachusetts Animal Shelter Support coalition: Boston Animal Control, the Lowell Humane Society, the Thomas J. O’Connor Animal Control & Adoption Center, the Worcester Animal Rescue League and the Berkshire Humane Society.

Hill’s Pet Nutrition is partly covering the waived fees. Hours vary from shelter to shelter, and MSPCA-Angell is directing would-be adopters to its fee-waived event page for details. Families planning a Sunday visit should check their chosen location’s hours before they get in the car.

The organizers have set a public target. MSPCA-Angell says it is trying to place at least 100 dogs over the weekend, and that more than 60 dogs are available at its own four shelters alone, before counting the partner locations.

A reality-TV assist

To draw attention to the drive, ten cast members from the Boston-based eleventh season of Netflix’s Love Is Blind visited MSPCA-Angell’s Boston Adoption Center on Tuesday, Oct. 20, to meet dogs that would be part of the event. That visit is where the campaign’s name comes from. NBC Boston reported that the cast members spent time with adoptable dogs, and MSPCA-Angell project manager Jamie Garabedian told the station the shelter has “a pup for everyone.”

Celebrity visits are a familiar shelter marketing tool, and the reason is practical: an adoption event only works if people show up, and a weekend of free adoptions is wasted if potential adopters never hear about it.

Why the shelters are asking for help

The confirmed numbers explain the urgency. MSPCA-Angell says dog adoptions are down roughly 19 percent compared with the same stretch of 2025, while the number of dogs needing homes has not fallen to match, according to Patch’s account of the announcement. The result is shelters operating at capacity. Patch also reported that space has been stretched further by dogs affected by Hurricane Isaias.

This is the second fee-waived dog drive by the same coalition this fall. In early October, MSPCA-Angell extended an earlier event focused on dogs of 40 pounds or more after a late-September nor’easter washed out the original weekend. Patch reported at the time that 56 dogs had been adopted across 10 participating shelters against a goal of 100. Garabedian said then that the storm likely kept people who were considering adoption from coming in.

That earlier drive also highlighted a structural problem that this weekend’s event does not solve on its own. Larger dogs often wait longer because many rental leases restrict breed and size, a barrier MSPCA-Angell is trying to address through its Action for Pet-Inclusive Housing initiative. For renters in Greater Boston, the lease is frequently the deciding factor, not the fee.

What a waived fee does and does not mean

A waived fee is not a lower-quality adoption. In October, Garabedian told Patch that adoption fees normally help pay for behavior work with staff, spaying or neutering, vaccines and advanced care such as dental work. Those services are delivered either way; this weekend, a sponsor and the shelters are absorbing more of the cost.

What does not change is the screening. Shelters still match dogs to households, and the usual conversation about schedules, other pets, children and housing still applies. A free adoption fee removes a financial barrier; it does not remove the responsibility.

The fee is also only the first expense. Food, a crate, a collar and ID tag, a leash, licensing with your city or town, routine veterinary visits and possibly training classes all follow. Families who have budgeted for the first year will find the weekend more useful than those who are deciding on impulse.

The Boston Made Pets Take

Boston Made Pets views this weekend as a good opportunity for the right household and a poor reason for the wrong one. The 19 percent drop in adoptions is a real signal: Massachusetts shelters are holding more dogs for longer, and every dog that leaves this weekend frees a kennel for the next one coming in.

The publication also notes that the coalition is now on its second fee-waived drive in roughly a month. Repeated free events can help, but they work best alongside the less visible fixes, chiefly pet-inclusive rental housing. A family that wants a 70-pound dog and cannot get landlord approval will not be moved by a $0 fee.

The most useful thing a dog-curious reader can do today is be honest about fit. Adult dogs, the focus of this event, often arrive with a known personality, which is an advantage for first-time owners. The best outcome of the weekend is not 100 adoptions; it is 100 adoptions that stick.

What it means for you

• If you have been planning to adopt, Sunday, Oct. 25, is the last day of the fee waiver. Check your chosen shelter’s hours first, because they vary by location.
• Bring the basics: photo ID, your landlord’s written pet policy if you rent, and a sense of your weekday schedule. Shelters will ask.
• If you already have a dog, ask whether the shelter offers a meet-and-greet between your current dog and a potential new one before you commit.
• Budget for the first year, including food, a crate, licensing, a vet checkup and training, before you say yes.
• If adoption is not right for you now, fostering or sharing a shelter’s adoptable-dog posts are low-cost ways to help capacity.