A mainstay Arlington restaurant is celebrating 25 years operating its dog and cat rescue shelter.
Lost Dog Cafe, the Westover-based pizza and sandwich spot, has helped more than 50,000 dogs and cats find homes since it launched the Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation in August 2001, co-founder Pam McAlwee told ARLnow.
Two facilities currently operate out of Fauquier County and 6801 Wilson Blvd in Falls Church. Though the foundation has grown and gained new tools over the years, it has always held fast to its mission of helping animals find a better life.
“This anniversary belongs to every person who has helped make our mission possible,” executive director Dawn Wallace said in a press release. “For 25 years, our volunteers, fosters, adopters, donors, staff members and community partners have stepped forward to give homeless pets the second chances they deserve.”
Though the rescue foundation launched in 2001, the story actually begins further back. McAlwee said she became interested in fostering animals after visiting a shelter in Stafford County sometime around the early ’90s.
McAlwee said she brought home three dogs that would have been euthanized otherwise.
“I remember I asked the girl working, ‘What does it mean if their tag is blank?'” McAlwee said. “She told me, ‘They’re getting euthanized today.’ I had a little two-seater truck, and so I sat in the back with three big dogs. That’s what kind of started the whole thing — these beautiful animals that didn’t have anything wrong with them except they were out of space.”
McAlwee was already operating Lost Dog Cafe with co-founder Ross Underwood at the time, and they soon began taking calls about animals as well as food.
“Before the internet, we would advertise dogs in The Washington Post that needed homes, and people would call the restaurant,” McAlwee said. “We’d be answering phone calls for pizzas, and then the next call could be, ‘I saw you have a dog for adoption.'”
The pair decided to formalize their work with dogs in 2001, opening up the Lost Dog Ranch on a 63-acre property in Sumerduck, Va. In 2004, they expanded their services to cats.
After taking in lost dogs or stray cats, the foundation helps get the animals spayed, neutered and vetted before bringing them to PetSmart stores in Tysons Corner, Falls Church, Sterling and other locations to be matched with owners.
“We take a lot of dogs from rural communities in Southwest Virginia, where if these dogs were in Arlington, Fairfax or Alexandria animal facilities, they would be adopted in a nanosecond,” McAlwee said. “But because these places are rural, they don’t have the traffic that we do here in Northern Virginia.”
In 2018, the rescue foundation opened its Rescue Care Center in Falls Church. That facility is now the “central hub” for the organization’s rescue efforts.
Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation is a registered 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization, and the majority of its revenue in 2025 came from “contributions and grants.” The organization also relies on over 5,000 volunteers to host adoption events every weekend, according to McAlwee.
With 25-year t-shirts and stickers on sale, McAlwee says the foundation is already working on a succession plan for when she retires. She says the shelter is what helps her get out of bed every morning and go to work.
“I just got a message from a woman who adopted a dog 16 and a half years ago,” McAlwee said. “She said, ‘I just want to thank you. This is my best friend.’ It’s things like that.”
