Visiting Territorio de Zaguates, the Land of Strays in Costa Rica

By 17 Comments

Territorio de Zaguates, or “Land of the Strays” in English is the world’s largest no kill dog shelter located up in the mountains of Heredia in Costa Rica.

The shelter is run by a Costa Rican-American couple who has taken in hundreds of street dogs to help them find homes and to also educate the Costa Rican citizens about the importance of castration, treating dogs as pets and how to take care of them.

Their shelter has grown immensely and is home to around 1000 dogs.

**This shelter is planning to open to the public once again sometime in 2025, May or June if all goes well. Check their Facebook page to stay updated.**

What Does Zaguate mean?

In Spanish, zaguate means street dog, stray dog or mutt. Sadly, Costa Rica has a huge problem with street dogs.

All the dogs in the shelter were either abandoned or were born street dogs. The shelter takes them in to nurse them back to health and put them up for adoption.

Unfortunately in Costa Rica, you will see stray dogs everywhere, especially in rural areas. Many locals still see dogs as just guard animals and tie them up all the time. Or they don’t believe in castration and let their dog roam the streets, which leads to a huge overpopulation of stray dogs.

Additionally, many locals think purebred dogs are better than mixed breeds so unfortunately, many street dogs are looked down upon as pets.

Territorio de Zaguates Open Walks

To find out when they will open again to the public, check the Territorio de Zaguates Facebook page.

How to get to Territorio de Zaguates

Territorio de Zaguates is one hour from San Jose. There is no bus there since it is in a local neighborhood up in the mountains.

Photos

Here are some photos of the walk we did at the shelter. It was pretty amazing to be surrounded by so many happy dogs!

Territorio de Zaguates running with dogs
Running with the dogs on the property.
Territorio de Zaguates dogs
What a beautiful pup!
Territorio de Zaguates
Around the middle of the walk, resting on the mountain
Territorio de Zaguates
Happy dogs
Territorio de Zaguates
Running and playing with the dogs
Territorio de Zaguates
Lucky guy!
Territorio de Zaguates
The staff running with the dogs
Territorio de Zaguates
Chilling with lots of doggies!
Territorio de Zaguates
The owner, Alvaro. He is the head of the pack and all the dogs listen to him.
Territorio de Zaguates

Territorio de Zaguates Donate/Adopt/Volunteer

Territorio de Zaguates is a US non-profit and you can donate via their Facebook page or their website.

If you’re interesting in adopting, you can message them for more information on how to do so. They also really need fosters. Some dogs they receive are in terrible shape and while they receive vet care, these dogs would heal much faster and better with personalized TLC.

Read about other fun things to do in Costa Rica below.

Day trips from San Jose

Things to do in Costa Rica

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17 responses

  1. Debbie

    If I do the Caravan vacation with guided tours for 10 day will I still see alot of starving skinny looking dogs?

    Reply
    1. Sammi

      I don’t know where the Caravan tour goes, but there are more of the bad condition street dogs in the more rural areas, not so much as the tourist towns. There are still street dogs in tourist towns but more tourists will feed them rather than the ones living in rural, non touristic towns 🙁

      Reply
  2. Susana Avila

    Hola, tienen perros en adopcion en este momento?

    Reply
    1. Sammi

      Hola, puede contactar el territorio directamente, siempre tienen perros en adopcion! Suerte!!

      Reply
  3. Donna Jacobs

    Hola – vamos a viajar a Tamarindo por un mes en febrero. Sabes si hay las excursions para ir a la “Land of the Strays”?

    Reply
    1. Sammi

      No, ellos no estan abiertos al publico, hasta mas tarde de este año

      Reply
  4. Kathleen Hecker

    My dog loving friend and I are staying near San Jose and really hoped for a visit or to volunteer for an afternoon. Pleas, please tell us that we can before we leave on 9/24/24. Your sanctuary is the main reason we came to CR. We want to adopt as well and of course donate. we sincerely hope to hear from you soon. I have some phone numbers for a Marcella

    Reply
    1. Sammi

      Hi Kathleen, I recommend to reach out to the Territorio directly. We don’t work with them or are affiliated with them.

      Reply
  5. leanda calvert

    Can you tell me what their Facebook page is called?

    Reply
    1. Sammi

      Same name: Territorio de Zaguates

      Reply
  6. kris

    I saw this on Saturday morning on Jack Hannah and he featured this place about 3 months ago. They said the dogs all get along and no issues rarely! Better than people getting along for sure!

    Reply
  7. myra mayfield

    Do they speak English over there because I’m bad a speaking Spanish.

    Reply
    1. Sammi

      The wife of the owner is American I believe so she speaks English. They have changed their website and Facebook page entirely to English and many of their volunteers speak English.

      Reply
  8. Stacey

    Does anyone know how to contact TZ in order to visit? I have read you should contact through facebook but have not received a reply.

    Reply
    1. Sammi

      They only do contact through Facebook, they have announced the rest of the public walks they’re doing for the rest of the year, you need to check their posts which is where they announce them.

      Reply
  9. northierthanthou

    Looks like a lot of fun. I wonder how well the dogs get along with each other.

    Reply
    1. Sammi

      Seems pretty good!

      Reply
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