I live in a part of the country that imports shelter dogs from other places because our municipal shelters have so few (and almost all of the few they do have are pitbulls). We are fortunate to live near a large nonprofit animal welfare organization though, and they run a huge network to move unwanted dogs primarily from the South to rescues in the Northeast. They do charge about $500 for puppies adopted from them. It’s less for older dogs, and they frequently have discounted adoption days to make space for new animals. They do all the initial shots and the spay or neuter along with treating other major medical issues they know about. We once fostered a dog for them that they were treating for heartworm.
They just want their animals in good homes, so it’s not a hassle at all to adopt there. The application is very simple, they don’t do home visits, and you cannot apply in advance. We’ve gotten all our current pets there, and I’ve been glad to support them.
It really depends on how you interacted with Reddit. A lot of my engagement was with smaller subreddits that sometimes had user bases that weren’t necessarily the most tech savvy. I’m not sure how long it took some of the older people on r/quilting to find it, but I’m sure it will take them longer to find the Lemmy version.