My girlfriend and I adopted our second dog from Heartland. Heartland regularly holds adoption events at the local PetsMart and we met a dog we really fell in love with there. The volunteers were more than happy to tell us all about the dog we were interested in. The foster parent for the dog told us all about him. They had a brief, conversational interview with us and had us fill out an application to make sure we were a suitable family for the dog we wanted to adopt.
One thing that really impresses me about Heartland is the effort they make to ensure that the animal up for adoption is going to a good home. They want it to go somewhere not just where it is loved, but also somewhere where it will fit in with other family members, pets, kids, where it has a nice yard to run in (if it's a dog that needs that), and with a family they know can properly take care of it. Their goal is to find the animals a quality forever home and prevent these animals from ending up back at a shelter, which happens all too often when the animals aren't properly matched up with a family.
Another thing that impressed me about Heartland is how dedicated the volunteers are to the animals in their care. The foster parent of our dog regularly checked in with us after our adoption to make sure everything was going well and the dog was acclimating well into our home. Shortly after we adopted our dog from Heartland, he got loose in our neighborhood. He was a very skittish dog at first and ran away from everyone. We called one of the volunteers to tell them and within a half hour there were over 15 Heartland volunteers on foot and in car searching the neighborhood for our lost dog. They helped us search for well over 8 hours that day before we called it a night around 11:00 pm. They were planning to have volunteers back out searching the next day but luckily in the middle of the night our dog came back. I can't explain how much it meant to us that all those volunteers were just willing to drop everything they were doing to help us look for our lost dog.
There are many animal adoption organizations in the area but what makes Hearltand a cut above the rest is the caring and dedication of their volunteers.
I am appalled by the unethical behavior and complete lack of integrity of the dog adoption coordinator at Heartland Small Animal Rescue.
After an egregious error, South Bend Animal Care and Control gave away the dog (“Mya”) upon which I had a pending adoption a mere hours before I was to adopt her. She was given to Heartland. I immediately called the adoption coordinator from Heartland (twice). She confirmed that they did have Mya. I told her that I would take Mya THAT DAY. I could meet her or whoever had Mya in less than an hour. She told me that she could not adopt out a dog until I had filled out an application and encouraged me to do so. I immediately did. She promised that she would give me a call on Monday. That call never came.
I called her again on Friday, October 10th in the afternoon. She did not return that call either. On Saturday, October 11th, I went to PetSmart in South Bend for the adoption event that Heartland holds weekly. I met her, who informed me that Mya had been adopted just last night. I asked why she never called me. These are the “reasons” she gave:
1. She was waiting to hear from South Bend Animal Control to see if they wanted the dog back. She never heard from them. Why then, I asked, did she allow Mya to be adopted by someone, if she was waiting for animal control? I never received an answer to this.
2. She said that my vet references did not check out, but it clearly said on my application that all of my dog’s vaccinations and heartworm preventative are from VIP PetCare clinic. Additionally, my vet has records of these vaccinations, and I have the receipts for them.
3. She said she had been busy. Interestingly, I had called her and left a message on Friday afternoon. Too busy to call me, but still able to take the foster family’s call just hours later.
South Bend Animal Care and Control attempted to retrieve the dog from the adoption coordinator, but she refused. Despite knowing that there was already a pending adoption and despite having an adopter immediately available, she decided to allow one of her friends to adopt the dog rather than even give me the courtesy of a callback.
I appreciate that the volunteers at Heartland are just that—volunteers. Ethically, the adoption coordinator should have called me at some point in this process. Instead, she was simply going to wait for me to give up.
By the power of sheer incompetence on the part of South Bend Animal Care and Control and an abhorrent lack of ethics on the part of Heartland Small Animal Rescue, I am unable to adopt the dog that I fell in love with. My heart is broken, and I can only hope that this message will save others from the same pain and frustration. Adopt from a reputable shelter.
Review from Guidestar