Blue Ridge Boxer Rescue

I am working in NC temporarily and came across a neglected white boxer. I have a white boxer who is the love of my life and I immediately felt the need to help this poor boy. He appeared to have been neglected for a long time, was living in a small fenced in area with very little human interaction. I knew I could not leave him in the situation he was in. After several phone calls and searches on facebook, I came across Blue Ridge Boxer Rescue. I sent an email and got an immediate response. The following day I met with one of the volunteers at the residence premises and assisted her in removing the boxer from the home. I texted her today and was told he was getting very badly needed medical attention at the vet and a foster home has been lined up for him when he is ready. I cannot emphasis enough how happy I was to come across this wonderful volunteer organization that was willing to drop every thing and help this sweet dog! I have made a donation tonight to help take care of some of the medical bills that they will have to pay for this dog. He was in bad shape , so I am sure his medical bills will be substantial. I am so thankful for Blue Ridge Boxer Rescue, they stepped up to the plate when I needed it the most! Thank you !!!!!

I was a volunteer for the organization and while in that role I was interested in adopting one of their dogs. I was approved and got the dog but the description of the dog's character was completely misguided. I discovered, in a few short days, that the foster had NEVER walked the dog so did not observe that the dog had a severe neurological disorder from a head injury inflicted prior to the dog coming into the rescue. Even the vet that the agency uses never noticed that the dog stepped on her own feet, drank 3 quarts of water per day. I was also told that the dog was crate trained (she was not) and that the dog was housebroken (she was not). I had to put the dog down within 1 month after, I discovered, the agency had paid over $3000 in vet bills, yet NO ONE caught the dog's severe issues. Sad.

In response to the lady that said she left several messages & her calls were never returned. We don't have a rescue center, all of our dogs are fostered in homes with families. We don't have a central phone number to call, so I am not sure who she was calling. Our adoption process is clearly stated on our website, as well as explained on our Facebook when folks ask questions. Personally, I have adopted 4 dogs from BRBR. The adoption process is not quick but it is thorough, as the rescue wants to be sure that each dog finds the right home. After adopting our first BRBR dog, we became interested in volunteering & have been doing so for 5 years now. I have acted in many capacities as a volunteer, from fostering, fundraising, transporting, doing home visits, processing applications & being an adoption coordinator. Are we perfect? No, we are always looking to improve. We are human. We are all volunteers, all of our volunteers have families, their own dogs, most of us multiple dogs, 99% have full time jobs. We are doing the best we can. We can always use more volunteers & more foster homes. I have been VERY blessed with the dogs I have adopted. Have my dogs been work? Yes, they all came from different situations. But if they were perfect, then whoever had them to begin with, would not have thrown them away. Rescue is not perfect, nor is it easy. However, I am VERY proud to say I am a volunteer with Blue Ridge Boxer Rescue.

I was all set to visit brbr and start the ball rolling on adopting my son his first dog. I have called several times to ask some questions as this is my first time going thru a rescue center. After leaving numerous messages and getting no response from them at all I decided to look for reviews on the organization. After seeing the reviews I am so glad I didn't tell my son ( I wanted to surprise him with the visit ) . Thanks for not returning my calls and making me wonder why reading the reviews opened my eyes ..... I will be searching for another rescue center.

My husband and I have adopted 3 boxers from BRBR since 2008 and all 3 have been wonderful!! Everyone we dealt with at BRBR was professional and very helpful. I wouldn't hesitate to adopt another dog from this group. They do wonderful work rescuing these precious animals and trying to match them to the perfect forever home. We donate to them several times each year in the hope that we can help in some small way. Keep up the good work BRBR! Thanks to you we've had 3 cherished angels in our family who will remain in our hearts forever.

When we submitted our adoption application, I noted that we were interested in a particular dog. Our application was approved so we had a home visit, which was also approved. I was later emailed by a coordinator, and she told me the dog I wanted had already been adopted. I told her that she must be mistaken because I had been watching their website and the dog is still listed as available. She then told me that the dog was still available but another family was interested in the dog and besides she and another coordinator did not feel like we were a good fit for this particular dog. She then offered two other dogs. A female and a male. This made absolutely no sense because I specifically stated that we could not take a male because we already have a male and he does not get along with other males.
We were good enough for the dog(s) they wanted us to have but not good enough for the dog we wanted. Keep in mind, that these two coordinators never met us; all they knew about us is what they read from our application.
It is unfortunate for these sweet babies, but I would not recommend anybody waste their time with these people.
My dogs are well taken care of, spoiled rotten, and showered with love.
All of this took place in December 2015, and it is now March 2016, and the dog we wanted has just been listed as "adoption pending" which, to me, confirms that she was still available when we wanted her. I just hope she was placed with someone who will love and care for her as much as I know we would have.

This is a misguided organization. The adoption "contract" they want you to sign is not even a contract and not enforceable in any court of law. You cannot adopt out and then retain superior title and hold the adoptive family responsible for all financial--that is called fostering but having the foster family pay for it. The manner in which they run their adoptive organization really deters smart, good dog owners from adopting because no one in their educated right mind would sign this so called contract. I feel sorry for the dogs because then they are not placed in the best situations. I was also told that they will chase you down if they do not get updates from you. That is called harassment. They misuse their resources. It is no wonder they are always in the red. All of it is unethical and not legal. It is a sham.

This company needs to be shut down. It is unfortunate because it is a great cause, but they are extremely unprofessional. PLEASE DO NOT ADOPT THROUGH THIS COMPANY! If i could give no stars, I would.

Six months ago, we adopted a 75 pound 10 month old puppy from BRBR. We were told he was our "perfect match". I have never been a dog owner before, I only weigh 140, and my husband travels every weekend Thursday-Sunday. We live in a small apartment with no yard or doggy door and we have a small dirt dog park across the way. Our coordinator seemed over-eager to give us this puppy. The same day of our home visit, which was a Sunday, we adopted the dog. Our paperwork had not been processed, and technically we had not been approved. My husband and I thought we got lucky, but I'm pretty positive they just wanted to get rid of this dog. We were not offered a trial period, like many other families were. Our puppy chewed up three down comforters, a Savafieh bedroom bench, picture frames, sunglasses, clothing, even vitamins and other things that are extremely unhealthy. No matter, I love this dog. He is a cutie and so sweet. He follows orders and is completely off-leash trained. He listens to me and is perfectly house-trained. My husband and I agreed we were not the right family for our guy five months after adoption (even though I knew it from the beginning). we have been trying for three weeks to return him, but we are being poorly treated. My guy doesn't know his own size or strength and I am not strong enough to handle him. We need him gone, but they claim to have no available foster homes. To top it all off, our coordinator came to take him on a home visit a few days ago and brought him back saying he was trying to bite, he was growling, and he is "unadoptable". We spent a lot of money to give him the best possible training, two weeks of one-on-one. I know he has NEVER been "mouthy", and I have never heard him growl in the six now months I have had him. I am offended and seriously livid. For the sake of space and time, I will not get into details, but I will post my whole story eventually and come back and post a link. I truly feel this company should be shut down and I am not stopping here. I am passionate enough about this to go to BBB, write a blog, many more reviews, and actively pursue this.

We are experienced dog owners and were very specific in requesting a SUBMISSIVE male dog good with other dogs. Things went well when we drove to another state to pick up the dog BRBR recommended for our family, and we brought our new dog home. within a few days there had been several fights between our current dog and our new dog. We were encouraged to continue, and assured it would work itself out. I wrote all the required updates advising the rescue staff of our inability to leave the dogs in the house together, the dominance issues, and trips to the emergency vet. None of my requests for help were addressed, nor did we receive any of the promised support. It has been over a year and the dogs continue to fight. It breaks my heart that the boxer we adopted and love is now back on their site for adoption because he isn't safe in our home. We have agreed to keep him here while waiting for a new family. I couldnt help but notice they are asking $250 for his adoption and requesting people sponsor him. Outrageous! He lives with us and we pay for everything. What a sham. They weren't honest about his behavior. They weren't honest about the support they offered. And they clearly aren't being honest about where the money is going. Shame on them.

I moved to NC a few years ago and began to look for a group to volunteer for. I had been involved in dog rescue in New England for several years. Blue Ridge Boxer Rescue is an organization of the highest quality. They care for all their rescues as if they were their personal dogs. The foster family provides food and flea treatment. The rescue for provide heart worm treatment and all other medical care. The volunteers work tirelessly to raise funds for these poor unfortunate dogs who through no fault of their own have had a tough life. The rescue also screens prospective adopters very throughly. After all the dogs have had more than their share of questionable care. This rescue is of the highest caliber.

I adopted my boxer from Blue ridge. They did an excellent job matching me up to my dog. I was very impressed as its a volunteer based organization only.

Never ceases to amaze me how bad this organization is.

Don't foster or volunteer for them unless you have very deep pockets - because you'll probably never really get reimbursed for those medical expenses they made you pay for for your foster. And you really will need to have a lot of excess money with everything this group expects their fosters to pay for. Monthly flea meds, a new collar and leash to go with them when they are adopted. Medications they don't stock (sometimes you'll get your money back, but don't count on it).

They continually take in dogs when they can't even fully vet the dogs they have in their program. They'll have a dog that needs special surgery but they can't pay for it - but will still continue to take in other dogs. Shouldn't your priority be the dogs you already rescued? And I use the word "rescue" lightly.

They browbeat their volunteers and heap guilt upon them if a dog the coordinators want to pull can't be pulled because "no one stepped up". It's not a matter of stepping up, it's a matter of some foster homes actually knowing their limitations and knowing that they need to be able to care for the dogs they already foster and not take on any more.

What a TERRIBLE ORGANIZATION. I mean, I understand the frustration, but this is how one of the board members and coordinators talks to people/volunteers on their google groups form for all volunteers and foster homes. VERY SAD.

Written by Sonya, coordinator:
I feel like this rescue is crumbling out from underneath me!
If you can foster either of these 2 dogs please email me privately. I really need to find somewhere for them to go by Thursday.
I leave Friday & you guys, I REALLY cannot do rescue while I am away. I simply cannot. So many people seem to throw their husbands in my face, so I just want to say for mine that he puts up with more than I can even explain or that most of you understand & I refuse to let rescue ruin our 1st vacation in 5 years. I am sorry to sound harsh, but I am stressed, overwhelmed & just a little pissed off right now. I hate feeling this way b/c it is not me, I feel like I am going to EXPLODE!!!!!!!

I had a HORRIBLE time with this agency. I said up front what I can and can't work with- NO aggression towards my other dog or cats. The dog I got was a sweet dog one on one, and he loved my dog, but he wanted to nom my cats, and that is UNACCEPTABLE. I had to play animal tetris to keep everyone away from each other. Then I couldnt walk him anymore, because while he liked my dog, he would bust off his collar to try to nom other dogs. I liked him, but I lived alone, and this was beyond my abilities at that time. When I told them after a week he was too aggressive for me and he needed to be moved, it took a week to move him, and they acted like I was irresponsible for requesting a new placement. I was treated pretty poorly for having boundaries and "not giving it enough time" though I was upfront from the beginning. In the meantime, he had horrible worms, I told them that up front, I asked for the funds for medical care, the medical director at that time left for a week to Italy, no one wanted me to take him to the vet until they could get a "good vet deal" it took so long for them to approve him, I then had to treat my own praphylactically treat my own dog, which cost me out of my own pocket, though she had just had her annual checks.

We adoped a boxer from this rescue center in January. We told them we needed a dog that was house broken, crate trained, and good with small children. What we got was a dog that was very loveable but not crate trained, not house broken, and above all NOT good with small children. This dog ripped up $500 of berber carpet, stained about $1500 worth of regular carpet, and above all BIT our 4 year old daughter 3 times! When we contacted them they said that it was due to the dog not getting enough exercise. That is complete crap! The dog we had was the most lazy dog you have ever met... all she wanted to do was sleep.... we tried playing with her, walking her, running with her, etc and she would just sit there and look at you. They told us that we needed to work with a trainer... the trainer called us one time and left a message, when we called her back she never returned our call. We were finally able to get someone to come and get the dog from us due to the fact that we could not trust it around our child. When the volunteers showed up to pick her up, they did not know her name, did not know why she was being picked up, and treated us like we were the ones at fault. NOT one person contacted the "director" to let her know what was going on with the dog they placed with our family. Now I can not get one person from the organization to contact me.

Will the madness ever stop? This rescue takes in a very sick pup - that is awesome, that is why there are rescues around. However, they then put him in a foster home that can't afford to feed him the quality food he requires and instead of paying for the special food (most rescues would), they browbeat their existing volunteers into donating money to buy the food. Their existing fosters already spend so much money every month on things like food, treats, flea meds (because this rescue doesn't provide it), and even having to buy a new collar and leash when their foster gets adopted for the new adoptive home because it's required by Blue Ridge. And now they want their already overtaxed fosters to buy special food for a dog. The rescue should step up and buy it.

Also, this rescue does not microchip all of their dogs. But yet they have lots of dogs get lost. Microchip the dogs. It's not that expensive. And don't say it's a money thing. There are some things you do because it's the right thing to do.