SILICON VALLEY PET PROJECT

tl;dr, I don't think I've ever dealt with a more difficult human being in my life. She treated us like crap through nearly the entire process. I warn you to turn away from this place, in case you have to deal with this individual.

I won't post her name here, to respect the community guidelines, but her job title was Foster Coordinator.

I can't necessarily speak to the integrity, personality, or traits of every individual associated with this agency, and it takes someone with a big heart and a determined will, to do what they do.

We volunteered our time, our home, our resources, to help out an adorable rescue dog in need, and were met with animosity by the coordinator. I simply don't understand how you can treat others this way, especially those who are committing to help you with your cause.

We got to take care of a dog which became the joy of our life, but dealing with her simultaneously made it the most stressful and anxiety driven period as well.

Here's everything I can remember:

- Have you ever met someone who takes the least charitable version of whatever you say? No matter what, you're the villain, and you're always at fault: When I offer to pay for a less invasive procedure, to decrease his recovery time: "I see, you're trying to make it easier for yourself to take care of him." How is that your first inference of someone's intent when they're trying to do the right thing? Many examples.

- Tells us they don't have the resources to pay for every procedure of incident, but when we offer to pay ourselves, refuses to let us pay for his welfare as well, citing some policy. Why exactly couldn't they take what could be considered a donation for him?

- Personal attacks on your person: After a very difficult period in her life, my wife was excited to start her new job. The week she got it, she tells her (paraphrasing) 'You are poor at communicating. You will not do well when communicating with others, at your job or whatever else".

- Completely unable to sympathize when you have something going on in your life, has no respect for your time at all: I tell her "My wife's not available right now, she has a prior commitment, she'll be free to talk in about an hour". This was unacceptable. So we foster or adopt a dog, and suddenly every other commitment in our lives is now inconsequential?

- Makes up rules on the spot: The dog was doing great after about 3 weeks. We had no issues for a while, so we didn't check in. When there was a hiccup, pointed to our recent lack of checking up. When was this communicated that we were bound to update her every week?

- Gives you little to no credit for all that you've done. When we got the dog, he was in constant pain and his anxiety was at a constant 10. My wife sat with him for hours at night, making sure he was ok. We gave him all the attention and love in the world, to make sure he could heal, took him to all his appointments. He was a changed dog within 3 weeks, no longer howling and no longer dealing with extreme anxiety, he was 95% healthy. Despite all this, we were not suited to take care of him.

- Dangerous for the dog's health:This dog like many had serious allergies, and had a habit of rubbing a specific part of his body to scratch, to the point of developing a rash. It wasn't considered a priority to take him to the vet, so we got him a piece of clothing to allow him to heal. It worked well, but apparently it would have been better to let him keep hurting himself, so the vet could see what the problem was. Contradictions abound.

- You don't hold a conversation with her, you get talked to. It's a one way radio blast, not a 2 way street. In one typical accusatory 20 min phone call, I spoke about 4 sentences, at least 2 of which were questions. She talked the rest of the time, like a freight train, completely based on faulty assumptions, which if you correct, you get admonished for 'interrupting'.

- Comes up with bizarre scenarios and reasons for things, such as him scratching himself could be a "problem him in T4". I don't remember her having a medical/vet degree, or him being examined for any such thing.

I attended an event called "Pints for Pups" in May 2017 that a friend invited me to. This was an event that benefited two dog rescues, Thulani Program and Silicon Valley Pet Project. When I arrived at the event I wanted to meet the dogs and say hello so I walked into the area where the dogs were. When I first walked in, I was drawn to the senior German Shepherd dogs with the Thulani Program, but I was blocked by Silicon Valley Pet Project's staff and literally directed to their side. They did have very cute dogs, but not dogs that I was drawn to. I want to support organizations, like the Thulani Program, that do truly good work like saving senior dogs. The staff at Silicon Valley Pet Project were so pushy with me wanting me to go to their side that I had to say "no thank you" and go around them to see the senior dogs. I would have gone over to say hello to Silicon Valley Pet Project's dogs, but this pushy experience made me not want to have a thing to do with them. When I reached the dogs at Thulani Program, the poor staff were apologetic and I could tell it was painful for them to have another rescue act this way towards them.

Silicon Valley Pet Project needs to get some manners and treat people kindly. I will never support this organization.

I am an award winning photographer and I have been a photographer by trade for almost 30 years. I volunteered my time to take photographs of Silicon Valley Pet Project's dogs and cats. I did one photography session and then organization went quiet. I received no feedback or thanks for your time. Even if they did not like the photos, they should have been professional and responded in some manner. They claim on their website to treat people with kindness and respect, but they do not.

I suggest not working with this organization unless you like to be treated unprofessionally.

I was a foster parent for a beautiful girl for several months for Silicon Valley Pet Project. She required medical treatment and training. I appreciated Silicon Valley Pet Project making sure my foster dog was in great health and set her up for training. I made myself available for whatever would help my foster dog get adopted by taking her to medical appointments, taking her to training class, working on training homework, participating in adoption events, etc. I had a wonderful foster coordinator who made herself available at all hours to answer any questions I had. It was nice to feel 100% supported and appreciated. My foster girl was adopted by the perfect family and I was so happy to be part of her journey.

Fast forward several months after her adoption, I was approached by the President of Silicon Valley Pet Project to foster another dog for them. I am always happy to help, but had already offered to foster a different dog for a different rescue and I was waiting on confirmation before I could commit to Silicon Valley Pet Project's foster request. The President responded by notifying me that Silicon Valley Pet Project would not sponsor the rescue of the other dog and asked me again to foster their dog for them. I found the President's approach to be off-putting. I did not ask Silicon Valley Pet Project to sponsor any dog. The President initiated contact with me and I had committed myself elsewhere prior to her contacting me.

I felt uncomfortable when the President mentioned the training they paid for me to go to with my first foster dog as if I owed Silicon Valley Pet Project. The training class the President referred to was for my foster dog to work on some unwanted behaviors. It was not a training class for me to become an expert in dog training. I was not paid to foster for Silicon Valley Pet Project, but the President made me feel like I was her employee and had to follow her rules.

My experience with Silicon Valley Pet Project was a rewarding one because I had the pleasure of caring for a wonderful dog that was so deserving of a happy life. I am grateful to them for taking her into their rescue. However, I did not appreciate being made to feel like I was indebted to them and could only foster one of their dogs. My experience with the President of Silicon Valley Project motivated me to find other rescues to foster for and I will not be fostering again for this organization.

My experience with this rescue was filled with great sadness and confusion. I do not feel this is a good rescue and will never be involved with them again. I started fostering for this rescue and, at first, really enjoyed the experience. My first foster coordinator who happened to be one of the original board members was positive, passionate, and uplifting. However, the founding boarding members pushed her out with their bullying behavior and I was left in the hands of another foster coordinator. My experience with the new coordinator was awful. The rescue decided to euthanize the dog I had been fostering for alleging biting a child. I was saddened by some of the words the new foster coordinator used at a time of extreme sadness and the fact that I could not take my foster dog for one last walk in the dog park before he was euthanized at Humane Society Silicon Valley. When I expressed my emotions of this feeling wrong to my foster coordinator, I heard some harsh words. I was told that my foster dog is lucky that he didn't have him beat up after biting someone's kid and that just because he has not bitten me yet it doesn't mean he won't turn on me (I fostered him for many many months and never witnessed any biting). I was also told he could not be trusted at the dog park around others. She made him sound like a monster in his final moments in this world, which I know he is not.

This whole experience was hard to swallow and left me with an even sadder feeling in my heart. I understand difficult decisions need to be made, but this is an animal rescue organization that claims to strive for a positive and compassionate experience for its animals, volunteers, and fosters, no matter the circumstances, and I did not feel this that day.

I emailed the President of Silicon Valley Pet Project to discuss this experience and all she said to me in response was that is was a sad situation and that the foster coordinator was "an experienced animal welfare professional and is a very compassionate person."

I later asked Humane Society Silicon Valley about the new foster coordinator's background (because I was told she was a former employee) in dog behavior and I was told she did not do any behavior for them. I am a vet tech and my experience with Silicon Valley Pet Project has affected me in a way that I will never work with a rescue organization again.

Very innovative rescue organization, a rescue start-up if you will!