This place is a scam!!
They are not rescue dogs, they buy them from backyard breeders. Then they sell them onto you at a higher fee.
The fee you are paying is NOT a donation, it’s to line their own pockets.
They do no checks when you adopt, from yourselves or from the place they BUY the dog
It is funny how they can find you any pedigree you require in a matter of days.
This does not happen in rescue places.
If you are expecting to adopt and not shop, do not go here!! You are shopping!!
SCAMMED! Thought I was donating $850 (adoption fee) for both of our recuses. Turns out I paid the FOR PROFIT store straight from the invoice they sent me. Which is where ALL of the adoption INVOICES come from. AN INVOICE IS NOT A DONATION! The non-profit money comes from social media when the owner literally begs for money and lies about where/how she gets the dogs. The steep adoption fees go straight to pocket!
Please see the LA Times expose about this organization misrepresenting itself as a "rescue" group: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-21/la-me-wagmor-dog-rescue
I've adopted 3 dogs from here and have had a wonderful experience. All of the paperwork was emailed to me with the shot schedule and the certificate to have the dog spayed, but I opted to stay close to home and I paid for my spay myself.
I was reading the other comments on this site and it's funny what things people will complain about. A rescue is not a shelter, rescues are more expensive because they rely on adoption fees and donations. Dogs also get sick, it happens all the time. Sometimes they need to be de-wormed 2 or even 3 times before all the worms are gone.
Ignore the bad comments and adopt/donate at be at ease.
DO NOT HELP THIS PLACE! MY FRIEND PURCHASED A DOG FROM Melissa. paid 850.00 he picks up the dog. it was sick. he paid the vet bill, he paid all shots, they never once told him when they are due and to go to their local vet, with that they never told him where to get his dog nurtured. all rescues make you sign a form with requirements, 1) all shots at their connecting vet 2) spay and nurturing. literally rescues are supposed to make sure the adopter completes all these items and this what the adoption fee covers, this place keeps all funds and makes you pay LITERALLY EVERYTHING OUT OF POCKET!!!! BEWARE!!!! BEWARE! SCAMMER! PUPPY MILL! THEY HAVE LAWSUITS AGAINST THEM! GOOGLE THEM!
I am disgusted with how this pet store operates. Nothing about this company is charitable. You pay for a sick dog - end of story.
They need to treat the dogs better , stop charging so much for dogs, and be honest with what is really going on at their "rescue". It is a for profit endeavor that goes right into Melissa Bacelar's pocket at the end of the day. They will get dogs from anywhere then not check their microship to see if their owner lost them. I lost my dog when my dad was passing away and they took her and sold her to someone. I feel devastated but I am glad they are getting a law suit against them now. This isn't a charity if they are keeping the dogs in this condition, not caring giving them love, walking them, or being honest with buyers but doing anything to get money from people who don't know any better.
I've worked in the veterinary field for 7 years now. Vets do not make a lot of money and they can't do free work because they go into more debt than doctors but do it to help animals. Veterinarians make the call on whether or not they can do surgery at the cost to their own family and living expenses. Vets go into the field so save animals lives but they need to be able to live just like anyone else. I just can't believe she would try and bash Vets who when to 4+ years of schooling and debt, into a really hard profession that has the highest rate of suicide, just so that her organization can make money.
I don't know where to begin. Wagmor purchases puppies off craigslist, then flips misrepresenting as "rescued". Puppies are much easier to adopt and with adoption fees from $850-$2000, one could understand what a lucrative business this is for Wagmor. To add insult to injury, any puppy under 6 mo of age, are placed in a home without a spay or neuter. This is beyond unacceptable, its criminal. Their charitable status is delinquent, they have two major lawsuits filed against them, one a class action. I could go on and on... but there is a website that published all validated evidence of fraud. Visit DogRescueScam.com
I was SO disappointed by this “rescue”. I spent 17 years running dog rescues and this place is like no other! In fact, I am not sure they really are a non-profit as you cannot find a form 990 on file with the IRS (and they took is over $100,000 in 2021 just from two TV show donations, not including all of their steep adoption fees and constant begging for donations).
If you want to meet any of the available dogs, they charge $10 per person to meet the dogs (what is this a petting zoo?)
They give frequent “donors” or Patrons first dibs at any puppies that come in. And they have a near constant stream of puppies coming in, usually in groups of 22 from Bakersfield (check their IG feed).
And while most rescues proudly show off their happy endings when a dog gets adopted, the only ones that get posted here are when a celebrity “adopts”.
Their adoption fees are also crazy considering how little they do for the dogs. They often turn over puppies for $850. I honestly have to wonder if they are acting as puppy brokers for breeders as I have never seen so many healthy puppies coming into rescue when the breeders could easily sell them on their own.
In 2021 they had taken in 22 adult dogs from a hoarding situation and there were 2 who I was interested in. They “adopted” the little dog they listed as a Pekingnese mix to me for $250 UNSPAYED! They claimed she was “too old” at age 8 which is middle aged at best, and ignored the law in CA (Under Sections 30503 (pertaining to dogs) and 31751.3 (pertaining to cats), rescue organizations MUST COMPLY. The language states: ..."no public animal control agency or shelter, society for the prevention of cruelty to animals shelter, humane society shelter, or rescue group shall sell or give away to a new owner any "cat" or "dog" that has not been spayed or neutered.".
At the facility they housed her and many of the other dogs, male and females, together in spite of all of them not being spayed or neutered. And she was in season at the time!! In the 3 weeks they had her she went from 10 lbs down to 7 lbs! She does not have any teeth or a bottom jaw and I do not believe they were making sure was able to get proper nutrition and was in worse shape than she was in at the hoarding facility.
They also did not tell me that she had a hernia and was deaf (I honestly don’t think they spent enough time with her to know), She had a bad UTI when I adopted her, but they did not give me her medicine, so she had to go 3 days without her medication and continue to suffer. And while they claimed she had been wormed, she had a HUGE tapeworm! (another reason why she was so thin).
I tried to get the other dog that was likely a relative as she also has no lower jaw adopted by spreading the word to the Pekingese community. They had her listed as a Pomeranian mix and I asked them multiple times to change that online as people could not find her. I also asked over and over what became of her and they refused to let me know what happened to her.
While I hate speaking ill of nonprofits that are truly trying their best to help the animals, I just don’t feel that Wagmore fits into that category. All I see them do is beg for money and bow down to “celebrities”. Please demand to see their 990s before donating to this organization.