My Nonprofit Reviews
flutefreak195
Review for Operation Paws for Homes, N.Chesterfield, VA, USA
I had an absolutely awful experience working with Operation Paws for Homes (OPH). My family and I selected a dog after being approved by their agency, and we were mislead from the beginning. We were initially told that the dog was good with other dogs, children, and the only difficulty was some mild food aggression around other dogs.
After getting the dog we realized within 12 hours that the dog had separation anxiety, food aggression with people, and severe leash reactivity towards other dogs. We emailed the doggie daycare that he previously attended and were told they had asked him not to come back because he was showing signs of separation anxiety and leash reactivity. Meaning OPH already knew that he had these issues.
When the agency asked us how things were going on two different occasions we were honest with them and stated that we were struggling but trying to work with them through this. They told us that they would refer us to their training team, whom we didn't hear from for over a month and a half. The only reason we ever heard from their team was because we emailed them stating that after working with 2 trainers, using vet prescribed medications, and using any techniques we could find over the past 7 weeks the dog was still not able to be left home alone and the person staying home with him had to return to work the next week. We basically had no choice but to return him. Then their training team finally decided to emailed us and made 2 recommendations both of which we had already tried or looked into.
After much heart break and sadness we had to return the dog, whom at this point we very much had bonded with, to the agency so he could go to another foster home. Now that the dog is back up on the site it is obvious that the agency is hiding things from their clients as they have this dog marked as good with other dogs and there is nothing about the food aggression or separation anxiety.
I wouldn't adopt from this agency again if they paid me.
Andrew, OPH would like to first thank you for your candid review of our rescue and your experience with us. While we are saddened to receive bad reviews, it drives us to become better. We would like to apologize for the way in which your situation was handled. In addition, for the benefit of the public, we would like to include some additional information. First, please know that we are a volunteer driven organization and strive to do the very best we can. In this instance, we had several different volunteers emailing with you on several occasions to offer ideas and training tips. We do not have professional trainers in our organization who can offer free training and unlimited advice to adopters. We truly wish we did and are always working to recruit more training resources. It's something every rescue struggles with. That being said, we do recognize our shortcomings. In response to your situation, we have overhauled the way we handle the adoption of our Desi dogs. We have an appointed Desi Dog contact who talks to potential adopters to ensure that they understand all of the complexities of these dogs as they started their lives struggling to survive and scavenging for food on the streets of India. This makes for complicated needs and they can have long term issues. We provide written details about the horrors these dogs may have seen and ensure all of the information we usually explain verbally is also captured in emails for your reference later on. We hope the education and truth will lead to a productive dialogue as we expand everyone’s learning about these lucky few dogs who make it out. Our next step is to require that all adopters of Desi dogs enroll in professional training. As discussed throughout our adoption process, training is critical and necessary for dogs. The two week transition information that we provide to every adopter is the start. We will now go even further to spell things out with our Desi dog adopters. In addition, we will provide a list of trainers that we recommend, but suggest that they get recommendations from family, friends or their vet as well. Our hope is to be more direct with Desi dog adopters to ensure everyone understands their backgrounds and their needs going forward. We hope this helps the adopter and dog alike to get off on the right steps to success. Please know that we are deeply sorry that you feel we were not able to assist in your situation or that information was withheld. We are striving to make improvements everyday.
