My Nonprofit Reviews

We found some puppies on Petfinder available through Critter Care Adoptions. We submitted the application the same day. We had a terrible time actually making contact with someone from the rescue. We were told the vet in charge would get in touch with us. She did text and ask how late she could call. I stayed up waiting and received no call. This continued for about a week before we finally got in touch and they set up an appointment for a "meet and greet." We had to bring our dog along, which was okay with us. We drove four hours round trip to meet these pups. Our big dog has never been around puppies, so we were curious to see how she would react. We thought she handled it very well. First, the meeting was in a vet hospital. Our dog does not enjoy going to the vet. So I'm sure the smells of the clinic made her uneasy. There were three puppies, the mother dog and three people from the rescue present for the meet and greet. Our dog mostly stepped around the puppies to get a drink of water, then went around the room to meet all the people and get some attention, then sniffed the puppies some more, etc. At one point, one of the pups stood on her hind legs and swatted our dog in the nose. Our dog bared her teeth and backed away. That's all she did. Her way of communicating, "Don't do that." I think that is normal behavior for a dog. We have had dogs for 25 years and adult dogs need to teach pups how to treat them. That 10 second interaction is apparently the reason we were declined to adopt from Critter Care. We were at the meet and greet for approximately one hour and the rest of the time went fine. I had a bad feeling before we even left that they were going to decline us. The vet was critical of the food we feed (Purina) and the flea and tick preventative we use. (My daughter raises money for animal shelters -- almost $8000 in the past four years -- by making homemade pet products and selling them. She make an all-natural flea and tick spray with essential oils. She even brought a bottle to share with Critter Care. The vet's only response was to point out that my daughter spelled "scent" wrong on the label. She's 12. We try to focus on the good she's doing rather than the spelling.)

As I said, we have had dogs for 25 years, adopted from two different shelters in the past, never given up a pet, provided vet records dating back over 14 years . . . and we were declined. So I'm not sure who is actually able to get approved.

My biggest disappointment is not even that they declined us. It's that they strung us along for so long. I had a feeling the day we met the pups they were going to say no. I wish they had just said it instead of stringing us along and making our three kids wait so anxiously to see if they were getting a new pup.

Fortunately, we have already applied to and been approved by another rescue group and we will be going to choose a dog that's a good fit for our family next weekend.

My best advice would be not to waste your time. It's unfortunate because a rescue group obviously has animals that need homes, but it's hard to meet their standards.