My Nonprofit Reviews

I adopted a two year old, small breed dog from this organization in September of 2017. I did this via an adoption event that was held at local PetSmart, back when they were still doing business with ATR (they have since severed ties in light of numerous complaints and investigations of the "non-profit").

My son and I fell in love with the dog right away and so I asked about adoption. My first red flag came when the woman working the event picked the dog up by the collar. What I mean by this I mean, she bent over, looped a finger under his collar and lifted the 14 lbs. dog into the air. She didn't even do this quickly; she did it as though he was a piece of luggage, and the poor little thing was HUNG for a few moments. I reflexively gasped and reached out to support the dog's butt, but she pulled him away from me. My son and I were livid after seeing how she manhandled the poor animal.

Then I was told I could only pay the adoption fee in cash, which I thought was strange and a bit unprofessional. After withdrawing funds from an ATM I returned and was presented with ATR's bizarre contract. Again I was struck by how sketchy it all seemed, but I wanted to get the little dog away from staff that handle him so roughly. So I went through with it all and took my little boy home.

That night he had bad diarrhea all over the house. I cleaned him up and kept him warm, fed and gave him lots of love. I thought perhaps the watery stool and multiple accidents could be from stress, due to his being in a totally new environment with strangers. So I decided to just keep him comfortable and watch him through the night.

The next day there was more diarrhea all over my room and bed, but this time I noticed what I thought was a bit of blood in it. I was able to get him in to my regular veterinarian and a fecal exam revealed it was Giardia. They found that he also had worms, and that he was infested with fleas. In fact, we discovered tiny bloody sores on his throat and neck—which I had not noticed the previous day—from him scratching himself so frequently. Additionally, though I was provided paperwork from ATR that listed all the vaccines my dog had received prior to my adopting him (all of which would expire in October, the following month), there was no record of a rabies vaccine. So my vet took care of that as well.

Months later, our little guy has put on some weight, the skin on his throat has healed and the fur has grown back. His coat is SO much softer and shinier than before, and his personality has changed as well: we can pick him up, hold him, snuggle and kiss him, put his little jacket and harness on him without a fearful reaction, growling or snapping. He has turned into such a sweet, healthy little love bug.

I am so glad I got him away from the situation he was in; I don't know if all the comments stating that this "rescue" is just in it for the money are correct or not, but my experience makes me feel that the animals’ best interest is not necessarily this organizations’ number one priority.