PetFinder

I think the PetFinder site/app is a good idea that has been turned into a bad experience for many people trying to find a pet and help an animal that needs a good home. Rescue agencies set very different and difficult bars to reach for many pet seekers and one has to wonder at the hoops they make people jump through in order to be approved to adopt a pet. I myself have raised 4 dogs over 30 years in apartments and condos with no access to a fenced in yard by having apartment sized breeds under 30lbs and by getting out in all types of weather conditions to ensure that the dogs had their social/sniff/exercise/toilet time at least 4 times a day and often more frequently. Yet, many rescue agencies on PetFinder won't even consider your application if you do not have a fenced in yard! I certainly understand and support their screening processes to reduce the risk that an animal will go to a bad situation but to assume that a dog can only be happily re-homed if there is a fenced in yard is to ignore the number of dogs that have suffered abuse by being permanently left out in a yard in all kinds of weather! These types of arbitrary restrictions on who will be approved for adoption do nothing to help these animals that need new homes nor do they help end the "puppy mill" business that rescue agency say they are apposed to. I have tried rescue agencies twice now in the last 15 years and have been very disappointed in their arbitrary adoption processes and I will never try them again. Thankfully I found my new pup at a reputable (I'm certain the agencies would disagree with that term) kennel and am very happy with him. He is in excellent health according to my Vet and I plan to give him a good life even though my townhouse doesn't have a fenced in back yard!

I had been dealing with Four Feet and a Heart Beat out of Lacombe AB for about a week and a half, June 2022. I was going to adopt a sweet pup from them. I finally got the response and a date to go and meet him, but when I asked about the adoption fee (which isn't posted any where) they said I had signed the Pre-adoption consultation application which states what the fees are about. I said I understand that and I was just asking for a fee breakdown. To which they said to me that I am no longer considered a good fit for their agency and cancelled my meet and possible adopt date. I asked them to reconsider, in several emails, which they ghosted. I was willing to pay the $675 they quoted me, no issues, but they did not respond to me and then said that I am not welcome and to not send them any more messages.

I have since read some reviews I have found online and they, for one, seem like they are a puppy mill type facility that retires the older, no longer needed dogs. Almost all of their dogs seem to be male and they all seem to be designer dogs. The facility doesn't look nice in their pictures, the dogs look unkept and uncared for. I'm not even sure these dogs have seen a vet for any type of treatment. One reviewer even said they went to look at the dog they were inquiring about and they turned around and left. Upon further research, I have found that this particular "rescue" has changed their name 2 or 3 times, with the same address. I am sure it is because they have had bad reviews. I have even contacted the other shelters and rescues in the area and they have not heard anything good about them. A foundation with the same name out of Calgary AB, even has a pinned post at the top of their Facebook page that states they have nothing to do with the Four Feet and a Heart Beat rescue/shelter in Lacombe AB, they are based out of Calgary.

I fear the dogs at Four Feet and a Heart Beat in Lacombe AB are not cared for. I feel that they are all about the money and don't care about the animals. I know, it sounds strange when I am willing to pay what they are asking, however, once you ask questions, you suddenly become unacceptable for their rescue.

Please be weary of Four Feet and a Heart Beat at Lacombe Alberta.

I recently purchased a dog on perfinder from the shelter known as " Gone to the Dogs" for a dog named Alex. My experience with the seller was absolutely horrible. Everything she posted on the website was a complete lie. Alex was no where near the age Strother put on the website and he also came with A LOT of medical needs that were not know at the time of adoption. When informing the shelter owner strother she was very standoffish and was also trying to get me to keep the dog when I financially could not afford it. Had I'd known of the medical needs Alex would have needed prior to meeting him I would have never adopted him just to return him. My experience with strother and " Gone to the Dogs" was absolutely horrible and I would never recommend anyone to her. I also find it very odd that on petfinder Alex was listed as being sheltered by "Gone to the Dogs" rescue but was then informed by strother that he was being kept at the Charles city pound.The website on "Gone to the Dogs" mentioned that all dogs are healthy heart worm negative and fixed. Upon meeting and adopting Alex none of those things were true. Again had I'd know prior to meeting Alex if I would have been informed of the CORRECT information he would not have been adopted. It's very hard to say no to a dog meeting him and wanting him to be out of a shelter so badly. After returning Alex strother then when online and decided it would be a good idea to kind of bash me for returning him. Strother did mention she runs a no kill shelter and also mentioned she has funds that would help Alex. If she has funds why would she get him taken care of properly? When on petfinder please make sure you find out all info about the animal you want to adopted before meeting them so you won't have a horrible experience like I did.

No help at all...not haapyvwith this group
Figures.where humans are invoved.do not, at all recommend!

My mother always taught me if I didn't have anything nice to say to not say anything at all but perfinders in Lansdowne, PA may be the worse in history! I'll condense my story as much as possible.

I purchased my house in 2018 in Lansdowne, PA the only thing missing was a family pet. So we adopted a beautiful long haired cat named lover boy and thats exactly what he was a LOVERBOY! Sadly he had a feline disease which the vet said it was best we put him down and although it was hard we didn't want to see him pain anymore so we did what we thought was best. It was tough for us but it was harder for my daughter. Finally we adopted another cat in January 2021 and she was a cuddler and lover and very special because she had an extra paw known as mittens. During a event at my house she became frightened by some puppies we were hosting and ran out the door. We were shocked she never ran out the door before and we would have the door open often. After a month passed and I got no hits on the ad I posted of her I decided to adopt another cat and to my surprise while looking on pet finder I saw MY cat, fluffy which petfinder had listed her name as buttercup. I reached out excited like what are the odds I'd find MY cat? A older woman called me that night from a private number, it was 4/20/2021 and didn't believe she was mine and asked me to send her adoption papers which I did send however she never called back or replied to my email. I initially thought I was about to get the best birthday gift ever as my birthday was 4/21 however all I felt was more sadness because now I know she has been found and ill never get her back. The woman never reached out again and now I can't even find her on the website which makes me feel like they sold her. For this, I will always have ill feelings towards petfinders in Lansdowne, PA and feel like the entire organization here is a scam for money.

I just adopted a dog through Petfinder Two weeks ago. Purebred rescue of Florida's Hillary Donovan is running an undercover puppy mill. I adopted a Yorkie mix from Hillary and it died a week later after I got it. The dog had parvo and liver failure and nobody at the rescue said anything. Hillary told me that the dog was healthy and had been cleared by a vet, that's not the case. Hillary was a bad dog breeder once before and is most likely using the word adoption to hide the fact that she's running a puppy mill. She claimed that she didn't know the dog was sick and offered to give me a new one at no cost. The 2nd dog I got from her had the same thing. I called her and she blocked my number, I went to the shelter and how continent she wasn't there. I kept on coming back to the shelter until I found her and I demanded a REFUND. Hillary refused to refund my money, I paid $5,000 for that dog and want it back! Two dogs from her not even three weeks and they both died, I deserve a refund. I wont stop until I get my money back, if I have to sue her so help me I will. Three days ago I left the rescue bad reviews all over Facebook and all over google telling the world about what she did to me. That same day I left the reviews on their Facebook page the entire page was taken down. The next day all of their information on Google was completely removed to, how convenient. As soon as you leave bad reviews on them telling everybody about the way they treat people they cower out and remove their stuff so nobody-else can see it. Google used to be full of things about them and now you can barely find them unless you look very hard. Stay away from Purebred rescue of FL and stay away from HILLARY DONOVAN.

READ THIS BEFORE CONTACTING CANINE CUTIES----BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE---If your considering a new pet.DO NOT CONSIDER THIS LADY! She will jack you around for weeks. I have 36 years experience with Pit bulls. Unfortunately I had to put one down.He was over 15 years old. I emailed this Lady about a dog i saw on petfinders. Com. She said the dog was available. But refused to answer emails. When she did answer i provided her with pictures and a full history of my 36 years experience with the Breed. THAT WAS NOT GOOD ENOUGH!.(SHE REFUSED TO LET ME MEET THE DOG)She wasted a week of my time and 20 emails back and forth. THEN SENDS ME A MICKEY MOUSE APPLICATION. A bunch of ridiculous questions-Where will the dog live, how you will discipline it, who is your vet, will you use it as guard dog, will you walk the dog-BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA Its like REALLY Im 55 had pitbulls for 36 years all lived past 13 YEARS -LIKE WHAT DO YOU WANT MY BLOOD! I can get a dog ANYWHERE-I bought all my dogs in the past-Everyone tells you to help out a dog by adopting or Rescue. I drove out to this place of Business to find NO BUSINESS JUST A FANCY HOUSE (GO FIGURE) She never got to the adoption fee? OH AND AFTER THE APPLICATION THERES A LEGAL BINDING CONTRACT! SHE WANTS YOU TO AGREE TO SIGN IN HER APP. REALLY I SIGN NOTHING UNTIL I READ IT! Have my Attorney read it. ALLLL THIS CRAP TO HELP A HOMELESS DOGGGGG! THIS IS ALL BULLLLLLLLL SH... SHE HAS REALLY RUINED MY EXCITEMENT OF A NEW PET! HOW DISAPPOINTING THIS LADY AND HER BUSINESS CANINE CUTIES IS! SHE WILL ONLY ADD TO YOUR UPSET OF LOSING YOUR PET!

Petfinder does a great job of advertising thousands of animals up for adoption with daily updates of new pets or news of ones who may have been adopted from your favorites list. Most of what I read here in the reviews are complaints against individual animal shelters, not Petfinder. Let's try to vent our unhappiness in the right place.

Now that we're on to complaints about individual adoption agencies, I'd like to complain that in general, the folks running pet adoption agencies are extremely uppity, demand a ridiculous amount of highly personal information we have no idea what they do with and make judgements about people that may not be fair or appropriate. My biggest beef of all is the GHOSTING of people. After you religiously fill out their 5 page application, share more information than what is required to adopt a child and made a sworn affidavit that every thing you said was true, THEY DON'T EVEN BOTHER TO ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR APPLICATION, WRITE YOU BACK OR TELL YOU THE REASON YOU HAVE BEEN REJECTED. This is outrageously rude and no way to treat the people you want to adopt pets. I've had cats my whole life, but didn't get new cats when my two died of old age because we wanted to travel. I own my own home, have a steady income, great references and a nice veterinarian to put in a good word for me, but I am being ghosted over and over again and the only thing I can think of is that I am over 65. How do they know what physical condition I am in? I could outlive all of them. They could die of covid, get in a car wreck, overdose on something, or get cancer just like anyone else can. I walk at least 3 miles a day, do my own home improvements and volunteer at an arts organization in my area. It's outrageous they judge people without meeting them. I'm sure a lot of the younger folks are pros at writing what they want to hear and get pets they may not be responsible for in the long run. These volunteers may not have much education or have social emotional issues that make them want to play God over others. There are millions of homeless pets in this country. IF THEY WANT PEOPLE TO TAKE THESE ANIMALS, THEY PERHAPS COULD BE A BIT LESS RIGID WITH THEIR "RULES".