Homeward Trails Adoption Center

I have to start by saying that this review has been long overdue. However, I couldn't go any longer without writing about my experience with Homeward Trails. My wife and I arrived here on a weekend for an Adoption event looking for a young dog. Before leaving I suggested to my wife to go look at the section where older dogs where, that's when I decided to walk a beautiful Blue-tick Hound, Evelyn, that was laying down in her cage without barking like the other dogs were. It was love at first sight, after a few minutes of walking and petting her I knew that she needed us to become her parents. At first, the information provided to us by the staff and her paperwork was erroneous, listing her as a 1 year old dog, when we later found out by the Veterinarian that she was 5-7 Years old. Athena, we changed her name, had severe decaying teeth and lumps in her belly, this put us in a tough situation because were were not expecting medical issues this early and we were considering returning her due to our financial circumstances, as we wouldn't had been able to provide the medical care that she will need if the lumps were malign. However, after deliberately discussing the matter with my wife we decided that Evelyn had to stay with us, so we reached out to Homeward Trails for help as we had believe she was 1 year of age and with no medical problems listed, the teeth. This is where Homeward trail adoption center get the 5 stars from, the CEO replied to our email giving us the option to take Athena( we changed her name) to get the decaying teeth remove and the biopsying of the lumps for no cost to us. I will be forever thankful to them for doing right and going out of their way to help us. I will also be thankful to them for matching us with the perfect dog, Athena, whom has learned to socialize and once again rejoice the opportunity to enjoy her life with us. Thank you Homeward Trails for everything that you guys do and bringing this beautiful, caring and loving dog to our lives!
5 7 years ago (30-03-2018)

The staff, Klaus, was very knowledgeable and polite with background history of the pets. He showed me around the premises, introducing me to the staff tending to the dogs outside. Very personable attention to potential pet-parents and colleagues. The parking is tight so that requires a bit of patience. I would recommend coming to a place like this because it's more personable than the animal shelter and the animals seemed different.
5 7 years ago (24-03-2018)

I decided to go with this organization because I had heard very good things. A month of trying to adopt a dog, I get one response from a foster that said “she does not adopt to group homes” not sure where she even gathered that information since it’s not in any way accurate and rather rude to just assume. No response from anyone else, at least tell me what made me “not a good fit” besides inaccurately assuming and making up that I live in a group home. I’ll never suggest this place to anyone or try to adopt from here. Please work on your staff and fosters communication.
1 7 years ago (18-04-2018)

Do not come to this place. The issue here is not if you can find an animal that you would like to adopt. The main issue is the staff isn't able to give a full review of what the animals temperament is. My wife and children went to Homeward Trails looking for a new family member, when they got there they were welcomed and were allowed to see all the animals they had. They use collar system, if they have a green collar they are good to adopt with no issues, which he did. They all liked one of the dogs they had and decided they were going to start the process of adoption. My wife was told that she had to put a $100.00 non-refundable deposit down while she finished the rest of the paperwork. We didn't see too much of in issue with that, so she did. We were informed that because we a another dog we would have to bring her in to meet there. We complied with that request. We were then told that our landlord had to provide a letter stating that we were allowed to have dogs, we complied with that as well. We finished the process and paid for the dog in full $365.00 (a little high for no paperwork), but ok I understand. We took our new dog home and then to the vet the next day. He needed a full workup from the vet because they don't have any actual records, just a handwritten note that he had this shot at this date. He should come with actual records for the price we paid. He was really good in the house for about a week and then he started acting up, so we took him to a trainer to fix the behavior problems. We were actually getting somewhere with him and then the dog took my 12 year old daughter as "his", and wouldn't let anyone around her. He would sit right at her feet and nobody was allowed to touch her or get near her. He became possessive of her, his toys, his food, ect... The next day he wanted to play with my daughter and she didn't want to so he pinned her down standing on her back biting her. My wife went into the room and tried to get him off. He turned to her and fully attacked her as well. My wife grabbed him while being bitten and drug him outside until I could come home. I have 6 kids and we were not going to be able to have this bad behavior in our house. We took him back to our trainer and asked what can we do about this. At this point the trainer told us there is nothing that we can do to fix this behavior and need to get rid of the dog for the safety of our family. We followed the contract that we signed with Homeland Trails that said we have to bring him back to them, that afternoon. We sent an email to Homeland Trails explaining what had happened and that we were coming back to drop him off and will give the full story when we got there. I asked for a full refund as this is not a normal issue that was just our fault that he didn't work out. I was told that day that the person that could issue refunds was not there and was out of town. That was fine I followed advise and emailed her about this. I have now waited over a week with nothing back from them at all. I decided to back to Homeland Trails this morning hoping to find someone there that can help me. When we got there we saw that the same dog that we returned the week before with major temperament issues was back in the yard with a green collar on stating he was ready to be adopted again. This made me ask again about the refund as they are trying to sell this dog again for the same amount of money twice without a refund of the first purchase. I asked to speak with the person in-charge of the facility, I was told that everyone there was a volunteer and they can't help. I asked for a phone number to the person that can help me and was told that they will not give it to me. They take in a lot of dogs from out of the U.S. from hoarding situations and these dogs are very aggressive and a flight risk. be very careful.
1 7 years ago (07-04-2018)

I urge you to be cautious with this group, especially when considering the adoption of a dog who has been identified as a high flight risk. This is a red flag! Be sure to find out if others attempted to adopt the dog before you, how many times, and if/how much of their adoption fee was returned. No remedial therapy will have been provided traumatized dogs, so please ensure that your good intentions are also realistic.
1 7 years ago (24-12-2017)