Start to finish, a clear and transparent process to adopt our 2nd dog from Heart of Texas Lab…read moreRescue. All volunteers were communicative and responsive. Overall a great experience working with them.

We've adopted 2 dogs from HoTLR over the years (and have had 10 Labradors over the years - most…read morerescues) the latest was in Jan 2024. Our second Lab from HoTLR was used as a puppy mill prior to being rescued...like our last Lab She has a number of concerning health issues... Broken teeth, tumor adjacent to one of her anal glands, and She has such a severe limp, massive swelling in her elbows and has such a difficult time negotiating steps we had her limbs radiographed. The results? Severe bilateral degenerative osteoarthritis of the elbows - this girl is in pain ALL of the time. We have a 1 story house, with steps down to the back yard; we walk her around to the backyard now to relieve herself. Walks in the "neighborhood" are very short and only to "lubricate" her elbows. She does love to retrieve, but becomes disinterested quickly because of the pain she's in (our Vet prescribed an anti-inflamitory, 2 different types of pain meds, & glucosamine. We also give her turmeric, hoping it would help). We have had this sweetest of Labs for a little over 9 weeks - this week will be our last. We won't let her suffer any longer. SHAME ON YOU HEART Of TEXAS LAB "RESCUE?" for NOT DOING the right thing by not having our sweet dog euthanized when you obtained her. It's not about the adoption fee, or the Vet costs, it's about the DOG, and her quality of life. These folks search shelters and more all over Texas to get their dogs. That's where we'll go in the future.

We adopted our first dog from Austin Dog Rescue in 2011. She was the best dog we could have ever…read moreasked for. She passed in 2023. In 2024, we started looking at the ADR site again for our next dog. We have since adopted another pup from this group. Everyone we have met is lovely; they genuinely want the best for the dogs. If we ever have an issue, they have been a great resource. I highly recommend them if you are looking for a paw family member. They are tiny but are doing great work.

Doing a great service to so many who can not speak for themselves. Saving dogs every day…read more Volunteer to help if you can. Or if you can, take a loving, desperate abandoned soul home. Dogs and cats are angels who walk among us. Please call ahead and make an appointment to visit. See for yourself and share your life with a special friend or two. You will never get a more committed and loving four-legged friend than one you give a 2nd chance at life to.

Well, I can't believe I haven't written a review yet - but better late than never! My dog, Jet, has…read morebeen coming to Bark & Zoom for 7 years, practically since they opened, and we couldn't be happier. There are so many positives to highlight. First, I really appreciate the rotating play and rest schedule that Taurus/Bark & Zoom uses, which differs from other facilities in the area. It's been a fantastic fit for Jet, especially when he was younger and would be tired but had a bit of FOMO when other dogs were playing and wouldn't know when to rest. At other facilities without this structure, he'd end up overtired and overstimulated from hours of endless play with 25 other dogs and poor trainer/dog ratios leaving minimal staff supervision. Bark & Zoom's approach (focus on temperament and smaller groups) has been a much better fit and Jet has thrived in this environment comparatively. The staff here has always been wonderful and so loving toward Jet as well. Years ago, there was a team gathering at Yardbar where Jet ran right up to the staff, thrilled to see them, and they immediately recognized and showered him with affection. Interactions like this validate the level of positive care he receives across several services including board-and-train, daycare, or boarding. Aside from great care, the convenience of their 24-hour model right by the airport is seriously unbeatable. As someone in the aviation industry, the flexibility to drop off and pick up at unconventional hours has been a lifesaver. I'm so grateful to Bark & Zoom for accommodating my unpredictable schedule time and time again throughout all of these years. This past year has been challenging as Jet battles lymphoma. He's experienced multiple remissions and relapses, and as he slows down and needs more care, the staff has been wonderfully supportive, bringing comfort to me on days when I can't be with him. There are SO many wonderful people here, but I'd like to give a special shoutout to Jess and Mackenzie. They've known Jet since before their well-deserved promotions and have always treated him like family. I appreciate y'all (and everyone) so much!

I can't say enough wonderful things about Bark&Zoom! They are essentially my second family and the…read moreonly folks I want taking care of my 3 pups while I'm traveling... which admittedly is a lot! The staff is incredibly kind, knowledgeable, and just overall attuned to all the things that come with managing an incredibly busy boarding/training facility. Anything my pups need, they get! And if there is ever a question about something, they are always prompt to call or text me to dicuss. I simply can't express my gratitude and love for this group of people; I life would spin off its axis without them! And I must add, who doesn't love getting photos and report cards about their pups while you're out of town!?! They truly care, and it shows! Thank you B&Z team, for all you do!

Love-A-Bull is a top notch organization that truly advocates for pit bulls. We attended a "Pittie…read moreParty" in March and fell head over heels with Benito! He is our pride and joy! We highly recommend this organization! They are thorough, transparent, and have a big heart!

LAB truly cares about finding the right home for each of their dogs. They're easy to work with and…read moreprovide a lot of resources for their adopters. When our dog passed away, we thought we would never find another pup that was the right fit for our family. With two kids under five and backyard chickens, we needed a dog that was tolerant, gentle, and trainable from the get go. Love-a-Bull volunteers took the time to talk through what we were looking for and arranged for us to meet a potential match. The advantage of going through a rescue like Love-a-Bull is that they really know their dogs. The dog they chose for us has fit in with our family perfectly. We truly could not have asked for a better dog. We would recommend LAB to anyone without hesitation.

Great staff and service. We love our new puppy. So glad we went out to Bastrop…read more When we arrived we had our application filled out and ready and they set us up in the system and provided medical history, advice, RF Chip paperwork, linked our data, signed us up online and sent us on with a bag of Hill's Science Diet. Finally they took a photo of my son and I with the dog and messaged my phone with the portrait. Very nice touch.

First let me start with the positives about this shelter…read more... I found the staff to be very welcoming and nice. The dogs were extremely well cared for, despite a very crowded shelter and low budget to work with. The cages are clean and the dogs appeared to be in as good of health as one can expect in a shelter. I found our beautiful gentle dog there and she now has a wonderful home. So, for that, I am extremely grateful. On to the negatives... I was able to walk in fill out one very simple form and pay ONLY $20 to walk out with a dog. Why is this a problem? Well, think about it. Think about all the very bad situations and bad people who could walk in and get a dog for $20. Abusers, dog fighters, lab experiments, etc. The reason that rescues charge fees of over $100 is to make sure that the person wanting to adopt is serious about it and that they have resources enough to care for the dog. I understand that this shelter is overcrowded and new dogs are surrendered everyday. However, I think charging a higher fee for adoption would be much more beneficial to the dogs and help ensure that they are going to homes who really want loving pets. I don't like the idea of a kill shelter, however, when I think of an animal being abused versus euthanized, euthanizing would be the more humane choice. At $20 potential abuse and neglect is too much of a risk. IMO

I adopted my perfect angel, Penny, from Austin Sheltie Rescue and it was a fantastic experience…read more Sunni made sure that I could adequately care for a pet and ensured that Penny would be going to a good home. The organization was prompt and professional and I'd recommend them to anyone!

Faced with a health condition that compromised my ability to properly care for my Sheltie Jack, I…read morefaced the difficult decision to put him up for adoption. I had had Jack for 12 1/2 years, since he was 8 weeks old. I had never surrendered a dog and was unfamiliar with the process. Looking back, reflecting on my experience, Sunni Wiginton and Austin Sheltie Rescues, their practices, and the legal form she presents, do not show adequate concern for the forfeiting pet owner. In some measure, Ms. Wiginton hastened my forfeiture. Later it came out that even minimum concerns, for the forfeiting party, even when in the pets interest, were just not her concern. During the ensuing months, I realized there were no safeguards that would allow the forfeiting party to understand adoption quality. Worried about my ability to care for Jack, I completely failed to comprehend the possibility of his being placed in care substandard to even my diminished capabilities, much less the full care that had marked his life before my illness. Five months after surrendering Jack, doctors determined what was causing my medical condition. After treatment, recovery was relatively swift. As to the surrender though, what happened happened. On the chance Mrs. Wiginton had not found a standard placement, and providing direct upfront assurance I had no interest contesting the placement, I contacted Austin Sheltie Rescue to check on Jack's status. My sole interest was to inform about my health recovery with a request that Austin Sheltie Rescue communicate with the adoptive household that should the adoption not work, or in the case circumstances that might have to put Jack up for adoption again, I was available. These seemed to me to be very minimal and resonable requests. I was shocked how immediately Sunni Wigginton became hostile and defensive, and escalated on these simple requests to provide a safety net under the adoption. Had I been better informed, with the benefit of hindsight, I would not have surrendered Jack to Austin Sheltie Rescue. Sunni Wiginton closes all her communications with the statement, "I hope to be the person my dogs think I am." My experience is she does not practice her creed. Sunni has a bit of a dark side, two faces of Eve. The personality she exhibited during the forfeiture stage was absolutely not the same person I experienced later on. Beware, Austin Sheltie Rescue certainly knows how to serve a big dish of rude. Austin Sheltie Rescue, you could stand to buff up your practices to improve relations and transparency for the surrendering household. Solely in the interest of the rescued Sheltie, and should the situation arise where there are problems with the adoptive household, rescue services should facilitate notice. In closing, it gives me no pleasure to render this critical review. Society and community should value the effort of rescue organizations. Mistreatment of any party, the dog, the forfeiting former owner, the adopting person, gives a bad name to rescue operations everywhere.

I just recently adopted my new dog through GRR and it was an incredible experience start to finish…read more Yes, it's thorough and yes it takes time, but I definitely feel like that is by design and ultimately matched me with a pretty incredible pup - you shouldn't be in a hurry to find your next family member! The care and passion for each dog is apparent, and I had a whole support team throughout the process to ensure I had all the information and resources I needed to bring my Cooper home.

short version: most of the people in the org are nice but it all depends on who you get as your…read more"matchmaker". if you get Jennie Lou then I wouldn't waste your time and just start looking for another place to get your golden. don't waste almost a year like we did. just be careful on facebook a lot of the group posts are scams. i had high hopes for GRR, i've been following them for a couple years and they were the first people i reached out to about donating stuff when i lost my last golden of 15 years. After going through the intense interview process we were assigned a matchmaker. I thought this process would be exciting but it was not. JL didn't have the best communication, not hearing from her 1+ months at a time and even getting us confused with other couples. She was usually abrasive and condescending over the phone. I felt like I had to keep reminding her that we've had goldens before. We tried to suggest dogs that popped up on the website or facebook page and were reprimanded for doing so. We said that a main requirement was making sure the new dog got along with our current one but that never seemed like a concern to them. JL would call us about a dog that just came in that they didn't know anything about and give us a couple to hours to decide and we'd have to go pick them up in 2 days from the Vet right after being spayed. I felt like they just wanted to throw something at the wall and see what sticks. She kept telling us to trust the process (over and over again) so we did with one of these last minute dogs and it did not work out. In fact she wound up having giardia and gave it to our older dog. Then we got gaslighted for saying it was a bad match and I once again had to remind her that we've had young goldens before. This is when I started asking around and it seemed like everyone I talked to that had a positive experience adopting from GRR had a different matchmaker than us. Before giving up i sent an email to the GRR President and VP pleading to try one more time with a different matchmaker and instead of responding they forwarded it to ours and she proceeded to chew me out over the phone like i was a child. I was never mean or ugly or anything in that email. if there was room i'd paste the email in here. As I'm writing this it's been 3 months since we've heard from JL. No check in or anything. In that 3 months we've found another golden rescue (based in dallas), got approved and already have had the new dog a couple months now. We've also met several other people that used to get their dogs from GRR that are working with this new rescue now. They were assigned JL as well and just gave up and left like we had to. Hopefully you'll have better luck than we did with GRR.

Pretty cool display of dog houses made my local architects for a charity auction to benefit local…read moredog rescue. Some of these houses were fabulous!! There were tennis ball houses and there was a little storybook house made of stone with mortar, there was a fabulous Morracan castle (that was too small for my dogs) Some of the architects really phoned it in, though. About ten of them looked exactly alike or weren't dog-friendly at all. See my pictures for more photos of some of the good ones. All in all, it was grrrrrrreat.

Who let the dogs out? Who, who, who, who, who?…read more And they were definitely out in full force. Two blocks of 2nd Street, between San Antonio and Lavaca, were lined with a silent auction assortment of doggie-style dream homes built by local artists and architects, proceeds going to local dog rescue charities including Animal Lovers of Austin, Austin Dog Alliance, Austin Greyhound Adoption, Cocker Spaniel Rescue of Austin, Love-a-Bull, and Wee Rescue. Local rescue groups and dog-related vendors (vets, treats, boarding...) peppered the streets sharing their messages of dog rescue, foster, or canine wares. There was a silent auction of products and services donated by local businesses to also help in the find raising. I loved the cool sod lawn in the middle of 2nd Street, complete with benches, tennis balls galore, a small pool and places for the pups to relax and do their business. Perfect weather, cuteness galore complete with wagging tails, butt sniffing and likely a few furry love connections or potential play dates that left some pups woofing "Bow Chicka Wow Wow."