A few years ago we adopted a female and our first male cat. ICS was not sure they would get along…read morebecause they were from different rooms and didn't know each other. We opened the cage doors when we got home. They have loved each other from that moment on. We have never had bonded cats before but we sure know what that word means now. They bring us such happiness watching them. We really lucked out. Our last adopted cat from ICS lived until 21 1/2! Love ICS!

ICS is a wonderful kitty rescue I support. I donate books to their book sale and buy raffle tickets…read moreand make donations to their annual sweetheart event. The society runs a really nice shelter for a lot of very cute kitties in need of homes.

When I first walked in they told me I would have to submit an application to see the dogs, ok great…read moreno problem. We leave and my boyfriend (who is 19) submits the application and within like 20 minutes receives a call. *background: my boyfriend put me and my miniature dachshund down on the application because the dog would be around us a lot, not because we live with him* First we get told that he has to be 21 so the dog would have to be put under his dad's name, and they would have to call his dad to make sure it is ok. (He has no problem with this). I was in the store while my boyfriend took the call, and the lady he was talking to told him that no information was found for my dog. She was REAL snotty about this. (She is not under my name for the vet but my moms, she's just the one who paid for/set up the account for my dog because I was a minor when I got my dog). I had my boyfriend call back and tell them that my dogs name is not under any of the names on the application and the lady was once again rude. She called my boyfriend's dad, and asked like she said she would. My boyfriend's dad said yes of course and the lady replied with "okay.. I guess". *at some point during the call she informs my boyfriend that all the people in his household AND my dog would have to come in to meet the said dog to make sure everyone would get along. My dog does NOT do good in shelter/vet like environments. She does not do well with new people.* After she gets off the phone with my boyfriend's dad, she calls my boyfriend back and tells him that my mom would have to call my vet and allow them to release the medical information. I understand the application and them wanting to make sure all of their dogs go to a good home, but the attitude and the way that we were both treated, as LEGAL adults, is very disappointing.

Located on Evans in Valpo…read more This is an awesome place to go to adopt your next pet. They have a lot of dogs & get new ones in all the time. From mixes to pure breds, there is always someone in need of a good, loving home. If you're not looking to adopt right now, you can always volunteer. They need walkers, cleaners, and fosters. You can also donate much needed items. They keep a list on hand of the things they are in need of. Everyone is so nice & helpful. The dogs are well taken care of. The cages are clean. The dogs get walked and played with by the volunteers. They make sure that each dog has a meet & greet & is the right fit for their potential family.

Been a customer for 1 year! I often travel for longer periods of time. Knowing our two dogs will…read morebe away from us and home is hard. BUT! Dawg Paradise has made it easy. Our dogs LOVE the staff and get excited to run right in when we pull into the parking lot. It's truly their home away from home. And I appreciate the daily updates!

We recent boarded our furry family member at Dawg Paradise. We can't be more pleased with the care…read moreand compassion that they showed us and Jonah during his stay. We called to ease our separation anxiety and they were patient, kind, and accommodating. We picked him up today and he was freshly bathed and showed us that he had been well taken care of. We would highly and confidently recommend Dawg Paradise and their staff to anyone for boarding, daycare, and grooming! Thank you so much for taking such good care of our little boy!

I'm so impressed with this animal shelter and how well it is run and loved by the community. We…read morestopped this weekend to drop-off a bit of everything on their wishlist. I was surprised to see so many other cars in the parking lot. There was another family dropping off donations, and a family who was picking-up a new member of their family, a well cared for dog. There were also three teens who were cleaning the cat kennels in a separate room. The main room is open where there is a couch, fireplace, laundry room and office with cat kennels and four large, dog kennels surrounding the room. The animals all looked relaxed - the small to medium size dogs were excited, the kittens were play fighting and adult cats were either sleeping or chilling. There was also another room that housed 8 large dogs, and they all had a nice, cozy place to sleep, plenty of room to walk around and fresh food and water. On each cage, there were notes about the dogs, like "hard toys only", "keep in kennel, jumped over cage", etc. The third room housed more cats. It was small, and the smell was a bit over-powering, but the teens were busy cleaning each cage. The cats looked content and cared for. The entire facility is clean and well maintained. There are also kennels outside with tarps covering the tops to protect the dogs from sun and rain when they are let outside while their kennels are being cleaned. From the extra blankets, netting, fencing and wood boards, the care-givers have gone out of their way to keep the dogs from being able to escape or take nips at each other which I image happens when dogs get bored or playful. They all had several toys in their kennels too, as did all the cats. The volunteers at the shelter are very friendly, the board member present gave us a tour, answered all our questions, allowed us to wander the facility freely, and let us adore the animals at our leisure. I admired their system for organizing the food by expiration dates and mixing them to prevent the dogs from getting used to one and getting sick, if introduced to something different. They also have a system for letting the cats out of their cages to play and enjoy the room either during the day or night. From the amount of good sized kennels, towels, blankets, litter boxes, cat beds, toys and food, the community does its part in chipping in to keep this place going strong. They have a website and facebook profile. The VP on the board who was there that day was very gracious, welcoming, extremely nice and personable and could not thank us enough for our donations. It was also nice to learn that the members of the board are experienced animal rescuers and professionals in the community. We look forwards to working with them in the future.

BEST SHELTER IN THE AREA-NO CONTEST We have loved going to…read morethe Humane Society of Hobart for over a decade. We adopted our first dog there in 2015-met her, fell in love, and was able to bring her home that day. She passed in 2022 and we went back 2023 to see what dogs they had. They were great about knowing what dog would fit our family and we adopted our second. Just came back in 2026 and, once again, excellent service. We came home with our third dog from Hobart Humane in May and it's been great. They actually WANT to see their animals adopted. No ridiculous hoops to jump through or crazy long application processes. Yes, the building is dated, but the animals are well cared for, the customer service is wonderful, and the staff actually cares to see the animals get into happy homes! We will for sure be back!

Yes. The staff are very caring. The animals are well cared for. They make the most of the building…read morethey are in

Would give zero stars if possible…read more Rude staff who does not know what they are doing. Policies that actively prevent pets from finding home. Stinks like giardia feces on the inside. Don't waste your time. They would rather take in donations and waste time than actually help animals.

They do everything to save and protect the animals. Awesome organization! Please adopt before you…read morebuy. You can find any breed or cat or dog there.

I have been fostering with them for 6 months now and I can't say enough good things about this…read moreorganization. The staff loves their job, are on it when your foster is sick and are pros at social media marketing to show off the fosters cuteness. What I love most about this organization is that most animals are in foster homes. It gives them time to decompress and allow them to show their true potential. Future adopters are able to really get to know their likes, dislike and quirks. Don't hesitate to volunteer, foster or adopt your newest cuddle buddy

Staff members at OTAT were very helpful and informative, their dogs are clearly loved and well…read morecared for. They gave us great tips and resources after we adopted Fitz! The process was easy and affordable. Thorough medical record keeping. The only bad thing I could say is the facility does feel a bit under-resourced for a rescue group that has been around for 3 decades. Feels like walking into a rental home, but I assure you this group and their team were highly professional and high quality! Will certainly be recommending OTAT to others. :-)

I meant to leave this review about a year ago when I adopted our kitten from there, but forgot…read more i was there with my three year old, and the young woman whom showed us cats was so patient and helpful. she quickly realized the cat we came to see was simply NOT compatible with my son, and switched the script very politely. we ended up connecting with a kitten that is the perfect match for our family. I would have never gone the route she suggested (younger, male cat) but thank goodness I listened to her. he is my sons best friend. cat adopted was a black male cat named forrest at the time- if the shelter wants to look into who helped me and give her a raise :)

Just to start, if I could give zero stars I absolutely would. The strong smell of chemicals…read moreimmediately after walking in just shows that it's not a safe place for these animals to be, seeing a facebook post around march or april from someone who claimed they worked there, the next day I tried finding it, it was taken down. It stated that the Porter County Animal Shelter uses "security cleaner" which is infact NOT FDA approved or certified. It is DEATHLY to animals and can cause many problems. The managers have no regards for these poor animals. To me, it seems like they just want the money.

I want to give more than 5 stars for NLOL. Our adoption counselor Jackie is just amazing in terms…read moreof support she provides! She checks in with me about the dog almost everyday provide appropriate support and guidance every time when I was faced with difficulties because the dog was not fully house trained. NLOL offers two week foster period before adoption, which is a wonderful mechanism to get to know the dog before the big commitment. I am still in the middle of the foster period but I am just beyond impressed by the support I was given. It has been an wonderful experience so far. I would recommend NLOL to everyone who is considering adopting a dog!

If you read nothing else - fostering with New Leash on Life is the best, no-regrets decision I ever…read moremade. If you want more details about how and why I reached this conclusion, read on. I wanted to volunteer with animals, and I was frustrated by the larger organizations extremely limited opportunities and complicated process to volunteer. No, I didn't want to read a 50 page manual and take a test just to clean cages. I wanted to make a big difference in the lives of dogs and help Chicago become a no-kill city. Surely, it couldn't be that hard to find an organization with no red tape and an easy process to volunteer. Enter: New Leash on Life. I found them about 2.5 years ago on this Yelp page with their address listed downtown. I later realized this downtown address was only a PO Box which means NLOL does not have a physical location/adoption center. The implication of this is that all dogs go straight from rescue into foster homes until they find their forever families. This process can take weeks or sometimes months - depending on the dog. Don't let the uncertainty of a timeline deter you - fostering for New Leash is an absolute dream and here are my top three reasons why: 1. Unparalleled people - the nicest and most sincere adoption counselors. They constantly check up on the pups, their progress, and making sure you as a foster have everything you need. Not just via email- typically by text messages which means a quick response time. 2. Super flexible - a. Vacation or trip? No problem! New Leash will work with you and your schedule b. Work long hours? No problem! New Leash can schedule a walker to come during the day 3. And last but not least, THE DOGS. They really know how to pick them. Every dog that I've fostered has been kind hearted, adorable, and an A++ cuddler. Every dog deserves the right to a loving, safe home. Yes fostering is a short term arrangement, but it's a critical piece to helping these pups find their long term forever. Nothing makes me happier than seeing every dog I've fostered thriving in their forever homes. If you're on the fence about fostering, just try it. Anyone who loves dogs can do it and do it successfully. It is an extremely rewarding process and this organization makes it SO easy.

I've been volunteering for Red Door for close to 25 years. The staff is very caring and dedicated…read moreto giving the utmost care to the animals. They take in animals that need a lot of vet care and make sure they get it and are healed. I've always seen great care and cleanliness at Red Door. I've adopted "many" rabbits and had a dumped cat under my deck that needed to go somewhere and they took him. This place is totally amazing! I've always been treated with the utmost kindness. I've seen them treat everyone like this. Thank you Red Door for your persistent dedication to saving animals! I've seen guinea pigs, ducks and dogs that go into foster homes. Hand punch and chest thump to YOU!!

My experience here was as a volunteer. Every time I came in to help, I was made to do common room…read more(the main rabbit and cat room). It was always filthy, many of the fleeces were covered in so much fur that I was worried about the rabbits getting a blockage, water bowls were often fully empty or had literal soap suds in them. The volunteer coordinator suggests you "spot clean" the litter boxes, though often they are so saturated that the pellets they use as litter are disintegrated. It put a bad taste in my mouth that staff was not following the basic "contact time" instructions on the bottles of Rescue when they claimed they wanted to kill bacteria. They kept a sick cat with giardia in a cage first thing when you walked in. He had a sign that said not to touch him, but not what he had. I saw senior staff repeatedly handle iso animals with no gloves. I saw them put iso laundry right into a pile with the other laundry more than once. I found a wet pile of laundry with feces (or litter, according to the literal president -- not sure that's better) stuck to it sitting on top of the dryer. I was written up for making staff "feel bad" about not knowing how to disinfect stuff when they claim to have vet tech experience, and for not being nice enough about the "litter" on the wet pile of laundry. I saw other volunteers regularly mix in BnB laundry with shelter laundry -- with what I would consider a homeopathic amount of bleach. They were not chastised for doing laundry incorrectly. In fact, they were allowed to train me on laundry. I tried to report a possible historical ringworm infection to the staff just so they knew to be mindful to check themselves and animals for sores, but instead got met with bizarre legalistic stuff about how I might as well be suggesting that I could have gotten it from "invisible space aliens" (that's from the president directly). Look at these photos and tell me if you think it's insane to think someone could catch a fungal infection here. I was then banned -- again, the stated, written reason being that I disagree with their veterinary practices and they've been doing this for 26 years blah blah blah. Ok. I'm really worried about how much else has been swept under the rug in 26 years, then. The president was so cruel to me when banning me that I immediately went to urgent care for medical clearance. The NP was grossed out and suspicious when I told him I got yelled at for trying to let them know about a possible exposure. Staff here does nothing but bully people if they trust you enough to let their true colors show. I have personally heard them do it about sexual orientation, weight, and ethnicity -- they even had rabbits with antisemitic names they got from Seinfeld (they are not Jewish themselves). They stood silently by while a senior volunteer made fun of my sexual orientation the first time I met her, even. They do not have a pride flag hanging anywhere. I wish they would change that, because maybe there would be fewer homophobic and transphobic comments. Though everyone here reflexively "punches down" so much due to their low self esteem that it seems they can't even keep track of what they say. Just know that if you have a certain skin tone, everyone here older than 40 with a sensible haircut has an opinion about your hair being "unprofessional" if you do anything but make it as straight as possible. I grew up in a hoarded house, and I have to be honest. That's what this shelter feels like and part of why I wanted to help. They cannot keep up with the animals at all, especially not while running HareBnB. Over the holidays, for maybe 3 full cumulative weeks of the year, volunteers handle everything in the shelter except paperwork and isos. No one is properly trained -- in fact, I trained several people after doing common room only ONE time. But these photos were taken when BnB wasn't busy. This is what their performance looked like when they had one more staff member than they do currently and very few BnB guests. And I heard the president and VP talk about buying more BnB space as a potential for the future! I don't have a rabbit currently, but if I did, I would not trust BnB. I am telling everyone I know with rabbits not to board at BnB. For a while, they were the only game in town, but now you can do better. I had already stopped finding joy in volunteering, because as soon as I would come in, the volunteer coordinator would sit at a computer and pretend to look at spreadsheets. That would devolve into hours of me hearing her talking and laughing while I did what would've been her assigned work. No thanks. As you can see, there's clearly enough to be done that we both needed to be working at the same time. I would love to see them change ownership and find a crew really dedicated to the mission instead of dedicated to doing a bit less than the bare minimum. It seems like this shelter used to be good, but maybe it was just the quirkiness of a bunny shelter.