I can't say more positive things about this organization and what it does for dogs. I have successfully adopted three wonderful dogs from them, and have been totally happy. Roxie, Chico and Casper. Thanks for all you do rescuing these wonderful dogs!The adoption process was smooth and what you would expect from a rescue and we are very happy! read more

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We have adopted from Tara's house 4 healthy smart and beautiful dogs and all 4 times we had great experiences with the process. All the volunteers there have so much heart and care for the wellness of these animals but unfortunately people don't know or care of what goes on with all the hard work they do in the background just get them ready for adoption. This is a great organization to adopt from. read more

Tara's House - Animal Shelters Near Me - Columbia, Maryland

We adopted our dog from Tara's house. In November 6 years ago, our dog was found in rough shape, completely emaciated - down to 20lb (she is a 55lb dog), and had little chance to live. She was starving and began to eat trash on the street, which clogged her intestines. Tara's House covered her surgery and all medical expenses. Tara's House helped her gain weight and took care of her skin issues and other issues that popped up as she began to heal. We adopted her a month after her rescue and she has become a loving member of our family. read more

*** Be extremely careful of their contract. We just finished a round of communications with them and they refused to budge. This what I e-mailed to them: "I read the contract and have a major concern with clause 11. Specifically: ... ACCORDINGLY, THE PARTIES HAVE AGREED THAT IN THE EVENT OF A BREACH OF ANY PROVISION OF THE ADOPTION CONTRACT, ADOPTER SHALL PAY LIQUIDATED DAMAGES TO TARA'S HOUSE IN THE AMOUNT OF $1000.00 ... "... A BREACH OF ANY PROVISION ..." means that if Tara's house breaches the contract in any way, then we have to pay you $1,000. The above is stated too broadly. It should read "... in the event that the adopter breaches the contract ...", which we would fully accept and sign. As an example, clause 2 says that all pets will be spayed or neutered prior to adoption. Therefore if we bring home a pet that has not been spayed or neutered, we are immediately in breach of the contract and must pay you $1000, that same day. The contract, as written, is that simple. Clause 2 also does not say that you will spay or neuter the pet, by the way. Very simply, as worded, this sets us up to have to pay you $1000 at your whim; you only have to do something wrong and then call us on it. While I don't think that would happen, any attorney would tell us to NOT sign this contract." They're response? "We are sorry you feel this way. We are not able to revise our legal contract, unfortunately. " We are incredibly disappointed with them. read more

Thoroughly disappointed. I was trying to do the animal population a solid and not patronize a breeder or adopt a puppy so I sought a rescue to help me save and provide a loving home for an unwanted adult dog. I thought Tara's House would be a great resource-I've never been more wrong. Due to alarm system requirements, I applied for and was matched with a dog that weighed 35 lbs, a mini bull terrier mix named Zach. Misrepresentation #1, Zach is a 50lb Pitbull and I'm now spending hundreds to reconfigure my home. While they make no binding promises to the dog's medical state, in my hour long interview with the adoption coordinator I was assured that all medical treatments and other needs of the dog are taken care of during foster. Misrepresentation #2, Zach was adopted dirty and smelly with a persistent parasitic skin condition, a yeast infection, sore foot pads, untrimmed nails, numerous insect bites (meaning no repellent treatment was administered), and hookworm (inconsistent deworming). He had a 24 hour nosebleed the first week and was actually heartworm positive. I shared in my application that I wanted a dog to help us settle into our new neighborhood and meet other families and I was told Zach was great with other dogs. Misrepresentation #3, Zach is extremely leash reactive and has shown aggression to most other dogs we've come across, at the vet, the pet store, obedience class, etc. Contractually, after the $3000+ we've spent (heartworm treatment is so expensive), we could still return him to the rescue. But even if we weren't already attached, how could I surrender him to a place that misrepresented him so horribly (inadvertently or not) and where he was clearly not treated as his condition dictates? We're doing the best we can to get him healthy and work on his dog aggression but this has been extremely challenging, I feel robbed of the joyous experience that pet parenthood should be and burdened by everything that wasn't disclosed to me in advance. Oh and when I shared my initial concerns, the response, "Sorry you're experiencing these issues." So am I. read more

Place is bad. I pray for all the dogs that go through here. Bad contracts, bad policys, bad customer service, bad practice.

Actually stumbled upon this website while looking for a dog. It's a virtual shelter. All of the dogs are in foster homes and the database of dogs is online. The animals are rescued from high kill shelters in a couple of different states. I emailed after finding a dog that my fiance and i were interested in. All correspondence was timely. I spoke with several different people. The process is: fill out online application, phone interview, vet check (slightly different process if you don't already have animals), meet and greet at PetSmart (we had to drive all the way to Frederick which kind of sucked), take dog home. We opted for a two week foster trial since we weren't sure how the dog would mesh with our cats. Alexandra, the adoption coordinator, was very helpful with any questions we had. She also checked in sporadically during our 2 week foster to see how things were going. After 2 weeks we went ahead with the adoption. We got the full medical records once it was finalized. We had a problem with the microchip (which is covered by the adoption fee) we received and they sent another without any questions. The process was easy, the staff was friendly and helpful, and we couldn't be happier with the new addition to our family. read more

I found Tara's House via Petfinder.org when looking for a dog about a year ago. It was love at first sight, and I filled out an application for the cutest little mutt I'd ever seen. I got a call the next day and they told me all about her, and cautioned me that she might not be housebroken, and told me as much about her history as they had. I met her and she was happy, not stressed at all, seemed up for anything, and it was clear she'd been taken very good care of. I can't say enough good things about the work Tara's House does and the way they do it. It's a labor of love that they handle very professionally. The dogs they rescue from high-kill shelters and the lucky families who get the privilege of giving them a second chance at forever homes are very grateful that they do what they do. As other reviewers mentioned, they don't have a facility where the dogs are kept, they're fostered in a network of homes. Check out their website or look for them on Petfinder, and be confident in working with them to find the right match for your home. I brought my Gracie home a year ago today, and she's the best little mutt ever. read more

I recently adopted a dog from Tara's House rescue, and I am very happy with both the dog and the process. I'm surprised that there are negative reviews on this site, since everything went very well in my experience. I saw the dog I was interested in on PetFinder, and completed the adoption application for him located on the Tara's House site. I was contacted nearly immediately by the dog's foster mother, and we arranged a time to speak later in the evening. We had a great conversation about him, and I felt like there was complete disclosure about his previous situation, his medical condition (since resolved), and his minor behavioral issues. We arranged that I would meet the dog once my references were checked and there was good communication about the logistics of that. I've had the dog for about 4 weeks now, and he is wonderful and settling in well. Of course, every dog is going to take some time with a new situation, but I think he is doing great. I don't feel like there were any surprises or unrealistic expectations. I'm looking forward to a long and happy relationship with this boy, and I wouldn't hesitate to adopt from Tara's House again. read more

We were looking for a second dog for our household and Tara's House was one of the first rescues to come to our attention. We found a dog on the website that looked adorable and seemed to be a good match. We put an application in and went through the motions. Unfortunately that dog was adopted by an application ahead of us. HOWEVER, we found a second choice that looked adorable and we have not looked back since. Kristel was the foster for this dog and the process was speedy but comprehensive. She brought our prospective dog over for a visit (we had already been approved on all the other fronts). By the time the visit was over, Kristel was leaving an adorable little dog in our care. We've stayed in touch with the foster mom but things are going absolutely wonderful. One of the most loving dogs I have ever encountered. Our dealings with Tara's House were nothing short of amazing. PLUS, they have a lifetime commitment to their dogs. If for some reason your adoption turns out to not be a good fit or something happens that would warrant you surrendering your furry family member - they will take the dog back into their possession and place it with a new home. What service! However, we hope to never take advantage of that :) Great organization that would be deserving of 10 stars if Yelp allowed that. read more

My family and I have nothing but positive things to say about Tara's House. They are very thorough with the adoption process. We adopted our lab mix, Roxie, two years ago, and we love her. One of the most loving dogs ever! Thank you, Tara's House! read more

Tara's House is a wonderful organization that rescues dogs from high-kill shelters in West Virgina. Calling them an animal shelter, however, is a bit of misnomer, as they don't actually have a facility that houses animals. It is more of a virtual network of foster families that take care of the pets until they can find a suitable home. So don't stop by their Columbia address expecting to come home with a dog. We got our little mutt from Tara's House about two years ago. She stunk to high heaven, and had a minor worm issue (which was easily cleared up by our vet), but otherwise the foster family did a great job taking care of her. I've heard some horror stories about pets with undisclosed health issues from other rescue groups; Tara's House was entirely straight-forward with us about our little creature. The adoption process is fairly routine. Tara's House definitely has high standards for people looking to adopt, but they are more reasonable than some of the breed-specific rescue groups we looked at, some of which wrote us off immediately because we were renters (seriously?!?). We were supposed to have a home visit done, but they never called us back to schedule it, and their web site doesn't make it seem like one is always required. I guess we looked like honest enough people. The adoption fee was around $250; when you consider that covers spaying/neutering, vaccinations, and food while the dog was in foster care, it's a very reasonable amount. If you're thinking about adopting a dog, I would definitely recommend working through Tara's House. read more

My daughter has begged me for a dog for years but I never felt like we were ready for the commitment. Finally, I own my home and we've banked enough for the initial outlay of supplies. We fell in love with a dog at our local animal control. I had chosen to look there to save a dog from a kill shelter, and also because being a single parent I am trying to avoid huge adoption fees during the holidays. Only we found out our county won't adopt out Pitt bulls, so I contacted Tara's House. I was then contacted by a Sara Hess, and when I expressed the issue with the adoption fee she responded in a demeaning, mocking and unprofessional way. Now, this dog is a stray that they've been trying to get adopted for nearly two months...so why is it she would rather him die than reduce the fees and go to a loving home? How can this be the way Tara's house conducts themselves to the community? I've participated in many SPCA events and frequently take donations there. It's safe to say that's where I'll continue to spend my extra money. I just feel so very sorry for the animals under this organizations control. read more

I applied for two dogs through Tara's House. One which explicitly said on their profile that they were good with cats (twice) and one that came up when you filtered for a home with cats. Tara's House sent me an email stating that they did not know how these dogs are with cats even though it's specifically on one of the profiles. They have refused to contact me back and answer my questions, on every platform I've contacted them on. They are extremely unprofessional and seem to not pay attention to the profiles on their own site. read more

Dedicated adoption care volunteers and you can tell the dogs are well cared for. Great experience!

I am specific in looking for a certain breed and the younger the better. They had the exact dog I was looking for. I filled out the application and was denied. I guess I'll start looking at puppy mill's, they will be more then willing to take my money for a dog. read more

In 11/13 I rescued a doberman from Tara's House. I sent in an application, then had a 30 minute telephone conversation with a volunteer and was approved. That weekend I met the Bo. Bo had multiple health issues which Tara's House arranged for a local vet to treat at their expense. Christina and I maintained contact through good and difficult times resulting from Bo's serious medical conditions. I found Christina very supportive. I found their adoption process very reasonable and was able to get the best dog of my life within one week. read more

Adopted a dog from Tara's House who was loved dearly. Our baby. Followed the contract: did the trainings, took him to the vet for all his vaccinations and medications. A few months in, he attacked a person out of nowhere very badly. They were left with multiple bites and scratches with permanent damage. We had to relinquish him back to Tara's House due to the fear that was created. During this very traumatic process, we were asked multiple times to "donate" for his living. When dropping him off, we donated 6 months of medication, at least a month of food, and his bed. 2 weeks later we were called again saying we need to pay for boarding and evaluation, and stating we did not donate anything (with of course no proof we didn't donate). Excuse me? We paid you for a dog who ATTACKED SOMEONE. Do you want to cover our medical bills? Our pain and suffering? I would NEVER adopt a dog from here again or recommend it to anyone. They do not care about the dogs or making a difference. They just want the money. read more

I have been totally satisfied with my experience in adopting my dogs from Tara's House. I have now adopted four dogs from Tara's House and if I were not completely satisfied with the organization, i would not have returned to adopt the next dog. Tara's House is an all breed rescue that rescues their dogs from many local Maryland shelters, focusing on the harder to place dogs. They also rescue from high-kill shelters in rural areas. Once out of the shelter, the dogs are given a vet examination, spayed/neutered and given all vaccinations. Any health or behavioral issues are treated before they are cleared for adoption. All the dogs live in foster homes until they are adopted, so Tara's House does not actually fit into the animal shelter category. The adoption process is easy - the dogs' pictures and biographies are published on the TH website and there is an online application to complete. An adoption coordinator contacts the perspective adopter and explains the TH mission and adoption process. A home visit may be required and a vet reference (if the person has a pet) as well as personal references are checked. Every effort is made to match the person with the dog that seems to be the right fit and then the person is invited to meet the dog to decide if he/she is the right dog. I found theTara's House volunteers to be professional, friendly and helpful. Everything relating to the dog and the adoption process was thoroughly explained and all my questions were answered. A follow-up call and email were sent to check to see how the new dog was transitioning into his/her new home and i was encouraged to seek their advice with any issues that might occur with the dog. I recommend to "adopt, not shop" and I certainly recommend that you contact Tara's House to adopt your dog. read more

Made this account just to inform people under 25 they will be disappointed. Responsive to e-mails, HOWEVER they need to update their website so they don't leave other adults heartbroken. My husband and I were looking at several dogs from several rescues and shelters, we had narrowed our search for a dog that was good with cats and children, down to one dog, Max, from Here. I filled out nearly the whole application only to found out I couldn't apply because I was not 25. I read through the whole site and NOWHERE did I see it say you have to be 25 until I reached the BOTTOM of the adoption application. I contacted to double check that rule because my husband is 24 and I am 23 (that's something that should be clearly stated in the adoption process like other sites). My husband and I have served our country for over 4 years, been overseas for three years, been married over three years, have a child, paid off two cars in full, own a house and us being told we cannot get the only dog that fit perfectly to our lifestyle because we are not 25 was a HUGE disappointment. So we are starting from the ground up with a puppy from "another local shelter". They are denying a lot of dogs good homes with this rule. I truly truly hope Max finds a good home! read more

Where do I begin. Well after finding a dog on their site that I was extremely interested in I filled out the very lengthy and detailed application process. Good thing there isn't an application fee (as of this writing) because it was all a waste of time. After waiting a week and sending numerous emails with no responses, I messaged them via facebook to find out what was going on. I did get a fast response there and after some back and forth scheduled a phone interview. The phone interview went on for about an hour, in which I satisfactorily answered many prying questions. Finally, I was asked if my girlfriend and I plan on having kids in the next 15 years...we currently don't have any kids but plan on it years from now. Because I may have kids within the next 15 years, we were denied a dog that was listed as "good with kids". I repeatedly pushed back on this to find out if that was not true but I was assured that he was good with kids, but they would not adopt him out to me because I may be having kids...within the next 15 years...oh and the fee is pretty ridiculous ($400+) and they want to do some home visits. Absolutely ridiculous adoption requirements all around. read more

Tara's House should be ashamed of themselves. In this day in age where millions of abandoned animals are senselessly destroyed every year simply because they cannot find an adoptive family, this organization fails utterly short of their mission statement and, worst yet, fails the very animals they are supposedly caring after and attempting to find good homes for. I can certainly understand that this organization is an all-volunteer group; however, they state on their website that they will respond to all adoption inquiries states within 24 to 48 hours. It took them over a week to get back to us after we sent them three different communications (completed online adoption application, sent general website inquiry, and sent direct email). Not only where they non-responsive to our inquiries, their delayed response was simply a one sentence email stating the following: "we do not adopt a dog into a house where there is a toddler." That was it, nothing more. Just to make sure I wasn't out of the loop regarding general adoption guidelines for rescue groups. I contacted three other dog rescue agencies and asked them if they had a similar policy where they could not adopt a dog into a family who had a toddler. Their responses ranged from "you're kidding right, of course we would" to "if we did that, over 30% of our dogs would never be adopted." So, after realizing that I was not the only one who thought that Tara's House's one sentence email response was a little weird, I emailed them back asking them what exactly is their "minimum age requirement for children?" Of course they never responded. Here is the thing, at the end of the day, our family can always go to another rescue agency to adopt another dog because there are countless animals in need of a good home. So who loses in the aforementioned story, the poor dog that we were trying to adopt. When it comes to rescue agencies, there are way too many of them doing the right thing, and unfortunately Tara's House seems to being doing the wrong things. Do yourself a favor, look at another, more willing agency, to help you find your next four legged family member. Just so there is no confusion, here is what our Tara's House adoption application looked like: homeowners, prior dog owners, fenced yard, upper middle class family, and two children. read more

This rescue has disappointed me with their lack of communication and bias practices. I submitted an application, did a phone interview, and I was never provided an update as to the status of my application. I emailed several times and even responded on their social media page to find my comment deleted. The comment I wrote was beneath another advertisement (3 in the last two weeks) when my application was submitted more than 5 weeks ago. If I didn't make the cut, why not let me know. I specifically indicated that I would pause on looking for a furry friend until I heard from them regarding the dog I was interested in. Nothing! I also want to point out that I believe their selection process may demonstrate inequitable expectations at best. Search all of their social media pages and you will notice a huge lack of diversity among the adopters. I am not jumping to assumptions, but it is glaringly obvious to me that implicit bias maybe an issue. I really wanted this dog too. I am incredibly disappointed and bit hurt. :( read more

I wanted to adopt a dog I found through Tara's House. She was listed as 80 lbs and cat, dog and kid friendly. It took over a month to meet her, I was told after inquiring that the dog had been receiving treatment for an infection and had not been to meet and greets because of that. When my kids and I finally were able to meet her, we found her to be 100 lbs, specifically dog aggressive and that she had never been around cats. I don't mind the weight difference, but stating in the dog's profile that she is cat and dog friendly when it's not true is just not okay. Then the foster parent mentioned that the dog had staples in. The dog had surgery for cancer, NOT an infection. I can't stand rescues who will say anything to get people to take an animal. It is not fair to the animal or the people involved. read more

I adopted a dog from Tara's House 6 months ago. They misrepresented the dog, saying he is fine with other dogs and cats, which he certainly is not! Plus, he is leash aggressive. I did not discover these problems until after the grace period had expired, and thus I have spent many hours and hundreds of dollars on trainers trying to help him, with very little progress, and I have to spend hundreds on boarding when I go on vacation because he cannot stay with other dogs, or might kill my sister's cat. My children love the dog, but I would have adopted a different dog if they had been honest. read more

went to animal control shelter to adopt a dog for $15. was told the dog we wanted would have to go through outside adoption and cost $200! went through tara's house, filled out the extensive online application with references and vet info, answering lots of questions. adopted a dog that had 'training issues' - turns out the dog was highly aggressive and despite proper crate training, and training with treats and clicker the dog grew increasingly vicious constantly attacking me and our son, and eventually my husband (who was the alpha of our 'pack'). we took him to the vet, set up a health plan, treated him for the hookworms he had when we adopted him, bought a crate, bought extra tall baby gates to control where in the house he could go (to help with house training). played with him, took him to the park... gave it our all. after two consecutive nights of staying up with an uncontrollable dog until 2 a.m. we decided to take him back to animal control. i sent an email to tara's house informing them and recieved a very nasty email back telling me i was "irresponsible" and how dare i not contact them sooner. i replied this is a vicious dog, we tried everything and know how to train a dog and got advice and training research from our vet and the akc website. your contract does not say to contact you so you can find a foster home, it says to contact you first, which i did. but, we're not keeping a dog that is biting our son. took the dog to animal shelter. they told us we did the right thing - that there was original paperwork saying the dog should not be placed in a home with children and that he was a danger. when they saw the bruises (from the dog's gnawing on my arms) and the puncture wounds (also on my arms) they were shocked. i find that most of these shelter and pet adoption folks are tipped over - meaning no social skills (they like pets more than people). the 'bite officer' at animal control laughed in agreement. ask for the original paperwork on the dog before adopting and i suggest avoiding tara's house. read more