My review is based on my personal experience. I wanted one of their dogs as my previous dog died…read morelast year and I was ready to have another companion. "Teddy" was posted on Facebook as a border collie mix. In order for me to adopt, I chose to change my work schedule and dog proof my home for his arrival and new change of life. I was ready to train him and knew what I was getting into except this shelter did not warn me of his aggression.
On the adoption form, I wrote that aggression would be the deal breaker. The day I met "Sampson", as they named him, he was a bit shy, but I felt like we could work it out. I wasn't able to take him home on the day of my meet & greet but one week later I could. My family found him to be the snuggle bug and sweetest dog they've ever met. He licks your face, snuggles, paws you, and gives hugs. He also came with some trauma as sounds scared him and fear filled, he ran and hid. He can be the sweetest little fellow until something makes him snap and then he does get aggressive and possessive over things.
As my family and I had to make a hard decision of giving him back to the shelter, I've had issues with communication and when I met with someone 1:1 today they told us that it was our fault that he is aggressive, that our emotions are upsetting him, and so on.
To be clear, he was nothing but loved in our home. We knew that he was going to come from trauma so we avoided certain noises and switched his collar so he wouldn't be as triggered. We gave him carrots, bananas, treats, and Science Diet kibble.
He can definitely be trained through his aggression, but my family chose not to pursue that path because it was a deal breaker for us, and our other factors included that we had just taken care of a senior dog that was aggressive for 8 years and we no longer wanted to go through that.
I'd advise that "Koda", "Teddy", "Sampson", any of those aliases, not be adopted to a family with children or small animals.
As for the staff, it has been ridiculous working with them. I've had miscommunication, rescheduling, and been rudely talked to (and so has my family). The day the aggression had progressed to the point where we needed to take Koda back, I had called and when I did, Yessi, was annoyed that I called and even more annoyed that I had an issue going on. Obviously, being a part of a shelter, you'd think someone would be more engaged on what's going on with their animal(s).
The other person that I worked with that blamed us, the family, for his aggressiveness tried to guilt trip us into keeping Koda, knowing it was already a hard decision for us. According to them, we were to blame.
The reality is that his trauma and history did not fit with us. Whoever adopts him needs to know that he has this history and does not get placed into the wrong home or into a home like us where we're not prepared to give him what he needs.
