County of San Diego Department of Animal Services — Attraction in Carlsbad

I don't want to happen to another family, what has happened to our family. We adopted a dog that had been there 10 days. I've been going back and forth to 3 other shelters for 5 months. Rancho Coastal in Encinitas, Helen Woodward and Oceanside Humane Society. These shelters have you fill out paperwork and information on your family and your needs for a furry companion. I take things very seriously and that took time but they cared and sat with you, asking lots of questions for the right dog for your family.

When I walked into the Carlsbad shelter, you only had to give them your name and address. On the second visit, I found a dog that seemed quiet and docile in their very dark cages. I kept asking what the dog was like and they would say they hadn't had it long enough to evaluate. 2 days later the dog was up for adoption. It was on a lottery, he was so desired and I won the lottery. My husband and I are in our 70's. We needed a dog that was easy to Handel.

He needed neutering and they made us take him home that same day. They handed us pages of information about his vaccines, etc. Page 3 stated that he was bright, alert and rambunctious. I didn't read this till I got home. If I had seen this, or told this, I would of said it wasn't what we could handle. Long story short, he should be outside, on a farm and herding goats. We is too much for us to handle. Meanwhile, my husband and 30 year old daughter have fallen in love with him but I'm home with him all day. I'm so angry about how this all came about. This shelter is for profit and run by the government. They don't work like the Humane Society which is non profit. I'm beside myself as we're 4 days into...

Found a beautiful and very friendly female blue nose pit bull who was causally cruising the street. I followed her as I have 4 dogs of my own and the guilt of not knowing what happened to this dog would have drove me crazy. I called and was finally redirected to this location after being told by multiple humane societies that we were simply out of their jurisdiction. While on the phone with the staff member the dog decided she was tired (had already been following her for almost an hr) and laid down for a nap. I then gave my location to the staff member and was promised someone would be there as soon as possible. After waiting more than hour after hanging up with the staff member I called again and was told that they rarely ever send someone out as people never wait with the dog and animals usually wonder off. I proceeded to advise I specifically told the prior staff member that I had/will be waiting with the dog and had been patiently waiting for over an hour. They then refused to send someone unless the dog was being held at a establishment/residence so I provided my home address and took her home. After waiting several hours still no one showed up so I looked up their address and opted to drop the dog off myself requesting a call once the dog got picked up/if the dog didn’t get picked up, which of course I never received.

I completely understand their stance as most people I don’t believe would wait until a dog gets picked up but could have saved my time if they would have just been flat out transparent about it instead of beating around the...

The correct hours are 9:30am--5:30pm Tues-Sat. (Update 4/27/17: Temporarily Open Sundays) They are normally closed on Sunday and Monday.

I have not adopted any animals from here, but I can tell you that they have always been personable and professional when I have taken found cats to them. They will also loan out a trap for catching feral cats.

They call themselves a No-Kill shelter, but in the past this has only applied to "adoptable" animals. Feral cats, for example, were euthenized after 3 days. However, they do allow TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) if you want to take responsibility for the feral animal. It will be chipped, vaccinated, fixed, and have one of its ears clipped so that authorities can identify it as a vaccinated feral. They then give it back to you to release where you found it. I have done this with several cats there.

Don't expect them to call you to pick up the animal because they don't appear to always be that organized. If you do not take the feral back the animal may be sent somewhere else where they need cats to control rodents. However, the only places that NEED feral cats are places like farms where there are bigger predators eating the cats. The cat will likely fall prey to a coyote or some other predator there and be eaten in short order.

The Oceanside Humane Society is a true No-Kill shelter, but you have to have an address within their jurisdiction to take animals there. This has to do with where Carlsbad and Oceanside get their funding from for...