Wright-Way Rescue — Attraction in Niles Township

Chose this format due to Google review character limit.

Let me first say that I have been waiting to write this review for a couple of weeks in hopes that I’d have received some kind of acknowledgement or apology from Wright-Way. That didn’t happen.

Summary of a horrible experience:

• After weeks of submitting unanswered requests for puppies we finally received a call to come pick up our puppy ASAP (1st ignored sign). • We scheduled our visit with our new puppy and were curbside within a couple of days. • Upon arrival we were asked to complete adoption paperwork before meeting our puppy (2nd ignored sign). • After a 5 minute in-car visit, we were asked if we wanted to keep the puppy. We said we did. We were told we should purchase at least a small $50 bag of Fromm puppy food that they’ve been feeding her so we can wean her onto our food of choice. Fine. • Puppy vomited (the 1st time) after arriving home. We quickly realized that the expensive Fromm food was not what was being fed to her at Wright-Way as was evident in the kibble size and shape in her vomit (1st acknowledged sign something was amiss). • Puppy was lethargic. Assumed she picked something up at Wright-Way and decided to give her some time to recover. • In the evening she was worse. No eating or drinking. Continued to vomit. Had diarrhea. • In the morning she was just as bad. Tried unsuccessfully to contact Wright-Way. We then started looking for a veterinarian open on the weekend. • Received a call from Wright-Way indicating that one of her siblings were diagnosed with parvovirus. • We were told to drive an hour away to bring her to their contracted vet. • Upon arrival, vet had no information nor authorization for our puppy. We had to sit in the car for over 2 hours (after 1-hour drive to vet) as we tried to call Wright-Way and the vet did the same. Our 2 young, devastated kids had to stay in the car with our lifeless puppy. • Authorization was finally received from Wright-Way and we had to sign a form relinquishing ownership back to Wright-Way so they could make all medical decisions. The vet said all communication would need to go through Wright-Way. • Tried to call Wright-Way all evening with no response. • Went to bed that night not knowing if our puppy was even still alive. • Still no call until the following day when Cathy from Wright-Way called and apologized for the delay. She said she was calling another phone number and leaving messages for us. – I left only one phone number with Wright-Way. – Cathy said she’d be our point of contact going forward. This was the one and only time we heard from Cathy (or anyone at Wright-Way). • After not being able to reach anyone at Wright-Way who could provide an update, the vet agreed to begin providing information. – I felt bad for the vet as they were unfairly stuck in the middle. • We were told that puppy was making progress and was still on intravenous fluids to keep her hydrated, but she was still not eating or drinking on her own. • The next day I tried calling Cathy at Wright-Way, but her voicemail indicated that she was out of the office and directed callers to send an email to a medical email address at Wright-Way. Unacceptable. • Vet later indicated that puppy was doing better and if she continues to progress, we’d be able to pick her up as early as the following day. • Still no word from Wright-Way. Sent emails. Called every phone number I could find to no avail. • Called vet in the morning on the following day and they confirmed I’d be able to pick her up to continue care at home. • It took nearly 2 weeks to recover fully from the parvo infection. • It was also discovered during that time that she had tapeworms. • The kicker was the evening of the day we brought her home; we finally received an email response from Wright-Way indicating that she’s still at the vet and too sick to go home. REALLY!?

My kids were absolutely devastated during this trying week when they should have been celebrating and having fun with their new puppy. Shame on...

If you're looking to adopt, they have plenty of puppies We adopted our very high-energy puppy earlier in 2023. Not only did she have bad ear mites, but so did her 2 brothers and quite possibly the others in that litter who had also been adopted a week or two to four weeks earlier. We've been in touch with 2 of her brothers' adopters. We've reunited her with one brother a few times Her brothers had more medical issues. When I called to talk to someone at Wright Way about our puppy's ear mites, they tried to deny it even though we had medical proof from our vet. The lady who answered the phone was very rude and not caring. She hung up on us and then would NOT answer any more calls from any phone number that day.

If an employee had told us before we adopted her about the ear mites before leaving with her and how they don't have the funds to treat issues like these (which I don't believe is the situation), we would not have been so mad that this issue went untreated until we took care of the $100+ issue. It's cruel to make these puppies deal with the pain from the ear mites and itchy skin from being bitten by these microscopic things.

If you do decide to adopt a puppy or dog from them, check its ears before you leave. Have a soft tissue and very gently rub the inside of its ears to check for ear mites. It will look like dirt.

They change $545 for a puppy. They should've taken them to a vet for the ear mites, which are highly contagious to dogs. They really should have known or noticed how much these puppies were constantly scratching, which showed us how they don't really care about the puppies, but they do care about getting your money. They made us buy a leash and collar before we could leave with our puppy. They really should have that posted for everyone to see so they know what is required before adopting. Had we known, we would have brought one or more with us that we already owned. Our last dog, who was given a great life and blessed us, had passed from old age about 6 months before adopting this puppy.

We also asked for one cup of food for her since her dinner time was about an hour later, according to their feeding schedule. They refused and tried to get us to overpay for a new bag of dog food. All the other rescues to whom we had spoken give you some food to bring home with you. This is greed! IIf they truly cared about these puppies, they'd give you one cup of food so you have a little time to buy the correct food, not to upset the puppy's stomach. Also, a good majority of the food they feed them is donated. Remember, it's a $545 adoption fee that does NOT include even a cup of food, a collar, or leash. The shelter didn't mention the possibility of fostering the puppy first to see if it's a right fit. I understand their goal is to get as many puppy's adopted as possible, but they only guess the puppy's breeds. They usually don't know who the parents were, so you never really know what you'll adopt until YOU get their DNA done. It would be nice if we had been told this ahead of time. Had we known her actual breeds, we could have been more mentally prepared for what to expect. They had her listed wrong. We really wanted a much calmer breed instead of an incredibly high-energy puppy. She's not our first puppy who we adopted in the past. We know puppies require a lot of work, but this one was an extreme. They really should let you know that it's a guess what breeds they are.

They also have a no refund policy, unlike other shelters.

We recently went back to possibly see if any of her litter mates were still there, but fortunately for them, they had also been adopted . We thought about getting her a playmate. The place smelled horrible. Many kennels had poop piles. A puppy was covered in poop. When we said something to a staff member, they said they were too busy to clean that poor poop covered puppy. It was nasty. That should've been a priority. Another dog kept getting his face stuck in his collar. They finally removed it.

Be careful when...

This is regarding adoption during COVID times - I don't know what adopting is like under normal circumstances.

We got approved for adoption, which takes up to two weeks, so be prepared to give that some time.

The process takes a bit to figure out what the heck you're supposed to, but essentially, you put in a reservation request for a puppy that is listed as available on their website. You then have to wait to hear if you're accepted, and they don't notify people until the pup is actually available and ready to go home, meaning medically cleared, done with foster/quarantine, etc. So that might be a day or two, or longer, depending on the situation.

What we came to find out though, is that the puppies that are listed as available most likely already have a bunch of other people who already put in requests for them. Potential adopters have no way of knowing that, though. And they do adoptions on a first come first served basis. So you sit and wait for days to eventually get a generic email that says a pup was adopted to someone else, thanks and try again.

We did this a couple of times with no luck. I eventually called the shelter to ask if there was a better way to do this, or to see which puppies are actually available, or how to search their website for available pups instead of clicking every one to see their status, etc. Their message says they aren't taking any calls, but to email them with questions. So I write them an email with some questions and ask for some advice. And also, you have like 3 litters of puppies available that I'd be interested in and I don't care which one we'd get - instead of putting in a request for a specific pup that already has a request from someone else, can I just give you a list of these names and if any are free let me know? I immediately get back a canned response that says they're not responding to emails and check their website. Which has some unclear and conflicting information (can I put in a request for one or three dogs???). Why would you leave a message that makes a point to tell me to spend time writing you an email just to tell me that you're not responding to emails?

So at this point, I'm trying to figure out how to game the system. Like, can I use Petfinder to filter results and which pups for that shelter have been on for a day or less and try to beat other people to the punch? I tried that several times, too. That didn't really work, either. I even got to the point where I started to feel trigger happy, like "oh a new puppy I have to get it click submit now go go go!" only to realize later that I didn't really want that dog, and the breed probably wasn't a good fit for our family but I guess we'd take it if I had to...? just because I started to get so anxious about not putting requests in quick enough.

After weeks of this, we eventually found a puppy from somewhere else. It started to feel pretty sad about getting the rejection emails all the time, especially after spending days wondering if this puppy might be the one that would be joining our family.

If you have a lot of patience, or if you don't mind a bit of heartbreak and getting turned down, this might be a good place. If you don't have kids that will be very disappointed every time you tell them, no, we didn't that puppy, this might be a good place for you to adopt. And hey, I get it. Wright-Way is in the business of adopting animals. And obviously some people are able to do that - people quicker to the draw than I am. So maybe for WW, that's the bottom line and they're good with the situation and how things are going. Maybe they're not too worried about the experience for the end-user going through the adoption process as long as animals are moving through the doors. I spent about a decade working at a humane society, so I know how it is to be overwhelmed and overworked. I wonder if there is a way to have a good experience for the animals and the...