Humane Rescue Alliance — Attraction in Washington

EDIT: After over 5 years of sharing a home and life with my wonderful friend, I came back and downgraded my vote for HRA based on what I consider to be a culture of negligence that may well be limiting the adoption potential of their organization.

When I adopted Patty I was told she had been a stray, and was living in foster (3 months) to learn how to be a dog; as she had previously been feral. They described her as resource guarding and FOREVER incapable of being around children under 13, other dogs, or animals of any kind. They said she would REQUIRE professional training on a regular basis for years, and they could recommend me to the two people only they vet in the entire DMV. They told me that she was mildly dangerous and could snap at any time, and I needed to get insurance for her, and to not plan on starting a family or entertaining at my home. They even offered me other "more calm" animals (one of which was a massive 140lb Mastiff named Dallas) that I hadn't even met, going against their own protocols.

First I would like to point out that my dog has never had professional training of any kind. She has never displayed a single quality of a feral animal. She has also never shown aggression towards another living thing, even bugs, the entire time she has been here. I gave her a loving and patient home and in return she has met my trust with respect and loyalty.

Patty met a newborn baby less than six months after arriving here. She has also met rabbits, a house-squirrel, rough toddlers, countless adults including the elderly/infirm, and we even adopted a kitten almost a year ago. Countless road trips, off-leash camping, daily dog park during the pandemic; NO PROBLEMS! She pulls the leash, she lunges to get close to people, she jumps to give kisses... but she is most certainly not the violent "ready to snap" animal that I was made to think she was, and had I taken their advice I might've ended up like the "so many" other people who had come to see her at foster, told the foster they would adopt her, and then suddenly broke contact. As a matter of fact my 80lb Bully is afraid of and regularly ambushed by a 1yr kitten that is 1/5th his size. Instead of aggression she chooses running in terror to find me or initiates playtime. She can tell the difference between domestic and wild animals, and even plays nice with DEER and OPPOSSUM. No mediation or refereeing by humans EVER required, so I get to gape in awe at the beauty and majesty of a well-mannered animal that loves life as much as I do.

It's a sad and unnecessary bout of prejudice for an animal who didn't deserve it, and the necessarily slow realization makes me wonder... how many similarly situated dogs that are anxious and scared in their current environment are slipping through the cracks, because the (volunteer, mind you) staff is either overburdened or too callous to notice when welfare is being sacrificed for... I don't even know what? Perceived operational milestones? Honestly why doesn't matter, behaviorists are not doing their jobs right. Especially when there are so many public comments claiming a perfectly adoptable animal was euthanized. Medical misclassification of a human, behavioral or otherwise, is enough to get a professional removed from their practice; I don't see how an institution with a mission such as theirs would operate any other way. But here we are, with me recommending you go to Animal Welfare League in Arlington, VA...

PREVIOUS POST: After an adoption process with direct and informative staff that was cognizant to the needs of my new friend and myself, I have thoroughly enjoyed the early stages of acclimating my best friend Patty (formerly Pantene) to our home.

Front desk staff and adoption counselor was friendly, and the adoption supervisor(?) took time to call me and follow up with recommendations in regards to resources catered to this dogs needs. The foster parent has also been a great asset and to me that also demonstrates a certain caliber of professionalism on the part of HRA for holding on to such...

I have adopted a cat from here a few months ago. I found a cat on my balcony and fed it last night. Then it came again today so I fed him again and called the HRA then they mentioned to pick up would be hours. I was close by so I took it. The receptionist guy was one of the rudest unprofessional completely irresponsible person I came across especially in the field of animal care. First he rushed me to fill a form and just took the cat like a thing. Then I asked what will happen to the cat, does he have family or I can take care of him. He looked up and found the owner and he gave back the cat to me mentioning that I have to give it back to the owner. She lives few blocks from you and you have to take it to her. I said I can do that but it would be best if the owner can come and take from here if it is close by. He got frustrated and even said that they can’t keep him because he is micro chipped and it would be like a stolen property. I wasn’t too clear about the rules, I was taking the cat back and called the number on the website again. Then the first thing the representative on the phone said was they are not allowed to refuse to take a lost cat. If it has an owner then they call and contact and until then keep the cat. I noticed a wound on the cat and I told them he needs to be looked at and he didn’t even respond to that and finally said the medics are not in for the day. But when I took him back the guy was even more angry and even sent the other person to talk to me. This whole drama he created was unprofessional and unnecessary. Like no one has time for this type of childish mockery. If you do not want to work, call off or change your work. Playing on animals life however is plain cruelty. The lady was talking calmly and I was explaining to her that they need to take this cat. I also called the owner and she mentioned she was on the way to pick him up so it could be fine. They guy came again and said...fine we will take it. I’ll not even admit this cat because the owner is coming anyway. He even put away the form I took time to fill my information, availability in case the Owener isn’t available, all that information for nothing. He told me I can go now and closed the door on me. Then the other lady brought the bag I had the cat in. Woowwwwwww this was not normal. Like what was that about. Just take the cat, admit, take care till owner comes and of not find a home. The owner would be more appreciative that I made sure her car was ok instead of them just giving it to strangers to transport him to the owner. How does that even work? I would hate my cat to go through this if I lost it. I think it’s really simple. He just didn’t want to admit the cat because the owner was close by and she was on the way. Like that may be true good for them but I do not need to know all about this drama. All I came here was just to drop the cat, make sure I let them know about his wound and just find him his family if not then take care of him till he finds a home. Didn’t think more to it until I met the guy at the shelter. The worst human who shouldn’t even be in this type of environment. I was not going to say anything but that’s what he probably thought. I do not write reviews at all but this is not a review, this is a message to people who may be concerned. I’ll raise this everywhere. I am disappointed I didn’t get his name but he was the only one on the reception this evening and his...

Very disappointing. I had better hopes for this facility especially since their webcams are online endorsed by Animal Planet. As several others said, the receptionist is rude. I don't know if the receptionist is the same person as the lady that answers the phone in the adoptions, but the young person who handles phones in adoptions is named Sarah and is NOT helpful in the least. She's rude and doesn't have a clue about any of the animals there. I've been in other facilities where they had a lot more animals and the staff knew about the animals they claim to care for. This place does not. I would also like to point out that I've witnessed behavior on the kitten cam from the cleaning crew that is less than acceptable. For instance, a very fat woman with short black hair (she happens to be black) is a regular cleaner and is more interested it seems in her headphones than the animals. She wears headphones (listening to music??) and when she cleans the kennel it is pitiful. I've seen her wrap up a kitten toy in the blanket liner to be washed (not paying attention to removing the toy first) and when she goes to clean the kitten kennel, she pours close to half a gallon of some kind of cleaner (bleach maybe?) in one area of the kennel, fails to spread it evenly around the floor with a mop, and then right over the top of the bleach or whatever cleaning fluid she uses, she pours water from a large watering can and just pours it over the same area where she poured the bleach or other cleaning fluid, again, not evenly distributing any of this throughout the rest of the floor space. I've witnessed other behavior from several cleaning crew on these webcams and it's appalling the way they clean them. They've often replaced water in the middle of the room along with food bowls, rather than placing them near walls, out of the way so that the animals won't dump their water as they're playing. This has happened frequently from the different cleaning crew. Other people have seen this on the kitten cam for instance and have made comments about the kittens wanting water when they've dumped it while playing because someone didn't take any interest or care in the placement of their bowls. I've done animal rescue and volunteer work throughout my life and I'd really like to know where you get your cleaning crew and just what kind of training they receive. It's almost like they're doing community service hours because they don't take a strong interest if hardly any, in the work they're doing and why. It is for these animals. Please do better for these animals. They are having a rough enough start in life as it is. Hire people that actually take an interest in the care and well being of them, including the cleaning of their kennels/space, placement of their bowls out of the way of play activity, and staff that actually take an interest in the animals you have for adoption when speaking with them either by phone or in...