Centre County PAWS — Local services in College Township

The facility itself is very clean as far as shelters go. The dogs are obviously well-cared for. The staff is also very caring towards their animals. It is a great place for an animal to wait to find their forever home.

However, if you are a student, go elsewhere to adopt. Adoption fits should be on a case-by-case basis, not based on occupation, but it is quite obvious that Centre County Paws is not interested in adopting to students due to out-dated and blanket-statement stereotypes. When I visited, interested to adopt a dog to bring into my home, the staff were very friendly at first. Once they had learned that I was a student, however, things changed completely. They require all students to volunteer for a minimum of 20 hours to "teach first-time adopters the responsibility of owning a pet" (but only "student" first-time adopters, might I add, not others). The staff are not willing to be flexible with scheduling these hours to fit the needs of a busy student, either. Just on the basis that you are a student you will be treated as being irresponsible and unable to care for an animal, regardless if you have had animals in the past. I am a student who spends 10 hours in a research lab on campus, has a full course-load, is a member of two honor society groups on campus, and spends most of my free time working on an independent research project to be published later this year, all while maintaining the Dean's List every semester. I have also had dogs before who were very well taken care of. I would not consider myself an irresponsible person and I am definitely fit to take care of a dog (as I have done before), but simply because I am a student, I am discriminated against. My schedule is a busy one, and volunteering an additional 20 hours is not do-able for me, especially when they are not willing to be flexible with scheduling to fit between my classes and hours in the lab. I'm well aware that this discriminatory practice has been "in place for 10 years," but just because it's tradition, doesn't make it right. While some students I'm sure should not own animals, it is not all of them, and to assume so is wrong.

As for being preferential in who they adopt to, Centre County Paws quite obviously plays favorites. Suspiciously, many new dog listings, usually the puppies, on their website show up with "application pending" before they are even able to be seen by the public (or even sometimes when their hours state that they are closed). The only way that this can happen is if there is a list of their favorites who they call before the dogs are listed so they can get first pick before the rest of the public.

Finally, Centre County Paws has strange adoption regulations for some dogs, and strange visitation rules for others. Some dogs who have special behavioral issues need "pre-approval" before they can be seen, meaning that if you want to even see them, you must put in an application and be approved. In order to put in an application, you need to have a specific dog in mind, but in order to see that dog, you need pre-approval. By the time you are pre-approved, that dog may already be adopted. This bureaucratic process allows Paws to make it difficult for people they don't want adopting their animals to adopt. While I am sure some of these dogs may have a hard time adjusting to shelter life, if you want to get these dogs their forever homes in a timely manner, this is not the way to do it. I've seen some of these dogs listed for a while now, most likely because of the difficult process Paws makes you go through in order to adopt, or even see them. Socialization is an important process that shelter dogs must go through in order to be fit for adoption, and by keeping people from seeing the dogs in this manner, they are not getting what they need. Adopting dogs is not a perfect process, and many dogs don't always go to the perfect home, but dogs can adapt to their new environments and thrive. Expecting potential adopters to meet your specific requirements doesn't even give some of these...

I was very rudely rejected from kitten adoption for owning ball pythons, and planning to introduce them to each other SAFELY (at a distance, when the cat is older), in order to desensitize them to each other- a common animal process. The Adoption Director apparently doesn’t know what desensitization is, though? She put it in quotes in the only response email I ever got from them… very concerning that someone who works professionally with animals doesn’t understand desensitization.

This was honestly a ridiculous situation, for a few reasons. I have directly facilitated a few adoptions from PAWS, and had worked with an adoption counselor closely for my friend’s kitten adoption. PAWS used me as a reference for others to adopt from them on two separate occasions. I am ALSO a supervisor at a pet store. I am a professional animal caretaker. And they did not call any of my references- job, vet, ANYONE- before making their decision. Is it not common practice to ask questions before making a critical choice?

PAWS is also perfectly okay adopting a 10 week old kitten (JUST spayed, fresh stitches, I saw them, I drove her home) out to a family with an 85lb pitbull (very sweet girl, but reactive!) that they had never met, but not out to a family that has locked, caged, medium sized snakes, in a separate enclosed room from the main house. I’m not saying that that cat shouldn’t have gone home with the aforementioned family- the girls love each other and they play very well- their vetting process just doesn’t make sense. Wouldn’t that pose a bigger risk, technically? It seems randomly discriminatory.

There was a very tall woman with a blonde pony tail (cornflower blue sweatshirt on the day of visiting) who was incredibly rude to me once we had figured out that we had been rejected. She is typically rude to everyone, all the time, and I would like to document that publicly. There is ALSO a very kind woman who is short and has long brown hair that is kind of wavy, and she is the ONLY reason I didn’t leave the facility in tears. We waited half an hour for a room only to be SHUNNED once they saw my rejected application, and then they left us ALONE with a TERRIFIED kitten who was obviously incredibly uncomfortable!! Again, that doesn’t make sense. Why would you leave a kitten alone with someone you’ve deemed unfit to care for one?

As for the “long wait times” and the “hard” application process, it’s really not bad if they’re treating you fairly. I appreciated every question they asked on that form, as someone who has to decide who to allow to own animals daily. Honestly loved PAWS and recommended them to everyone before this incident. I HIGHLY recommend Pets Come First if you are in the area- they have less funding and they do WAY more. PAWS is an excellent care facility, but this adoption situation was full of ZERO communication and disappointment after disappointment. The only thing that stands out to me is just how genuinely bad I felt when they interacted with me once they decided I was beneath them.

I would have been happy to wait months for a kitten. I would have been happy to talk to someone about how exactly to introduce the kitten to the snakes. I would have been happy to have heard back from them at all after they finally told me WHY I got rejected! (They did not tell me until a week after they told me that I was rejected). I don’t quite know what’s going on in that facility, but I’d advise you to spend your time and money elsewhere. Pets Come First was excellent, and was able to fully vet me and place me with an adoption within a week, and I don’t believe that they do a worse job at making sure animals go to safe home at all. Speed is not important, of course, but PAWS’ processes feel like...

I remember the day we went to the rescue to pick you out. They say that dogs know who needs rescuing and they pick us out. That is so true in so many instances in our case but I won't go into them here. You werde 2 years old,a bull boxer was your breed and you had the biggest personality I've ever seen an animal have. Right away you settled in to your role in the house,you were dads helper and moms protector. You never asked for much...all you required was your daily walk with dad after work. Somehow that turned into 2 walks a day because you just deserved it!!! We took u everywhere we could and u loved every person u met. U were known all over town in all the dog fri idly stores and you always made sure to get your treat before u left. We spoiled you like a child because we are empty nesters with all the kids and grandkids being so far away. When u get a pet you know u typically only have them for a very short part of your life. We took you to the vet on Friday and you were well. You had a great weekend with mom and dad and then came that Monday morning,2 days before Christmas. You weren't acting right and we could tell something bad was happening. We made an appointment with the vet for lunchtime. You laid in your bed and wouldn't move. You started vomiting and having diarrhea nonstop. We accepted the fact that this was really bad and we may have to make some big decisions. Mom and dad laid on your bed with you for the next 2 hours telling you how much you were loved and how we'd see you again. You took your last breath shortly thereafter and our hearts were shattered. We drove u to the vets,crying the whole way. The reason I'm writing this is to give you the recognition you deserve. We love you Jax and you are our good boy. We didn't get to have you enough years 😥. This was a tribute I put on my Facebook page just to let friends and family see how much our boy meant to us. We adopted Jax in February of 2017. He brought us so much joy and his passing was a pain neither of us will ever forget. Thank you PAWS 🐾 for giving all of us 7 of the best years of our lives. There will come a day when he comes running to us again...no pain,no sickness...just tail wagging and puppy...