Unchained Melodies Dog Rescue — Local services in Columbia

I recently adopted a puppy from this organization and the overall experience was not great. I was in contact with Ashley, who is great and was extremely helpful, however Melody was not pleasant. We got to the building at the same time and she was very unfriendly. She did not greet us with a hi, but more like what are you doing here. When we got inside and started going through the official process, it got worse. She immediately said something about the puppy not wearing a harness and was lecturing me about why they use them. Then, she went on to mention how skinny he looked and was confused why I was feeding him what I was when I was following the paper I was given. The dog I adopted is not underweight and is very tall, so just appears slimmer. At the end of the final process she refused to acknowledge us, talked about us as if we weren’t in the room, and did not finish the process and gave it to Ashley to finish it. Overall, the dogs, other staff members, and foster parents are amazing, but the...

My roommate got a puppy from here and up until today the service was pretty good. Ashley in particular was amazing. Melody on the other had was rude, unprofessional, immature and just outright disrespectful. My roommate was told how much to feed her puppy by this place then we came in and she got berated by melody to feed him more. Also she was mean about her using a slip leash instead of a harness. Melody then proceeded to talk as if we weren’t there to another lady in the room saying “yeah i don’t know why they’re not using a harness” among other things and just being unprofessional and bitchy the whole time we were there. If you are wanting to get a puppy i highly recommend a different place. Especially if you want to be treated as a person. Melody needs to get her attitude in check if she wants people to continue to come to her NON PROFIT organization, because being rude is not the way to go about things especially to girls 3x...

We have adopted twice from UMDR, Bentley (passed in March 2025) and Cinnamon, and just love this organization! They put a lot of time and effort into getting to know their pups and making sure that they find homes that are a great fit. Both times the foster parents were in touch regularly to make sure the dog was settling in well and to see if we needed support. Melody and the volunteers are always great to interact with. They would often recognize our dog when we were out at events and stop to say hi! We also love the dog friendly events they host throughout the year!

This is truly an amazing organization and they do incredibly difficult work rehabbing dogs that come to them from hard situations. If you are looking for a new best friend, it's a great place...