San Diego Humane Society's Escondido Campus — Local services in Escondido

I had an unpleasant experience here with both employees and policies.

When I walked in the door, there were four employees sitting in the lobby, chit chatting. None of them acknowledged me until I stood there, unmoving, and made them uncomfortable with my presence. I cheerfully asked about kittens with specific attributes, and they waved me back 'through those doors, on the right'.

So I went back, found the crates of kittens and looked around. I went back to the lobby to ask if I could see a few of the kittens but was immediately discouraged based on their policy of no contact. That was okay with me, but I still wanted to see the kittens in an environment besides a dark crate.

One of the women reluctantly followed me back and pointed out kittens that fit my request. I acknowledged I understood their policy, but asked if she might be able to handle and show them to me through the plexiglass. Again, I got resistance but she did acquiesce.

There was a kitten who broke all my requests but whom I fell in love with. The employee told me she was a 'shy' kitten and had been 'brought in by a good Samaritan'. The humane society should do better in their definition of 'shy' and the stories of how an animal arrived in their care. As it was, my kitten is not shy whatsoever, and in fact, is quite fearless. Further, she exhibits signs of a feral past, behaviors that I question whether she'll ever grow out of.

Fortunately, she found a good home with me, and we've grown quite fond of one another, no thanks to Escondido Humane Society. While I have nothing positive to say about the employees, I will not discourage anyone from adopting from this facility. I expect that the animals are more well behaved than the employees, and they should not suffer for the employees rude treatment. Go visit. Look beyond the rudeness, and find your furrever friend. They need and will...

What a disastrous experience dealing with personnel at the Escondido Campus! The harrowing and extremely disappointing experience was due to the lack of transparency and plain common sense. This morning we arrived at exactly 8:50 eager to adopt a dog and do our part in helping these noble organizations facing serious problems with overcrowding. We were told by phone the Escondido Campus opened at 10:00 and we waited one hour and ten minutes outside the gate, respecting the rules of the facility. However, this was a grave mistake, because another car drove by when the gate opened for an employee and they proceeded into the building where they were helped by the staff as we explained we had in our phone the notification we were first in line, that we respectfully waited until 10:00 to drive into the facility and that the couple in the car that sped by before 10:00 were barely getting help scanning the bar code. Everything we explained fell on deaf ears with the repeated explanation that they have zero control over who goes in through the gates and they were sorry we were disappointed! The manager repeated the same inadequate excuse which only proved they are quick to reward the people that disregard the rules and penalize the one who follow them. It honestly felt like we were dealing with people in an underdeveloped society where decisions are made arbitrarily and randomly. How can we possibly continue to support the Humane Society with monetary donations as well as blankets and towels, when disorganization and complacency by management and staff alike at the Escondido Campus left us with a disappointed child at home, and great shame for future people that will probably encounter the same experience unless someone trains staff and management! Friendly suggestion, take a field trip to the Helen Woodward facility to learn how to respect people who...

I was driving through on my way home to Fallbrook, and I found a dog walking in the middle of the street about 10 mins away from the Humane Society. Fortunately they were still open and I was able to bring him there. As it turns out, the area I found him in (a few miles away in Valley Center) wasn't "in their jurisdiction" and they just wouldn't take him. I guess I understand why they couldn't, but I was in an unfamiliar area, just trying to go home, and currently had a big old lab in the back of my car... (in their jurisdiction FWIW). He didn't come from far away, I just needed a safe place to take him. Ultimately the HS gave me a piece of paper with numbers to call, and put the onus on me to try to figure out what the heck to do with this dog that I couldn't take home or to the nearest Animal Services location (in Carlsbad!) which is was what they suggested I do. The staff wasn't particularly nice or helpful, and seemed extremely inconvenienced by me. However when I called Animal Services from the HS parking lot, that woman was VERY kind and helpful. Over the course of about 30 minutes, AS tried to work with me and the Humane Society to try to figure out a solution. Overall I'm really disappointed. It was a stressful situation for me (and probably Carl, who was sitting in the back seat of my car the whole time, but was eventually reunited with his owners), and I would have hoped for a bit more help and compassion. Since the Humane Society facility is so close to unincorporated SD County (Animal Services's jurisdiction), I would have hoped they would have had a better plan to help people just trying to do the right thing for a lost dog instead of just giving them the AS phone number and basically saying it's not...