Foothills Animal Shelter — Local services in Four Corners States

We got our puppy, a lab mix who we named Cannoli, Labor Day weekend. The dog is the perfect fit for our family with two young kids: Cannoli is going to get to grow up with them and they’re all very much already in love with one another. She’s the perfect dog for our family and we love her dearly.

However, my star rating is based off of my experience with the shelter. We paid the $500 adoption fee for our puppy, who was at Foothills for less than 72 hours by the time of adoption (she came from a shelter in New Mexico). When we got her home, we almost immediately noticed that she was having very loose, bloody, stools. She had just gotten spayed at Foothills, and it was a holiday weekend. The shelter vet clinic was closed when we called (understandably), so we did end up getting in touch with an emergency vet to try and figure out if the bloody liquid stools were an emergency or if it could wait until our Tuesday morning vet appointment.

After the vet confirmation, we got our girl diagnosed with both Giardia and Coccidia. The vet said this is a fairly regular occurrence from the dogs coming out of Foothills.

We contacted the shelter to alert them, because if one dog has Giardia/coccidia, more do, and to express our frustration at the high (albeit worth it) adoption fee for a healthy dog… but we didn’t get a healthy dog. We were in communication with the vet tech from Foothills, who said that they’d reimburse us for the fecal analysis and medications.

However, we never heard back from the shelter. We did not receive a credit, and after two weeks I responded to the email thread asking what is going on and if someone could please follow-up.

At that point, we did receive a credit back to our card for $107 to cover the initial decal test and medication, but did not cover the entirety of the medications necessary to clear the parasites out of her system. As of writing this review, she’s finished up meds and no longer is experiencing symptoms.

We have spoken to our vet tech neighbor, our dog trainer, and the folks at the vet - everyone has said that the dogs coming out of Foothills are sick with Giardia. We’ve also now met neighbors who experienced similar issues when adopting their dogs from Foothills. Which just leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth - I’m so incredibly disappointed that Foothills won’t proactively treat the dogs in their care with the proper medications to fix it.

I’m also very disappointed that Foothills told me, when calling to process my refund, that it must have just been an issue with our dog because no dogs in their care have Giardia, which contradicts everything I’ve heard from others and several vets.

I do not regret getting our sweet puppy from Foothills, but I will not get a future dog from this facility and I will not recommend this facility to others. Adopting out sick puppies is just disheartening and depressing, especially considering the fees at...

I don’t ever want to dissuade people from adopting a shelter pet, but I also don’t want to encourage irresponsible shelter practices. So here we are.

We adopted our dog from Foothills about a week ago; he is the sweetest most lovable animal and we absolutely adore him. The shelter staff assured us that his preliminary vet exam went well and that he had a clean bill of health when we signed the adoption paperwork. However, we took him in for his first vet check-up today and the veterinarian found a very noticeable heart murmur that should have been revealed in any preliminary exams performed by the shelter. We are scheduling an EKG to determine the severity of the murmur, but we feel extremely devastated and frustrated as Foothills either knew about the murmur and did not disclose it to us or they did not perform an adequate intake exam and he (or their other adoptable animals) may suffer from additional health concerns. I genuinely want the animals in this shelter to find loving homes who can provide for them, but I don’t see how it’s possible with such irresponsible shelter practices.

Update 6/27/21: our EKG results came back; our pup has a severe subaortic stenosis which would have been instantly apparent had any person along the line placed a stethoscope to his chest just once. As a cherry on top, the shelter vet gave us a call (after we emailed. No one actually picks up phones here) and confirmed that the shelter did not check over our dog before putting him up for adoption. In fact, they admitted that it was standard practice for them not to perform check ups when the dogs are coming from other shelters in the southwest. Why? Aren’t injuries possible during transportation from one state to the next? Isn’t exposure to disease heightened during this period? More importantly: why wouldn’t Foothills want to perform an adequate check up on each animal before placing them on the adoption floor? If the shelter actually cared about the animals’ well-being and success in their future homes, they would.

Tldr: save yourself the heartbreak and adopt from a more responsible and...

I had to take in my dog who had started showing aggressive behavior towards my other dog and my kids. After weeks of searching for rescues to take her, as an absolute LAST choice I contacted Foothills Animal shelter. The women I talked to on the phone were very helpful, made it seem like they were more than willing to work with us because we desperately needed help. But, when I brought my dog in the desk clerk , Jake was extremely rude. Insinuating that I should keep my dog and endanger my other dog and my children. Even going as far as to say he was sure he would see me again with the next dog. I was infuriated, I have never willingly surrendered a dog in my life and I was extremely upset this was what I was having to do. And I would never do it again, the only reason being the safety of my children was in question. He didn't ask her breed, or her age, and got a minimal history. Which doesn't include the fact that her first owner abused her and her sister, and I got her from a foster. The entire time I was reprimanded saying her problems were only because she wasn't spayed,(which I had plans to do) or not walked on a leash everyday(which she hadn't done very often and we were working on), and he didn't seem to care there were children in the crossfire, didn't even listen to my concerns. I talked to several trainers, and vets trying to find the best possible option, and they all told me the same thing: she needed a behaviorist, and help that I wasn't qualified to give her. All of the rescues I contacted were full, and this was my absolute LAST option. I will NEVER be dealing with this place again. I will not be treated so appallingly over me trying to help my dog that I love dearly, and for keeping my family and other dog safe. If I could post with Zero stars I would. This isn't how you treat someone who is a loving dog owner seeking help for an animal they consider a part of...