Animal House Shelter — Local services in Lake in the Hills

Of course I love my dog and he'll never go back to the shelter but I'd just be cautious and ask a lot of questions when you are looking for a pup. I specifically asked for a dog that was good with other dogs because I had a lot in my complex and my doggo is the complete opposite of what I was asking for even though they told me he was great with other dogs. It's been super frustrating especially when he gets extra aggressive and barks like crazy 100 ft away from other owners and dogs that don't even know he's there. Hes very strong and can pull me easily and jumps so high he tries to knock me out of the way to show others his aggression when I'm trying to calm him down. It's very extra and I wasn't prepared for any of that because that's not what they told me he was like. I've become completely attached to his lovable self because hes super protective over me and hes so happy in my apartment that I'd never break his heart and bring him back as to why he got adopted after a month of fostering. The shelter just seemed like the worst place for him to be at. They could of been a bit more specific with some of his issues because it seems like the moment after I adopted him there was so much I needed to fix and pay for when all they told me was that he was stressed out, nothing else. When he was placed in my care his nails weren't cut and he was scratching my arms up and down that I had to make him an appointment the moment we got home because he was making my arms bleed and I had only had him for about 2 hours. Within the first week he was here I was told he had an ear infection but they didn't say anything about that to me so I went out of my way to take care of it because I don't trust the shelter or anything they said. I wasn't making the hour drive there and back for them to help him with something they should of paid attention to initially, before handing him over to me so easily. I'd only recommend this shelter because they have a lot of dogs and cats that need to get out of there and receive a lot of love. I just don't know if all the animals they just take in are getting the specific care that they need. Just be very specific and ensure that they know what they're talking about because all the information they gave me was wrong about him besides the fact that he hates cats. That was the only trait they got right. I love my dog and as psychotic as he is I'm doing everything I can to let other people know he's a sweetheart and to love him and accept him as much as I do. He has a great training teacher, he gets a 20 min walk 3-4 times a day. He's completely spoiled by my bf and I, along with our families. His birthday is coming up so I'll be baking him a dog friendly cake and giving him a box full of presents I've been accumulating this month. Hes very happy here and I know how appreciative he is to be loved and feel safe so I want other future owners to do the same and change the lives of those animals that are...

This business is providing a desperately needed service. So many animals deserve a loving home. That being said, my experience with them was extremely frustrating and saddening due to being very disorganized and unprofessional.

I came to the site with an appointment to look at a couple of dogs we saw on their website, which was an hour drive for me. When we go there, 1 of the 3 dogs we asked about was actually available. 1 was adopted earlier in the day, no big deal, the other one was at a foster. The first dog wasn't a match for my dog, so we asked to see the other. I was told I would have to come back the next day when the foster could bring them in. We left and came back the next day. The fosters arrived, but it wasn't the dog we had asked about. The dog we wanted to see was on site, but didn't have it's shots and was due to be fixed during the week so we couldn't meet with him. I asked to just see the dog to get a feel for him, even through a window. They eventually allowed my wife and I to see him, but not our dog. Fine. We connected with the dog and asked when he would be available to meet with our dog and be adopted, they told us the following Saturday. We made the earliest appointment they had for 11:30am.

The day before the appointment my wife called to check on the dog to make sure the recovery was going well and that he would be ready to be adopted the next day. They told us that he was available today and someone had already looked at him that morning. She expressed her concern about that since we were looking forward to adopting this dog the next day and had been told he wasn't available. They told us that they do not hold specific animals. We pleaded with them to note that we were scheduled to meet him the next day as we both work and weren't able to be there that night. We were told that they would and it should be fine.

A couple of hours later the shelter called back to tell us that the dog had been adopted. They wanted to know if there was another dog we would be interested in seeing the next day.

All they could do was say they were sorry for all the mix ups, but their policy is not to hold animals. I can understand that in most situations where you've never met the people, you don't know if they will actually show, whatever, but we had committed 4 hours on Saturday, another 4 hours on Sunday, we had said explicitly we wanted to adopt him as soon as he was available and made an appointment for it.

It's very upsetting to have connected with this animal, given up a huge chunk of our weekend, put things in place to get ready to bring him home, only to be given the runaround and then have it pulled out from under us.

This was a horrible experience. Will never return to...

My girlfriend and I drove 45 minutes to this rescue with the intention of adopting a cat. Filled out their lengthy application and setup the appointment to meet the cat. We also have a dog at home and we were instructed to bring her with to the appointment to do a cat test. She’s a year and a half old and has never interacted with a cat before.

Immediately upon entering the doors to this rescue, we were met with a very strong odor of poop throughout the entire building. After signing in, a woman took our dog to start the cat test. This “cat test” was taking our dog on leash into a room with 10-20 cats in cages, and seeing how she reacts. The first room went well, my dog touched noses with a cat through the cage wagging her tail. We went into the next room with another 10-20 cats, and one of the cats hissed and swatted inside the cage at our dog causing her to get scared. Went into a third room where the same thing happened, causing our dog to go into defense mode and start growling. As soon as she growled once, the woman said “yeah that’s going to be a fail, you won’t be able to meet any cats”. This all happened in less than 5 minutes and then we had to leave, feeling like our dog was set up to fail. This “cat test” is ridiculously dumb! What do you expect from a dog on a leash, in an unknown environment, surrounded by animals it’s never interacted with, where several are hissing and swatting at it?! We wasted almost 2 hours driving back and forth to spend 5 minutes here.

We went to a different rescue a week later, which didn’t smell like poop, and came home with a cat the same day. We let our dog smell under the door for about 20 minutes, then put up a gate in the doorway to allow them to interact with each other. Within 2 hours, the cat and the dog were roaming the house together with zero issues. And this is the same dog that failed the “cat test”...