TAPS No-Kill Animal Shelter — Local services in Pekin

Two years ago my daughter and I adopted a male chihuahua mix (named Mickey at the shelter.name was changed to Leo when he came home with us).We had looked at two different dogs online and went into the shelter to see both of the guys in person.the whole entire process could not have went any better.the staff were very helpful.they took us to meet the first guy we were looking at and he was a little bigger in person than we thought from the pictures.small house....kind of need to keep our pet choice on the smaller side.so we went to look at Mickey/aka Leo.the guy was terrified being in a shelter environment I could tell.not to mention the guys history.he was nippy,scared of people moving too fast,ready to take on the world afraid everyone was here to hurt him still.we were not going to leave him in a shelter for another second longer than he had to.i am not saying anything negative about taps....they were amazing and helped and waited on us the entire time.they brought a leash out to us so we could take Leo out for a walk,they gave us a quiet room to hang out away from the noise,there were two staff that I seen get teary eyed when we said that whatever we had to do he was ours.we filled out the necessary papers,I gave them our $,I kissed Leo on the forehead and I told them that we would be right back that we just needed to run to walmart and get a harness and everything else we needed.an hour later...he was ours.he was very guarded for all of two months.understandable being that he was abused,rescued from a hoarding situation with MULTIPLE dogs,in the outside elements day and night all year round,malnourished,next to no human contact,...I could keep going.he now is the most spoiled pampered dog that I have ever known.he LOVES soaking in the bathtub,he loves getting his nails done at the groomers,he loves going for walks so he can prance and show off,he spends every second he can laying on my or my daughters laps,he now has doggie best friends (one Great Dane,one lab mix,one Bichon,and one King Charles spaniel)which when we got him he wanted to protect himself and attack every dog he seen,he spends his days running in and out of the house moving his toys from one area to another and seeing if it is more fun to play with them here or there.so basically he is amazing and a completely different dog than he was.he is very happy and so are we.and we have taps to thank for that.all in all including our quick trip to wal mart the process took almost two hours.it was a great experience and we would definitely adopt from them again...we just feel that Leo deserves to be an only dog,spoiled and the center of our attention for the rest of his life. Also being that my daughter is too young to volunteer at taps (completely understandable) we have been going to do our part by going and "hanging out" with the cats in the cat rooms and just socialize with them.the staff have always been friendly to us on our visits.it is true that the dogs are not as "accessible" as the cats and you can't just go into the shelter and visit and handle every one of them at your own free will...but the shelter does this for both human and dog safety as well.i was pretty shocked when I read these reviews.there was once when I came into the shelter that a puppy had had an accident in its kennel.and I was going to go upfront and inform a staff...but before I even left the room to do so a staff had came in and was already aware and coming to clean up after the little guy.anyways....great place and always a great experience for my...

Back in October 2023 I found one of the most perfect dogs in Loretta on TAPS website.

Our first visit with Loretta was what I expected it to be. My dog would allow her to sniff her, but Loretta had not been around other dogs and kept sitting down and giving a little bit of a growl as a warning. It was very good communication on Loretta’s part in and Sharkey was very respectful of that communication. The two woman who facilitated the meeting. One of the facilitators of the introduction of the dogs told my family that they did up to four introduction meetings with a dog before they feel comfortable letting the dog go with a family.

The second visit everything went a lot better. Loretta still hadn’t been exposed to other dogs as she had been heartworm positive and also had been with her puppies. The staff stated that they were going to bring Loretta out more so that she could see other dogs. From what I understand that was unable to happen. The visit went really well. The dogs showed interest in each other. There was no growling. There were no attacks. As a dog trainer and having several other dog behavioral list friends in the Peoria, Bloomington and Decatur area when I described the behavior it was going very well.

I was very confused when the staff wouldn’t drop their leashes but I completely understood they felt they were doing the best the could for safety. They kept saying that the dogs were being aggressive towards each other. The dogs greeted each other, and then when nobody would allow them to play, they showed no interest in each other because they were being held on a tight lead. They couldn’t play with one another.

When the two facilitators, let us know that it wasn’t gonna be a good match. I started to cry and I was told along with my husband, my two children and my son’s girlfriend that the Loretta was already going to a different home anyway. That it was going to the ex Director of the shelter and that there were no animals in that house. They essentially let me and my husband know at that point that we were not going to be getting the Loretta because somebody else had that she had worked at your facility prior wanted the Loretta.

It is worth noting that while we were walking through the kennels to see if there were any other pitbull that we would be interested in that when I walked by and a another member of she staff said oh that’s the dog that the person wanted referring to Loretta. “She won’t get that dog” referring to how bad they felt. This was said to me in front of myself and my husband.

When I decided to call the next day to see if we could do another introduction to see if it would go better since she hadn’t been around other dogs; I received a call from the current Director of the facility named Hollie. Hollie used a very stern and belittling voice to me when she said that nobody told me that Loretta was already being adopted out by another person. I felt belittled and extremely gaslighted. There were five people in that room when we were told that that dog was going to another family.

I have talked with other people since this and it seems to be a theme with this organization and another in Peoria.

In short, if you see an animal and meet an animal you believe you might do well with: pray that no one in the staff or ex staff...

I am not usually one to write bad reviews but I have to after our "experience" with Taps. We currently have a 2 year old dog and my family and I were looking to adopt another puppy so that our current dog had a friend. We looked for about a month and found a set of puppies that Taps had just received. We filled out an application and made an appointment to come view the puppies as a family. When we walked in, the staff was mostly friendly and my kids were excited as they had seen the pictures of the puppies we were about to see. They take us back to the small dog area and my kids fall in love with one of the puppies. We asked to look at the puppy and they take us and our family to one of the holding rooms with the puppy. Our kids are playing with the puppy and having a great time. The puppy was well-mannered, playful and not aggressive, everything we were looking for. We were ready to adopt. As we were sitting there, one of the staff members comes in and tells us she needs to speak to one of the parents alone. My wife leaves the room to speak to the staff member. About 5-10 minutes pass and my wife renters the room with the staff member. The staff member apologizes but tells us that they found bloody stool in our puppy's kennel and they think the puppy may have Parvo. Obviously this is very concerning to us because Parvo is a very serious illness for dogs. Worried, we left Taps and contacted our vet the next morning asking about Parvo as we hoped the puppy would make a full recovery as we were worried about its health. The day goes by and my wife receives a call around 7:00pm from Taps. She answered the phone, hoping they found out the puppy was fine (and all other puppies/dogs that may have been in contact with this puppy). The staff member tells my wife that they LIED about the puppy having Parvo and having bloody stool in her kennel. Confused, my wife asked why they would lie to us. The staff member proceeds to tell my wife that "someone" called in and "someone" came in to tell them about us mistreating one of the dogs we had previously. What?? The only people that even knew we were going to look at the puppies were my parents who were out of town. The staff member proceeds to tell my wife that they will not be able to allow us to adopt a dog and the 3 puppies that we were looking at had been adopted. Heartbroken and dumbfounded, my wife hung up the phone. Not only did they lie to us, they accused us of mistreating one of our dogs that we loved very much. This was the worst experience that our family has had trying to adopt a dog. I am awaiting a response for a voicemail I left asking for some clarification on what my wife was told. I will not tell you to not adopt from here as I believe that all of the dogs here deserve to be rescued. What I will say is that I hope that they treat and care for their animals better than they treat the people there to rescue them. I apologize for the novel but this was so upsetting to us I had to...