Pet Pal Animal Shelter — Local services in Saint Petersburg

Very disappointing. I drove a little over 2 hours to get here. I was very interested in a 6 month old puppy, then I had called the day before I went & was told someone else had been interested & I asked if they have filled out any adoption papers or made any leap to show they were very interested or cared. They told me no. Then I was also told they don't do any holds, so I drove & took off work to hopefully take this sweetie to a forever home, & I get there & tell them which dog I am there to see, & they tell me they are holding for someone else to come see, & I asked "I thought you didn't do holds?" They told me we don't unless you're coming from a far distance. Which this I was NEVER told, & I said if that's the case, I could have done the same, considering I drove WAY farther than these other people. & they already have 3 other huge dogs. Now as they told me, she is very skiddish & needs all the attention she can get, I don't have any animals of my own, & I would have given her the attention & love she needs. Then the other thing that ticked me off was I never got a chance to see her, only behind the cage in the sheltered room. And not to mention, when the other people brought the other 3 dogs in for a meet & greet, she was very scared, & I think the thing that made me heartbroken the most was, even though they told me she was skiddish of people, she tried to come to me 😩 & one of the lady workers there was very snobby, honestly I think she adopted the dog out just to piss me off, & I wanted to prove her wrong with the whole thing. But as for the whole thing, I'm still very heartbroken & this happened Friday June 30th. & also to end this, they also told me she had been adopted out & brought back 2 times already, now wouldn't you think they would be a little more careful & actually look into who they are adopting this sweet baby out to? I had my money in hand, my legal papers of my land, & was prepared to take this beautiful girl to a loving home. Still very upset & disappointed. I also asked if she was to get brought back by any means, can I get a call? The lady snapped at me & said "no, we don't do things like that! Now that also pisses me off, cause they are supposed to be about the animals, if an animal doesn't like someone, why would you let them adopt them? Animals have very good instincts. They can sense the good & bad in people. But if I were her, I would have done a meet & greet with who ever was interested & seen who the dog liked the most. This is what this place is about right?...

We loved Petpal and have donated multiple times. We own a large female lab mix from a shelter (fixed, has shots, professionally trained) and were looking for a companion for her. After visiting we found a sweet female husky we thought would be a great match for our dog and after talking to a woman at the front desk were told to come back with proof of shots etc and our dog for an introduction. We did so and were told by the director that we weren’t allowed to adopt the husky because it wasn’t a good fit (too energetic despite us having a large backyard and an energetic lab that we have raised since she was a puppy whom we walk twice a day) and instead they brought out a much larger, jumpier, male dog that we never asked to see but they insisted would be a better fit (we only wanted a female because our dog is a female, and the original dog we wanted was MUCH less jumpy and had a better demeanor). The communication was extremely poor and the staff, besides the front desk lady, was rude to us. They were unhappy/annoyed with our dog being inside or outside of their facility (despite our dog sitting still and being in a harness the entire time) and one woman made a snide remark about how they will do introductions their way, not ours, because we asked what the plan was. Our dog was under control the entire time and we were fine with introducing them any way they preferred, we just wanted to understand the process. The “director” came out at one point after introducing us to the large male dog WE NEVER ASKED TO SEE and said “give me the damn dog” to my mother when she was having difficulty getting him out for a trial walk. We were open to looking at other dogs but certainly not a huge, jumpy male dog with a demeanor that would not fit well with our original dog. We left shocked, confused, and disappointed. We were prepared to bring the husky or another dog home to a home with a huge backyard and loving dog and instead left with an extremely poor opinion of a place we once loved. I’m shocked that they wouldn’t let us even see the female husky out of her cage but thought a larger, EVEN MORE ENERGETIC MALE who nearly jumped the gate when they introduced him was a better choice in addition to the rude remarks. I’m very disappointed with the way the director handled things and hope the facility realizes that they could have homed a dog today if they hadn’t been so rude...

If I could give one start I would. This place was a joke from the moment we walked in, the front desk was incredibly RUDE. We let it go and asked to see some dogs that were available, because the dog my brother had since he was 12 (who is now 22 and has a degree in animal behavior and in his second year for veterinary technician) had just passed. We were directed to the side room and saw the dogs running in and out of their doggy doors to an outside play area. We assumed we could walk out there to meet the dogs because there were about 5 other people back there playing with them also. The front desk came back and proceeded to yell at us about being back there (there also was no sign stating we couldn't. Just to close the kennels before opening the door back into the shelter). Alright, we complied, it being our VERY FIRST visit there. We told them the dog we wanted to see and they allowed him to play with us in the 'family room', along with my chihuahua that I brought from home. My brother and I always let our dogs play together and he wanted something that would get along with other dogs because he is a dog trainer.

The front desk had us fill out papers and wait and wait until finally she said, "Sorry you can't adopt. Your vet said your previous dog was not neutered." Wow.... so a dog that was over 10 years old was supposed to be neutered before you can adopt another one? Pretty sad and petty, he was never bred and coming to a shelter is the last place you'd find a dog of pedigree breeding. You're looking for a companion not a stud. BTW their adoptable dog was already neutered so I do not see the big deal. The vet confirmed the visits and that he had his shots, deworming, flea and tick meds etc... I don't know what these people want but I can only assume she didn't 'like us' from the get go. This place receives funds from the Pinellas Animal Control along with donations from people like me and you. They are unwilling to allow the poor animals into fabulous home because of wanting to feel in control. There are other shelters in this area that NEED the funds way more than this place, DO NOT ADOPT FROM HERE. Not that you'll get...