Animal Friends of the Valleys — Local services in Wildomar

UPDATE Originally I had a good experience per my original review however after dealing with this shelter for multiple weeks they definitely aren’t the same. The two stars is only because we love our pup. Other than that I’d give one, these people will lie and manipulate you so they can get what they what at the expense of the people adopting their pets. First and foremost they were completely aware of the fact that we had another dog at home. Yet they neglected to tell us the animal we were taking home was ill, however it’s apparent that they knew because after we signed the adoption papers and had the dog in the car they shoved two pill bottles in our hands and said he has a cough….excuse me! Now due to the paperwork that was signed we are responsible for his medical care since they didn’t disclose his kennel cough before signing, just extremely shady and unprofessional! They exposed my dog at home to an extremely contagious illness so they could get the dog out of their shelter. I say this because they called me at work to beg me to take the dog out of the shelter before he was neutered even though he wasn’t supposed to come home before that and I was told repeatedly that was their policy ! my other dog wasn’t spayed and they were made aware of this multiple times. I also know they knew because they called me a few weeks later to follow up about the ILLNESS that they now have a ton of information about yet they failed to tell us! beyond frustrated we had to take the dog to the emergency vet not even 3 days after adoption. They then promised to book his surgery AND pay for it for the “inconvenience” of them telling us we needed to take the dogs days before we were supposed to. Then we come to find out they of course “never said that” and that they meant the deposit not the surgery, the $50 deposit… that’s not the same thing. We were also told he would be neutered within a few days because of our other pet. come to find out because he’s sick it’s now been multiple weeks and nothing! they never even bothered to call I had to call them repeatedly to get information. They then scheduled my surgery and told me they’d call me to confirm the details. SURPRISE, I had to call them the DAY BEFORE the scheduled surgery for them to first tell me they didn’t have one again and then to tell me oh yeah we just forgot to call we do have one! WHAT!! I when I expressed my feelings of frustration ,they told me they were sorry but there was nothing they could do, Of course! now I want to be clear this is not to discourage anyone to adopt but discourage your interaction with this shelter! Make sure everything is in writing and don’t believe a thing they say to you!

Original review: Jonathan was super helpful throughout our adoption process he cares about the animals well being and the people who are...

Honestly, I recommended this place to my dad because I had a good experience last year with different employees, but this time was different.

We got his dog neutered, and they called us at 1:36 PM to say our dog was ready to be picked up. I arrived around 2:40–2:50 PM. I wrote my name down and then realized I needed to pick up my son from school (that’s my fault). I told the lady who was there at the time that I had lost track of time and needed to pick up my son from school. I asked if there was any way I could get my dog sooner since my son is 2 and his school is 30 minutes away. She said, “No, sorry, we go by the list,” and added jokingly, “We all lose track of time.” She said it with a smile, but I was genuinely stressed.

I waited about 10 minutes, and we still didn’t have our dog. I understand there were people waiting ahead of us, and I should have arrived sooner, but I couldn’t. I also didn’t want to leave the dog overnight since they’re unsupervised from 4:30 PM to 8 AM, but I had to. I got up and told her, “Actually, we’ll be leaving him overnight.” She asked for my last name and said okay.

The issue is with the comments and the following phone calls I received.

The next day, I got a call from the same lady at 8:47 AM, and this is exactly what she said: “Hello, I’m calling regarding Zorro. I know you have kids, but I wanted to know what time you’d be able to pick him up?” In my mind, the “you have kids” part felt very unnecessary and unprofessional. I probably should have told her I’d call back instead of giving her a time, but I said 1 PM, knowing that as long as we picked him up before 4, it shouldn’t have been an issue.

At 1:24 PM, I got another call from Ashley, asking if we were on our way to pick up our dog because we had told the previous lady 1 PM and it was now 1:24. I told her, “Yeah, sorry, my husband will be going after work. I don’t know what time yet, but definitely before 4.” She then said, “Well, we’re going to have to charge you another overnight fee because you said 1 and it’s past that.” That’s when I got upset and reminded her that, per their contract, they couldn’t because my husband would be there before 4—he wasn’t staying overnight again. I explained that I was there the day before and would have picked him up if they had been willing to help. She said she would talk to her manager about the fee and mentioned, “Well, we got him out, and our crates are full or getting full.” I told her again that my husband would be there before 4, and we left it at that.

I received another call at 2:58 PM, and all I said was, “My husband is on his way,” and whoever it was said okay, and we hung up.

Overall, the employees this time around were not very helpful or compassionate about...

We have adopted from here previously and have always been happy to adopt and handle our services at this facility, I've even worked as a volunteer here for a bit, however today has truly changed my perspective. My grandmother, who lives out of state but has previously adopted from this shelter, was hoping to find another dog as her previous one had recently passed away (from old age, she lived a very long and good life). Anyways, we came to visit both today and yesterday with one of the dogs. And a worker, Phil, was so sweet, kind, and absolutely excited that we were interested in Salvador since he had been there for so long. We were finally ready to adopt him and another dog, but once it came down to the process, the employee in the front was giving us trouble. They would not let us adopt the smaller dog because he had behavioral issues, which was okay, but I was upset about the pushiness in dictating our choices. Afterwards we gave up and wanted to follow through with Salvador, but they again began giving us problems. My grandmother lives on the reservation on a rural area, so we could not provide them with a physical address other than a PO Box. I even showed them on the maps where she lives and that it is near another landmark on the maps, but this bald man came out, Nonne I believe, and made matters worse. He interrogated me basically on my knowledge of the dog, whether we met him, and decided HIMSELF that this dog wouldn't be a good fit for my grandparents because he was a husky and too much energy. My grandparents have had larger dogs, they deal with livestock and spend their days hiking and walking because they are retired. We met this dog multiple times and believed he was a good fit, this bald jerk had no right to decide whether or not it worked for us. If anything, it felt racially motivated as they targeted the fact that my grandma lives on rural land. It was unacceptable and I did not appreciate their disrespect towards us. I also do not like to be treated as if I'm stupid, which is exactly what these people did to us. The volunteers are amazing and kind, along with the staff who work with the dogs, but the adoption process and the people who handle it are utterly awful and pathetic. It's an adoption agency that's whole mission is to find loving homes for all animals, yet that is not what they strive to achieve. They create countless barriers for people and make it impossible for you to adopt while slapping on countless fees. Save your money and support somewhere else, these people are awful and their adoption process even worse. These animals deserve good homes but the hassle is NOT worth it. It is simply unbelievable the way they treated us today and I will not...