Posted by on Apr 6th, 2009 -
Subscribe Mood: Pissed off
KeyWords: colorado, furbabies, review, denver, bad, adopt, dog, foster, puppy, communcation, horrible, un-professional
Attempting to Adopt a Dog in Colorado
by FrosT
Introduction
Well my wife and I have been attempting to find a dog to adopt in Colorado. We have been actively trying for a couple months and have had some good and bad experiences. Particularly the bad experiences come from one company, Colorado FurBabies. Well here is the full story that will hopefully help you avoid the same issues we had.
Finding a dog
We have been looking and thinking about a dog for some time and decided to actually contact a place to see if we could meet a dog. First off we had to submit an application. The applications they make you fill out are somewhat of a joke if you ask me. I am sure there are good reasons for it, such as making sure that the home can become permanent for a dog and the person applying fully realizes what they are getting into. More of the joke, for the Colorado Furbabies, it took about 1-2 week lag time for our application to go through. Then after it went through a house inspection was needed, which took another 3 days or so. This was not "horrible" but because of this process we were unable to adopt or even visit/meet a few great looking dogs that we were heavily interested in. This was very disappointing to us.
So after we found out that the dogs we wanted to meet were no longer available we looked up other dogs and let them know of the one we did want to meet. Granted, this dog did not stick out as "we want this dog" like the other ones had, but we were willing to meet with it and see for ourselves if that dog would work out. Which brings us to the next problem.
Trying to get a Visit
Now, I heavily understand that personal issues take precedent over anything else. We contacted the foster person to get a viewing. They stated that they would email us, 4 days later no email. So we called them attempting to setup a viewing for that night. They stated they would email us the address. Well 4 hours later no email, and it was about 9:00 at night and I do have to work in the morning and they were about 45 minutes away. So that would put us home well past 11 o'clock. Not acceptable in my terms. They should have emailed us like the agreement.
Then they had to go out of town for the personal issues and as such delayed the viewing again. A couple days later we scheduled a viewing where we would drive out the 45 minutes to meet the dog. When we get there no one is home. We waited around for about an hour to find out that the dogs got loose, which we understand can happen. Since they still had not found the dogs we did not feel like waiting around anymore and left for home (a 3 hour trip for nothing). Again, I know things happen that are out of our control.
Finally, the next day, the foster person drives the dog over to our house. When they get there we do like the dog, but the dog is younger than was advertised. We did not really care to have more or less a "puppy", which this dog was obviously still in (pretty heavily) the puppy stages. (Maybe if they would provide a closer estimate of age we would not have even asked to see the dog). We let her know that we need to think about it, because even though the dog was still younger, we might want to adopt it. After some heavy discussion over the next couple days we decided that the dog was not for us and let them know...
The Aftermath
The next day we get a nasty email from a person who works at the Colorado Furbabies. In essence they basically thanked us for wasting the dogs time and that it was our fault for not taking the dog. Hold on here...how is this our fault again? Because your foster holders are incompetent of contact us back on a timely basis? It was not our fault it took them 4 days to get a hold of us for a visit and then failed to email us essential items. And then we took our time to drive out there to have the dog gone missing...and this is our problem. No way. Screw you.
Given that email from the person, I would highly suggest that you do not even attempt to adopt a dog from the Colorado Furbabies association. They are very unprofessional, unreliable and they blame you for not taking a dog that you do not want because they were incompetent of getting you a viewing time in a timely fashion. Through this experience alone, I do not know if I will adopt a dog again. These people want to help dogs and yet blame you for their own problems of not being able to run an adoption agency, as I see properly. By also making you wait 2 weeks to know if you get accepted, then it being up to the foster person to contact you, who may or may not fall through the deal depending on how reliable they are. This is just unacceptable in my books.
Ending Notes
Feel free to try and adopt a dog through the Colorado Furbabies, hopefully your experiences are better than ours were. As for me, I am fed up with this bull shit they pull you through. From the time it takes to know that you can even adopt a dog to actually meeting the dog was just a pain in the ass. I would not have posted this blog, if the volunteer or worker had not sent us that nasty email and worded it like she did. There is no reason for a professional company to send an email like that. Personally blaming us for their problems is just ridiculous. Well I hope I can save you from a bad experience. As for me, I would rather go to a breeder instead of adopting a dog because of this experience. Thanks to Colorado Furbabies, I will now no longer make my efforts to adopt a dog and help with the dog over population. Thank you.
As a side note, I do not necessarily blame the foster person, as they had some personal issues going on. I do however blame the main contact of Colorado Furbabies, for blaming us for holding the dog up, when we never asked for the dog to be held, and we could not get a viewing due to lack of communication from the foster holder.
Related Entry:
Do NOT Adopt from Colorado Furbabies
Posted by anonymous on May 13th, 2009
I really hope that your experience with that organization does not throw you off on adopting. There are alot of dogs out there that need and deserve a loving home. I suggest that you check out table mountain
Posted by frost on May 14th, 2009
It has not. We went with a Cell Dogs program in Canyon City, CO instead and actually found a dog who is coming home on May 28th 
We are excited to get her!
Posted by anonymous on May 18th, 2009
Wow! This story sounds very much like me own. If only I had seen your blog before my family and now extremely disappointed kids had wastes a month of our time trying to jump through ColoradoFurBabies hoops. Still pissed!!!
Posted by frost on May 19th, 2009
Well that is my goal. Posting a link to my blog at other places will help spread the word and save people from the disappointment and frustration.
I would highly recommend the Colorado Cell Dog Program in Canyon City. They have been awesome to work with, and the dogs there are great! They get full training etc. You have to pay a bit more ($450) but the dog that comes home with you is fully house trained, basic commands etc and has all their shots. Every dog we saw when we went up to Canyon city was a dog that looked home worthy, honestly.
I will write a blog about that once we get our new dog
Posted by anonymous on June 20th, 2009
Wow you people are amazing! You people clearly do not understand the operations of a rescue. I volunteer for a rescue in my city and let me tell you it is more than a full time job. I spend 40 plus hours each and every week on fundraisers, applications, recruiting volunteers, etc.... That's all in addition to the nights of no sleep because the puppies are terrified due to the circumstances they just came from. Instead of criticizing everyone maybe you'll want to join in to help solve the problem. My biggest pet peeve in the world is people that complain but never try to help.
Posted by frost on June 21st, 2009
Clearly we "tried" to help. It is not our fault the dog was not right for us and that we did not get the opportunity, which is not our fault or the foster families fault, to meet the dog sooner. I do not blame the foster family because I know family items are more important. I do however blame this place for calling us bad people that we held up the dog, which we did not, the foster person held up the dog by not being available, and for not adopting a dog that we clearly did not want/would not fit our life styles. Would you rather of us adopted the dog, then a month later put it right back in a shelter/foster home? I doubt that.
It is nice that you help, but my biggest pet peeve are people like you who think that putting a dog into the wrong home just to get them out of a shelter/foster home is the right choice. When the chances of the dog being put back in the shelter/foster home would have been high. This may have increased the chances of it getting put down and all for the simple fact that the dog was not right dog for us.
Thanks for your comment.
Posted by anonymous on August 04th, 2009
I do not understand your post at all. I have adopted two pups to date from Colorado Furbabies and my experience was more than wonderful . Thats why we went back to adopt from them the second time.
I dealt with two volunteers, foster homes, that had my babies in their care. I also dealt with Susan and she was more than helpful to us . She talked to me in great length about the pups I was interested in , where they came from and whether she felt they were good matches for my family. My babies are a part of my family and I appreciate Colorado Furbabies Rescue more than I can say.
There are two sides to a story and im sure that you are not telling the side that might show you in a bad light.
Do you know the meaning of the word volunteer? They are unselfish, giving people. They do all of their work on their own time. They often spend tons of their own money to do what they do.
Please ADOPT FROM COLORADO FURBABIES. YOU WILL BE HAPPY YOU DID!!!
Posted by frost on August 04th, 2009
Believe what you like. If you have had a great expierence awesome! More power to you. Really the only reasoning for this post was the un-professional manner that Susan sent the email to us.
All we did was decline a dog, that we tried to schedule a meeting with for 2 weeks, and even drove to their place (which was 1 hour out) and waited for another hour to find out that we could not meet the dog. We tried our best to meet the dog sooner, but as I stated we never wanted the dog to be held for us, we just wanted to meet the dog.
The letter sent to use from Susan was very rude, and completely unnecessary. It was not our fault the dog did not suit us. She needs to learn to be more professional and to ask us "why" it took so long. As it was not our fault that the foster person had personal issues going on. I do not blame the volunteers at all. Please read it thorougly. I understand that they volunteer and that their family issues come first. But Susan needs to understand that as well and not cuss at us, yes the letter had curse words for not choosing to adopt that dog.
Thank you for your comments, but please read what I write as I am just trying to prevent some people from having the same expierence with the unprofessional matter in which we were treated by Susan from Colorado Furbabies. Your comments are always welcomed and as you say there are 2 sides to every story. My side is just as important as their side, as I was not the one to write a nasty letter to Susan, she was the one to write it to us.
Posted by anonymous on September 01st, 2009
I have to agree with frost on this one. I recently had a pretty bad experience with Colorado Furbabies as well...especially with communication. To make a long stroy short:
-Application process went fast
-Foster parent set a date to do a home-visit and never showed nor called
-Susan was a bit high-strung for me (going on & on about how she single-handedly "shut down" two shelters).
-We adopted a puppy
-2 hours after we adpot, I recieve a call from the Lending Tree asking if Susan can cash my check...hmmmm...
-The next day the pup was incredibily ill...diahrea, vomiting, lethargic, dry nose, etc.
-We owned the dog for less than 48 hours and spent more than $700 on it (I am MORE than prepared to spend $ on a pup...however, within 48hours???)
- Susan never return my call about my sick pup (I politely asked for suggestions on what to do).
-I contacted the foster mom to let her know that our pup had a parasite (b/c she adpoted a litter mate).
-Foster mom asked for the name of the anitbiotic the vet gave our pup, b/c "Susan has a bunch of those drugs that I can give my dog, so I don't have to take him to the vet."
-WOW! Must be nice to not have to pay $200 for a vet bill
I am not saying that you shouldn't adpot from here...the pups are adorable and they NEED loving homes. I would not, however, expect to get any help for your pup AFTER you've paid for it. Regardless of what vaccines, deowrming, etc that they have "apparrently" had, I would still take your new pup in for a health screening immediately. I am completely in love with our pup and he was worth every dime...but I will not keep in touch with Colorado Furbabies and will not take my pup to any of the places that they'd suggested us to. Yes...the jobs they do are admirable. Yes...they are good people. Yes...they need to work on communication and taking responsbility for selling someone a sick pup.
Posted by anonymous on September 16th, 2009
Why do you have an issue with your check being cashed?? Isnt that what you did paid a fee for your dog?
I know for a fact that the rescue will pay for any illness that occurs within in ten days . You need to follow directions. Take your pup to the vet they use. How hard is that? Thats what I had to do.
Sometimes pups are ill without any signs. Just like a person it can take time to show.
As for the drugs you are bitching about. Many vets give rescues medications such as antibiotics and dewormer so that they do not have to send every pup in. If the vets didnt think it was okay they wouldnt do it. You are just a miserable person and I feel bad for you dog.
Posted by anonymous on October 09th, 2009
I adopted a puppy from Colorado Furbabies in July at an adoption event. We filled out the contract, wrote our checks, took the dog. I was told I would have a home visit and receive the shot records in the mail. Over the next 4 weeks, I spoke with Susan 3 times about not having received the paperwork. The first, she was waiting on someone to get it to her, the second, she had it and was mailing it, the third, she would email it to me right now. I have yet to receive anything. She's not returning my calls. Now, I dont' know where to take my pup to get her fixed. Susan had told me there was a vet they work with. I gave up on the paperwork and have been trying to get the vet information. I've emailed and phoned many times with no response. I understand from someone at Canine Campus that they even have trouble with Colorado Furbabies, and they're fostering one of their dogs and Susan won't call them back either. Just don't do it. I think there are some serious problems with this organization. BTW - I never even had a home visit. I wonder if Colorado Furbabies is doing more harm than good here.
Posted by anonymous on October 20th, 2009
Danita, your records have b een emailed AND mailed to you. They consist of the one vacc your puppy recieved and the deworming.
Your spay appt will be made AS STATED in numerous emails to you when your puppy nears the six month old stage.
This is the way things have been done in CFB since day one. Why are you having such a hard time with this?
Your fee paid to have your puppy spayed and CFB will honor that. Appts arent made two months in advance.
Posted by anonymous on October 25th, 2009
Interesting Susan. I have no records by email or mail. And my puppy is one week away from 6 months old. I was told I would be contacted when my dog was 4-5 months old. I don't have unreasonable expectations. Words are just words. And yours have been quite empty so far. I'm still waiting...
BTW - I think it's interesting that you have so much time to search around on the internet to defend yourself in blogs, but you dont' have time to do business and meet contractual obligations.
Posted by anonymous on October 29th, 2009
Seriously, don't adopt from shelters that have that kind of system going-- regardless of how it ends up. It's a lot of money out of your pocket that never goes to help the dogs receive adequate veterinary care or foster home attention.
ALL RECORDS SHOULD BE PROVIDED AT THE TIME OF ADOPTION including eating/sleeping/behavioural conduct that the shelter or foster family is aware of. And, trust me, the shelter or foster family should be well aware of any concerns regarding any of those. There should be no discrepency in this. Also, all animals should be spayed or nuetered before the adopting family takes the animal home. Dogs can be spayed/nuetered at young ages. You don't have to wait for the six month mark. A shelter should also be able to provide information regarding sick animals up to eleven or so days after adoption as well as have resources people can call if they have questions about vet services and behavioural issues post adoption. MOST VETS DO ALLOW FOR THE FIRST VISIT (check up to find any problems) FREE FOR SHELTER DOGS ADOPTED TO LOVING FAMILIES.
I'm not saying the above is legal, but it is responsible on behalf of the shelter and, you as a pet owner, to be sure that all communication lines are open and all information is passed down to the new pet owners. It sounds like the pet owners are being responsible, but the shelter is not.
>>>>>>>>>If you've had a bad experience with this shelter concerning a lack of professionalism, missing paperwork (which I do think legally has to be provided upon adoption, but I am not 100% sure), check fraud, or any other type of fraud, suspicion of inadequate animal care (which it sounds like from one of the above posts), or something else gravely concerning, notify the attorney general's office (ago. state. co. us) and/or the Department of Agriculture to have them do an investigation into this shelter.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
And, next time, please consider adopting from well known and trustworthy shelters such as MaxFund, Dumb Friends League, any county rescue shelter (those are normally run by the county governements, so you know you're not getting jerked around), or the Colorado Puppy Rescue. Or, go into your nearby doggie daycare and ask staff there for any suggestions and good, safe places to adopt a shelter dog. (As a side note, a lot of doggie daycare provide one free day of daycare to a shelter dog. And, if you do go that route, make sure the daycare has webcams that you can view at home during the day.)
Adopting a new family member is meant to be pleasant for both you and the animal.
Posted by anonymous on October 29th, 2009
Let's face it, rescue dogs can get sick especially puppies who haven't finished all their immunizations. However, it's how the rescue handles it is what counts. A friend of mine adopted a puppy from Colorado Puppy Rescue and it came down with Giardia. The rescue took the puppy back, refunded their money and treated it until it was better and then readopted the puppy back to my friend. Each day they were treating the puppy, they were called with progress.
Posted by anonymous on October 29th, 2009
Wow. I'm a foster mom for the Rocky Mountain Great Dane Rescue and didn't know until now how lucky I am! I can't imagine fostering for a rescue like Colorado Furbabies, much less going through their adoption gauntlet. Very sad as their actions give such a bad name to the rest of the rescues in the area. If you're looking to adopt, I highly recommend RMGDR or Maxfund.
Posted by anonymous on October 31st, 2009
I would not adopt from CO Furbabies again and I recommend if you see this before adoption you don't either. (this is Danita - who has been arguing with Susan in the above post). I contacted both the Attorney General and the BBB. The Attorney General forwarded to the BBB. Susan responded to them with complete lies (that she didn't know why I didn't get the paperwork at the time of adoption, she has returned all my calls and emails, and has sent the paperwork). She also said that the person who contacts regarding the spay has still yet to call me. Come on! The dog is 6 months old now... they say they'll contact between 4-6 months. I won't do this again. Lessons learned...
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