PetFinderReviews 353

How can you adopt a dog when the shelter is in Vermont (close to my home) and the dog is still in Texas?
Found out when I requested a visit.
To add insult to injury I was told that there would be 2-3 applications
considered. Guess what? Don't you think that an application from a neighboring state to Texas would have more chance than me? I would think so. Just in terms of saving the transport cost to New England. No thanks, I'll adopt from my local shelter.

Petfinder is an inexpensive way some reputable shelters use to get animals adopted. That said, I wouldn't recommend using Petfinder to contact the shelter or to apply unless you don't want to be seriously considered. I can see the shelter's point of view - on the internet, no one knows if you are a dog. If you serious about adopting, then go to the shelter when they are open and talk to the volunteers, meet the animal, and if you are match then you'll have a new addition to your home. For all you know, there will be a better fit for your family at the shelter that was NOT on petfinder. That's what it's all about - family.

I want to adopt two kitten/cats, found a perfect pair through Petfinder. One of the directors from the charities conducted a phone interview with me, asking all sort of questions to assure that I would be a good cats adopter. She told me that I would be a good cat Mom and asked me to fill out an application form. One day after, she called me back and told me that her manager denied my application because I did not answer the question the way they wanted. (Are you kidding!) She then told me that she has no power to make decision. What a joke.

I'm so sorry to have to get to this point, to have to write such a bad review after the deplorable circumstances.
My husband and I were approved to adopt a very sweet looking puppy. When we were squaring things away for the delivery, to our surprise we were hit with an email by this woman, who has the power to denied adoption, playing with our feelings and for the best interest of the puppy to have a loving, caring family.
She accommodated, constantly, to her needs, and sympathized with the lady who supposed to deliver the puppy. Never show interest in working with us.
I tried repeatedly to get in touch with someone. I do understand this is Christmas time, but will like a call from corporate, or someone.
I have all the mails to prove how sour and heartless this woman from Kentucky is. She abuse of her powers, judging us, and insinuating we were not telling the truth.
She obviously has a total lack of communication skills.

On petfinder you cannot:
Search by key words in descriptions like "mellow" or "fluffy"
Exclude a breed or breeds from a search
Sort the results by oldest or newest listings
Exclude or include listings that specify things like "must own a house with yard"
Exclude or include listings where the dog is being transported hundreds of miles

There are two main issues--one, the data collected from the shelters is pretty spotty. Some shelters enter descriptions that are, well, descriptive. Other shelters copy and paste the same thing every time. Although petfinder attempts to offer a filter for "kids in home", shelters provide poor data so that you will still get tons of results for "cannot have kids". This is not entirely the developers' fault, though they could validate and enforce some aspects of the data coming in.
The other problem is just that there really is not much development gone into this site. Why not have the descriptions indexed for searching by key phrases? Why not put a posted date on each listing?
This site could be amazing and much more helpful to animals if it had more work put in. I don't know if it's a funding thing or what.

My husband returned from deployment and wanted a dog. I sent an email expressing interest in meeting one of their dogs up for adoption and possibly adopting him via email. I wanted to bring my husband there and surprise him by letting him met the dog, along with our other dog. I left my information requesting to be contacted. Collette wrote back and said " We don't do surprises, that said all adoptions start with an application." I was shocked by the response. I wrote back advising we'd already adopted a dog and requested not to be on their email list.(because I "don't do rude people") Collette writes back and I was shocked at how disrespectful she was. She wrote, and I quote, " Congratulations on your new pet! Hopefully it doesn't get returned when the "surprise" wears off." I was absolutely floored that an Executive Director would be so unprofessional and display such an ill demeanor. I will not speak against anyone adopting from Miami Valley Pit Crew because I have been a pit mom for the last 10 years and love the breed. However, I WOULD say prepare yourself for an unprofessional and unpleasant experience. I have adopted many pets and have worked in the Veterinary Field for 9 years. I have helped place many pets in loving homes. I can not believe someone with this demeanor would treat those who are trying to help save lives of pitbulls this way. AND TO TOP IT ALL their mission is
"Encouraging change through positive example". Are... you... kidding me?! Each year I donate to pit bull rescue groups. I will NOT give a dime to this organization as long as Collette Davis is the Executive Director. I shared this story with my co-workers and they've agreed to do the same and spread the word. Go elsewhere if you're looking for a " Positive Example". I have attached a picture of the email sent to me for your own eyes to view.

I find Petfinder completely useless in finding a local dog or puppy. All the searches using Vancouver, BC canada as the location and indicting dogs within a 100 mile radius, will show multiple dog broker sites mainly from Texas. These dogs are in Texas and thats more than 2000 miles from my home. Although I support all abandoned dogs finding new homes many of these 'shelters" are dog brokers who know little about their dogs and often conceal a dog with problems. They are asking significant prices and offer no facility or support here. If a dog bought this way has problems there is no help from the brokers. The dogs are shipped to Seattle upon adoption and then brought home to Vancouver BC. Many of these dogs are now turning up in our local shelters. I think it is unethical that Petfinder advertises these dogs as being within 100miles of my home when in fact they are over 2000 miles away.

Our experience with Petfinder has been awful. They won't respond in a timely manner. The decided the rescue prices were too high though they were in line with the area so stopped replying at all and would not give approval. Yet they allow breed specific rescues to charge $400 for adoptions.

I think Petfinder is using their position to bully new rescues. If you require a certain pricing then you need to make that information available. Rescues are folding all the time because they try to keep prices low but find out that the costs of vetting and maintaining animals can cause issues with sustainability.

I have found Petfinder representatives to be unprofessional, and hoping that some of the other pet search websites mange to take over the market. This has caused a great hardship for our start up rescue and all because we ended up with one representative that decided to dictate to us.

Honestly, my Petfinder experience wasn't so bad. First of all, these animals are from local pet organizations, so you should probably expect good healthy pets, no puppy mills if you are looking for a dog, etc. However, beware of a few "no call-back" organizations. In my case, I was looking for a perfect puppy and kitten to enlighten my vacant home a bit. I searched up the right pets, contacted the organizations ASAP, left a message when they couldn't answer, and even emailed them. The organization where I chose to adopt my kitty was quick and efficient in checking their email and I was able to make an appointment to pick up my kitty in no time. However, for my dog, I had to wait an entire 3 MONTHS before someone FINALLY replied to my email. When I asked them why they took so long, someone answered their organization was taking a small break and had found foster homes for all their pets. WHAT? Luckily, I was able to find the foster owner and adopt my wonderful dog. My kitten is now 10 months old, is healthy, and is an energetic little furball. My dog is 8 months old, is healthy as well, and is friendly and social in my home.