The Little Red Dog , Inc - Laguna Hills, California

Gil B. J.

Absolutely none of the negative reviews shock me one bit. What little interaction I had with them was enough to prove that they aren't worthy of my donated time NOR money. If you're looking to donate to a rescue organization, there are much better ones than The Little Red Dog.

Robert L.

They had the audacity to say that I could not rescue one of their pups, AND as a disabled veteran he told me “you cannot get “my” dog and turn it into a Service Dog!”

I replied I am rescuing her and will take care of her! I had my granddaughter rescue Coco Chanell for me. I have had her nine years and paid over $14,000.00 for bilateral knee replacement!

I love my girl and cannot imagine being without her! She has been going into public places, flown multiple times and places with me. She braces her front legs if I fall or need help getting up, if she detects my PTSD anger issues or pain and she calms me by giving kisses.

The Little Red Dog should lose their 501c designation!

carrie B.

Our review is a tad late since we adopted our precious #6 rescue from TLRD just before the pandemic started. Historically, our hearts leaned towards the Seniors, since they are often overlooked but in our opinion, are the best to adopt! When Bella, #5 passed away suddenly of cancer, my husband started searching once again. He went to TLRD and found Stella, a Mama Bear with puppies, who was abandoned and who's future was not too bright, until TLRD rescued her/puppies. We are so happy they did! Stella and my husband are best friends and she has so much energy and love to give to our family. We have been on all sides of adopting and as one review already mentioned, if not screened properly, these poor babies who have already been though so much trauma are brought back. Our 11yr old #4 was one of those. He was from another rescue group who did their best to match owners/pets but was returned twice - - Owners who never walked him (a big reason many dogs are returned) and the other who could not trim his nails without a struggle, really - - These are the "weak" reason's to return a dog but it happens all the time. Thankfully, the rescue group gave Us one last chance and Wolfgang finally got the furr-ever home he deserved. As for his nails, we took him to our vet who was able to keep them trimmed. He loved his walks which we did daily and lived to a beautiful 17yrs, even traveling to London with Us. The TLRD group saves the Underdogs; the ones most often overlooked. They help them to heal and work hard to find them the "best suited" furr-ever home, which is not a quick or cheap task. We are grateful for their continued efforts, dedication and love to the Underdogs......Stella and her babies are also very thankful to the TLRD!! Keep up the good work!! PLEASE ADOPT AND SUPPORT TLRD to KEEP THEM GOING!!

Camila

They are really incredible, they take a good care of the dogs and help other institutions as much as they can. This is. 24/7 job and they work non-stoppable. I wish people could adopt and help more.

Cynthia S.

I adopted a puppy from TLRD in 2021. The application process was very thorough and we completed the Zoom interview a few days later. We already had a dog at the time, so a meet & greet with our existing dog was required. The trainer Carlo was present and made sure everything went smoothly, as our older dog is leash reactive. I cannot say enough good things about this rescue. They truly care about their dogs and make sure only good fits are eligible for adopting. We also fostered a puppy recently with them and had a very positive experience. Highly recommend!

Lynn R.

After reading the bad reviews on here I decided that it is time to share my family’s experience. We met Carlo and yes he interviewed us. He was very clear that we needed to meet certain expectations. People who are leaving angry reviews on here because they were denied maybe need to understand that this shelter is all about the dog. Just like people, some of the dogs have challenges. They want to make sure that your home is the perfect fit for the pup because it is absolutely heartbreaking for the pup and the people working at the shelter (a lot of them volunteering their time) if a dog is returned. Their hearts are 100% in the right place. I trust them and recommend them wholeheartedly. We have had Ruckus, a beautiful, emotional mastiff/boxer mix for a year and a half. He is our baby and I am eternally grateful to the folks at the Little Red Dog.

Ileana

We went through the adoption process and it was a rigurous one. We ended up with Flint (now called Flynn), a great dog for us. My daughter and i really liked the care with which they are placing the dogs. Also the dogs are in foster care and feel the love they need before being adopted in a forever home. We are aware that the moment we decided to make him a member of the family there is no coming back and we love him unconditionally. Hence we are putting effort in training him, taking him on walks and ensuring he lives a happy live. It's not easy to do what they do for a small salary and not knowing for how long the money will last to take care of all the dogs. Only the fact that they rescue these dogs to me is really important. Thank you

Britten D.

The purpose of this review is to inform the adoptive parent.

I fostered and adopted a beautiful dog from tlrd. A few mo in, I noticed resource guarding behaviors. She had already been in training for 2 mo. She was 6 months old at this point. Aggressiveness increased.

After 4 months of work on this behavior we contacted tlrd because we had to move from our condo. To live in an apartment temporarily would cause extreme risk to this dog biting others since there's so much activity in an apartment complex. As you know when a dog bites a person it's just as traumatic for the dog as it is for the person. The behavior worsened again. We informed tlrd that we would need to rehome this 14.5 mo old.

The communication turned to them accusing us of not training or supporting her needs. After their judgment, they offered to train her and have us hold on to her while they found a home. Then one month into it, Carlo of tlrd stopped replying. No phone calls, no emails from them.

Not long after, the vet informed us that she would require at least one surgery due to anatomical abnormalities. At this time, she was also given meds for anxiety. Several medications and doses and natural remedies were attempted over two years

We proceeded to surgery & we informed tlrd that we would keep her and continue the training and support. 3 months later she needed another surgery. It was an expense but we understood that's the commitment we made. We continued to socialize her at dog parks, day camps and with strangers.

Tlrd engaged an attorney so that they could take her back instead of explaining their rehoming steps. No one called or emailed until the attorney they hired. Bizarre. We were confused. We informed the attorney that we were proceeding with her care and that she was doing okay. One year later, we moved and gave her a big yard and continued her medical treatments - sometimes a few times a month.

After continued training and bites to strangers we informed tlrd in 2023 that we would in fact need to rehome her. We did everything we could to avoid this day coming. We initially hoped the medical interventions & dailytraining would be enough.

We hope the following information is helpful for the consumer:

The contract only has two reasons that they can engage an attorney and charge you for it. They throw blame & heroism around & attach fees that are dishonest. Their method demonstrates an amount of passion that is misplaced. Instead of honoring their end of the contract they over reach for reasons beyond good will to dogs and community. They claim that we were in breach of contract because we did not respond to their communication. To their discredit, our attorney has record and evidence of responding to every communication received by their attorney, owner steve, carlo. Pj stopped communicating and returned no calls. It took their attorney 11 mo to reply to an email.

Along the way owner steve says, "you've chosen to act like "victims." Which we can only imagine maybe he feels like one and projected that on us. Sad. Ineffective. Unprofessional.

PJ and Carlo explained that we did this to our dog.

When we added up the expenses, we had spent over $9,000 on the camps, vet care and training. And regardless of environment, human alpha role, regardless of medical care, wholesome nutrition, boundaries .... family & friends were harmed & we had to make a very very painful decision to rehome her through tlrd.

I have had seven dogs in my life and with every single one - similar breeds as this one - when we provided training, nutrition, medical care, routine, socialization, exercise & boundaries they thrived.

None of us are victims to our choices, whether an owner of tlrd or the adoptive parent. Tlrd uses bizarre tactics if you get to the unthinkable moment of needing to rehome. To date, we have been called all different names by this group, "fool," "drama queen," "stalking," "selfish," "arrogant," demanding."

Will share more on yelp. Hope it's helpful.

On March 11, 2024 the judge heard our small claims court matter. Tlrd did not show.