Our SPCA branch is a mess. We actually have gone out of our way to avoid helping them. I wont go into details here but they’ve burned a lot of bridges in this town with their ‘holier than thou’ BS.

Good Luck

I hope they’ve solved their “issues” and have gotten rid of the bully(s) This should be all about the animals in their care, not about power plays and personality clashes. Different personalities are a constant in every organization, and to run smoothly there has to be some give and take, especially in a volunteer environment where the organization needs the retention of workers. Perhaps they need a few courses in conflict resolution in order to keep the air open. Hopefully they can now concentrate on doing what’s best for the organization and the animals. The public wants to support them in their efforts as long as they are honest efforts in favour of the animals and not a bunch of posturing and hierarchy BS to further personal agendas or egos.

I had a dealing with them 2 years ago. there was a dog I was interested in, that had been turned in by the owners. I first had to waste time filling out some bs report on myself. I understand that there is a lot of people that should not have pets, but I just wanted to look at the dog to see if he had the nature I was looking for. After filling out the report I was told I had to wait a couple days until he was adoptable.
Most people that have had dealings with the SPCA are not happy.
When its the animals welfare should be considered.

This spca is a joke! I have a 300+ acre farm and we tried to adopt a St Bernard and had to fill out a mile of paperwork, have an interview, and bring our little lap dog in to make sure they were compatible. They were concerned that this huge hairy dog would have to sleep outside in a dog house. To make them happy I said it could sleep in the garage. They did a site inspection and said that the baseboard heaters in the garage would need to be disconnected so that the dog wouldn’t get burnt. Sad so sad…. had I owned an apartment in town they would have let us adopt with no problem! Terrible experience, just hope the dog found a good home!

I’ve adopted four animals from the SPCA with no issue. Yes, I filled out forms. And yes, I brought a dog to check compatibility. Why wouldn’t you expect that? I don’t blame them for being skeptical of people who say they are going to keep their dog outside overnight. I’m sure they’ve seen that go badly many times.

I can’t comment on the management issues, but I find the criticisms of the adoption methods odd. I’ve just never had a problem with it. They are trying to prevent returns and abuse. If you aren’t willing to jump through the hoops, I’m not sure you’re prepared to take on a new pet.

I only ever got one dog from the SPCA. It was the worst mutt I ever had lol. We just could not train it at all… it wanted to bite anyone and everyone that was a stranger, and it would go red with rage at the sight of another dog. I think we had it not two months when it got hit by a car while on holidays in the Kooteneys. It broke a leash to chase another dog and the other dog managed to loose him crossing the highway where he was hit… damn thing survived that though and then died a few months later here in town under nearly the same circumstances. The guy that hit it felt so bad running over a kids dog… but I felt more bad for the guy that run the dog over than I did for the dog by that point.

My next dog we adopted (6-months old) from a guy that moved to California, a Heinz 57 that lived 26-years, and was nearly co-owned by the whole neighborhood that he watched over… he was probably the smartest dog that ever lived. I was lucky to have two good dogs though with my other one a golden retriever I bought from a top notch breeder in Saskatchewan that lived for 16-years.

I like the idea of adopting pets from the SPCA, but after my experience with Barney… its just one has to be very careful because taking on a dog is a huge commitment and sometimes I think they just go mental being locked up so long like they are when they stay there.

Sister-in-law worked at SPCA in Dawson Creek, and had to quit because it was more about the egos than the animals. Hope they fix it.