This summer we decided to foster dogs and were quickly drawn to Midwest Animal Rescue (MARS) located in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Most of their dogs are rescued from high-kill shelters in the south. We went through the application process and began fostering. We were so excited! However, our experience quickly turned from something exciting to something terrible.
When we went to pick up Burke, our first dog, the atmosphere was one of chaos. While this might have been somewhat expected since they were getting 50 dogs in that weekend, it was really out of control that night. It took quite awhile for anyone to acknowledge us and when they did, they handed Burke over to us without any explanation or checking to see if we had any questions. I made the comment that night that it was good we were familiar with dogs because it would be weird to just be handed a random dog and pushed out the door if we didn’t already have canine experience.
We quickly fell in love with Burke! He was a nice, mellow dog who adjusted quickly. Kristin sent many pictures and updates to the woman we had been working with. A week or so later, his rep contacted us upset that she hadn’t received any updates. Apparently the updates had not reached her. No one had told us where to send the updates, but apparently it was our fault for not figuring it out.
When a family showed interest in adopting Burke, we took him in for his meet and greet. When the woman said she wanted to take him home they started going through what he still needed as far as shots and his neuter appointment. They told her that we hadn’t brought him in for his appointments for shots, so those would need to be restarted. No one had ever told us he had appointments, but it still seemed to come down to negligence on our part for some reason.
When we first got Burke his ear was red, inflamed, and warm to the touch. We called MARS who told us it was probably just dirty and we should buy some ear wash and clean it, which we did. When we took him to the groomers a week later she said he had an ear infection and should have it looked at. We called MARS again but they refused to let us take him to a vet or have their vet look at him. When we took him in for his first meet and greet, one of staff/volunteers looked at his ear and said it was not infected. She was furious that we kept saying that it was (she, by the way was not a vet or vet tech). She must have somehow missed the pus coming out of his ear. Anyway, he went home with the family.
That adoption didn’t work out (the other dog in the house didn’t like having another dog in the house), so the girl returned him. Kristin went to pick him up, as we had agreed to foster him again. The girl was entitled to half of her $400 adoption fee back. She said she would just like to donate the entire fee to MARS because she felt so bad that it hadn’t worked out. The staff at MARS didn’t even thank her for the donation, simply shuffled the girl out the door and sent Kristin and Burke on their way (with a dirty, disgusting crate).
When we took Burke in for a meet and greet with a second family, Kristin mentioned that Burke needed to be watched especially close right now because he was teething and chewing on everything. She mentioned he had chewed on a friend’s window sill, for example. One of the MARS reps gave Kristin a “don’t tell them that!” look. Apparently getting Burke adopted was more important than warning the family of issues that may arise (Update 10/19: Burke was adopted by that family and aside from a ruptured ear drum (from the ear that was definitely NOT infected), seems to be doing well!).
While the whole MARS organization seemed wildly disorganized, we decided to foster again because we really had loved Burke and hoped we could help another dog. We got Turk a few days later (see previous entry for how that worked out) and the craziness continued. For example, anything negative we put in his updates that might be important for a potential family to know was removed before they were posted online. When we were talking to them about what breed Burke may be they told us they don’t ever know (which is true of all shelters/rescues), but they try to pick something that lots of people like. One staff member told us that a dog had been in a foster home for awhile. They were trying to figure out how to get him adopted and decided to change his breed to a golden retriever even though he was obviously not one in order to get more people to consider him.
After our experience with Turk, the loss of Sabrina (see previous entry), the overall disorganization of MARS, and the seeming lack of resources to take care of all the dogs they are trying to rescue, we have decided not to foster or adopt through them. While we loved the dogs and felt like we were helping a worthwhile cause, we just decided it’s not worth being made to feel like we are doing everything wrong and blamed for any issues instead of being appreciated for helping their organization.
For those out there who are looking for a new pet, I would highly suggest skipping over this group. Their adoption fees are high, they don’t seem to care about the animals’ health, completing adoptions seems more important than telling the truth to potential families, and they are difficult to work with.
