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| - It breaks my heart to write a bad review for an organization who is saving animal lives, however please read this before using this organization. We were approved to adopt one of their labs who was being fostered down in Tucson. The foster mom stated she would hang onto the dog until we got back from a few days vacation. We get back, foster mom says we are a "go" come down when you can, no hurry, "he isn't going anywhere". The next day, one of our dogs had an eye injury and had to have eye surgery. We call the foster mom and tell her what happened, and said we didn't think it would be good timing for a new dog in the family, can we postpone adoption for 10 days until our dog gets his cone off after surgery? "YES" she says, "no problem, I will hold onto him for you". 10 days later, we call and say we can go to Tucson the next day to finalize the adoption, and she says "Oh, well, I couldn't wait any longer, and I'm going out of town tomorrow, so there is another guy coming over to adopt him today." WHAT????? WHAT???
Are you kidding me?? So, we contact Desert Lab, tell them what happened, they apologize and blame the whole situation on the foster mom. "She should not have done that; that is against our policies; she should have never made any promises; we don't 'get rid' of dogs just because of vacations" type stuff. So we take their word for it and think it was a one of a kind fluke, and move on. We find another one of their labs we'd love to adopt in Phoenix. We get approved, and adopt. On paper the dog we were getting was 6 years old, had cataracts starting, and no signs of lameness or joint problems; and is a "heavy breather". She was quarantined at the Scottsdale vet this rescue uses for a week because of "kennel cough". What we adopted was an "at least 12" year old dog; with no cataracts but eye changes due to advanced age; the most severe grade of hip degeneration possible; and a paralyzed larynx (a life threatening breathing condition). All these conditions including the "at least 12 years old" were verified by 2 different vets costing us a few thousand dollars within the first week of ownership. When we contacted the vice president of Desert Lab with this news, she kept repeating over and over that we can return her, "return her to us". We informed Desert Lab that once we commit to an animal we commit for life; no matter what, so returning her was absolutely not going to happen. What we did ask the VP to do was to charge us the senior adoption fee instead of the 'middle-age' dog adoption fee (a difference of about $100). She informed us that she needed to "check with the board of directors" on that. WHAT?? We just laid down several thousand because your organization, nor the vet clinic where she was for 7 full days, can't adequately figure out a dogs medical conditions nor age?? And you have to check with the board on a $100 difference we should not have to pay because of her real age? WOW. And it gets better. They never called us back. Couple weeks go by and after leaving voice messages and emails we finally hear that they "don't agree that her adoption fee should be reduced" but they will accept the lower adoption amount. Gee thanks. And it gets better. We ask about transfer of microchip. Again, they say they'll get back to us. We call. We email. We call again, multiple times. Nothing. SIX months later - no microchip transfer. So we take matters into our own hands, get a hold of the microchip company and after hearing our nightmare story, the microchip folk agreed to change ownership on their end, thankfully. We LOVED this dog, for her condition we purchased her cooling mats, installed webcams all over inside and outside - because dogs with paralyzed larynx's cannot cool themselves down; they cannot pant - heck they can hardly breathe. She was a cherished member of our family and we loved her deeply for the short time we had her before we had Happy Endings come to the house to say goodbye. At the end, she could not breathe well- even when she was resting - because the condition gets worse over time; and she was not a good candidate for surgery. So we loved her no matter what. So she had a fantastic home, and as much as I love labs I will never use this rescue again, and you better believe there have been many who have heard this story. I'm sorry but this organization needs a serious lesson in customer service (not to mention that vet needs to go back to school!). NOT once did they ever say they were sorry that we got a significantly different dog than what they had 'advertised'. GO ELSEWHERE. Use Petfinder, find your lab at another organization or the county shelter. We just got an amazing yellow lab (who looks purebred b.t.w.) from the Westside Pound. The county offered him to Desert Lab but they passed on him because he was "too old". He's 9!! And full of life; and the most fantastic, goofiest dog ever. Glad we got him and not Desert Lab!
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