This animal shelter will never let you adopt a dog no matter how great of a dog owner you are. I left the shelter crying because they would not let me adopt a dog. They tried every way to persuade me that I am not a good candidate for adoption. I have two small Bichon mixes, I have been wanting to adopt an additional dog for a long time now. I have never given up a dog, or moved, I've lived in Arizona in the same house, with fence, forever. My dogs are indoor dogs. I get them Vet checked regularly, they are healthy, they are sweet friendly dogs. I saw on the news that shelters are overfilled with the economy now so I went down there to try and make an adoption. Immediately when I entered they didn't approach me or help me. I had to get someone's attention to know what to do or where to go to see the dogs. They told me to sign in. Then finally someone told me to follow the red paw prints to the dog kennels. Other people were being taken with guides but I was ignored and not helped, although I had a specific dog in mind from petfinder.com that I had told the front desk I wanted to see. No one helped me find the dog, despite asking, they would say "She's in there somewhere" Finally I found the dog and fell in love. She was sweet, and perfect and exactly what I had been looking for for my other small dogs. I asked to see her, and they said I had to fill out an adoption form, which I did, and they still wouldn't let me see the dog. They started accusing me that I would move and give up the dog or not have someone to take care of it. I said I had never given up a dog in my life and had no plans of moving. They said my other two dogs were way to big and would attack this dog, which my other dogs are small bichons and have never attacked a dog or a person in their life. So they said I would have to bring my dogs in to meet the dog, which didn't matter because then they said the puppy I planned to adopt would require too many medical problems since its a small dog and I wouldn't be willing to take care of it!? Which I would. My dogs are in perfect health with one at 10 yrs old. They found every way possible to say I wouldn't be able to adopt the dog, in summary accusing me of moving in the future, not being able to handle its health in the future (it was a 2 month puppy), that my other dogs were too large, etc. not allowing me to adopt a dog for no real reason! Other than what they accuse and make-up because they apparantly do not actually want their dogs to be adopted.

My friend also came in attempting to adopt the dog, and they refused her as well. She lives in a house, with her fiance, and they have no dogs. They forced her to first fill out the form, then still would not even let her see the dog. They wanted her fiance to come in first so they could see if he was a 'good match' and after all the interviewing of his job, her status, etc, they said the dog was 'on hold' and she couldn't have it anyway. She asked if she could be on a list to have it on hold as well if the other potential owner didn't follow through and they wouldn't let her.

Additionally, some people have said they were not allowed to adopt from here because they live in an apartment. I and my friend each live in a house with a fence, and yet they gave the dog to someone in an apartment! Hypocritical, or the shelter was lying yet again to make an excuse as to why we couldn't adopt a pet.

All in all, they make it impossible for you to adopt an animal.

My purpose to visit Sun Valley Animal shelter was to find a possible dog to adopt for my family, I had brought my dog into the shelter with their permission by phone to do a meet and greet if their was a potential dog that was compadible for our family especially my dog. Right away when entering the shelter a couple of the staff welcomed us and mentioned that a certain dog would be so good with our situation asked me a bunch of questions about if we would allow the dogs in the house, do you have an area for the dogs to keep cool, etc. In which I graciously had given them the information. After finally entering the shelter to look at the dogs a staff member walked us to the area and kindly gave us information about another dog at the shelter. I was given a paper with clipboard and was told to complete the application for review on adopting . Then the staff member left us to return to the front office and then came back to tell me that our dog would need a much older dog that what they had right now would not be compatible and questioned my dogs health, had mentioned we might need to wait for my dog to passaway before adopting another dog. It was almost like interigating at that time, feeling very uncomfortable about the way I was questioned and told what I need and also making me feel not welcome.

I understand that Shelters want to make the right choices for the dogs in question, and I appreciate that, however there is a much tactfull way of handling potential adopters. I will not return back to that shelter unfortunately and I hope that the dogs there find there long awaited families. They should never judge a person or animal without really knowing what is going on.