A Leg Up Dog Rescue

Beyond excellent rescue! I have worked with them for 12 years now. They have helped us with dogs that no one else were interested in. One had four deformed legs — Jennifer Bird took her in and raised all the needed funds for her surgeries. She has taken very senior Chihuahuas from us; you name it she has gone beyond to help if at all possible. She has even stepped in a few times and personally taken bottle baby kittens to help out. I can’t say enough good things about this group and specially Jennifer Bird. We are so grateful for all they have done for these animals that others aren’t able or aren’t interested in helping.

I am frankly shocked by any negative reviews of ALUR. I have been working with this organization for 7 years. I have adopted two dogs from them. Both were severely injured when Jennifer Bird rescued them. One of the great things about Jennifer is that she takes dogs that other rescue organizations won’t take. They both required leg amputations and ALUR paid for all their doctor bills and follow-​up care. I got my first one, Jessie, after he had healed and was ready for adoption. He has been a perfect companion. My second one, Lexi, came to me from her foster mother. She and Jessie are two of the sweetest dogs you would ever want to meet. I’m thankful every day that Jennifer saved these two and they are now part of my family.
I have also become a foster mother for ALUR. I have taken my foster dog to the vet for full examinations, teeth cleaning (including extractions) and to be micro chipped… all paid for by ALUR. Jennifer is always available to discuss any problems or concerns I have for the dogs in my care. She could not be more professional or caring. She runs a wonderful organization. I could not recommend ALUR more highly!

Mary: I agree completely with your comment that the reviews are surprising in a bad way. I adopted a dog from A Leg Up Rescue in 2003 and have followed the organization since then. All of my experiences with ALUR have been positive. I submitted a positive review some months ago and it was filtered for no reason other than that it was too positive and countered the extremely negative (and, in my opinion, unfair) reviews here. The moral is that one can’t really trust Unilocal for reliable reviews due to their strange way of deciding what reviews go into rating an establishment.

I was just looking up the Unilocal review for ALUR because I was going to make a donation and I have to save I am totally surprised by the reviews. Granted I never worked as a foster person for them, but we did adopt a little chihuahua, Snowflake, three years ago and have nothing but gratitude for what they gave us. Snowflake was found on the streets of the central valley, pregnant and in distress. Jennifer and her organization rescued her, paid for her c-​section, spayed her, microchipped her (we get the emails from the company so she must be registered), removed a large benign growth from her back AND sent us medicine to treat a UTI she got shortly after we brought her home. Jennifer also made sure we were decent people before letting us have Snowflake, and we got a lot of support from the volunteers that worked for her in terms of sharing proper nutrition information. It was nothing but a great experience and words can not describe how grateful we are for her saving Snowflake. T, his little 5 pound chihuahua really is the light of our lives and our happiness is enriched every single day through the joy she and our other chihuahua give us. I will definitely be adopting again through A Leg up Rescue!

I fostered for A Leg Up Rescue for 5 years and I adopted 3 dogs from them. After 5 years, I decided to leave because of the unethical practices by the executive director and I witnessed first hand.
Potential adopters and adopters were told their dogs received dental, heart worm test, basic health checks, spay, neuter, flea control, and microchips. I personally have a list of at least 30 dogs that were adopted out and did not have a registered microchip, even though the new family was told they were registered.
The dogs I fostered only received microchips because I paid for them out of my own pocket, along with flea control, heart worm tests and at least 3 dogs that I fostered only received dental because I paid.
The executive director recently posted accusations of fraudulent fund raising by another foster, a standard practice and behavior for the executive director; the accusations were/​are completely unfounded and untrue. A Leg Up Rescue received so much bad Facebook media due to the posts she had to removed their page.
I fostered a dog Baby that was left in a boarding place by the Executive Director she was covered in her own feces, fleas and matted the ED told me she had to take her there because her, «daughter was getting to attached to Baby». I kept her for months until she passed; this poor baby was deaf, had neurological issues, and only weighed 5 pounds.
I paid for and never received reimbursement for over $ 1000 in dental bills for two fosters, nor was I reimbursed for other items.
I personally had to remove a dog from a foster person who was clearly abusing the dog. I told the ED and she said she would foster the dog herself, we arranged to meet after I picked up the dog and she never showed I waited for over 6 hours. I waited because I could not foster the dog myself I already had 13 dogs in my house, 4 of my own and nine fosters.
Later that evening she text me to tell me she couldn’t find the place and that it was probably good because she was in a bad mood and ordered me to return the dog to the abuser. I refused and though I was clearly at my limit, I kept the dog until I found another foster for the dog. Luckily I found a wonderful foster who has nothing but the dog’s best interest in mind.
This is my personal experience with the rescue and the executive director, not anyone else’s.
The executive director had my first post removed because it had «2^nd hand information». Untrue I only wrote as I did this time about my own experience with the rescue and the Executive Director. They have also removed or filtered three other complaints regarding A Leg Up Rescue.
There have been two filtered reviews, please read those as well. They are honest and true reviews of their personal experience with this rescue.
If you have, questions or concerns feel free to contact me.

Where there is smoke there is fire. Too much drama. Too much talk not enough HELP. I tried to volunteer but was told that my dog, a 30 pound cocker spaniel was too BIG for their functions even tho he was PERFECTLY well behaved but yet i was still invited to come take pictures of their dogs. I prefer to volunteer for grateful people. I dont like to hear of a volunteer being persecuted publicly. Go elsewhere.

I’ve been trying for 3 days for these people to get back to me after calling twice and writing twice. Hmmmm.

We were looking on line to adopt a dog. This was about 3 years ago when the Paris, Britney scene made little dogs the biggest accessory. I looked at several bay area rescue organizations and found Maddie on A Leg Up Dog rescue web site. I have always had Chihuahua terrier mutt dogs, and this little face was irresistible. She was the right age, breed, size, oh but wait she is deaf. Hmm that’s a different kind of commitment. I keep checking back every week and she is not adopted yet and her link had been viewed THOUSANDS of times. This sweet pup was being rejected over and over. So we went out to Petaluma to meet her. The people that run this rescue organization are amazing and want only to place their animals in loving homes. Maddie is the dearest dog, and we love having her in our lives. Please consider not only looking at adopting from this organization, but consider a handicapped animal, deaf, blind, missing a limb, they need good homes too.