I adopted a supposedly an 18 month old poodle /shiba Inu mix. This was the most abused pup I ever been exposed to. She was severly underweight and was afraid to eat or drink anything if anyone looked at her. She had never been on a leash before and basically spent all her life in a crate. We are currently working with an animal behaviorist to try to achieve some degree of normalcy with her. There was no background check done when I adopted her , basically if I paid the $1000 she was mine. She was not up to dateon her shots and was not spayed. This seems like a puppy broker to me . So said for these poor little souls to be in her care for profit .. read more

Canine Gem and Hillary helped us find Sherman our red Chiweenie who was a stray in Macon - BIbb county Georgia.. He is a fabulous little dog that's healthy and happy. He's about a year old and a great snuggler! He made himself right at home and gets along great with our 3 yr old lab mix. He's cute as a button and smart as a whip! His name is Sherman Peabody. He came with the name Sherman and we thought of Sherman and Mr. Peabody from Rocky and Bullwinkle. So he is now officially Sherman Peabody! read more

A Canine Gem - Ian And Sherman Peabody - Pet Adoption Near Me - Winooski, Vermont

DO NOT ADOPT FROM THIS PUPPY MILL you have been warned. This woman called me three times to ask if I was "serious" into taking the puppy the day of- without even seeing any of her dogs. I loved the dogs she brought out but they're all severely malnourished, too thin and like 10-30 dogs are left in that tiny room. She was even having a sale for $100 off if I would pick up the dog that day, but wouldn't allow it if I had to come back the next day. She is nickel and diming you for each penny- she's selling dogs $500-800 for mutts from the south, the Carolina's, Kentucky, Mississippi etc. Adoptinf dogs should be $250-350 at the local ESPCA with neutering services. She barely has enough paperwork on each dog and LIES if they do not get along with cats, other dogs, male men etc. DO NOT TRUST HER OR THIS COMPANY. Her business is not maintained as she got kicked out of Vermont- I never give horrible reviews like this- but you all should be aware of what she's doing and how criminal it is to be treating dogs like this. She also doesn't pay her staff enough and has very limited people to work for her. When you meet the dogs they're in such a smal fenced area when there are acres of land on the property. I will repeat it DO NOT PURSCHASE A DOG FROM KANINE GEM IN PERU NY! read more

Hilary was the best! She accommodated us for a time due to the fact we were traveling so far to come see our potential rescue! She really cares about all the canines that she has rescued and wants them to go home to a loving forever home! She was very honest about a pre-existing condition that was diagnosed with our canine (which turned out to be undetected by our Vets exam! He got a complete clean bill of health and every one who meets him comments on what a great dog he is and how lucky we were to get him! I would definitely recommend a canine rescue to adopt your next family member. read more

I would like to thank The Canine Gem for giving us a beautiful, adorable and lovable rescue Beagle. Missy has began to come out of her shell and has fit right into our family. Missy has a big backyard to run around and has Leo our Westie to play with her. Hillary and her staff are top notch. She brought me through Sissy's past which was not be treated well. Her main concern was finding Sissy a good loving home. Which she has now and forever. Thank you from the bottom of my family hearts as our dream has come true and has come home. Always will be Grateful. The Ruf Family read more

Do not buy a dog from this business. I know you think you are doing the right thing giving a deserving dog a home, however it just makes room for a surplus of more to be neglected by the Canine Gem. This kennel houses over sixty dogs with extremely limited space due to the crazy amount of dogs kenneled. They are most definitely not well taken care of the way one dog should be, let alone sixty. When you go to visit a dog, you aren't allowed to interact with other dogs to get a feel for them, only the dogs you've inquired about. There is a reason this business is no longer in Vermont!!!!! Bring your business to an SPCA where the dogs are taken care of and socialized the way they should be. read more

I adopted (bought for $1,200) a dog who has bordatella, giardia and hook worms. She has cost me over $330 in vet bills . . . so far. I was told that she was spayed and would need stitches out but there were no stitches? The vet also thinks that she is older than I was lead to believe due to the condition of her teeth. My baby was filthy, matted like I'd never seen before and afraid to let me touch her for the first three days. I got her groomed, she's now on meds and we have bonded like you wouldn't believe. I'm glad I have her now and she will be loved and cared for, but the price I paid for her was supposed to have covered her boarding and health care, which was clearly minimal. I'm not saying don't adopt from them, obviously these dogs need good homes. Just please be prepared to invest a lot of time, money and patient love once you do. read more

Hilary I'm truly grateful for all that you do for the animals. You're the first person I ask when I know someone is looking to add to their family. I love your soft spot for the seniors and disable dogs. I appreciate your love for the bully breed and your help to stop breed discrimination. Thank you and know that your hard work doesn't go unnoticed. read more

A Canine Gem - Pet Adoption Near Me - Winooski, Vermont

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SCAM!!!! BEWARE!!!! Do NOT adopt or support this organization. I wish I had read the reviews prior to supporting them. THEY ARE FOR PROFIT. They are not a 501c. I had to report them to government agencies due to them scamming at the dog's expense. The only good thing about this is I have my baby but I wish I would have known instead of enabling fake rescues like her's. If you read the other 1 star reviews people have had a similar experience. PLEASE adopt from another rescue or the shelter. Unprofessional, threatens you when you show her proof of falsified documents. I have proof and genetic/DNA testing to back up my claim. I adopted a dog from them. The adoption fee I paid was $805. Hilary Davis is the owner and she lies, and falsifies documentation. When picking up the dog I adopted the paper work listed him as unaltered. I inquired about this and she said it was a mistake and that they would cover the cost to fix the dog at a vet of my choosing. Not thinking too much of this because I was excited for a dog, I agreed to get him fixed and took the dog. What I was told about the dog: Fully vetted, all shots, 10 month old puppy retired from a breeding program and no longer could be used. AKC paper work per breeder. What actually happened: I received a dog that had been clearly abused and neglected. He had mats all over his fur, smelled of urine and was terrified. He also had a bad UTI that costed 1000s in vet bills. If he was vetted prior to being adopted out this would have been avoided. The paper work: She falsifies documentation. I started to look more into the paper work. The dog had multiple documents stating different ages, the rescues paper work stated him to be 10 months old. The vet office that he was taken to to "receive vetting" had him at 4 years old. He ended up actually being neutered which was different from the paperwork as well. I examined his teeth (I am in veterinary school) and his teeth were clearly not puppy teeth as they had wear and plaque. When questioning Hilary on this she changed her story on how she obtained the dog. She first had said that the breeder gave him to the rescue as they could no longer care for him. When asking about age and documentation, Hilary then changed her story to say that he was returned to the breeder and she could not keep but that she believes the breeder would not lie about age. Hilary went as far to three way call the breeder with me on the phone. During this conversation the breeder clearly was lie and I had figured out that this was a scam and that Hilary partners with backyard breeders to make profits on neglected dogs and advertises it as a rescue. The breeder was adamant the dog was 10 months old and that the vet office he received his rabies vaccine made a mistake. She had the vet office then falsify documents and change the age to 10 months old. I kept pressing about the teeth condition and that clearly this is not a puppy, however the breeder became verbally abusive and Hilary took her side. I then decided to get a DNA test (DNA methylation) for age estimation. This test is through a University research lab and is accurate plus or minus 6 months in age. The age test has now came back and the dog is 6 years old. When relaying this information to her one would think that a reputable rescue would be concerned by this information and that where they are intaking dogs from is lying. However, she quickly became defensive and blamed us. She has threatened to report me to my school. She blocked my number. She told me that veterinarians do not know anything. All the above to say that she lies about the dogs that come into her care. She partners with back yard breeders to maximize profits and gives them a cut. She also gets upset if you do not pay in cash. She does this all under a 501c. The dogs she receives are in bad condition and have been neglected. She will falsify documentation and vet records. I do not believe any of the dogs in her care are vetted. I have reported her the multiple government agencies and I believe she is an unethical non profit. read more

My son recently adopted a wonderful dog from A Canine Gem (Pongo),and we are grateful for him. I have never posted a negative review before. I cannot overlook the terrible experience we had with the owner, Hilary. She is not trustworthy. We were advised and paid for a dog who was neutered. This dog was not. I requested a partial refund and Hilary agreed. She set two appointments with me to pick it up. She was a no show for both, after confirming the appointment the prior day. We were advised the dog was treated for Heartworm. Our Vet said the dog was not treated with legitimate Heartworm treatment. Pongo now faces prolonged treatment for Heartworm. Adopting a dog is a huge deal on many levels. Sadly, this owner is not reputable. read more

This rescue is one of the most organized and professional that I have worked with. Which have been many. Hilary works so hard to get these dogs out of shelters that have limited time and resources. She has literally performed miracles many many times. If you are considering helping a dog either by adopting, fostering, transporting, donating or just networking please ask how you can help A Canine Gem rescue! read more

A Canine Gem - He needed rescuing 2017 - Pet Adoption Near Me - Winooski, Vermont

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If I could leave a no star review I would. If you look on the website of this place, you will see Livie. I adopted her 2 years ago. Was told by them she just attacked one of their other dogs doing thousands of dollars of vet bills. I didn't have another dog so I adopted her. She is a very good dog, loves walks, laying on the couch with you and just a low key dog. As time grew she became aggressive with people at the house. She went after 5 people in total, making contact but not doing much injury, thank God. I reached out to this place to return her and they gave me a hard time. I kept her a bit more and had 3 more incidents just this year alone. No contact this time but still going after people. In the ad for adoption of her, they down play the behavior and stating the apartment she was in. I have a house with a huge yard and took her for 4-5 walks daily. This place is a joke, please make sure to do your homework. If I could report this place to someone, I would. read more

I adopted my pup from this place 2 years ago and should have left a review then. I do not like to leave negative reviews but this place is downright scary and clearly not doing this for a love of animals. Both my pup and his sister were housed in a large kennel in the garage with approx 10 other dogs in a variety of kennels. It was chaotic and disgustingly filthy. My pup and his sister were clearly feral and so terrified that they both immediately peed themselves and did everything they could to try and get away. According to the woman that owns the place they had arrived 2 weeks earlier, fully vetted, including worming medicine and flea and tick meds and ready to be adopted. I would have loved to have adopted both of them to get them out of there but at $850 apiece I could not afford it. We brought him home terrified and absolutely covered in feces and urine - crazy she thought this was acceptable but I am sure that she could not handle this poor little guy or his sister. The bath we gave him revealed 3 ticks fully engorged - clearly no tick meds were given. Within days of getting him home we noticed a persistent limp - it could not have been overlooked by someone caring for him appropriately. Our vet ordered an xray which revealed a broken leg that was partially (though incorrectly) healed over. Thankfully we had the resources to have his leg surgically repaired but it would have been heartbreaking if we did not. We adore our little guy and could never regret having him join our family but people like the woman who runs A Canine Gem should never be given the privilege of having animals grace their lives. She has figured out how to make a living off of animals who have already had enough trauma in their lives - she is not doing this for them regardless what her website says. It is incredibly sad that she is able to stay in business even with all of the negative and honest reviews. Please think twice or at least be extremely careful if you decided to adopt from this woman. There is no doubt the animals are deserving, it is just a pity that they ended up with her. read more

Absolutely disgusting business practices. This woman cares solely about making money. The dogs are unkept, and very poorly cared for. She lies about the health of the dogs, their temperament, and their vet checks, as well as whether or not they are up to date on vaccines. Most expensive adoptions fees around, and 100% would not recommend. Ever. Don't catch her in a lie or she will slander your name and blast false information all over social media. Unprofessional at best. Any rescue in the state is a better choice than this one. read more

SERIOUSLY PLEASE DO NOT SUPPORT THIS RESCUE. Our story: we adopted a dog from this rescue and he was horribly malnourished. He was not up-to-date on his shots and we were told that he was cat friendly. Three weeks later, he killed our cat..... he was such a good boy but with small children, we knew that we could not keep him. I couldnt bare to bring him back to the rescue where he was so clearly starved and neglected so I vetted and found him a wonderful home. When the owner found out, she called screaming her head off, threatening to call her lawyers and sue us. She said "well, you don't have a cat anymore so what's the problem?" Not only did she harass us, but also his new family which was mortifying. What did she want? To re-adopt out the dog to receive another $450 adoption fee. It was awful and heartbreaking and makes me so sick to my stomach. We are good people, love our pets And do not deserve to be threatened. read more

A Canine Gem - Severely emaciated at time of adoption. - Pet Adoption Near Me - Winooski, Vermont

We had a 65-lb pit bull go after my friend's children the day after he was adopted despite being told he was "great with kids and families". It was less than 48-hours later yet the people at Canine Gem refused to take the dog back or refund the $600 adoption fee. Instead, they blamed the kids for being too rowdy (the kids are NOT rowdy) and said the dog should have been given more time to acclimate. How long should a vicious pit bull be left with children before a person can determine if it's had time to acclimate, exactly? Until it kills one of them? read more

After sending in our application for an older dog, the owner Hillary called us saying they weren't available, but there were two puppies that they just brought up from Missouri. She told us everything we wanted to hear about them and thought they could be suited for our needs. But here was the catch, we had 2 hours to put down a $200 deposit through paypal friends and family (not protected payment) and that it was non-refundable. With this deposit, the dog could be held for a few days. This did not sit right with us. So when we asked more information about the dogs needs and if they aligned with ours, her tune changed and nothing that we stated that we needed in our application was met by these dogs. After that, we told her we could not go through with the deposit and she turned nasty. She told us we should not be adopting a recuse dog because they could never meet our needs and that we should stop looking. It is also NOT located in Vermont but Peru, NY read more

My family and I adopted this wonderful mini Aussie from Canine Gem in September 2020 and named him Chandler Bing. Hilary and her staff rescued him from deplorable conditions in a disreputable breeder in Missouri. I received a call from her in less than an hour after filling out the online application, which was wicked impressive, and the following day, after an introduction with our other dog Lucy, we brought him home. Chandler was a very sick little pup, only 23 pounds, riddled with so many worms that our vet even got a false positive for parvo at first. None of this was the fault of Canine Gem. They got him out of the place that made him sick and afraid. They got him neutered, rabies vaccinated, and gave him the first round of deworming medication. Then they got him a good home. Fast. After this, it was my responsibility to tend to Chandler's needs and finish getting him healthy. He's now a gloriously happy healthy pup, 34 pounds of solid muscle and spunk. His big sister Lucy has completely bonded with him, as have we. He seems to get cuter and stronger every day, and I swear yesterday, that little guy winked at me when I told him how handsome he is. I can see from these other reviews that some folks had a bad experience, and I cannot speak for them, only for myself. Every adoption has an inherent risk. You take your heart and your wallet in your hands when you opt to rescue. I have no regrets, and I know I lucked out with my little Bingaling. I applaud Hilary and her staff for being a go-between for the wee souls from the unthinkable to their truly deserved lives with loving families. With all the unknowns in the past of every rescued animal, there are so many things that can potentially go wrong, but then so many to go right as well. I hope all who are searching for the right doggie fit for their family, researching sites and reviews like this find themselves as downright lucky as me. I'm going to go scoop up my pup for a snuggle. read more

A Canine Gem - Pet Adoption Near Me - Winooski, Vermont

I have adopted 2 dogs in my life and wanted to check out this place for a new addition to our family. Sadly, the animals I saw at Hilary's facility were poorly cared for and the conditions they were kept in were atrocious. It truly broke my heart. I'm actually going to contact my local animal welfare office to investigate this business. Please do not support business that mistreat animals! read more

We had a great experience here. The site is beautiful and every dog was well cared for. They gave us health records on our pup and were transparent about the fact that he hadn't been neutered due to vet closures during COVID. We are taking care of that with our vet. First time dog owners may be wary, but we felt confident in adopting and training a 10 month old dog. He is part of the family and we are so glad that we adopted! read more

I am disgusted by this place. Every dog that was shown to me and my boyfriend was skinny to the point where their ribs and/or spine was visibly showing. The dog we adopted looks like he was a stray, so we brought him to the vet and found out that this shelter lied to us. Don't get me wrong, he has a good temperament, but that can just be luck. These dogs were the sweetest things, but they are under the control of people who only care for money and only pretend they care with the dog's "check-ups" after they are adopted. They had so many complaints that they are currently under investigation for animal cruelty. ADOPT THEM, so they can have a decent home, because this shelter cannot clearly provide the necessary care-taking these animals need. I am literally grateful for the dog we adopted, but he was there the longest, is way under the weight expectations, and was not even posted on the website for potential adoptions. I have already reported them to the county police department, and we even drove from Massachusetts to adopt a dog, so we need justice because these dogs are neglected beyond belief. I myself, worked at a shelter/rescue center, and if there was an issue with any animal, they were removed from the kennel and brought to the office until they were adopted or proved signs of improvement. Other shelters bring them to a foster family, but no, this place comes up with excuses for why their dogs are malnourished. read more

So i am 22 years old and i had not had a dog since my last one passed when i was 9. I recently adopted a dog from hilary coates at a canine gem which as advertised was spayed and vetted. Not only was the adoption fee more than any other rescue ($450) but the dog was not spayed. I did not find this out until i brought my dog to the vet and found out she was pregnant. So after contacting hilary and her not apologizing or even accepting she was in the wrong our options were to spay the pregnant dog or give her back to the rescue. After being lied to before and not treated with very much respect i would take care of the pregnancy myself, only asking for the $175 "vet fee" back. At the time she refused and not only until after reviews were written she ofdered to foster the dogs and adopt them out. At this point i do not trust this women so why would i give her my dog back? Eventually after not speaking to this women she offered $125 that i still have not seen... now you can find her slandering MY name on her facebook page...thanks Hilary for making my first adoption a terrible experience. read more

We adopted a dog from Hilary in April. It was our first dog and she told us this dog was a perfect first dog and wouldn't be any trouble. We asked about his background and was told he was returned from a family that wasn't "mobile" enough and couldn't provide enough exercise for the dog. We are very active people so didn't think that would be a problem, which it isn't. However, the dog is extremely reactive to other dogs so any time we take him on a walk, we try to avoid other dogs which is difficult in our neighborhood. We are not able to take him to dog parks, or really anywhere that we could possibly see another dog. We are working with a trainer and the trainer was shocked and mad that we weren't told how reactive he is and said the shelter must've known because it is so extreme. He also needed all of his shots when we first brought him to our vet - the vet said the shelter didn't give him the shots on the correct schedule so they were ineffective. We love our dog and don't regret adopting him. He is very well behaved inside our house and is super sweet and friendly with us and people we have introduced him to but it has been much harder than we expected and we will never adopt another dog from here. We plan to work with a trainer to correct his reactiveness so that we can have a long, good life together but this will end up costing us a lot of money. I'm grateful that we adopted this specific dog because I think a lot of people would easily give up on him and send him back and that's not fair to the dog since it is Hilary's fault for not placing him in a home that is safe for him based on his behavior/temperament. Next time we adopt a dog, we plan to go to a reputable rescue that is honest and truly understands the dogs' temperaments and places dogs in the appropriate homes to set them up for success. read more

When we adopted Willow last summer, we were AMAZED by the amount of work, money, and time this rescue put forth for our old lady to ensure her health and happiness. They had her fixed, had her on Glucosamine tablets for her arthritis (which she continues to take) and which Hilary was very up front about when we inquired about her. Willow had all of her shots and tests up to date, and even had EXTENSIVE surgery to pull rotten and painful teeth, which I know can costs thousands of dollars. When we brought Willow for her check up recently to the same vet, everything was on track for her shots and all other needs. Besides gaining a little too much weight since we adopted her, which is our fault from over feeding (and she's now on a very regimented diet), Willow is perfect, happy, and healthy. We are so grateful to Hilary for connecting us with this gentle, sweet, old soul. We can never thank her enough for giving Willow the chance to come to Vermont after being taken in as a stray down South and letting us give her a forever home. read more

A Canine Gem - Pet Adoption Near Me - Winooski, Vermont

PLEASE DO NOT ADOPT FROM HERE. PLEASE MAKE THIS PLACE SHUT DOWN SO THESE ANIMALS CAN GET PROPER CARE FROM A REAL RESCUE!!! If I could I'd give them a zero. Thankfully we adopted our sweet boys from these people. The below reviews are so correct I wish I had seen them before going to CANINE GEM. We adopted 2 "kittens" the site had them listed as 3 months old BOY AND GIRL. The cats we adopted are in fact 10 MONTHS OLD AND BOTH MALE! Intact males. We paid $225 for them both which was supposed to include vetting. That's a TOTAL LIE. these two babies not only had to be neutered last week but had fleas and tape worms and it makes me so so sick and sad to think these boys were with this shelter for roughly 9 months infected with worms and fleas. Their only vet work up was when they were 3 weeks old when the shelter got them from the south. THAT IS NEGLECT. My poor babies also seem to have upper respiratory infections that we weren't made aware of. Unfortunately we paid this women and signed paperwork saying any Illnesses that come up after adoption are not their responsibility. Of course I love my cat's to death. But again PLEASE DO NOT ADOPT FROM HERE. PLEASE MAKE THIS PLACE SHUT DOWN SO THESE ANIMALS CAN GET PROPER CARE FROM A REAL RESCUE!!! this is not me angrily typing. I've had over a month to come to terms with this adoption and just trying to put the real truth out there. read more

My son adopted a dog from this rescue which was advertised as being spayed, but turned out she wasn't. We then endured what turned out to be a false pregnancy, only finding this out after waiting the normal birthing time for a dog. We spent money on items in preparation for the puppies and then my son ended up having to pay for her to be spayed in addition to the fee he paid to adopt her. We contacted the rescue to request they refund a portion of the fee. The director screamed at both of us. She also admitted she had never confirmed the dog was spayed. She has sick dogs at the rescue, dogs that are not spayed/neutered, and dogs that are not up to date on shots and she lets people adopt them. She eventually offered to refund $125 of the $450 fee; we have yet to see any money. She put our names on her rescue's Facebook page telling followers to "let us know how they feel". I have been being harassed for a week now. Completely unprofessional! She doesn't like it when anyone disagrees with her, that is quite obvious! I would never adopt from this rescue again and I strongly advise anyone reading this to seek a pet elsewhere. read more