It's been a couple of years ago that she had a shelty come in for adoption. I immediately applied. I have had shelties all of my life. I have an extra large yard with a beautiful 6-ft privacy fence. Immediately, the administrator told me I was lying and I didn't have a fence. She was looking at old mapping that was on the internet. When I bought my house. I put the fence up immediately for my dogs. I ended up sending her the invoice voice from when I purchased and installed the fence. Then she came up with another untruth saying that I was bad-mouthing the shelty rescue on Facebook. What had happened was she got this little dog in and she told me I was approved for the adoption and I was ready to pick her up when then she decided to spring it on me that the dog was heartworm positive. I had never had a heartworm positive dog so I asked my Facebook friends, many of them who were Sheltie owners, what I needed to know about taking in a heartworm positive dog. The administrator had a fit and said that I was bad mouthing her which I never did. She pulled the plug on my adoption for no reason whatsoever after I had made plans to receive this pup the next day. It was very sad because the little dog needed a good home and I provide such an excellent home for my shelties. And will never deal with Central Illinois Sheltie Rescue again... Unless they have a different administrator. So sad when she had no reason to do any of this. read more

it's sad to read negative reviews about CIRS. Yes they do a thorough investigation. most babies come from bad situations & they nurse them back to health. Of course they want the best for each & every one. I appreciate all they do & all the hard work they put in. Thank you Natalie & Everyone at CIRS. Yes, we adopted from them & yes we will be back to adopt again. read more

Central Illinois Sheltie Rescue - Our Miss Lacey - Pet Adoption Near Me

My advice: RUN. If you do get into business with them, record EVERY call, keep EVERY text, and EVERY email. Protect yourself. You'll thank me later. I tried to adopt a bichon from this rescue. I received a glowing recommendation from my vet. I got approved. I did my due diligence and read the materials on this rescues website. When the owner, Natalie, came to my house for the home visit. She was extremely rude & unprofessional. But she gave me the dog with a few caveats to the contract. 1.There would be no smoking in my house. 2. I would have a 'more secure" fence built by July 1. For the record, my fence was fine. It's held up for four years. No problems. It just wasn't good enough for her. After she gave the dog to me and left. I discovered that the contract online was different than the one I signed at the visit. The one on-line was missing Clause 17. It basically said she could take my dog at any time for any reason. No stipulations listed or explanation. I called her and told her about my concerns about the contract. She told me I only had a problem with it because I intended to break it. This was not true. I entered this contract in good faith, and she had deceived me. She told me that it was a mistake and she forgot to update the contract online. I didn't believe her. It broke my heart, but I gave the dog back . I tried to work it out with her to get my dog back, but I needed some reassurance that she was trustworthy before I could sign a contract with her again. I asked her to coordinate with another rescue that could vouch for her. Maybe they could take over the contract so that we can get the dog back in my home and open up space for another. She declined my offer. I offered to buy the puppy outright and she declined. I asked if she would meet with lawyers to hash out an agreement both of us were protected in. She refused to offer any options besides me signing an already dubious contract. I'm out thousands of dollars for a fence, and she takes no personal responsibility for her "mistake" at all. This is not a good business practice. She Is not a good person to work with. Beware! To owner: Wow! Your response does more damage to your credibility than my review does. Bravo. No reputable rescue would ever put a dog into the situation that you claimed to have below. If you did, your license should be revoked. If you're lying - - which we both know you are - - then your license should be revoked. read more

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this woman, natalie is the wrong person to be over seeing sheltie rescues. She doesn't bother to answer any inquiries. I realize there are rules i.e. fence requirements but when I said that I would install a fence when given the thumbs up for adoption but she did reply that I had to install a fence and then they would work with me. what comes first the chicken or the egg? I am not going to spend bookoo bucks on a fence when I'm not sure if I will even be considered. When trying to press this issue because i want a dog so badly, she did respond in a snarky manner " don't try to humor me about installing a fence just so you can get a dog" I really don't think she has anyones "especially the dogs" best interest at heart. I will seek out other options, all we hear is how desperate the rescue situation is, this woman is at the root of the problem! my dogs in te past have been well loved and cared for so cisr is at fault. good luck with adopting! 1 read more

A couple weeks back Natalie came to my home to do a home visit . My sister was trying to adopt a dog from her rescue. She was extremely rude during her visit, and made everyone in a household anxious. But that's not why I am writing this. There was an incident in my house with MY dog. This rescue required that we already had a dog similar in size and age to the one my sister was trying to adopt. During the visit, Natalie required that there was an introduction between the two dogs. That went fine. Brownie loves other dogs. He gets anxious around big dogs., But little dogs, like the one my sister was trying to adopt, he's total fine with. Anyway, at one point, Natalie orders her husband to pick up MY dog and smell him for smoke. This was extremely reckless of her. She doesn't know the background of my dog. She doesn't know that he was in a bad situation until a little over a year ago. That he was a rescue. That he gets nervous around strangers. And she didn't bother to ask if it was okay to pick him up. In fact, she didn't bother asking anything about my dog. She just did what she wanted, and it could've caused her husband to get bit. I spent hours trying to calm down my dog after she left. They scared him,and he was shaking like a leaf. He even yipped when Mike picked him up. That should've been a clue. This woman runs a dog rescue. These dogs come from all kinds of backgrounds. Some horrifying, I'm sure. Why would she ever think that this was OK? Something is not right here. She is not right. To owner: Only my sister and I have written a review. She wrote one sharing her experience with your business. I wrote one because you hurt my dog at the home visit and I thought people should know. That's it! If you wronged more people, that's on you. read more

I will start off by saying it's nice that this organization is able to take in so many beautiful pups and give them love and care before they are adopted by their forever families. However, we had a terrible experience that I hope never happens to anyone else who adopts a sheltie from CISR. Due to what I would say was a "prank call" (I don't know what else to call it because I still am unsure of their motive...) by a malicious person, we had our dear sheltie taken away from us. This was after the extensive screening the organization does on prospective adopters. We passed with flying colors, as we should have, and were invited to come out and adopt one of the little ones who were looking for their new family. We are experienced pet owners who love our animals and provide the best care for all of them. When we adopt an animal, it's forever because that pet is a family member - and that's how they are treated. Because this caller made up lies about us, we were made to take our little guy back out to CISR for investigation. We had no problem cooperating and it was stated that he was obviously fine and that we could come back in a week to bring him back home. Well that day never happened. No research was done on this caller....but CISR ended up believing what this caller said about us per that one conversation that was had. We had passed their extensive background check with ease....yet suddenly we became horrible people who shouldn't have a pet. Huh?! We offered more references and any other possible information the organization may want to learn more about us. We fully cooperated through a month of agony of trying to get our dear pup back to his home. We had nothing to hide and answered all questions with the honest to God truth. If we seemed like dishonest people or people who were unworthy of adopting a pet, we don't know why that wasn't said in the beginning after conducting the background checks and home visit and adoption. We never gave up because you don't give up on family members. After a month of playing "games" with us over e-mail (our calls were ignored - we never ONCE got to speak over the telephone and were scolded that calling wouldn't help) we were told we weren't getting our dear sheltie back. Our hearts were broken. The entire situation was handled VERY unprofessionally by CISR. From not screening the caller, to sending us emails that made us FEEL like we were horrible people, and also REFUSING to communicate about the situation on the phone ---- it was unbelievable. A situation that should have been handled with empathy and care was treated quite the opposite. And in the end, despite fighting with all our might and cooperating every step of the way to get our little man home, we were left feeling broken hearted because the little guy we adopted was family--and he was taken away from two wonderful, loving people for no reason other than someone believing a very persuasive caller that CISR knew NOTHING about. I pray these shelties all find their forever homes, and I also pray that NO ONE **ever** has to go thru the hell we did a little over a month ago. :( read more

Central Illinois Sheltie Rescue - Pet Adoption Near Me

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More than a month ago, we applied to rescue a Sheltie (we have a Sheltie from another rescue). We listed 2 preferences (required) on the lengthy application, filled in all the information and submitted the application via email. The next day, we emailed a photo of our Sheltie. No reply or acknowledgement. A week or two later, both our choices had been adopted, so we emailed a request to adopt George. No response. After about 6 weeks, we still have not heard from CISR about any of our 3 emails, George is still on their list of available dogs, and we are frustrated and disappointed that CISR has chosen not to respond to us, and sad for George. read more

A couple of weeks ago I was up in the Towanda area. I drove out to the Rescue and met both Nat and Mike. They were extremely nice to me. I wanted to check out the facility, not realizing most of the Shelties are in Rescue homes, waiting for their forever homes. They had several Shelties on hand and they were all adorable. My husband and I do not have a fence yet in our yard, so we do no qualify to adopt, Until one is installed. We missed the fall installation, but will be getting one in the Spring. Our Current Sheltie Girl will be 12 in February, even though she acts like she is 6 years old. I have raised and owned several Shelties over the years, and am hoping to get a playmate for Bailey. She goes out on a lead with us personally, or she is Tethered to a cable to run around in the yard. Nat showed me the fence at the shelter, it was very nice, but I think my husband would select another style. A lot of things, have been going on, with my husbands parents, so we have been overseeing their medical issues. I am planning on signing up as a Volunteer, and will do so, this week. I live about 45 min. By interstate, from the Rescue Facility, and hope to assist. My husband, and I, are both retired from Federal/State Law Enforcement Agencies. Sincerely, and Happy Holidays to All! Molly R read more

My experience with CISR had been frustrating and less than positive. We've had five Shelties over the years and were looking to adopt one as a companion to our current Sheltie. I filled out the extensive application and eventually someone was sent to our home for the home visit. We were not quite ready to adopt at that point, partly because there wasn't an appropriate dog available. About three months later, a dog became available who was perfect. I contacted CISR by their preferred email. No response at all. The Sheltie is still available. No communication. I do not know any reason why we might have been rejected. The organization does great work with the dogs but they are less than polite and communicative with prospective adopters. read more

I want to give a positive review of this rescue organization, having had experience with two other Midwestern agencies in the past 10-15 years. CISR is a well run, honest, professional and caring rescue. They bring in Shelties from difficult, sometimes unbelievable, situations. They are very thorough in their investigation process and ask a lot of questions of prospective adopters, and I admire this. I first applied to adopt a new Sheltie from CISR when my 12 year old beautiful Sheltie was diagnosed with a fast moving oral cancer in February of this year. After getting several opinions I decided to just keep her comfortable and living the life she loved as long as it was possible. I received the OK for adoption in April and my husband and I travelled downstate to the Bloomington area and met a little charmer we named Sophie. She was a good 20 lbs overweight due to poor care by her prior owners, and needed special diet and daily walks to bring down her weight. I'm happy to report she has lost over 10# and is starting to look more like a sweet little Sheltie than a "pot belly pig" she resembled when we brought her home. She has come a long way and has endeared herself to me and my family in the last 3 months. After my 12 year old passed away I applied again for a 2nd Sheltie and was accepted. I drove down again expecting to adopt a dog pictured on the website, but another dog who really needed a lot of attention had just come in a few days before, after living in an outdoor cage, being bred because she was beautiful and a champion of her breed. She has been a great challenge, but so rewarding in her progress. She now has a home with me and Sophie, knowing every day she is loved unconditionally. Maybe I'm the exception to the rule, but I am so impressed with the people of CISR, who have supported me in the challenges of my two little sweethearts and their issues. They take time to listen and give valid and supportive advice. I did not have this from the previous agencies I adopted from. Shelties are a special breed and they are not for everyone, although they have many admirers (I know). It helps to have had several prior Shelties who have lived well with you and your family, and all the caveats need to be observed when considering one as a pet. However, if it is a good fit, the rewards of owning and loving one (or more) are amazing. read more