We've adopted three dogs from Coastal Sheltie and they have been absolutely amazing fits for our little family. I have also volunteered with the rescue on a couple of occasions until we moved out of the area. The head of the rescue, Dara, is very passionate and truly wants to find the best fit for both the dog and the family. read more

Coastal Shellie helped heal my rescue shepherd from Parvo. If it wasn't for their caring nature, love and concern for dogs in need, I would not have my beautiful companion and furry best friend Shelby today! read more

***If you value your time at all, I do NOT recommend trying to adopt a dog from this rescue! Please strongly consider looking elsewhere!*** I wish I had seen all of these negative reviews before contacting Dara Riley and Coastal Sheltie Rescue! Dara Riley really is as condescending, rude, and volatile as the other --5-- reviews say. It is a huge red flag that she does not have A SINGLE POSITIVE REVIEW! STAY FAR AWAY FROM THIS RESCUE!! My family and I recently went through an incredibly frustrating and ultimately unsuccessful process trying to adopt a dog from Coastal Sheltie Rescue. We are no strangers to raising puppies or caring for senior dogs. We have never encountered such a negative experience as the one we had with Dara Riley and Coastal Sheltie Rescue. Between the application, phone call, gate modifications, and waiting around for in-person gate inspection, I had already invested 7-8 hours on this process. We were excited to provide a caring forever home for a rescue dog, so we complied with each requirement. This is the point where things became really ridiculous and took a turn for the worse. A few hours after the gate inspection, we called Dara to discuss setting up a time to meet the dog. We live on the Peninsula but were willing to drive to Virginia Beach to meet the dog, since it seemed like a good fit for us. We were more than willing to make this trip to provide a home for this dog. Dara stated that we would need to come see the dog **3** times before we would be allowed to take her home. 1. First visit would be my wife and I meeting the dog. 2. The second visit would be me, my wife, and my daughter meeting the dog. (For unclear reasons, we would not be allowed to take the dog home after this visit). 3. The third visit (at an unknown number of days after the second visit) would be when we would be allowed to take the dog home. When we politely asked if we could combine visits 1 & 2 so that me, my wife, and my daughter could all meet the dog at the same time, Dara's tone changed. She told us that she was driving and was "hitting heavy traffic" and that she would contact us later (this turned out to be a complete lie). 10 minutes later, we received this text from Dara: "Hey guys I think we have some communication issues so I'm going to shoot you an email but I think we're going to go ahead and close your application because if driving out here is too complicated so is a dog" A few minute after that, we received an email that included: "If meeting a dog is already an inconvenience, we don't believe the long-term commitment of adoption would be a fit." To take it a step further, the email also stated that we are never allowed to ever try to adopt again from Coastal Sheltie Rescue. Keep in mind, we had agreed to everything requested of us by this rescue. We are experienced dog owners. We have a huge fenced yard that many dogs have previously thrived in. We never argued that we would not come see the dog multiple times, we only asked if the visits could be combined and tried to find a date that worked for both us and the rescue. Dara never gave us the chance to address any issues she had with our request. It was literally our benign question and she told us "hitting heavy traffic" and agreeing to talk later and then the text and email about application denial. Unfortunately, Dara Riley does not seem to be willing to tolerate ANY questions about the adoption process whatsoever. Consequently, all the time and energy we had put into this process was wasted over a simple question. My heart breaks for the dog that we were trying to adopt, as we would have provided a wonderful forever home for her. Coastal Sheltie Rescue and Dara Riley do not value the time of potential adopters. You will be saddled with multiple nitpicky requests. Even if you pass all of their interviews and inspections, you can be summarily denied at the end of the process for the smallest perceived slight. STAY FAR AWAY FROM THIS RESCUE! read more

I adopted two dogs from Coastal Sheltie Rescue. This rescue is very thorough and wants to make certain they are placing these beloved dogs into forever homes. Their care and passion for what they do is evident in the process and their work posted in the Facebook group. I love my two Sheltie boys and it was totally expected and worth going through the vetting process to adopt them. Communication through the process was timely and detailed. I would definitely adopt from this rescue again. read more

We have our two girls because of this shelter. I have recommended them to friends and family who feel it in their heart to adopt a new loved one. We adopted our first puppy from Coastal Sheltie Rescue and it felt reassuring to know they really cared about the home we could provide. Dara was helpful and we had great conversations about dogs and temperaments and habits. We contributed to stay in touch because I wanted to send updates to show her how great they made our lives. We're so thankful to that because it opened the door for us to adopt our other baby! read more

I have been working with Coastal Sheltie Rescue as a foster for over five years. The team is dedicated to helping dogs with urgent needs, including medical care; providing not only the basic care that dogs need, but also love and support to every dog. Especially in the most dire cases. I have never been around such a loving a caring volunteer team. The dogs I have fostered have all been placed in loving homes. You can trust that any dog in their care is being loved, well cared for and usually learns basic training by the time they are ready for a "furever" home! read more

Love my rescue baby that I got from them and I love when I have the time assisting them with transports of the needed dogs they do wonderful work read more

I received a rude email when I refused to complete the application that was asking for drivers license pictures and other information that I felt was more than needed at that early stage in the application process. Possible scam? Stay away from them. Zero stars read more

We can't say enough good things about Coastal Sheltie Rescue. We rescued our puppy, Theo from them. Our pup came to us in perfect health and well socialized. He has been a joy for our family. Dara was very thorough and at the end of the day we appreciated her commitment to making sure the dogs were going home with a responsible pet owner. read more

We unfortunately had a very odd and unprofessional experience with Coastal Sheltie Rescue. Communication was unclear, aggressive, and rude.

Coastal Sheltie Rescue is the best! Over the past 7 years, I have adopted 3 beautiful, loving souls from this rescue and can attest that not only are they compassionate and caring, but work very hard to match dogs with potential owners taking into consideration what is best for the dog and also the potential owner(s) and other pets within the potential adopter's home. This is a small rescue but has the biggest heart. It takes time and a complete love of these dogs to do what this rescue does. I have personally seen and witnessed the clean, loving environment these babies receive under this rescue's care. Many of these dogs come to this rescue abused, neglected and scared. Some come as surrenders due to circumstances beyond their control and I can honestly say I would feel 100% confident in sending my dog to their care should one day I be unable to care for her. Dara and her small group of volunteers spend countless hours and at personal expense to care for these animals and I trust their process and judgment in selection of the best home for the animals they are charged with placing. I would encourage everyone interested in adoption to work with this rescue and understand the process and the time that it takes to ensure each dog is matched to their forever home. Ultimately the desire for this rescue is to ensure that all the dogs entrusted to their care receive the best possible life after such traumatic past experiences before coming to the rescue. read more

My husband and I found a dog that we thought would be perfect for our home and family. We visited the website and found several typos throughout the site and we wanted to ensure the validity of the rescue before paying the application fee. We have previously given money to "rescues" for applications and we were either scammed or paid money for an application for a dog that had already been adopted. We submitted the application late on Sunday evening. It being Monday, my daughter had several appointments and I don't always check my emails throughout the day and running around. I was unable to respond between 8pm last night and 5pm today. Due to not being sure about the site, I decided to call and try to speak to someone there and ask a few questions about the application and dog that we were wanting to provide a home. The phone was answered and I was explaining to the person that I wanted to ensure the validity and that we have had the run around with other rescues and I was interrupted and told something like "I have a phone call at 5pm (it was 4:57ish), either you pay the fee or we delete the application." I was taken aback by the rude and hostile demeanor when the main goal, I thought, was to rescue these homeless animals and not only find reputable adopters but reputable rescue organizations, as well. I responded to the comment with, "Had you let me finish, I have no problem paying the fee but wanted to make sure my money was going to a reputable place." She responded with that I could have looked them up on the IRS website and to "have a good day, sweetie" in a rather condescending tone. Had she just given me a moment to ask a few questions, I would have no problem with providing the money to move forward with the application. I read the guidelines, etc and I realize time is valuable but I did not want to be scammed again. Upon hanging up the phone, I got a email that simply read "You're application has been deleted." Yes, "you're", not "your". I will attach the following emails to show the remainder of the conversation but this is not an organization that should pride themselves on being "non-discriminatory", as noted on the website, and seemingly money hungry over finding ideal homes for their dogs. Once again, had she taken the time to educate me on how to find a valid rescue instead of being rude, we would have reached a mutual goal of giving a homeless dog a great home. You'll find in the emails that were so unprofessionally written that I was trying to make an "asinine attempt to avoid an adoption fee" where making the call to them was a reflection that I was just interested the best interest of finding a legit organization. read more

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We have followed Coastal Sheltie for a while in Facebook and have donated in the past. However, we had a very weird experience when we messaged a rep as prompted by one of their posts. I introduced myself and described our home and current small dog. We are not familiar with the breed and the site often seeks adoptions for a variety of breeds and mixes. When I asked about the size of the dog up for adoption, the rep reacted in a kookie manner. "You don't care about her personality but only want to know her weight?" Before I could explain my question I was banned from the FB page and cut off from FB messenger. The very limited exchange was very odd. My advice is avoid them and the drama when seeking to provide a forever home for a rescued pet. read more

I had similar experiences as with the other two people. I spoke with Dara, and after answering some question, they still made numerous false accusations and refused to correct themselves after being corrected. Instead of apologizing and allowing themselves to be corrected, she continued to double down. DO NOT donate or support this "rescue". Legitimate, reputable rescues and breeders will ask you questions, but also look for you ask questions. The fact that this agency reacts to people by blocking them when they are trying to ask questions or receive help or information should be a big red flag. DO NOT GO HERE! read more