Our experience with LnF was exceptional. It was clear from the beginning that they have high standards for adopting their dogs out and they maintain those standards. I brought my dog to the foster's home to have him interact with the dog we were interested in adopting. The foster mom then visited my home to make sure it was suitable for the new dog. Each of these visits required a 2 hour drive each way. It was well worth it to ensure we were getting a dog well suited for our family and that the adopted dog was getting a home suited for her. I could not be more pleased. All that effort and time paid off as I now have a new best buddy for me and my existing dog. She is a jewel and a perfect fit for my family. We love our new addition and I would adopt again from LnF and highly recommend her. read more

I think LNF is great and Marlene is wonderful. Some of the reviews I read where people complained it was do to their own fault for not reading all of the requirements LNF has. I filled out a questionnaire on line and Marlene matched us with Starla. We went to Marlene's house to meet and I instantly liked Marlene and fell in love with Starla. Marlene came to my house do the inspection and it went well and Marlene just gave me a few suggestions. We keep in touch so she can see Starla progress. I highly recommend LNF and Marlene. Just make sure you read all the requirements!! read more

We just adopted Sadie (Annie) from LnF. Marleen was wonderful through the whole process. We absolutely adore our little girl. Thank you Marleen for all you do for these wonderful animals. read more

Didn't have a good experience dealing with Maureen at all. she was very rude. I wanted to adopt a dog so bad and give her a great home, but since I didn't have a 6 ft fence they could not make an excepting. I have a 4 ft fence and if a dog can jump that then they can probably jump 6. she was very rude and told me I was not experience enough to adopt a dog. I have grown up with dogs my whole life and have been able to help train them. The description of the dog didn't state anything about jumping fences. I am very disappointed and feel bad for the animals associated with this shelter. read more

I spent 45 minutes thoughtfully filling out an application to adopt a dog and this the response I got: "Sorry as clearly stated several times on our website under adoption requirements & on the adoption application - we do not accept any application that does not have a safe fenced in yard -- there are no exceptions -- Lnf Dog Rescue" This was shocking since we wanted a dog that would only get up to 10 pounds and thought the fence rules applied to those living in houses. But more so Marleen was incredibly nasty via email when I said I was disappointed to hear this rule was make it or break it. Here's what she said: "Oh, I'm so sorry you don't support my adoption requirements. Have no doubt, [dog] will have a loving home but with a safe fenced in yard. None of my rescued dogs go home until people can meet or exceed my requirements - BTW, we've rescued to date 470 pups/dogs, we just sent home our 462nd last weekend to the exact type of home I believe they deserve based on my 12 years of experience. Requirements are not negotiable --" Suffice it to say, her lack of professionalism and cold attitude made me sure to stay away from this place. I do NOT recommend getting a dog here as I'd prefer to adopt from those who have warm, loving hearts. Not to mention it's discriminatory to families and individuals who don't have the want or have the ability to own a house with a backyard. read more

So rude. Look at their web site. They obviously think their dogs are too good for you. We have a loving home on 4 fenced acres. The extremely rude replies we received were that they would not place a female German Shepherd with my two female Boston terriers because one of my my Boston's thinks she is the alpha. My dog is 13 pounds. Lol. These people are scammers. She is so nasty and rude. Someone needs to investigate this company. read more

Absolutely ridiculous policy about backyards and fences! I was denied the chance to adopt a dog because of this. I'm a successful, educated person who happens to live in a row home in this historic Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, DC. Nobody here has large backyards with fences! These people obviously do not understand the exercise needs of a dog, which is walks/jogs, with dog park playtime mixed in. A lone dog in a backyard does not equate to healthy exercise! Absolutely ridiculous... read more

I was cordial and polite when I replied to a listing for a dog at LNF. I expressed interest in a particular dog there and explained that I've been a pet lover since I was a child. I've had cats, dogs, fish, rodents, reptiles, even a pet spider in my lifetime, all of which were treated like family members. I expressed my liking that this particular dog was house trained. I mentioned I liked that the dog gets along well with other dogs, and how I liked that it was purebred and already neutered. I also mentioned rescue animals from shelters can be less expensive than professional breeders or even backyard breeders, which I will NEVER deal with. I explained my current cat of four years was a rescue and detailed the veterinarian we use for her needs. I advised that my wife and I had spent a couple weeks discussing the possibility of adopting a rescue, to ensure we were both ready to make this move. And that we both came to the decision we were ready to do this together and give it our 100%. I received a one sentence reply where a woman named Marlene passed her judgment on me, and evidently out of the several paragraphs I typed, only saw the part of my letter that mentioned money. And I assume from that, she took me for some low-life just trying to save a couple bucks by inquiring on a dog at LNF. She couldn't be more wrong if she tried. The other criteria she used for rejecting my application was because I was liked that this dog was a purebred, which I wasn't aware was a crime. And contrary to her assessment of everyone who was denied, my wife and I did read the requirements. We just didn't realize there was anything "sinister" in wanting a purebred dog. The assumption Marlene made that money was the top factor while looking for a pet was just her own mistake while judging people. Everyone who I've shown my note to, and then saw her snippy reply just scratch their head in amazement, wondering how many other good people were written off based on this woman's incorrect analysis of someone. I find it humorous in her own review on here of LNF that she validates her rudeness by claiming it's in response to rudeness directed at her. Again, she couldn't be more wrong if she tried. My initial letter as well as my followup to her nasty reply with an exclamation point at the end, were both polite and cordial. I don't stoop to other people's levels to meet them where they can relate. I will simply share my experience online at every venue I can think of, as well as spread the story by word of mouth to anyone I know who loves animals. Which is a decent amount of people. We have a rescued cat who is healthy, loving and greets all visitors with warmth and love. Because that is what she receives here. This woman Marlene might be patting herself on the back for a job believed to be well done, has not saved a dog from a low-life, money grubbing jerk that just wanted to save 100 bucks. She prevented the dog from joining a family with plenty of time to spend with a pet, a family with a spacious fenced-in back yard to run in, and a family who would have welcomed a new pet as a brand new family member. Do yourself a favor and keep looking at other rescue organizations, where maybe the staff aren't so snooty and feel like they're able to pass judgment on people via the internet, without even meeting them in person to REALLY get to know someone. Sadly, one star is the lowest rating you can give on here. Otherwise I would've given LNF a zero. read more

Marlene at LNF is an old-school dog lover and dog rescuer with a heart of gold. She is absolutely rigorous in screening applicants for her dogs, for all the right reasons -- she wants these neglected rescue animals to go to stable safe forever homes where they won't have any more worries ever. Her requirements like fences and leashes at all times will all make sense to experienced dog owners, and those newbies who have taken the time to educate themselves, and such folks will not mind the scrutiny and will have tons of admiration for Marlene's intense commitment to her dogs. The best thing about Marlene also is that she processes your application really just about instantly. No long long wait like with many rescues. Also, I'd like to mention that Marlene really went out of her way to make our special needs family comfortable and her facility accessible. Terrific! read more

Marleen at LnF seems to apply her own personal biases to potential adopters rather than placing dogs in loving, capable homes. She was unwilling to budge on her arbitrary "no families with children under 8 years old" rule, for a puppy with no known problem with children. She said the dog, "doesn't find children very interesting." She was unwilling to even let us meet the dog. I've never heard of such a thing. All this after I explained that I met and exceeded all of her other criteria, including having raised more than one dog from puppy-hood to adulthood--with children in our house. Additionally, she won't allow people 60 years of age or older adopt pets. Which is incredibly offensive. read more

We think Marleen is as good as it gets. She cares greatly for her charges. Reading the other reviews and the people who are complaining about her rules. All dogs should be fenced in. They are dogs. They are fast and if a rabbit or squirrel runs out you can do nothing to stop them . I know this from experience. We checked her out probably as good as she checked us. She cares for these animals, making sure their health is taken care of including operations. When we went to her house it was very clean,organized and sanitary The dogs were happy. Marleen is not rude she just tells it like it is. That's the type of people I like to deal with. I recommend her highly. All her rules are there to protect the dog and make sure that they have a happy and SAFE home. When we are ready to adopt again we will definitely go back to Maureen. I have already told all my friends that this is the place to go. read more

I spent the 45 min to fill out the application - she asked for how much we would spend on a dog, whether we had a fenced yard even insisted on coming to my house to make sure that it was acceptable. with all of that I could agree. she insisted on two personal references. I figured if your going to talk to my vet, come to my house, criticize how much I can spend on a pet that they did not need to bother my friends. this is her reply: "Given this answer you are declined - this is how my rescue has been run for going on 13 years -- if you won't comply it's OK --- just go somewhere else --- " So I did - I recommend you do also - We are trying to save one pet to love in a good solid forever home. She wants to pry into your personal life. Adoption centers like this are just plain unnecessary. I know when enough is enough. Do what she said - go somewhere else. read more

LNF Dog Rescue Adoption Center Wilmington, DE animalrescue@comcast.net (302) 613-0394 PO Box 10366 We were supposed to be Lily's Forever Home until Marleen came to our home and picked it apart beyond belief. We have a completely fenced in yard and have the materials to put a privacy fence up at the end of the yard. Marleen dug up the fence like she was a dog, there was no way that a puppy was going to get out of our yard. We had our Chihuahuas since they were puppies and they dug a little too and we watched them all the time in the yard. They are now ages 3 and 4 and no longer dig and never had any problems with them getting out. We saw it when we visited Lily in De. that Marleen was attached to her and it was apparent today when she came to our house that she was not going to give her up. We can't believe how unreasonable this woman was. She wouldn't even listen or give it a chance knowing that we have our little babies and would NEVER let anything happen to them. I am so upset that this LNF Dog Rescue was the worst Experience Ever! We really wanted Lily and Wanted to make our home Lily's Forever Home. There was no reasoning with this woman, she stormed out of the yard and the parking lot. Unbelievable! :( Yes my husband immediately repaired the one hole in the fence and it was the fence that was being replaced with a full 6 Ft privacy fence next week. We clearly showed Marleen that we were taking this Adoption seriously by purchasing everything for the fence to be completed and even said we would keep Lily on a leash till next week when it would be finished and she wouldn't even listen or consider it out of good faith. We had great references, and did everything to prepare for Lily. Hell I even added her to our pet insurance plan. We would "Never" have been careless with Lily!!! We have 2 little babies already and have had them since they were babies and would have loved to have been given the chance to prove that with Lily too. After 15 applications for one precious little girl, we would have been the last if there was some consideration and just a little bit of a chance given by one person. We drove 2 hours to meet Lily, why would we drive that far if we weren't serious. The only thing that was checked was the yard. Clearly Lily was little, but she never even let her off the leash to rome around and get to know our babies. We are always outside with the dogs in the yard and are protective of them. I am completely sick to my stomach with this whole situation. It really killed me that Marleen with LnF Rescue would act the way she did at my home with total disrespect. We understand wanting to be protective of who you give an adoption too, but I Guarantee We would have been Lily's Forever Home if Marleen wasn't so Dramatic. Sorry Lily We Loved You and Really Wanted to be Your Forever Home! I remember this woman telling me that Lily was digging at her home and she caught her and stopped her from digging. So what makes it any different for us and our home?!? It's called training! She would have been too busy playing with our other two babies to have any interest in digging. Why can't you understand that. Puppy's dig when there bored and nobody is paying attention to them! Duh! We want Lily and I'm sorry she couldn't stay. I would NEVER Recommend this Rescue to anyone! Being a people person should be a requirement for running a Rescue like any business. Marleen was rude, nasty, disrespectful and unreasonable. Unfortunately I had to pick one star in order to post, but it doesn't deserve that. read more

My experience was extremely similar to Rachel W and Stephen J. This is the best example of the worst kind of boutique "Rescue" run by a self-righteous, if seemingly well intentioned founder with an incredible number of "no exceptions" rules that have no merit in many cases. Attitudes like these helps to keep puppy mills going because they make it so hard to adopt. I found what seemed would be a perfect fit for my family on Petfinder and I asked a simple question about the reasoning behind one her *No exceptions* Physical Fence requirement via Petfinder and got a nasty reply wasting her time in trying to tell her how to run HER rescue. Only then did I look up her professionally designed website saw how many "rules" she had. I didn't even get to the Application. I'm sure it's got to be one of the worst. I did a little research on this founder and the rescue. It's only been active since 2004 as she pointed out to me in her response to my question. From what I can tell, the dogs are cherry picked from shelters. They come with matching designer leash and collars for goodness sakes. I've found nothing but complaints from people trying to adopt on various venues. People I know that have been in the local rescue community far longer than her that and actually rescue the hard cases, were too polite to say what they thought about her and told me that a reference from them would be less than helpful. Pet adoptions should be on a case by case basis. As the application I filled out today for another rescue said, "There are no right or wrong answers. We're just trying to find the best match for the animals in our care and the people that adopt." read more

My husband and I had such a wonderful experience working with Marlene! I'll preface this review by saying we lost a dog to cancer 5 months back and have been casually searching for a new dog since then. During this search, we have been burned, more than once, by awful rescues that don't seem to care about their clients or animals. Marlene has been absolutely amazing and deeply and truly cares about her dogs, and the owners they go to. She obviously cares about the welfare of the dogs she places and goes above and beyond to make sure the adopters are a perfect match for the dog. After making the arrangement to adopt our beautiful new baby, Marlene transported her to our house, herself, and took the time to review the dog's medical history, and everything else we needed to know. She texted me that evening and the following morning to check on the dog and make sure she was acclimating well. My husband and I truly appreciate the time, energy and care Marlene took to make this process easy and efficient. Our new baby is the perfect fit, and we are so grateful! read more

If I could give LNF Dog Rescue negative stars I would. I just ended my Facebook messenger conversation with Marleen, who completely ignored my emails for the week. Instead of calling me on the phone and speaking about the well-being of the dog we intended to adopt, she ignored me, and only answered via Facebook. We set out to rescue an Australian Shepherd puppy. We currently have a 19 month old Australian Shepherd from a different rescue, and we wanted to get him a companion. Even though we are approved adopters through two other local rescues, she declined our application without hesitation due to the following heinous reasons: 1.) We did not elaborate enough the importance of keeping the dog on a leash. She attached a "Dead Dog" attachment to the email to get her point across of how dogs die from getting off-leash. Disgusting. 2.) We already have a male dog, and two male dogs cannot live with each other because they will "fight to the death". I implored her to reconsider. We have spent so much effort in educating ourselves and training our current Aussie, we are very knowledgeable of the breed and we want the best for them. Instead of calling me, she ignored me. Her answer to me on Facebook when I said that I wanted the best for the dog, which is why I'm not giving up, her response was "it's my rescue and I've made my decision". Her "Rescue" is wall-to-wall crates in her home. I read a comment on here saying she is self-righteous. What a perfect word. She doesn't give a "you know what" about these dogs. We checked all the boxes, went above and beyond, and she declined. What an utterly dreadful experience. I intend to report her. read more

Marleen from L&F Rescue is the ultimate ambassador for dogs. She ensures the right person is matched with the right dog. Yes she is rigid but for the dogs good. I am now on my third rescue and reach time I must earn the right to be a parent to her beloved dogs. Get to know why she is so diligent. She really wants a happy ending. read more

I can't say enough about marleen and how wonderful she is! It takes a very kind, loving person to do what she does. Of course she has strict regulations for adopting these dogs. They have come from terrible places. These poor babies are scared. They can escape very easily, no matter how careful and watchful of an eye you have. You have to be willing to walk your puppy, on a cold day in January. You have to be willing to stand out in the rain with them so they can go potty. You have to be willing to not have them in a crate from 8-8 each day. People dispose of dogs so quickly, it is absolutely disgusting. A cute little puppy always sounds fun, but it is a lot of hard work. Marleen doesn't just do this for her 40 hour work week, this is her life. She wants nothing but to help these pups find a forever home. Marleen was so great to work with. M y 4 year old son has special needs and he has a lot of anxiety around new people, but he NEVER had that with Marleen. Marleen if you ever get a chance to read this, I hope you know how amazing you are. Thank you so much for everything you do for all these pups read more

I don't know what more I can say other than Marleen is extremely rude and unpleasant to deal with. Unless you "meet her expectations" and are willing to deal with such a horrible person for the animal you are interested in, steer clear. She wrote on her review below (about herself) that she gets angry with people when they are angry at her, that is false. I spoke to her recently and was asking about a dog that is the exact size of my current dog, and after 10 seconds in when she heard I didn't meet her expectations she yelled "OMG NO" and hung up. The interaction continued via email and I am in disbelief how her brain automatically turns to anger. My family and I live in a huge apartment and visit the dog park regularly, along with long dog walks, and a small dog doesn't require a fenced in yard. People with yards can easily use that as an excuse to not walk a dog, whereas we take our dog out to make sure he is happy and gets his energy out. Was that enough? Nope. Could she easily say on the phone that the requirements are firm and not explode and hang up? Yes. I hope that she treats the animals better than she treats strangers is all I can say. I am NOT angry that she hung up on me or that I didn't "meet or exceed" her goofy expectations (for a small dog), I am disturbed that she lacks the care and ability to handle basic interactions, and I am very curious how she treats troubled animals. Do not trust her review, and I would not trust the review of the others giving amazing ratings. Since she can't handle criticism, lets wait and see if she responds again to the other recent negative reviews or tries to discredit us. If anyone else has experienced this, please create an account and share your interaction. BEWARE. read more

Very rude person who if you are deemed unfit for even the smallest of things, they will not consider you or listen if you try to explain. The rescue has unrealistic expectations, as the person actively looks for any flaws in the adopters and their homes so that they can be denied. I wish we would have known that before wasting a 40 minute drive to get there, as we were soon rudely told that we would not be adopting the dog and told to leave, despite looking at our vet records and knowing we previously had a dog for 17 years. I would not recommend this place to anyone in search of a dog, there are plenty of other places who will treat you with respect and actually consider your application. read more

Messaged this shelter on Facebook just looking for help/guidance with our 3 year old bulldog, and was met with a pious, self-righteous act about how we caused the dog's problem with being aggressive towards children at times. Right off the bat, the most unprofessional conversation I've ever had with someone at their "business". The woman continued to sling insults (not that I didn't as well haha) instead of keeping any personal opinions out of it. Instead of leaving her initial response as "sorry, we only take dogs from kill shelters and not owner surrenders", she decided to be rude and act like a pouty child regarding her feelings on our story. Absolutely the worst experience I've ever had with a business hands down, so much so that it inspired me to create an account on Yelp just so I could share my negative experience with everyone looking into this "rescue". If I was a dog in this rescue, I'd rather be a stray. read more