Grifters gonna grift. This is not a no kill shelter but con artists. Offered a dog that hadn't seen a vet, said it was 3 months (turns out it's 2 yrs old), was covered in its own waste, and had medical issues. Adoption fees were suppose to included shots and spaying which they never did. They need to be shut down Do an animal a favour and use a reputable establishment read more

it's a scam running around and they are trying to take money from people for personal benefits . we adopted a dog in Jan and paid 650CAD to Shauna . the team did not disclose complete details to us at the time of adoption and we had to return the pet within 3 days . we drove from Calgary in the extreme cold , but this organiz does not care . they just want to loot money from people . it's been 5 months, many emails and messages but they would not respond . BEWARE OF THIS SCAM ORGANIZATION read more

I'm a foster for misty creek dog rescue and I volunteer there I love volunteering there and I adopted a dog from misty creek dog rescue .

Felt like I was rescuing this dog from the rescue. Adoption fees higher than other shelters - I paid $700!! They had lapsed on his vaccinations and I had to pay out of my pocket to get them re-done (part of the adoption fee is that they're supposed to be fully vaccinated). Pup was also quite underweight when we brought him home - ate like he didn't know where his next meal was coming from. I feel like they have taken on more dogs than they can manage & am concerned about the quality of care. Was challenging to make arrangements to pick him up - got the impression that there might only be someone there once a day? read more

What great folks at Misty Creek. They have such a love of dogs. It's hard times for rescues these days and I have nothing but respect. The property is so well looked after. The dogs are well adjusted and happy. I just have nothing but respect for the founder and volunteers of this rescue. They try so hard. Just such a beautiful thing they do. Xx read more

When my Mom said she wanted a Chihuahua to keep her company, I asked around for where the best adoption place was. While a good friend did suggest Pawsitive Match, the negative review here left me a little wary (oh noes! Am I starting to rely on Yelp opinions more than the opinions of trusted friends? Oops!), and anyway, they didn't seem to have many Chihuahuas available to adopt. Misty Creek Dog Rescue came up often in Google searches, and when they brought in a litter of 8 month old Chihuahuas from LA, I knew one in particular was going to be a great fit. After filling out one of their pre-adoption forms on the site and talking to Kim, we arranged a house inspection and a 4 day trial with the little guy. Here's the thing with Misty Creek. You have to be a squeaky wheel and call often. They're great people, albeit a little absentminded and tend to forget to call when they say they will. All that aside, with their help, we were able to find a sweet little guy who gets along great with everyone (especially his new big pug brother!) and has an amazingly sweet disposition. Would recommend this place to everyone. There are so many puppies and older dogs on their website that desperately need a good home! read more

Misty Creek Dog Rescue - Cayden the Chihuahua, our newest family member! Thanks, Misty Creek :). - Animal Shelters Near Me - Calgary, Alberta

Misty creek is an outstanding rescue. They go above and beyond to support the dog, adopter and foster. I had the pleasure of fostering for misty Creek. The dog was a senior and required a lot of dental and medical treatment. This was very costly and the treatment costs went way above the adoption fees. However, Misty Creek was committed to improving the life of the dog and most importantly their focus was ensuring the adopter was getting a happy and healthy animal. Shauna, founder of misty Creek is so bloody kind and genuine. She is professional and really mindful on what is in the best interest of the dog. Shauna is approachable and kind. She was incredibly supportive and easy to talk to. I would really encourage everyone to contact Misty Creek if you are interested in volunteering, fostering or adopting. This is a rescue that truly cares about their dogs and will go the extra mile to support a dog in need. read more

I can't say enough good things about Misty Creek. It took a few days for everything to fall into place and for me to get my trial with Zoe but they are volunteers who are super busy. Zoe is the perfect dog for us. I still send pictures of her to her foster mom and to our co-ordinator. I highly recommend them. read more

Misty Creek Dog Rescue - Animal Shelters Near Me - Calgary, Alberta

Having both volunteered and donated money to this rescue, I can confidently say there are many other organizations that are much more worthy of support. For starters, there is no separation between the money donated to animals in care vs Shauna's personal bank account. Thus it not being a registered charity. The longer I was involved, I saw her lifestyle become increasingly more lavish. Also, when cleaning out the kennels of the dogs in care, we were asked to do basic yard work and tasks that had nothing to do with the rescue - such as cleaning out her daughters rabbit enclosure. Not one volunteer or board member I worked with is still there. Avoid and support more legitimate causes rather than prop up Shauna's lifestyle. read more

I was really disappointed by the way I was treated when picking up my dog. I work an 8-5 job so didn't realize my dog had gotten out of my backyard until I got home that evening. By that time she had already been taken to the shelter. When I went to pick her up the next morning, less than 24 hours later, I questioned why I was being charged 2 days of care. Rather than having an adult conversation with a logical, well formed answer, I was told that I needed to stop being argumentative and that if I wasn't going to pay the fee I would not be given my dog back. I never said I wasn't willing to pay the fee, I just felt it was unethical to charge me two days for less than 24 hours of care. The property didn't look well taken care of either and I wasn't allowed in the barn to greet my dog which seemed a little sketchy. I ended up paying the given price because the owner threatened to call police and I didn't want to create a bigger issue than it was already becoming. Despite all, I thanked her for taking care of my dog before leaving. At least she had food and a place to sleep while she was missing. read more

I truly wish I could post a less than zero star review. I was a volunteer foster for Misty Creek Dog Rescue for two and a half years. The last dog I fostered for them was Whiskey and I had him for a year. On January 22, 2018, I picked Whiskey up at the airport in a crate with a towel as a bed. After a few weeks, I took him to one of Misty Creek's adopt-a-thons. It was not a good day for Whiskey. He reacted aggressively to other dogs and people. My foster coordinator tried to calm him down by walking with him, as did her husband and daughter, to no avail. He was not allowed inside the pet store because he had nipped at this coordinator. The coordinators then declared him unadoptable and a liability to have in public because he tried to bite someone. They said that I could adopt him and assume that liability myself, otherwise they wanted to put him in a kennel at the shelter until someone had enough time to try to work with him. I decided to foster dogs because I wanted to help animals in need so I offered to work with Whiskey at my home instead of him going to the shelter. I don't really have training in this area but I have a huge amount of compassion and love for animals. I felt that helping Whiskey to learn to trust people in a loving home would be much better for him than being in a kennel at a shelter. I did a huge amount of research online and figured out a lot of ways to help Whiskey. In June, Misty Creek sent a professional dog trainer to assess Whiskey. She felt Whiskey had made great progress and gave me a few pointers on how to do more training with him. This was the last time I heard from anyone from Misty Creek until December at which point I learned that all of the coordinators I had dealt with for the last two years had quit. In December I received an email saying Misty Creek wanted Whiskey to have extensive training, which came as a surprise as there had been no contact for months and they did not know what progress he had made. By then I had made huge progress with Whiskey. He truly was not the same dog that I picked up at the airport in January. I sent a response outlining his progress and asking to have him assessed before anything else was decided about his future. At this point, Misty Creek again offered for me to adopt him at a reduced rate. I felt it was better for everyone's piece of mind to have him assessed first by professionals and then I intended to adopt him. Misty Creek sent Lindsay Knezacek to pick Whiskey up on January 21st, 2019 for an assessment the next day. I was supposed to pick him up after the assessment and then discuss his future and if they felt he was adoptable. Lindsay told me that Whiskey had passed the assessment with flying colours and that if I wanted to adopt him, I should fill out the application online. At this point, I believe that Misty Creek realized that I had done such excellent work with Whiskey that they could now sell him for full price (and profit) instead of allowing me to adopt him at the reduced rate that they had offered. They reneged on allowing me to adopt Whiskey even though I had accepted the offer and had completed the paperwork. I was told by Lindsay and Shauna Depta, the owner of Misty Creek, that I was not the best forever home for Whiskey and would not be allowed to adopt him. Whiskey was sold to someone else despite the fact that Lindsay had previously said that they wanted to check if I wanted to adopt him before considering other applications. Both Lindsay and Shauna have refused to tell me anything about where he is despite Misty Creek's foster contract stating I would meet any potential adopters for a dog that I foster. Shauna and Lindsay have also refused to return the personal items that I purchased for Whiskey after I have repeatedly asked them to, which is a crime. I have no idea if he's OK. I am very worried about him being stressed, scared and possibly reverting to previous aggressive behaviour which could result in his being killed. To top it off, in the process of trying to find a resolution to this situation I have learned that despite advertising and soliciting donations as a Non-Profit organization, Misty Creek is not registered in Alberta as a Non-Profit organization. When I asked for documents that show Misty Creek's business registration to confirm it is operating legitimately in Alberta, I did not receive a favourable response and no information was provided. This is an organization that is run on the backs of volunteers. People volunteer not only their time and their homes, but volunteers often pay for food, toys, beds, treats, collars, harnesses, leashes, grooming, and much more with no repayment despite Misty Creek's contract stating that they will repay all costs incurred by the fosters. Meanwhile Shauna sells these dogs for $375-$550 each and makes a nice profit. Please do your research and do not contribute to these people exploiting dog lovers for Shauna's financial benefit. read more

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Misty Creek Dog Rescue are a great organization I have 2MC dogs & give nothing but praise &, animal welfare is their priority above everything their coordinators &,fosters are amazing read more

Like others, I have also experienced long waits to get responses to emails. They also seem to struggle with updating their website. I've reached out about specific dogs several times, and in every case -- after a long wait -- I found out that the dogs I was hopeful about were either already adopted or on medical hold, even though the website did not reflect this. I understand that it is a small team of volunteers, but they perhaps need to consider getting help with maintaining their website and email account, otherwise they should not be running an organization -- they do not come across as professional. I believe they do care about the dogs, but that's not all that's required for running a shelter. read more

If i could give them a ZERO i would. I volunteered to be a foster placement. They placed a Dog in my home that they had previously had nipping issues with. When the dog bit a child, they blamed us and will not take responsibility. I met the previous foster home and she had told me she told them not to place him in a home with children. They never provided a muzzle knowing this Dog was dangerous! read more

This review is aimed at the performance of the administrative staff of "Misty Creek", specifically Shauna Depta in Carmangay, and NOT at the volunteer foster families. If you are looking to adopt or to volunteer as a foster family, I strongly recommend that you look elsewhere to some of the many other, highly rated adoption agencies in the central Alberta region (Greater Calgary Area). The foster family who cared for the rescue dog we adopted was amongst the nicest, most genuine, caring people we have ever met. They were truly genuine and selfless. The volunteer "administrative" staff of "Misty Creek" were altogether a different experience. Any criticism that is leveled at this organization's staff is always met with "we're just volunteers doing the best we can" response. That said, "the best we can" is their weak excuse that yields a significant disservice to the potential adopters, to the benevolent foster families and to the animal. In hindsight I wish we would've found and read reviews of this agency before proceeding. We would've stopped and searched elsewhere. Here is our experience, chronologically, and offered with hindsight and valuable "lessons learned". Communication with the Misty Creek staff initially was very good. That said, there is little to no "screening" of the adopting family. Misty Creek is fast in wanting to get it's $500 adoption fee from you. After they collect that fee the efficiency of their service evaporates quickly. Coordination between the agency and the foster family was poor. We had an "agreed upon" time to "meet and greet" the potential dog we were interested in and while a Misty Creek volunteer administrator showed up at the foster family location on time with us, the foster family had NO idea anybody was coming and that a potential adoption was in progress. This was both a shock and a great inconvenience for them. The same happened again once we had agreed to adopt and pick up the dog from the foster family; no communication was sent to the fosters. They were "surprised" twice. They were also close to adopting their foster dog, so this unexpectedly upset their plans. A critical issue that you should bear in mind as you read the biography of each adoption candidate animal, is that the narratives are Misty Creek's "best guess". Amateur at best. The descriptions tend to be optimistic and positive but, more importantly, have NOT been written as a formal assessment by a professional animal behaviorist. Furthermore, the listed breed is also a "best guess". We looked at a dog who was listed as "retriever mix, good with children, cats and other dogs". This was essentially the type of dog we would like to rescue based on our previous experience with retrievers. DNA results, along with the dog's behaviour, revealed the fact that there was zero retriever in him and his actual two mixed breeds (predominantly Terrier) made him naturally prone to a heightened prey drive (birds, squirrels, rabbits, other small cats and dogs etc). In addition, he was reactive and aggressive to other dogs on our initial walks. These newly learned facts (that can only be garnered during the time spent with him in the first few days after adoption) meant that we couldn't walk our dog off-leash with our family and their dogs due to his prey drive (flight risk) and the reactive dog aggression (no socialization). He was, essentially NOTHING like the biography written by Misty Creek. We've had to engage the services of a professional behaviourist to address these issues. In order to participate in social activities such as interactive classes and daycare, many canine services ask for vaccination records prior to enrollment. This is entirely understandable. It took the Misty Creek administrative staff 5 weeks to send us a simple, single sheet showing vaccination records. 35 days for a simple act (email a pdf) that we so desperately needed to get the dog enrolled in urgently needed socialization activities, classes and private fenced off leash areas where we could begin to address his prey drive and aggression. The excuse used by the Misty Creek staff was "we're just volunteers trying our best". Well, their "best" put the very welfare of our adopted dog in jeopardy as we struggled to address the newly discovered undesirable behaviours. In summary: We do NOT recommend Misty Creek due to the actions of the "administrative staff". They are quick to take your money and adopt out the animal. They are irresponsibly slow when it comes to coordination and follow up services. The breed determination of adoption animals is their "best guess". The behavior and biographical descriptions of the adoption animals are their amateur "best guess" and are not formal determinations by a professional behaviourist. We urge you to look elsewhere at other better rated adoption agencies. read more

I am not sure about this rescue as they do not respond to applications it seems, myself and a colleague were not notified after filling out an application. I feel bad for the dogs who need a home and people are not being responded to. read more

I can't recommend these guys enough. We ended up fostering a dog with these guys and couldn't have been more impressed. They were incredibly supportive and walked us through everything we needed to do. If I ever find a dog in a desperate situation again, Misty Creek will be my first and only choice. Thank you for all the asking work you do with these animals. read more

Overall, Misty Creek is a great Dog Rescue, doing all they can to find perfect homes for their rescues. I fostered for them and had a wonderful experience. It is true that you will most likely need to reach out a few times before you are noticed though. I sent an application to foster and after waiting two weeks and noticing an urgent request for fosters on their Facebook page, I sent an email to them asking if they had received my application to foster. I did get a quick response at that point, and from then on, everything was quick and easy! The coordinator in my area was very sweet and truly cared for her dogs. 4/5 only because it took so long to be noticed. I've seen some people hoping to adopt who were not noticed quickly either, so it seems like a common issue. Some of the dogs don't have very much information for the shelter to pass along to fosters or adopters because the dogs were abandoned/neglected/etc. The best way to truly know what a dog is like, is to reach out to one of the lovely fosters! We will tell you everything we've learned about our foster boy or girl, so that he or she can find a home that is the best fit! I will definitely foster again from this rescue and they will be the first place I look when I am ready to adopt (or foster fail!). read more

I fostered a dog from Misty Creek, was told she was friendly and non reactive. What I got was a dog that did not trust humans, was nippy, terrified, would not let me touch her or even take her outside. She would scream as soon as I tried to make contact. She was so insecure and reactive with dogs that other dogs would sense it and try to attack her, she would react with aggression as soon as she saw dogs come close as well. I couldn't have her at my house as she was not getting along with my dogs or me for that matter. Misty's volunteer was very unprofessional and snobby and picked her up and just left without any further conversation or thank you. The 1st time she came to do the home check should have been an indication what kind of people run this organization. Channin came smelling of strong urine to a point that it was unbearable and I had to air my whole house. After they found a new foster for the dog, they started false advertising her on facebook. I mentioned that in their comments and they instantly deleted it. Did the same again and I said that the new owner has the right to know her flaws and what they need to work on, saying only positive things about that dog was not fair to the new owner. They said that they delete all comments that are meant to hurt their dogs and their organization and that she has not had issues with other dogs or people and blocked me and deleted my comments again. I doubt that the dog did a 360 and became this secure happy dog in less than a week. I would never adopt from this place, they are shady and don't care about finding the right owners for their dogs, instead they write this fairytale just to get the dogs adopted asap. The fact that they gave me 2 smalls bags of cheap completely different food was crazy. We all know dogs can't be switched from 1 food to another every week. I wouldn't feed that food to anybody. Misty Creek, if you're not gonna be genuine then don't do it at all. It is also impossible to get ahold of them. read more

My husband and I have now adopted a total of 3 dogs over the years and have been extremely happy with the wonderful volunteers and their recommendations for dogs that would suit our lifestyle and small yard. We had been used to larger dogs but with our back yard being small they made a few suggestions on smaller critters. Our adoptees were a Cocker and a Pom that turn came into our home and stole our hearts. It broke our hearts when our Pom passed away last year. The Cocker was very lonely so we went back to Misty Creek to find our Mexican mixed breed girl who took a while to ingratiate herself with the Cocker but once she did we have two crazy dogs playing up a storm. We love it. I have nothing but praise for the volunteers who run Misty Creek. My thanks to Jackie and Sam!! read more

Let me start by saying I wish Yelp had a negative rating. I would never adopt a dog from this place. I was going to adopt a dog from the Lethbridge pound the same day Misty Creek came and took him to their 'rescue'. When I arrived at the pound the staff told me Misty Creek had just picked him up. After several attempts at contacting Misty Creek including multiple offers of meeting them before they left for Lethbridge and driving to Calgary to pick up the dog. Misty Creek informed me they would be happy to place me on the waiting list to adopt him. The following is the rest of the story and the response from Misty Creek. I will admit I am obviously angry at the time of this review. I hope you are ashamed of yourselves for saying it is unfortunate that you took Scruff the day I would have adopted him from the Lethbridge pound. Yes it is unfortunate...for the dog. Now he is $300 without a neuter or vet care (the amount I have to provide him with his neuter and vaccinations) or if you provide the neuter and vaccinations he is $405. You are no better than the people you claim to protect animals from. My heart is broken and I am ashamed to know you. Instead of allowing me to adopt him even though I contacted you the same day you took him from the pound, you posted him to your page, are looking for a foster home and ignored the emails I sent you. You have wasted valuable resources that could have been used caring for a dog that did not have anyone willing to adopt him. Instead of speaking directly with me I now have the 'privilege' of applying (with everyone else as he is posted to your page) to adopt him at an increased price of $305 (not including vaccinations or a neuter) where the Lethbridge pound had him at $60. For all those wondering what home I could provide this dog: my last dog which was also a rescue died 5 months ago and I have just begun considering a new dog. My spouse and I own our own home, have a nice fenced back yard, live 2 blocks from the off-leash dog park and I work casually so I am home often. Additionally I provide all of my own grooming care for my dog: baths, nail clipping, brushing etc. I have taken part in numerous dog obedience classes and have practice with obedience training. This is all information that Misty Creek has been made aware of. Tell me how this place is a rescue? Am I angry yes. read more

So disappointed... We have a little chihuahua who is great with people and other dogs who desperately needed a buddy so we turned to Misty Creek. I've always heavily believed in the adoption of dogs in need so we decided to try it. We had submitted an application form and after calling about 50 times over the course of a week, someone finally picked up the phone. They had said they hadn't gotten to our application yet but would look at it that night. They also mentioned we were the first people in line for the little guy and from what they saw our application looked amazing. She mentioned someone would call us over the next few days and start setting things up.... we never got a call. So again we went with calling and emailing but still no response so we gave up. Finally, a month later I received an email saying the little puppy we had submitted for had been adopted to another family... I don't get it. Don't tell me one thing but have it be a complete lie. So disappointed in this place. Ya, they adopt dogs... but at a glacier pace but who knows if theyre even telling you the truth... read more