Canyon County Animal Shelter Reviews

Wow, wonderful people and very attentive, and animals are well cared for, got a precious goddess from them.

This is were I got my cat named Emily they have so many great animals there to adopt

Sorry excuse for a place that wants to help animals. You find them ready to get flattened on 84 and they won t even touch it. What the heck?! Nope, let em die apparently.
I m sorry I don t know where the county lines are when I see a dog ready to dart into the freeway. I live in canyon county. My bad I suppose for not asking when I just wanted to reunite the dog - who doesn t have a chip and you would have charged whomever picked his dog up anyways.
Absurd practice. Irrational intake as well. Should have just let her be hit I guess.

My husband and I tried to adopt a puppy there today named Rowen and they could not give us accurate information. After asking 5 different people that gave the wrong answer first finally the last lady knew what she was talking about and I'm so happy we talked to her because we would have been putting our other dog at risk. After being very polite and saying how they should get there staff up to date on vaccine info she got very rude with us. Not to mention when we went to look at the dogs there was a drain that had about 8 piles of poop in it. It was was sad. We will definitely be going to the boise humane society instead!

WARNING: ALL NEGATIVE REVIEWS ARE ACCURATE!!! Writing this as we leave frustrated and empty handed.. After reading several negative comments, we still went to the society in hopes of finding a furry friend for the family. Well the dogs were great, but staff is not friendly (besides ONE younger girl) or helpful and are not dedicated to the animals. The kennels are in rough condition, with the small dogs being in cat kennels and cats being in bird cages. Big dogs are hot, some have food but all the water is disgusting, and most sleep on barren floors. All dogs are different priced cuz it's just about making money. They require you to leave your animal there to get fixed and will not let you adopt otherwise. We ended up having to leave after several hours of waiting only to find out we aren't allowed to have the dog because EVENTUALLY he would be too big. We were heartbroken and they clearly didn't care. Unfortunately the new management there doesn't seem to be doing a much better job. Adopters beware, it'll be easier to rescue off Craigslist which is what we will be doing instead. So disappointed in humane societies these days as it's clearly just about the profit and not finding loving homes.

They don't even know how to answer a phone or return voicemails. So pathetic

We volunteer with a rescue and transport group so we visited while bringing a senior St Bernard for a check-up. Everyone there was very professional and kind. If we lived in the area, we would definitely take our babies there.

Disgusting and discriminatory pigs. Euthanizing beautiful and gentle animals because of their breed. Shame on this shelter.

My daughter and I make several visits a month to the west valley humane society. We enjoy seeing, petting and visiting with the animals up for adoption here. The staff and volunteers do a great job keeping the facility clean and the process in visiting with individual animals running smoothly. I'm always surprised by the breed of canines they tend to have available for adoption, they seem highly desirable.

The West Valley Humane society is a great place to visit with the kids or by yourself and visit with man's best friend.

If I could give them zero stars, I would. They have virtually no info on their website or on the kennel cards about the animals, their age info is WAY off, and you pay the same amount you would at IHS but these guys don't microchip. Brought a cat back today because it just wasn't working with our family and the 3 people we interacted with all had an attitude. They acted as if we were criminals for bringing the cat back. As I was trying to ask one last question, the lady named Cindy just cut me off by asking the next person how she could help. Take the extra drive into Boise. It's worth it.

I have adopted two dogs and two big beautiful pot-bellied pigs from this shelter! N

I'm SOOO Grateful to the person who brought my Furry Baby in after I searched for him for 2 days and nights!!! Also SOOOO Grateful to the WVHS for the care of him and having the services available to help prevent him being lost in the future!!! THANK YOU!!!

Love it if you want to adopt a dog or cat or any other furry animal

I was not impressed with the service provided at this humane society. It was my first time visiting, in hopes that my girlfriend and I could find a sweet dog to adopt. We found a puppy that was what we had exactly been searching for and were so excited to bring him home when we realized we had forgotten the wallet at home. We confirmed that the worker would hold him for us until we came right back and the person at the front desk said he was being adopted as we speak. I was pretty irritated at this point, and requested to speak to the woman who said she would hold the puppy for me, and all they said at the front desk was that she said she did not "recall" any of that and the puppy had already been adopted. Needless to say, I will not be returning after this experience as I feel it is not fair and not fair, honorable customer service.

Staff seems to be making a concerted effort to improve here.

Wanted to see a dog but finally left when nobody would lead us to him. Was a dog named Alex that I saw online. Disappointed.

My dog was taken and I went for him and had already been adopted he was with my family since he was a puppy

My experiences at West Valley Humane Society have always been stellar! Everyone is kind and compassionate and have each critter s best interest at . Everyone should put their Amazon Prime charity towards WVHS like I do!! Thanks for all you guys do!!!

The staff especially Dr. Nehler, is friendly and helpful. The animals are well taken care of. The facility is kept clean.

We finally found a cat we were looking for on the WVHS website. I called four times (no one answered) and on the fourth try a busy receptionist confirmed he was available. I took Friday afternoon off and drove to Caldwell to adopt him. I stood in line 45 minutes with seven other people. Finally they brought him to me, 'interviewed" me, found me suitable, took my payment and asked me to sign away that I would be his forever home and family, care for him, seek medical attention, etc. Four days later, WVHS called me to tell me that the owner showed up, after her underweight, unchipped, uncollared cat had been missing a week, in frigid December temperatures, and they "went back through their records," and discovered that he had been adopted out to me. WVHS called me three times leaving me messages (if only they were that good about answering their phones) to do a "well check," and to "discuss something else" The "something else" was they wanted to know if I would be willing to return our cat to "his owner." I'm pretty sure the contract I signed and the $150 adoption fee I paid made me his owner. However, I told them I would discuss it with my family and get back to them. WVHS called me twice more to ask if we had made a decision. We hadn't since half wanted to keep him and the other half said we should give him back. It put us in a really uncomfortable situation at Christmas time. I asked the WVHS rep why in the world they would "look back through their records" to see if a cat had been adopted and then asked the adoptive parents to give him back? What would be the purpose of the 3-day hold policy? Why not just hold them forever until their "owners" think they want them back? So, the moral of the story here is DO NOT ADOPT A STRAY FROM THE WEST VALLEY HUMANE SOCIETY. Even if you sign a contract, pay them, and take home your new family member, he isn't really yours. They can always call you up and ask for him back. Totally unprofessional.

If I could give this place a negative rating I would. The staff was nice but their policies need changed! My sister adopted a 2 month old kitten named "Poppy" on 6/16/2018 who only weighed 1.82 pounds. They don't allow them to go home until they have been fixed. Her operation was 6/19/2018 and supposedly she was up to 2 pounds. She passed away this morning, 6/22/2018. The vet that my sister took her to today says she was too young, too small and too malnourished to handle the spay surgery. Either you need to get better vets who know when it is age appropriate to fix animals or change your policy! We would have been happy to take her home for a few months to fatten her up before her surgery! We are heartbroken and devastated!

I have never in all my life encountered an animal shelter as horrible as this one.. animals are not taken care of the way they should be. I've adopted a few dogs one of which had a yeast infection in both front paws, and the place is under staffed and over worked. They are cold and uncaring for owners that may have had to bring dogs back they adopted.. The facility also needs a huge overhaul. The "small" dogs are in the cat kennels in a small room. It is sad because all animals deserve a home but I will NEVER EVER go back to that place, EVER!!!

Adopted two cats which they insisted needed to stay in the shelter until they were fixed, they wouldn't allow us to bring them back to be fixed... They were perfectly fine when we picked them out... they called us to pick them up right after surgery like 4-5 days later -and they were both very sick with upper respiratory infections! ...and then they refuse to take them back until they are well, but said that they would "check them" after the labor day weekend on Tuesday(this is on Thursday before). Needless to say my other cat is now very sick as well!!! ~brandy b.

Got the best doggy :) but there is no way my Abby would have been 400.00 they had no info other then she was from other then California. She is great and I understand why they charge more to cover for ones people don't take home but if I knew that before hand I would not have gotten my mix of cuteness

Love these guys got Spyro one of our cat-dogs here.

They let you walk around to see the dogs and other animals that are in their cages and can hold them if you ask the staff to

There are lots of wonderful animals waiting for their forever homes! Think adoption First

Love my puppy I got here. If I adopt again I'll be back here.

A dog wondered into my yard she is very tiny and very cute, she was also very hungry that first day. She also had recently been spayed. I took her to the shelter and they scanned her she was chipped. They told me to take her home and they would contact the owners. A week passed and I hadn't Heard anything so I called the shelter they told me they had no record of me being there or the dog. I had her scanned again trying to find this baby's owner that was 5 weeks ago. I can't keep this dog and I have heard suck tearable things about this shelter.I don't know what to do.

Best place to find your forever friend. Great service and polite employees

Good place to do community service on the weekend lol

the animals were adorable and nice and there clean and safe! I loved it there!

I am so disappointed, the employees were really nice but the policies are a joke .If i could rate lower i would what a complete joke of a system

All the people were nice except fore one lady at the front desk (older lady that dose interviews she don't need to work there.

A great place to volunteer and do community service. Just needs more understanding, helpful front desk staff who is more open to talking to you when you have questions. Because when I went there to ask a question I have never felt more dismissed. I love the shelter and the animals I just don t like feeling dismissed and unimportant by some front desk staff.

Be prepared to wait. Very slow. Dogs and cats come and go quickly. Check back often. Adoption fees seem high.

A dog was recently adopted from them into my daughters family and dog was sick, they claimed all dogs are vet checked, was told they give 14 days for medical was referred to a different vet... dog had a bad cough they almost lost her. Now every dog in in our family has a nasty cough and all have had it for several weeks. Be aware of this!

They are very unorganized and they up the price on the dog we picked out from 40 dollars to 90 dollars

Very helpful and attentive people work here. They truly care about animals, and trying to reunite lost pets with their owners.

My mom and I came here to adopt a kitten. There was good service as the staff treated us kindly and with respect. I would go here in the future!

Called animal control to come help an injured stray cat and was told they don't deal with cats! What good are they there? I hope they receive no taxpayer or city funds to run the useless place. What can be done in canyon county for injured stray or lost animals? They just let them suffer.

Unorganized staff, staff that doesn't return calls, failure to disclose a seizure disorder and their vet refused to assist... Popular breeds $$$$, others $.

Wait suck but when i got help they were quick with great customer sevice

DO NOT ADOPT FROM THIS PLACE! I would give this place a negative star. I have adopted 3 dogs from this place visited to others to try to find the right dog. They do not personality or socialize test their dogs. All 3 of the dogs and we brought home obviously we're on something to make them nice and sweet and timid. But when you except the animal and you bring it home it becomes vicious. 2 of the 3 attacked people and one was an 11 year girl with her dog going down the street on rollerblades. All I get is a voucher to adopt another dog from them. Like I am going to ever adopt an animal from them again. All they had to do was give me my money back so I can try to pay the vet bill on the dog that was attacked. The f-ed up thing is they re adopted one of the dogs that attacked me when I walked into my daughters room. Her name was Huntress. DO NOT ADOPT FROM THIS PLACE!

Love going in and seeing the animals. The staff was so helpful today. It was clean!! My son loves going and saying Hi to each and every dog.

Yesterday my husband and I called the humane society and said we were on our way to adopt a beautiful German Shepherd. The nice man on the phone named Ernest said to come on down, and that we could stream line the process by doing a 3 night slumber party with the dog since it was close to closing time for them. I said, Okay and we zoomed on down there. Once we got there, we were told that that some other couple is looking at a dog right night now and then the next dog they want to look at is the German Shepherd. Ernest tried to help us by saying that we called 20 minutes ago and got here as quick as we could in order to adopt the dog, but the lady in charge said that because we weren't Physically there that these other people get first pick. My family was very saddened by this and we are very hurt by West Valley Humane Society. Our dog was adopted by the other family and even though we are happy he was adopted we are just heart broken that it wasnt us. We wanted to say, thank you Ernest for trying to help our family and and to that woman in charge....whatever policy you have in place for having to physically be there to adopt a pet very sad. We won't be returning to your facility.

Great place to adopt a doggo but you'll need to be patient as they are very understaffed. More expensive than the Idaho Humane Society. We found our loveable fur baby here. Wish they would Have told us she had kennel cough and fleas. Only found this out after reading her paperwork at home. :(

Love this vet clinic! Affordable with excellent care and services. All my pets go there.

Staff is friendly and compassionate. They are dealing with different levels of stress and do it calmly.

Tried to save some money by chipping my dogs here . They would not allow me to be with him forced him in to the back had to pay 25$ to muzzle him and now we're dealing with kennel cough. I don't take my dogs anywhere else not even dog parks thank you for the continual vet bill. WARNING do not take the animals you love here

Found a sweet little Boy dog. ADOPT DON'T SHOP !!!!!

Staff are friendly and attentive the the animals needs. It's always so busy.

I went to West Valley Humane Society to try to adopt a kitten the one I picked out was still too young to get fixed so they told me I could foster it until she was old enough to get fixed then I could adopt her after that. We had her for about a week then she started bleeding everywhere every time she went pee. We took her back to the vet as West Valley and the "vet" told us he wanted to keep her for 48 hrs to observe her. Not even two hours later he called us to pick her up and said it was a UTI and he gave her a shot and she is all cured. Not even two days later she started bleeding everywhere which it was a Sunday so they werent open. Which they are the only Humane Society in Idaho that isnt open on Sunday. So we had to wait till Monday at 11am while the poor kitten is in pain and we didnt take her to another vet to pay out of pocket because she wasnt our yet. When we took her back they said they will keep her to watch her again again in two hours they called us letting us know it was another UTI. We asked if they would keep her the 48 hrs just be sure. Since then we have called everyday and no one will call us back. They are the WORST Humane Society ive ever been to. I suggest no one buy an animal from them.

Busy place but good selection of animals to choose from. I got a great new family member that loves to ride with me in my truck. I love the care we received while picking out our new fur baby! Thanks West Valley staff!

Animals always seem to be sick, was a little complicated to get the cat we adopted to their vet.

They made me feel right about putting my 14 year old dog down, they were very helpful at his last moments as I fell apart, hes better off, but my family will miss him for awhile, thank you, West Valley Humane Society.

I would like to thank everyone that helped me at the WVHS to adopt Sumo you guys are the greatest.Sumo is a great dog we bonded the first min I saw him.Thanks again for everything.

I have some pretty mixed feelings about WVHS. On the one hand, I can appreciate the fact that they are understaffed and overworked. I can understand that staff is likely burned out on people based on how many animals they see brought in daily, and sometimes in pretty rough shape. I get it.
The people that get out the dogs and cats for you to spend time with are always nice, and the dogs seem to genuinely like them, too.
The shelter is typically always clean, with the exception of the few dogs who are not potty trained. Of course it has an odor... there are sometimes hundreds of animals waiting for homes all at once.
With that said, this shelter is ridiculously disorganized. So many great suggestions have been made, yet nothing has changed. Why are there no signs up for what to do when you get inside? Why are there no separate lines for separate areas of business that need to be done? There could be 1 line for intake/lost and found. 1 line for general questions. 1 line for adoptions. Signs should be posted that if you just want to take a look at what they have, you can just go on back. Then, if you decide you want to get to know an animal, take their paper up to the front desk.
Also, the woman at the front desk, I believe she said she was the front desk manager-older woman with glasses... she is pretty rude, and forgetful. You ask her a simple question -nicely- and she gets extremely irritable. It seems that she does not have the best people skills, and she acts as though anyone there is an inconvenience. Not the most welcoming, and I suspect she has cost quite a bit of business.
EDIT: I want to thank WVHS for responding to my review. On the day I went to pick up my 2nd rescue Shepherd, there was, in fact, a greeter there, and she made a WORLD of difference. If only the shelter could make that a paid position, so that way things could run that smoothly all the time! The people at the front desk were in good spirits even though it was so busy.
Pictures included are of my 2 rescue German Shepherds- both adopted from WVHS, about 9 months apart. Both of these pups were severely emaciated, and passed over for weeks because cosmetically, they weren't the best looking due to them being in rough shape. Hannah, formerly Remi, has been my shadow and faithful companion. We got her when we knew our older dog didn't have long with us because of cancer. Loki, formerly Lars, still has a long way to go but is incredibly sweet and has fit in so quickly with us. I highly recommend finding your new friend at the shelter. The price I paid for both was less than it would have cost to take them individually to the vet to get fixed, get vaccinated, flea treatment, x-rays, etc. But they were both well worth it, and I would do it again.

kind of surprised at the negative reviews. I have been in there in person and it is run very clean. I remember a few years ago when the dogs all looked really sick and were coughing so bad. Doesnt look like that anymore.

I have gotten all but one pet from this place, one through foster and two straight from the kennels (two dogs and a cat). I've always been able to count on this place for wonderful companions and friendly staff (including volunteers) that are there to help, with the exception for a few that either didn't grasp everything their position held or favored other customers over others due to personal relationships.
As much as I would love to say that this is a perfect place that helps their animals to the max, I cannot. It seems that people distributing medicine or food to the dogs don't always have the dogs best interest in mind, as I have witnessed a woman with very low patience be aggressive towards a very obviously scared one. I understand that this is a high stress job, but it's disturbing to see someone act like that towards helpless, terrified animals. As well as that, I hate that the moment a dog acts up, it seems you don't hesitate to euthanize. If a dog becomes defensive of itself while passing another dog, you don't chalk it up to maybe the dog being scared. If two dogs pass each other while coming from the areas outside and snap at each other, you do not work with them to lower their risk of snapping and instead put them down. Im sure many others agree that this is abhorrent.
While I am grateful that you all do work with the animals to get them adopted and taken care of, I believe that you could go to much greater lengths to make a dog's or cat's experience a little better than being in a prison.

I am not saying do not adopt from this place, but please be careful to double check everything. Make sure they live up to the contract themselves. From reading the reviews here, it seems as though they put the blame mostly on the customer. I read far back and see that the same complaints last year are the same this year. Doesn't seem as though they appreciate the the feedback as much as they proclaim. What a shame.

Good place to adopt a pet or put in some volunteer work.

I feel sorry for all of these dogs. The dogs are basically freezing in the huge tent-like enclosure while the cats are nice and cozy in the building. The kennels are very dirty and very cold. My girlfriend and I went in to look at some dogs and when we asked to take a dog into a room to spend some time with it and to see if we wanted to adopt, she gave us forms to fill out. We had to prove that we were renting/owning a place, how long we had been there, our grandmother's social, her mom's maiden name, how much our last breakfast was, etc. They not only make it hard to adopt, they also make it a very tedious process to meet an animal. You go over to the humane society in boise and they are easy to deal with and treat their animals like royalty compared to these guys.

I lost my dog, which I found a few days later.
They called to make sure he was found and ok.

I love everything that this facility does to help the animals of our community. Especially in this uncertain time, they have remained positive and dedicated to help our furry friends. Thank you West Valley Humane Society for all you do!

Management and some staff not so friendly, feel sorry for the dogs

They take time to work with you and they know how to introduce animals to each other better much than the Idaho Humane Socioty does.

I went in the get a dog after a man ran over my cat and though they had some sweet animals the people their we're not as kind. While there I met around 8 staff and volunteers and only 2 of them were very friendly at all. But the adoption process was easy and they did their beat to make it as painless as possible.

ALL I CAN SAY IS THIS PLACE IS A VARY POORLY RUN FACILITY.

We are so grateful for the effort & kindness at West Valley in our pet adoption process. Jacqui responded to my emails so promptly & was so helpful & kind. They do so much for these animals & work hard to find them good homes. I am impressed with the facility & its operations. They do such great work. It was worth the very long drive! Highly recommend adopting your new fur baby from West Valley.

We adopted our lab from West valley humane society about 4 years ago. He has been the greatest big brother.

If I could rate less I would . Beyond unprofessional. I've came 3 different times in a row for a simple vaccination and nail trimming service. Each time the veterinarian was either sick or they were short staffed. The day the clinic was open I waited in line forever, just to end up leaving. I have wasted so much time for something so simple. They have failed to provide even a decent service. Dont come here unless you want to be disappointed each time.

I had to bring 2 abandoned kittens that were just days old to WEST VALLEY HUMANE SOCIETY.. I was helped within just a minute of walking in the door by HEATHER. She was kind, professional and took the time to answer any and all questions I had. While we were talking, another tech came over immediately and took the kittens to be fed because as far as I knew, the mother cat, which was a stray never came back for them or to feed them.
This facility is extremely clean, well staffed and i felt VERY CONFIDENT that those two little kittens will be very well cared for and now have a chance to grow up healthy,happy and no doubt will find their forever home due to the caring, professional staff.
If you want to adopt a great pet or have to give one up...do not hesitate one bit to work with this shelter! And they didn't ask for a fee or donation to leave those 2 little kittens.This shelter is awesome!

We adopted our cat Mabel (originally named Callie) and our dog Iskers from the West Valley Humane Society and we couldn t be happier with our adoption experiences. Our cat and dog are the sweetest animals and we are so thankful for West Valley s insanely quick response times and thoughtful attention to the health and well-being of their animals.

Please don t let the one star reviews scare you off. Adopting an animal is sometimes a cutthroat, race-to-get-your-application-in-first world and this is SO true in the Boise/Nampa area. We worked with multiple shelters and West Valley was the only one that was transparent and timely in their communication across the board. Yes, you might not get the animal you want if someone else was in line ahead of you. Just keep waiting and reapply for another animal once you find one you want.

My wife and I watched the West Valley website daily to get our cat and we were lucky to get in line first for our dog. From our experience in the Boise area, that just seems to be the way it is.

The staff care so much about the animals they take care of and they find homes for so many of these precious pets so quickly. My wife and I are proud to support this amazing shelter and we will be returning if we are ever looking to add another member to our family.

Absolutely HORRENDOUS people work there at the front desk. So mean and have no customer service what so ever.

My wife and I are unimpressed with this place. 8 days after we adopted our dog we had a question about her history and they told us that since we were outside the 7 day period after the adoption they couldn't help us, even though the question (and answer) had no bearing on us taking her back. She also scratched and licked herself nonstop since we got her. We took her into the groomer and they told us that she had a yeast infection in her skin. Aren't they supposed to catch things like that while the animal is in the shelter? Like I said, we're unimpressed with their service and think it's a joke that our dog was there for two weeks before we adopted her and they didn't catch the infection or answer any of our questions after 7 days.