Almost Home Animal Shelter

I have to agree with the previous reviewer in that she is dishonest. Her ad online described a popular breed of dog, but once we got there it was apparent the dog was not that breed. But once there we felt like we had to save this dog from any more torment.....not from the threat of being killed, but from that shelter. We tell people that we rescued a dog from a rescue center because his conditions were so bad, and he was in such bad shape we felt if we couldn't keep him, we could get him healthy and find someone who would take him.

When we arrived we were told to go back to the shelter, but not to go in, that the dogs were not friendly. This was true. There were "attack" type dogs in the front of the shelter, so we could not go into the shelter itself. She brought the dog to us....it was the middle of January!!! We ended up in a rundown "office"/ garage where we could examine his behaviors.....but this was only after he was shivering profusely!!

Anyway....I do feel for her. I think she has a heart for the animals, but not the funds to take care of them properly. I think she gets a lot of animals dumped there and just can't take care of them all. So I do feel for her.

In our case we did end up keeping our dog, and love him to pieces. We had to nurse him through a bunch of health issues....bad case of worms(he wasn't a puppy), multiple cuts on his skin, and an infected site where he was nuetered then thrown back in the nasty shelter... in the beginning, but finally did get him healthy. He's a happy boy!!:)

I am appalled at the positive reviews posted on here. My dog was taken here by a neighbor, as her tags had been ripped off and she got out and apparently they did not know she was right next to home. That was fine- I was glad she went to a safe place, or so I thought!! I called these people for over a day and no response. My husband stopped first- no one answered the door. Again, no call back. This went on since yesterday morning. Needless to say- we got a really good look of the conditions in which these keep these animals. For those of you posting positive reviews, I challenge you to look at the back of the property where the sick, neglected, and abused animals are kept. This place is a dump- but I can look past things like that, except when I saw animals laying in inches thick feces, urine, and vomit. Most of them were so thin they wouldn't even get up to bark. The smell was enough to kill anyone if standing in it long enough. I pray to God this place is closed down for good sometime and that these poor animals can actually find a home. I would say that there are 30 animals just in the one building I was able to see inside of. I feel like this is a situation where the owner feels she is taking care of the animals, but is not. All of them need medical attention- and most certainly should be removed immediately. I had to provide vet care to my animal after picking her up. It cost me in upwards of 200 dollars. She came out of there with sores, a feces covered body, and was extremely sick. Now she is on three different medications until further notice just to help heal her up from infections. My animal was in excellent health before she went in and I have the medical records proving this. Please, please, please, If you love animals- NEVER bring you babies to a place like this!! To my understanding- This place is also not licensed or legal, but I have not checked into this yet. I understand that shelters have overcrowding issues and are difficult to maintain, but this "rescue" appears to not even be trying anymore at this point in time. It was by far the most appalling place I have ever seen.

Thankful that local enforcement chooses Almost Home to bring lost, abandoned, and abused animals to. What a great service to our community the Shelly and volunteers are providing!

ALMOST HOME is awesome!! What a dedicated animal lover the manager is. This is a no-kill shelter that I would recommend to anyone....in fact I have, and everyone found their new best friend !

I just want to say Thank God for a place like Almost Home Animal Shelter. My family and I love animals so much. Our female dog got pregnant and we were able to find a home for each of her pups. Then the week before we were going to bring the mom in to get fixed. She got pregnant again. We found a home for all the puppies except for two of them. My brother wanted to dump them on the side of the road by some farm because he heard that our landlord was going to evict us if we couldn't get rid of the puppies. I didn't want to bring the pups at just any shelter. I wanted them to go to a no kill shelter but I had no money to bring them anywhere and then I heard about Almost Home and I contacted Shelly. She was so nice and understanding. She didn't judge me at all and she took in my precious puppies. Thank you Shelly, even though I wanted to keep those Corginese puppies so bad I knew that i couldn't and so appreciative that there are places like Almost Home Animal Shelter. I don't think I can thank you enough. In the future, when I can free up some of my time. I plan on asking to help volunteer there. Thanks a million...

The mission of a No-Kill Shelter is to keep animals alive and try to find a secure ‘forever’ home for the animals brought to them. In most cases the No-Kill Shelter is a last resort for a ‘problem’ animal. My best furry friend falls into this category. Ted is an eight year old pure bred St Bernard. Have you ever seen a St Bernard puppy? They are among the cutest breed with the promise of ginormous size evident in their heads and paws even at the youngest age. I never got to see Ted as a puppy or pictures of him then. Ted was raised and lived the first three years of his life in a cage. The only human interaction for Ted was when his owners replenished his food and water. At about three years old concerned neighbors and law enforcement officers persuaded the owners to surrender Ted, (then named Fred) and Wilma, his female partner to Almost Home. The neighbors and law enforcement believed Almost Home could provide and find Ted and Wilma someplace better. Shelly, the woman referred to in some of the reviews here, did exactly that. In Ted’s case Shelly took care of Ted when all of the other volunteers; yes animal_luvr there are several other volunteers whom I have met and talked with on multiple occasions and locations; when not one of the volunteers would even go in the dog run with Ted. Shelly took care of Ted for over a year, so maybe you are right animal_luvr. Maybe she is a bit crazy. Before I met Ted there was another person who saw his potential and wanted to adopt him. She gave up on Ted after he bit her three times. This “crazy lady”, Shelly, didn’t give up on Ted. My wife spotted him in an ad Almost Home had on Pet Finder web site and forwarded it to me. I really wasn’t looking for another pet. We had a Saint many years ago and Samson was about as close to a perfect dog as you could get. I didn’t want to even go look at Ted but my wife of over thirty years thought I should so…



My wife and two of my sons went to see the dog. The first time I saw Ted he was standing upright with his paws on the top of a six foot high chain link fence barking and growling at anybody who came within ten feet of the spacious outside run in which he was housed. Very intimidating and scary. I asked Shelly if I could go in the run with him and she looked at me like I was seven different kinds of stupid, but opened the gate for me. To summarize what could be a very long story, this was almost four years ago. Ted has progressed to the point where he is an almost perfect family companion animal. He is leash trained and very gentle. Ted has been to work with me many times. My company has a bring your dog to work day once a month and coworkers regularly ask me days before, “Is Teddy coming to work next week?” When my eight year old grandson comes to visit he wants to see his ”buddy Ted” before anybody else and my one and a half year old granddaughter crawls around, and on, Ted with no fear of being hurt. So this “crazy, dishonest” lady because she wouldn’t give up and let Ted be killed, has affected many people in a very positive manner.



This has gone on much longer then I intended, but to you three reviewers who are quite content to anonymously spout personal insults and outright falsehoods I invite you to stop for a minute and ask what have you done to help hopeless last chance animals. SHAME ON YOU!



And I’ll not hide behind a screen name but sign my real name, Bill Crist 612-708-6396. I’ll pray for you.

I don’t know where these people come off with their above reviews but we have adopted three dogs from Almost Home and NONE of them were ill-cared for, starved, etc. My husband and I have volunteered at shelters and they are basically all the same. Yes, there will be odors when you have many animals in one building but the floors are kept clean and the animals are well-fed and given much attention.



We first met Shelly and visited Almost Home when we saw a St. Bernard online from there. He was extremely aggressive due to his treatment from his owner. Shelly kept him for an entire year there despite his aggressive nature and you sure would not see that at other places like humane societies. He would have long been put down. She was able to work with him when everyone else was scared to go near him. No one would take him home because of his nature but she persevered keeping him hoping for a family to come forward to take him. Because my husband and I are very good with animals we brought him home. It took time but he is the sweetest pup you can imagine these days. Thank God for people like Shelly who kept him alive and healthy until we could adopt him.



We also recently adopted 2 puppies from there. Both were just at the vet and they were just fine. Very well fed, healthy and full of pep as puppies should be. No complaints whatsoever from us. The animals DO receive vet care – ours had all their current immunizations and were wormed, etc. Shelly does NOT practice veterinary medicine on her own. That is a complete fabrication.



And there certainly ARE volunteers there! We met 2 very nice, lovely ladies who help out on a regular basis both there and at the adoption days at the pet stores. Where are these people getting their information???? I would really like to see them work there and see just how hard this job can be. There are no rewards other than what these animals have to offer when they find happy new forever homes. Read the webpage and their newsletter to see account after account of these pets and their new families.



We totally support Almost Home and the work they do as a no-kill shelter. High praise to Shelly and her crew for their fantastic work and their dedication to our furry friends. Please do not let the other reviews sway you….. these are people who just haven’t a clue.

I cannot begin to describe the conditions these helpless, defenseless animals are forced to live in. The ammonia odor alone burns the eyes of all these sick animals who receive no veterinary care. I have seen first hand this nightmare and cannot for the life of me understand how the state, law enforcement or county can allow this to continue to operate as a so-called "shelter". A shelter is suppose to represent comfort, safety, helping the animal with meeting all its needs to include medical care. The suffering, starving, sick faces of the animals are enough to make me want to shut it down forever of which is the responsibility of law enforcement, Board of Animal Health and county officials. When I inquired about this facility after seeing first hand a puppy who was rescued by a friend of mine, paying full price mind you, for a puppy with parvo who was hospitalized for over a week and through the help of a compassionate veterinarian pulled the little guy through it I could not accept the run around given to me by the state and county officials who are paid to enforce laws intended to protect animals from this. I do not recall seeing anything on the health records that the pup had even seen a Dr for any exam, vaccinations, worming, etc.. Is this woman (Shelley) practicing veterinary medicine without a license? Is she herself a veterinarian? From what I have learned in the three yrs since that fateful day no one is allowed to volunteer nor does she hire anyone to help care for these animals. A Court of Public Opinion needs to be held and I encourage all of you to please pay a visit to this "concentration camp" for helpless animals. Prepare yourself for suffering you will not be able to wrap your mind around all while this obviously mentally ill woman thinks nothing is wrong. The eyes of these suffering dogs and cats still eat away at me....we all need to pull together to shut it down once and for all!!!!

Stay away from here! She is dishonest and most important, there are many documented cases of animals adopted from here being very sick.