Pender County Animal Shelter

"We came in yesterday looking for a loving dog yesterday and found it! I wanted to say, we appreciate the time the staff takes with these dogs. I’m sure it can take some encouragement to get these dogs ready for a second chance. At 10 months old, Roman has learned within a minute at his new home, that his new bed is his safe place and to stand by the door to be let out. He slept peacefully through the night with no accidents (crate-free!!!), was woken up as I’m leaving for work and gently waited for his leash to be taken out before returning back onto his bed. Thank you, for the addition to our family!"

"We adopted from here roughly a month ago. I see some not so great reviews and everyone has their opinion, but we had a good experience. I think we all need to keep in mind how VERY overwhelmed the shelter staff is right now. They are doing what they can with what they've got and with animals constantly being added and fewer leaving, they just need help."

"I went there in December a bit before Christmas to adopt a cat, it was only a 20$ fee to adopt and they hadn’t caught up with putting down who was available for adoption but they went and updated while I was there looking, they let me hold the cats and take my time, it was a quick process of adopting and I ended up with a really friendly cat who was fixed and had his shots, he did had a respiratory infection but they treated him before when he was recused"

"almost a year ago, during pandemic, i adopted my gsd mix. the whole process was very rushed, not very handler friendly, and maybe that was my fault. i do not regret my decision but wish i was better informed on what i was getting into. my dog had major behavioral issues that i was not informed of. i had no prior meeting with this dog ( i do however want to clarify i knew what i was getting into w a high energy german shepherd dog, i did my research there). when putting my name on my list, i was told i was the fifth person, so to my suprise when i got the call, i went on my way, 45 minutes, to pick her up.. i guess? i called when i got there, they told me to come up w my payment, i did, then to wait in my car, someone waived me to the kennels, and out came my now, leona. she sniffed my hand and started walking towards the door and rushed to the parking lot. i want to believe this is because of the covid and pandemic because of the reviews i have read.. but to this day, when i think about how i came to have leona, i know that if i would have met her that day, i would not have cane home with her that night. after the first night, i could not imagine my life without her and all the work we have done from weight gain (59lbs when i picked her up and now to 72), behavioral and obedience wise was very much worth it. i just never want this to be a possibility again, and make awareness to ask questions- i wish i had spoken up!"

"I originally came here on a Thursday morning to check out the dogs. I’ve been interested in getting another dog and wanted to see the options. I visited a couple other places but I really wanted to adopt here. There are many many dogs here. They update what dogs and cats are ready to adopt on their Facebook page which is great. Seeing live videos of all the animals really do help if you don’t feel sure enough to drive over there. If you are interested in one of the animals there, I believe you can put on 24 hour hold on them. There are plenty of younger and older dogs here. I love dogs so it was really hard to just choose one. All I wanted to do was take all the babies home :( All of them are beautiful and I went by every cage and none of the dogs were aggressive/reactive. All they want is some love. So please, if you have the time and love to take care of another animal, PLEAASSEEEE come here! I put a hold on one of the dogs, and it was a super easy process. Name, number, and that’s it. The pup that I had chosen was scheduled to get neutered the next day, so I had the option to come on Saturday. They were busy on Saturday but that was perfectly fine with me. I understand they have many animals and have to give them all the proper care while also taking care of walk-in customers and phone calls. It’s not an easy job, so please be patient and kind to the staff as well. The adoption process was easy and the fee was only $80, no tax. Signed a couple papers, filled out the adoption application, and one of the staff members ran over all the paperwork for my new pup. They are very informative and were eager to help. Here is my handsome boy "