The Barking Lot (APPOINTMENT ONLY), Ramona CA

Do your own homework and ask the uncomfortable questions about the dogs from this place because they misrepresent them in their bios here and the owner claims to not be responsible for what’s written in them. Upon meeting our dog the only verbal discussion of his behavior was that he needed structure. Come to find out, Rocket is prone to fits of unprovoked aggression and will attack and bite (breaking the skin). It wasn’t until we did our research to get his rabies cert (that wasn’t provided by The Barking Lot) did anyone from his past mention the history of such behavior, as his antics were well known.

After speaking with numerous trainers we found ourselves unable to be liable for Rocket’s behavior. We brought him back to Barking Lot for surrender, only to be patronized and then yelled at by the owner Stacy. Thankfully we recorded the encounter once she became hostile. Never did she try to see what help Rocket needed or what his well-being was before or when we brought him back. She was simply concerned with this petty ego trip and seemed to be put off that we would return him after allowing him to be adopted under false pretenses. Stacy should not adopt dogs out if she’s not willing to be honest and vet the dogs appropriately. He’s going to be put down unnecessarily for biting someone else or God forbid a child, because she would release him to another home without disclosing his true issues just to get him off of her hands just like she did with us, because he was put back up for adoption again only a few days after his return, with no editing done to his bio to reflect his true behavior. Thankfully over a month later, it has been updated, but only with a warning about him needing a four legged sibling and not placing him in a home with children. Steer clear from here. There are so many other more reputable rescues that you should adopt from. This place is all about the money not about the dogs.

We adopted the most precious Pittmaraner and could not be happier. Friendly attentive staff and seamlessly easy process. Highly recommended ️️️ Our sweet Lilly (barking lot renamed her Lotus, but we changed it back to her original name) is the center of our family. She’s now officially a military fur-brat!

The owner Tom is amazing and so helpful and good hearted I highly recommend this place. Your dog will be cared for as if it were his.

I really tried with The Barking Lot. I did. I applied to foster a dog that had been there for over a year. The application states that I would receive a response in 1 business day. I never received a response but saw on the TBL Instagram page that he had been placed in a foster home so I was content and let it go. About a month later I got an email from Shannon regarding fostering the dog. The virtual home visit was scheduled within a week with Elise and I was ready to take the dog as long as it was a good fit. For the next month Shannon and I went back and forth trying to find a good time for me to meet the dog and see if he was a good fit for my home. Even though there were times when I wouldn’t receive a response and I would have to follow up-which I found strange given that the dog had been at the kennel for over a year and I would think they would be eager to get him into a foster home-I was understanding because I know things are tough due to the pandemic. Finally, we found a time that worked for both of us and I went to meet the dog yesterday. As soon as I opened the door, Stacy sternly told me to wait outside. Ok, no problem. But there is no sign on the door that says to wait outside and she made no attempts to communicate with me that she will be right with me or even ask what I was there for. 15 minutes pass and she still has not come out. I peek my head in the window and she gives me an annoyed look and says “I know! ” She then comes out and tells me to wait on the sidewalk. She helps someone that had been there before me and then finally comes up to me. She begins to ask me question that I had already been asked by Elise and Shannon and very rudely tells me that it is not up to me to determine if the dog is a good fit, but it is up to her. She goes to get the dog and brings him out. The interaction lasted but 5 minutes and was very uncomfortable as we were in the middle of the sidewalk and my dog was already anxious after waiting for almost 30 minutes. I found this strange, as the other 2 people who were there were sitting down and had had at least 30 minutes to interact with the dogs that they were interested in. She was very short with her answers to questions and seemed that she had already made the decision that he wasn’t a good fit prior to even bringing him out. She then says she has to go help someone else out but has a dog that she feels would be a better fit. She goes to help the other person and goes back inside and never comes back out with another dog. After waiting another 15 minutes we decide to leave. I understand that maybe customer service is maybe not the priority when running a dog rescue but maybe putting out a little kindness and treating people decently especially when they are trying to do something good in this world. I feel sad that the dog will remain in the shelter and feel that with a little more time to interact we would have gotten a better idea if it was a good fit, but that is on them. I really tried. Thanks to Shannon and Elise and good luck!

Adoption process, good.
They make you leave a $100 deposit for a tracker, then after a month you take it or send it back for your money back. I returned it and have yet to see my money. It’s been about 1 and a half months since I have returned it. The person answering my questions says the director should’ve sent it, but that she is so busy that maybe she didn’t send it yet? That’s not my problem. You guys are more focused on getting money by sending dogs off then you are about taking care of your customers whom you owe money to. I keep getting the run around and it is getting old. I’ll update my review once this issue is resolved.

The process to adopt our Mercury was great! There are alot of questions and we had about two -3 interviews but I honestly liked that because the rescue needs to be assured that the puppy was going to a good home. We love our boy so much and he has brought nothing but joy to our family. The staff was awesome and we will be forever grateful! Thank you Barking Lot!

We haven't found the right dog yet, but everyone has been so helpful! We have a blind dog, and they are so patient making sure we meet the right dog! Kelly, Chelsea, and Elise have been my contacts and they were all exceptionally lovely and willing to answer any questions!

I feel the need to defend myself and my family. We adopted a dog (gumtree was his given name and currently up for adoption) as a 11 weeks old puppy right before New Years this year. It was love at first sight and what we felt was a perfect match for our family of four plus one fur baby already. We brought him into our home and within days found him to be food/treat aggressive. He bit both of my children and myself, not bad enough to seek medical attention, but I do have photo proof. I personally asked a behavior veterinarian what steps to take to train him out of this behavior and followed through. Remington, what we named him, had come to us with Neospora caninum that had gone untreated and also spread to our other dog. We treated that and vaccinated him on time. We treated Remi as part of the family and worked hard on training him, that’s why the barking lot is able to say he is a good pup, but, as I was told by an animal medical professional, some food aggression can not be fixed. Sadly as Remi grew he became more aggressive with food, treats, toys, and even attention and the safety of our small children and other dog became an issue. There was no need to say that his aggression went unnoticed and unattended to. We did everything we could and kept him in our house, despite his behavior, for longer than we should have. He should not be placed with a family with small children, or really other animals. Yes he gets along with dogs, but add food, treats, or even affection and he could do major harm. The whole experience with this faculty has been less than mediocre. From watching Stacy make customers cry, talking poorly about her volunteers, to putting our family on blast in a description of our former dog. It’s all really unprofessional. We hope and pray that Gumtree/Remington finds a good home, but we also hope that families are made aware of the real reason he had to be brought back.

This place is not what it seems. We filled out all required paperwork. Up front about our schedule and home. It took awhile to hear back from them. But then we got an email that we could schedule an appointment to meet two puppies from the same litter. We emailed back when we were available from the days and times they indicated. That was on Thursday evening and we responded that same evening. We got an email Sunday morning that we were scheduled to meet them in a few hours. When we showed up we were only greeted with one of the two we were told about. Nonetheless we fell in love with the one we did meet. We hung out with her for quiet sometime. We paid our adoption fee of $550.00, received the puppy's paperwork and a gift bag. We spoke to one of the volunteers who told us we could pick up our puppy that following Tuesday after being spayed. She said everything looked perfect. Then she asked if we had our home visit, which we hadn't. That was scheduled for Tuesday morning on the Monday before. We went out the next few days and prepped for her arrival, about $500.00+. I did the home visit, answered all the same questions again and before I hung up with the volunteer she was congratulating us on our adoption. My boyfriend made sure to take time off work so we could pick her up. (Losing 2 hours of pay in the process.) We received a congratulations email and them shortly thereafter another email that said they were NOT going to allow us to adopt. They indicated it was because of our schedules. Which had not been an issue in the process at anytime. We were advised that we could still adopt but they would only allow us to adopt a puppy 6 months or older. There was no discussion and trying to reach ANYONE proves very difficult. When we finally heard from the owner she was very patronizing. Essentially they pulled a "bait and switch". We were there for a cute puppy we instantly bonded with, only to be told we couldn't have that one but they'd give us an older one. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS PLACE! There are plenty of other places that need adoptees.

It's a wonderful rescue with great people. Our adoption went smoothly and if anything stuff and Stacy the owner was anything but patient with us. There's lot of negative reviews, all in my opinion from lack of understanding what adopting of a pet is really about. There should be commitment for better or worse and if you believe in re-homing after you adopt, in my personal opinion you should not adopt at all. Place doesn't smell roses? Well come and help them out to clean and walk dogs and become a volunteer. Otherwise you have no right to judge. Keeping that many doggies is messy, nothing else to talk about. We had wonderful experience, we absolutely love little girl Mabeline and thinking of adopting another dog as soon as Mae "sattled down" if you will. On a price note, it's really not expensive at all if you would look at what people at the Barking Lot are doing. My vet was very impressed with all the regular blood work and extensive care that has been done on my dog. She had deadly blood infection previously from tick and she was saved. My vet said it's extremely hard to do and his own dog died from same infection. Mae had lipoma that has been removed and her vaccine and deworming was all done in time. Considering all that adoption fee is really not expensive at all. When I came in I had a collar and a leash, but after I've been told why those are not best for my hight fly risk Soi dog, I purchased collar and leash from them, and actually it was cheaper then what I bought from Petco. I would highly recommend this rescue.

The volunteers here are absolutely amazing. They genuinely care so much for these dogs and work tirelessly at ensuring they have a safe and comfortable home to go to. Thank you for all you do.

Although I got a great dog here, I was dissapointed to have to stand outside in the rain and wait, it took a while to adopt, I would go back though if in need of another fur friend

Did not have a good experience. Filled out a lengthy application only to be asked the same questions again when we went in for our appointment, her response was "well I didn't look at your application. " You have to make an appointment but there is only one person actually helping you and we had to wait 40 minutes past our appointment time to even be talked to. The lady was very condescending and continually questioned our ability as dog owners, even though we had a dog with us we already own, and I gave all the answers in the application. They were very pushy and didn't really care if their dog was meshing with ours. There is nowhere to actually lets the dogs off the leash and interact with them so you don't really have a good interaction. Also the dogs are very expensive for unknown reasons. We were given little to no information about the process and the dog we were interested in until we were there. The information on their website about the dog we were interested in was inaccurate, and more information should have been disclosed before we went.

This is place is dirty the staff is rude the fact that you need an appointment to enter is weird and the when you get to you app they dont give you what you asked for and complete disregard anything you say

Guys found a GREAT home for the stray dog that we turned into them! The dog is on Instagram now with the new owners and always going on adventures in the woods, etc!

The barking lot kept the names that we had given the stray dogs, which was cool. We love Vibez!

-READ THE LOW RATING REVIEWS BEFORE YOU ADOPT FROM THIS LOCATION. THERE IS A PATTERN ON HOW THEY CONDUCT POOR SERVICE AND LACKLUSTER PROCESSING DOG ADOPTION. THE OWNER ONLY REPLIES WHEN SHE THINKS SHE CAN JUSTIFY THE COMPLAINT. FOR THE RECORD, YOU CONTINUED TO PROCESS MY ADOPTION EVEN WITH OVERDUE VACCINES. STOP DEFENDING YOUR CASE AND SIMPLY ADMIT THAT YOU MAKE MISTAKES. PLEASE CORRECT YOUR BUSINESS PRACTICE AND ACTUALLY GET YOUR STUFF TOGETHER.

-mandatory collar and gps tracker needs to be purchased from this place. Courtesy by Stacy.
-unreliable missing medical records and overdue vaccines
-extra fees and etc

THIS PLACE IS NOT IN A GOOD SHAPE. I WAS ALREADY COMMITTED TO TAKE THE DOG HOME BUT I'D RATHER DEAL WITH A DIFFERENT NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION. THEY BASICALLY DROP ALL THE LOAD ON YOU.

Owner (Stacy) was very rude and condescending. Place is filthy and seems like it hasn't been cleaned in years, dogs don't look happy good luck if you have any questions or want to go see multiple dogs that you're interested in, the owner made us feel like we were taking up her precious time! Horrible experience. We put in an application for a Wheaton Terrier and they kept pushing the appointment back, come to find out the dog went missing for weeks, and when they finally got him back they let the first person through the door adopt him, even though we already had an appointment to meet him for over a month, but they lost him and wanted to give him up in case he flees again

Adopted Sadie a yellow lab in 2007. She was 6. Had been at a breeding facility. She was very shy. Did not bark for at least 6 months. She is the love of our aged lives. She is outgoing. Very good with all dogs. She trully brings joy to our lives.

The reason why I am rating a 1 star is because so me and my mom were going to the barking lot and it’s raining and we’re cold so one of the ladies sees us and ignores us and yes they have to take care of the dogs but can you at least put up the umbrella and so we wait and someone opens the door now we had a appointment with a specific dog and we meet some other dog than we ask if we can meet the dog we had an appointment with and they say no because if she doesn’t have a friend with her she will be shy but all shelter dogs are like that so we give a dog a chance and the dog we just met was going to be our new dog then so my mom was just doing the paperwork and so I was waiting and the dog goes under the chair with the leash and I didn’t want my new dog to be stuck to chair so I get the leash put it gently on the floor and put my foot on it and one of the ladies sees this and she thinks I just left the leash on the ground so she starts talking to my mom and says “Are you going to take this seriously! ” And then they take the dog and just put it with the other dogs and so there was my story of why the stupid barking lot wont let us get our dog. THE END

Horrible, horrible communication. Our adoption coordinator would only send one reply every 24-48 hours. Then she mixed up the process, and *first* had us meet the pup we wanted to adopt (fell in love with him) before the home inspection.

We passed our interview with the owner, but I was never more uncomfortable in my life. She treated us like we were violent criminals. Because we didn’t have the home inspection first, she had to take the pup from us at the end of the play date. And you know, it was sad to see him be led into the back. It was extremely dark and dingy. It sounded like dogs were fighting, with LOUD music trying to drown them out.super weird and just depressing.

And in the end, the pup that was originally listed as good with children was denied to us. Apparently his brother had a bad experience with little ones. We were so disappointed to hear this. I understand how careful they need to be, but they were overboard and denied this dog to a family who would have loved him for the rest of his life.

We were told we could look at other dogs, but when our coordinator failed to make us an appointment (because she is too busy to volunteer—actually, why volunteer, Kelly?) we decided to adopt elsewhere. I couldn’t put my family though anymore heartache.: (