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.

I didn't deal with the owner but one of the volunteers. Lorelei was great, the dog I was initially interested in was healthy and living a good life in their foster but needed a lot of work still that I didn't feel I could properly provide in comparison with the foster. I ended up fostering another dog of the same breed for around a month that had just come in from the states. This may have been a little too fast in hindsight, and to be fair I should have brought my roommate with me as he's never had anything above the smaller size of medium in his life. The dog I fostered has gone to another foster also with experience for large dogs, and able to work on things I can't in the current COVID pandemic and I know he'll be taken care of. The pup needs more work but has made leaps and bounds from when he first arrived. Throughout the timeframe I fostered Lorelei was amazing, she checked in regularly, offered advice, even set up a short playdate for the foster and her own dog to assist in the assessment of his progress and when the issue of the roommate being uncomfortable with a full-grown larger dog became apparent she help set up a new foster. I don't know about the owner other then reviews and grapevine but if the volunteers are as amazing as Lorelei is then the best interest of the dog is always a priority.

Rescue groups are supposed to help animals heal and find a loving forever home. I believe most groups do exactly that. It is extremely upsetting to learn that this group (Misty Creek Dog Rescue) is operating for the profit of one person and is exploiting the time and money of people who love animals. Volunteers and people adopting animals need to research who they are dealing with. Misty Creek is not a registered non profit organization. The business is owned by Shauna Depta. There is nothing charitable about this group. All the donated funds and products, as well as the many volunteer hours, are supporting Shauna's lifestyle. It is sad that someone would use people and animals in this way for personal profit. Knowing that the volunteers and dogs are the keys to their profit, one would expect Misty Creek would treat their volunteers very well. That is not the case for Katelyn and Whiskey. I am guessing this is not the first dog who has been taken from a loving volunteer for the purpose of a higher profit. To destroy a bound formed between a dog and a volunteer after a year, isn't humane. It is definitely not rescuing the dog. Two hearts were broken for the sake of money. The additional insult of not allowing a time to say goodbye is simply cruel. Not returning personal items purchased by Katelyn is a crime. I truly hope that Whiskey's new owner will reach out to Katelyn and give her the piece of mind to know that Whiskey is safe and loved. Please see facebook page "Help Find Whiskey" for more information