Agoura Hills Animal Shelter

Well I got my wonderful dog from this shelter and she’s the best thing that every happened to me. She had been transferred from a higher kill shelter, thank God, and the shelter workers bought her the time she needed to find a great home. I will forever be in their debt. I can’t say the same for any of the other county shelters except West LA — (Lancaster is a hell hole) — but Agoura seems to have great volunteers who do much to make this shelter a step up from the norm.

This place is the next best thing to their forever homes. The staff treat their dogs with such love and care which is why I adopted my last two dogs from here. Everyone from the grounds keeper, officer, kennel Personnel and the front office have been so kind and very helpful. They walk their dogs three times a day, and the kennels are very clean. I wish my health was better because I would have love to volunteer but I am happy just to visit and let them know how my doggies are doing. What I also like is that they really take a vested interest in whom the pet is going to, if they even detect something amiss, you won’t be leaving with a pet-​and I have great respect for that. You guys do a tough job– my Andi Pandi, former named Cindi was brought back twice until she picked me out and it’s been love at first sight. This place gave me someone to love and loves me unconditional and is such an adorable doggie whom can do no wrong! Thanks folks! Your dedication is appreciated.

I adopted my sweet little bunny Marshmallow here about 2 years ago. Will never ever ever regret it!!! He was rescued from somewhere, and he was a little shy, but he was PERFECT. He was a little anxious, but with a little love and caring, about a month later, he became the sweeetest little bunny ever. He’s so so so so so cute, plus he came neutered and microchipped. Sweet, sweet bunny. Thank you, Agoura Hills Animal shelter for bringing us more fuzziness into our lives!:)

I’m fairly certain Mari P. is a person who came in trying to adopt dogs for her friends who lost them in a court case. The volunteers on shift figured it out. The dogs she wanted weren’t there and she was mad since she felt her friends (who were running an illegal puppy mill) should get them back to continue breeding. If I’m wrong about who you are, I’m sorry. But seeing that you live in Beverly Hills where these people are from which is no where near us, I’m making an educated guess. The volunteer program at Agoura is pretty well known within the shelter and rescue community and the reputation speaks for itself.

PLEASE read the negative reviews to get a clearer picture of this place. Like another reviewer, I’m giving it a POOR RATING– VOLUNTEERS not the animal shelter itself. The animals here are treated very well, kudos. The humans that visit this shelter are NOT TREATED KINDLY AT ALL. The county staff with blue shirts, olive green shirt officer, vet medics, are all fine, kind, respectful, but BEWARE OF THE VOLUNTEERS WEARING BURGUNDY SHIRTS. The county staff have salaries paid by the tax payers, residents of the county, and have to follow rules, otherwise they get fired. The volunteers work for free and abide by zero rules, treat people like crap, and run that shelter. THERE IS SOMETHING FOUL GOING ON WITH THE VOLUNTEERS AT THIS SHELTER! Read previous reviewer waiting patiently a long time for a puppy, to greet in the cage, and suddenly another person adopted the puppy. I think some members of the volunteer staff are affiliated with other rescues, some possibly for profit, friends, pet stores that offer pups, and they try to keep the best dogs and puppies that come into the shelter for themselves or their cronies. The volunteer staff lie and give erroneous information regarding availability of the dogs, saying they’re not available, when actually THEY ARE AVAILABLE, so be sure to ask an official county employee at the shelter or the LA county shelter hotline regarding availability of the dog, give the hotline the number of the dog and the official county officer there the number to check on availability. Also, MAKE SURE WHEN ADOPTING A PET, THAT THE STAFF FILLS OUT THE PART OF THE CONTRACT THAT STATES THE SPECIFIC DATE AND TIME TO PICK UP YOUR PET. The volunteer staff will purposely NOT fill this out to SCREW you out of a dog, because in the contract there is a clause that if you don’t pick up the animal on a specific date, that animal will be available to another party. AGAIN CONFIRM WITH THE OFFICIAL COUNTY HOTLINE ANY INFORMATION, and DON’T RELY ACCURACY OF INFORMATION FROM VOLUNTEERS. The volunteer staff as mentioned in a few other reviews purposely don’t wait on some people, scatter and hide in other buildings or act like they are too busy, maybe their holier than God attitude animal activist and belief system don’t think some would be good families for a pet, or if people are interested in a certain dog, (see review with volunteer quote of «Why are so many people interested in this dog»), in hopes that a potential adoptee will just get tired of waiting, disgusted and just leave, as one reviewer mentioned they did leave. Why was that volunteer so mad that so many people were interested in that dog? Wouldn’t that be good? Or was she and other VOLUNTEERS TRYING TO CHERRY PICK dogs for their own people? The volunteer Nazi staff will also grill you with questions about your home, your experience with animals, whereas other shelters don’t do this. Most homes are fine and better than being in a shelter, unless of course the volunteers are interested in a specific dog and think they could find a better home for it utilizing their friends, or other rescues???
Regarding other reviews saying it is a no kill shelter. IT IS A KILL SHELTER!!! All the county shelters are kill. Why is this considered a no kill shelter by most? Could it possibly be that the volunteers are arranging with their own rescue organizations, and filtering the dogs, and additionally cherry picking the ones they deem easily adoptable and worth saving? Some rescue operations are indeed good, but some are for profit that take the best dogs and sell them for premium.

Over the decades I’ve had many years of contact with this place. Either to spring my critter who was caught wandering unsupervised — or to just get info and check for possible adopting opportunities. In every case I’ve met with cheerful professionals and pleasant volunteers. The grounds and facilities have always been within reason for cleanliness and condition. So I count us animal friends lucky to have such a well run, and well staffed service provider in our area. They get 4 stars!!!

My family is looking for a dog to adopt. We have a dog we adopted 2 years ago and want to make sure our new addition likes our dog and that they both get along. Many shelters unfortunately don’t let you introduce your dog to a potential new adopty. This place had patience and will let you and show you how to introduce your pups which is amazing! Will be coming back to look for a new addition to our family.

I am deeply honored to write a review about this shelter. This is a no kill shelter. We adopted our long haired chihuahua from here. They are a very organized group that really and truly mean well for the animals. The volunteers do a great job, we were looking for a dog, we live in an apartment and the volunteers actually spent time with us to understand our lifestyle, food habits, whether or not we had pets before etc. when we picked Casper to be our dog of choice, we actually came over a couple times to spend time with him and the volunteer would give us tips on do’s and donts especially since this was our first pet in the U.S. They stress a lot on paperwork and are pretty efficient. They neuter all dogs before they hand over and their clinic is very neat and well maintained. Overall a great service. I sincerely appreciate all the volunteers who work tirelessly for the welfare of these animals. Please visit their place and adopt. Makes a big difference to these animals. Great job guys. Just very proud and happy.

I visit this shelter often and I have always seen proper care and treatment for the animals there, which warms my heart. Heartbroken, after my sweet pet rat, Lilly, passed away, I found another beautiful soul in their shelter and adopted her. She’s a mini lop-​eared rabbit that came to their shelter with the condition called «urine scald» which they treated her wonderfully for. I went ahead got her spayed after adopting her and she’s been a healthy, happy bunny since adoption, three years ago. And while my rabbit, Marble, is handful to care for– *as all rabbits are*– the love and sweetness that she gives is more than worth the effort. Just be wary that rabbits are not «easy» pets and need $$$, commitment, and lots of attention, especially if they’re the only bun in your household. With that in mind, best of luck finding your new best friend! Agoura Hills animal shelter is great place to look :-)

I came in here looking for my lost cat and while the gentlemen at the main office were great the volunteer, Samantha at the cat area was rude! She needs to relearn how to deal with little kids especially at a place where families go to find their next family member! I was angered by it and yet she looked at me in a state down as if she did nothing wrong. Address the parent not the child!

I love this shelter. It’s always full of caring volunteers looking after the animals, which I imagine makes for happier residents. They don’t neglect care for any species here — they have a few different fenced dog lawns, a cage free cat room for socialization and petting sessions… even the rabbits have designated bunny turn out yards. The staff is friendly and accommodating, maintaining their standards even as I proceeded to relinquish 6 noisy roosters into their care. I would recommend this shelter to anyone looking to adopt, or even to visit — it’s refreshing to see a county shelter that is run so well.

I called regarding a deceased cat in our neighborhood. A coyote had killed it and left it on a common lawn next to our condo complex. It sat there all day — the gardeners came and actually mowed around it. By evening I decided no one else was going to take care of this so I called the Agoura Hills Animal Shelter /​Animal Control. I spoke to a very nice man who got the details and location and within an hour, they came and took care of it. It’s sad this happened (don’t let your cats outside, it’s only a matter of time before a coyote will get it!!) but I really appreciate the quick response to my call. Thank you!

All the staff and volunteers are so caring and helpful here!!! It’s a small shelter so they know the dogs a little better and work with them. It was very clean. The dogs actually seemed somewhat happy.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

ADOPT AND SAVE A LIFE!
This shelter is well kept and most importantly you can tell the staff and volunteers really do care about these animals. And it’s a no kill shelter! Yay! The dogs get play time and I’ve adopted twice from this place, my tiny pom/​spaniel mix when she was 6 months old (Chloe). She got fixed and was clearly out of it after the fact. But she is and was a perfectly healthy happy puppy when I got her. I also adopted my bunny last week who is 3. The staff is friendly and personable and they have good protocol to keep everyone safe and clean. They seem very knowledgeable with dogs and cats.
Side note:
However, the few people I did discuss my bunny with before adoption didn’t seem to understand bunnies very well. Which is common. I don’t hold it against them. They tried to take good care of my little one (Nugget). The cage was set up without a tiny covering for them run into when scared (like a cat condo or cardboard box with a hole in it) and the litter box was full of hay. Bunnies are naturally clean and want to use their litter box for bathroom purposes. Her hay was covered in urine so she couldn’t eat any of it. Fill bunnies litter box with litter and in one corner a little pile of hay as a treat for using their litter box. Bunnies are not cuddly little puppies. They are basically wild animals that need a lot of patience and get scared very easily. The cat room she was in was constantly loud with slamming doors. She is now in a quiet home with people who love her and give her tons of space to run freely. She was litter trained in 5 days and tried to nip a couple times but was trained that that is not okay. Training it everything!

Adopt if you can, it is such a selfless act, however, this shelter is not the kind of place that adds to the positive experience that adoption can entice.
Kelly, an employee that works at this shelter, is one of the most rude individuals I have had the displeasure of interacting with. When I came into the shelter with hopes of adopting a stray she, in her incredibly rude tone and demeanor, was not encouraging or helpful. During a conversation with this dreadful woman she irritably stated, «what is it with this dog? why does everybody want it?!» How can someone ask such a ridiculous question? shouldn’t you want adoptions? Encourage them not discourage?
I decided to contact the «manager,» Dianne, I left a message, and my phone call was never returned. Typical. Not surprised.
The staff is not just rude. The entire facility is incredibly disorganized. I understand that perhaps this shelter is very busy, however, that does not give any human being the right to be so awful to another. Perhaps get another job if you’re so miserable! This facility needs more staff and better staff. The people that ARE there gave me misleading information at one point and had me come to the shelter to basically tell me that I was an idiot for thinking I could come without calling. I did call and spoke the staff there, not the call-​center, which is why I was there in the first place.
Do yourself a favor and go to the Camarillo Shelter. AMAZING customer service. I ended up adopting a dog there! Such a wonderful experience.

************THIS RATING IS NOT FOR THE ADOPTION OF OUR KITTENS, IT IS FOR THE STAFF (not volunteers) WHO WORK AT THE AGOURA HILLS ANIMAL SHELTER.********* ADOPT DON’T SHOP*******************
Thursday July 31, 2014 our family was very excited to check out this animal shelter in Agoura after hearing good things from family who had also adopted from them. We spent 30 min– an hour playing with different kittens to choose the perfect fit for our family. We laid eyes on one cat in particular who was caged with her sister. My mom, being such an animal lover, could not bear the thought of these two being separated so consequently we decided to adopt them both.
First thing that was upsetting for us is that we couldn’t even take them home after paying for them because the employees insisted that they stay in order to get spayed. I questioned the man sitting at the front desk and asked him why we couldn’t just bring them back on the date they were supposed to be spayed since we’ve already payed anyways? He gave me a huge attitude and was quickly rushing us out the door because the shelter was closing in 10 minutes. They had us scheduled to come back that following Tuesday August 5,2014 to pick them up after their appointments.
Tuesday August 5^th. We arrive at the shelter ready to take home our kitties. Come to find out, they didn’t even get spayed because the doctor said they were too young. We go talk to the front desk (same guy sitting there) and he seemed shocked that nobody called to inform us of this information. Now we were even more upset, knowing we could’ve taken our cats home from day one.
On the way home, to our surprise the cats are sneezing and have stuffy noses. They did NOT have this the day we came in to adopt. The longer we left them there, the sicker they had gotten. They gave us a free vet visit voucher for the first 7 days after adopting, failing to inform us that it only applied to certain vets. Luckily our vet here in Simi that we go to, accepted that voucher. The vet gave us some medication for the cats which cost $ 16 all together. We used up all the medication for both kittens and a week later they were still sick.
I called our vet and notified them that the kittens had not been getting any better. So they told us to take them back to Agoura and have them take a look and if needed they should provide us with the medication to help them get better. Meanwhile we had gone to the animal shelter in Simi to renew one of our dog’s licenses and had told them about our situation. If Simi gives you a sick animal they provide the medication to help the animals get better. In Agoura they apparently don’t do that, even though the cats got sick under their care.
We take the cats back August 13^th, 2014. We let them know everything and the blonde haired woman sitting at the front desk had the worst attitude. She was rude and did not show an inch of compassion for these animals. It was a «you get what you paid for» type attitude.

I adopted a small 1 year old 5 lb. Yorkie from this shelter a couple of years ago. I took her home after her spay surgery. She was very weak and sick from being overly medicated with anesthesia, flea medication and immunizations! It was touch and go for three days. The animal was under weight and malnourished to begin with. More consideration should have been given!
Then, two weeks ago we got a kitten from this shelter. He seemed healthy, but when we got him home he was coughing and sneezing. He was also acting sick from medications. Our vet said he had kennel cough/​cold. The worse part was they failed to tell us this and thus did not inform us to keep the new animal in quarantine or separated from other animals for two weeks as a precaution! So now, the Yorkie is sick with kennel cough too! The kitten was contagious!
Adopting an animal is easy here. Some of the staff is friendly, some are not. However, the Vet Center here seems to have become robotic in nature. The «possible» kennel cold/​cough out break as of 6÷20÷14 in the feline building should also be investigated.

Our beloved English bull past last year and it’s time for a new dog for our family which brought us here. The staff is fantastic and the grounds are kept super clean. It was really nice that they pipe in classical music for the dogs which I would imagine keeps them somewhat calm. One major plus is that it’s a no kill facility and wish they all were.
We did not find a new addition on this trip, but will be back.
If your looking for a dog, cat or even a horse, this is the place to go!

I’ve only been here once and it was just the other day. My mom’s dog had passed away of old age (she lost her other dog just two years ago, also from old age), so I drove into Thousand Oaks to help her take the body to the shelter. Having never been there before I looked up the hours and saw that they closed much earlier, but my mom told me that she had called and someone was waiting for us there. It took me half an hour to get to my mom’s house, and after that we still had to get some money from the ATM ($ 10 fee for the service), so it was a while before we got there.
When we arrived it was very dark, and there didn’t appear to be anyone inside. The sign on the door said to ring the bell at the kennels and so we went there and found the gentleman who would help us, Mark (sp?) M. He was very kind, friendly, and professional, as well as understanding. He took us inside, updated our records, spoke with us with a friendly, but not inappropriately cheerful, manner and had us drive around to the drop off. Mark warned us of the (very large) dip in front of the gate and we were able to drive around it, basically.
In the drop off area he carried our old girl from the car and asked us if we wanted a moment with our dog, asked if he could help in any other way, and that was that.
All this to say, I was very glad to have such an easy experience and to be helped be someone who obviously cared — caring makes all the difference and we really appreciated it. Losing a pet that’s been in the family for so long can be very difficult, and it’s nice to know that my mom didn’t have additional unneeded stress during a difficult time.

As far as animal shelters go, Agoura is the best! Clean facilities, extremely friendly staff and volunteers make for a pleasant visit. I stopped here to drop off come donations of old blankets. I just hate to walk through that kennel, but did it anyway of course! There were volunteers out walking dogs in the yard and spending time with them. Each kennel had a short description of the animal; where they came from, whether or not they get along with kids/​other animals, etc. I’d take ‘em all home if I could!