Animal Welfare League of Arlington

*Phone call only*
I did not have the opportunity to visit — but I did experience the wrath of some very nasty woman who was morally offended by the fact that I asked her if they had declawed cats.
I am contemplating the idea of getting another cat in addition to my lovely Loxli that I’ve had for 6 years which whom is declawed. For me, it only makes sense to get another declawed cat if I already have one. I want to adopted an adult cat, and I figured the Animal Welfare League of Arlington would possibly have such animal.
Being that I do not know who this woman is other than she worked this past Saturday; she basically called me a bad pet parent. She scoffed at the notion that I would ask such a question and felt offended by my inquiry. She said the following, «How dare you ask such as question! Any pet parent with common sense and who had any decency would never declaw an animal. It even states in our contract you are not allow to declaw!» At that point I stop her mid-​sentence in her rant and said fine, and hung up the phone.
Honestly folks, I get it. Declawing may not be the right move for everyone, but that doesn’t justify you speaking to me and belittling me in such a way to make yourself feel all high and mighty. Pure and simple this wasn’t okay. If someone is calling and asking about adopting an animal, under no circumstances should your customer service and personal views come into play within one another when it involves something that doesn’t directly involve you.
Bottom line — do not call her asking about declawed cats!

I do not feel like a welcomed presence when I walk in the door. The staff is cold, sometimes not very friendly. The AC officer has a thick accent that you can’t totally understand, and doesn’t always get the facts straight.
The cat room is bright and the cats look happy there but the older cat room seemed to have more cats in it — so I am wondering if this shelter is a limited intake shelter, or if they have a very good foster program.

Fantastic, loving, clean environment for the animals lucky enough to end up there. lots of volunteers on hand to ensure the pets are exercised. Recently Adopted our new member of the family Ben formerly known as Einstein. He Fills the gap in our hearts by the loss of our 16 ½ yr min pin Champ who passed away in Jan. The staff are there to ensure they select the appropriate individual/​family for the animals so don’t get upset if they ask you a lot of questions. Our Ben made his way to us because another person who had adopted him was smart enough to return him back to Arlington Shelter upon realizing he had too much energy for them. Thank you.
Support your local animal shelter!

Great, clean, quiet and enjoyable place to be! The animal welfare league of Arlington does so much for the community including low cost (sometimes even free) animal healthcare needs and neutering. The shelter cares for homeless animals of all types and works with them to make them adoptable to a loving family. The shelter works hard to ensure the animals’ stay is comfortable and as stress-​free as possible. Don’t shop! Adopt!

Exceptionally condescending and insulting. Arlington County allegedly offers a voucher for low-​cost spay service– as you’ve noticed by the one star and the «allegedly,» this isn’t going to be a kind review– but the entire process of obtaining this voucher is more difficult than going through airport customs. I can understand bringing in a W2 or a 1040 to prove you’re eligible, but what really helps the process along is if the sole person responsible for distributing the vouchers was actually present at the shelter when they claimed to be.
The front desk staff was, like others have noted, brusque, intensely suspicious and… dare I say, «scared?» Intimidated? Like they all had a severe chewing-​out and were in mortal terror of losing their jobs if they said something out of place. After twenty minutes of «I don’t know, let me check» replies from the poor guy behind the desk, we never got a straight answer from any of the staff as to whether we’d be eligible for the voucher, only a promise that we’d have the head of the voucher program call us back.
Well, she did, and in the course of the conversation, she implied we were intending to commit fraud because we didn’t have any paperwork stating that the kittens really were ours (we adopted them from a friend), accused us of attempting to take the vouchers away from people who need it (I made less than 50k, so I do qualify), and repeatedly attempted to convince us to relinquish custody of the kittens to the shelter if we «weren’t ready to be responsible pet owners.»
?!
Spaying and neutering are public health issues; so are vaccinations. Washington Humane Society understands this and provides FVRCP and Rabies (1 and 3 year) for ten dollars a shot in a no-​appointment walk-​in clinic, without making you feel like a criminal. WHS also provides spay and neuter services, but if they’re overworked and understaffed (like now) they’ll direct you to low-​cost spay/​neuter clinics (like Spay Now in Laurel) that, again, don’t treat you like a felon when you want be a responsible pet owner and have them altered and vaccinated. If we’re not eligible for the stinkin’ voucher, just say that– don’t give us the «don’t adopt pets if you can’t take care of them!» lecture just because we don’t want to pay three hundred dollars per kitten for a spay.

Not a fan. On two different occasions we have gone in to look for an opportunity to adopt. While not all of the staff is off putting, you do get that «why are you here?» tone as soon as you walk in. Like another Unilocal member reported, the staff does not make you feel welcomed and you have that feeling that you are being followed and closely watched.
On both occasions we have filled out applications on rescues we wanted to follow up on, and on both occasions their sit down «interview» is a 30 – 50 minute condescending speech to try to talk you out of adopting. This last time, the volunteer repeated herself over and over on why the manager (who was not present) would most likely decline our application. Needless to say that after 40 minutes of the same speech, she had literally killed my spirits, thanks.
I’ve heard good things from friends regarding this shelter, but my experience (s) left me not wanting to return, or even look into adopting any more. Perhaps I’ll look at other rescue shelters, but I highly doubt I will return to this one. It’s a shame.

We searched all through DC. And NOVA and this shelter was the most professional one we found. Friendly staff and clean and conscientious conditions for the animals. We couldn’t be happier taking our new family furball from these wonderful people.

Wonderful experience! This shelter is very clean, the animals are fed AAFCO approved food, and the staff are very knowledgeable. I adopted a cat from here and she was spayed and had a full medical history and shots on record. This shelter also has a volunteer program that has people drive from poorer areas that can’t take more animals and bring them to their shelter to adopt out.
I had a wonderful experience here, and even became a donator because I really think this is the best shelter I’ve ever been too.

Adopted my amazing dog from here in June. She has brought so much joy to my life and I couldn’t be more grateful to the AWLA volunteers and staff for all the wonderful work they do. Keep up the great work! Your community loves and appreciates all of you!

The community was hoping that the new leadership of AWLA would improve both the facility and the poor customer service. Some improvements have been made for cats and small mammals, such as rabbits and guinea pigs. While this is all great, the shelter is still lagging behind in appropriate care of dogs and birds.
THIS IS A KILL SHELTER.
They do not post dogs or cats that get adopted on their website. They may be adopted, they may have been euthanized. They are just missing one day.
Second class citizens:
I have observed birds kept in extremely cold conditions. I was told it was acceptable because the veterinarian wanted to keep the rabbits cool. They put the birds in with the rabbits. Logic and veterinary medicine would tell you this was not the right thing to do. As a result, these poor stressed birds were so cold and fluffed up trying to keep warm. For a mere $ 100 dollars or less, a plexiglass partition like they use at PetSmart would keep the blowing cold air off of them and provide a warmer and quieter barrier. So what is their solution after complaints by people? They move the birds to the lobby where it’s wide open, right near the doors, drafty, and highly chaotic and noisy with dogs, cats and people in and out all day.
Dogs are also second class citizens at AWLA:
Kennels are dark and dreary with very poor lighting – like a 1920s prison cell for violent criminals. Those poor sweet frightened dogs have to spend their days there after being abandoned by unsuitable dog owners or until they are euthanized. It’s heartbreaking. There is no sunlight in the dog kennel!
Folks, if you must surrender your pet, please find a dog rescue group! Think of how scared these dogs must be in these horribly dark and dreary cells after having been living in a home all their lives. Your unwanted dog can be brought to a rescue where it is loved, fostered, and re-​homed, not euthanized for no justifiable reason. These dogs haven’t done anything wrong. They are perfectly wonderful loving dogs who through no fault of their own are dumped at a shelter by uncaring people.
I was talking to a staff person about this rather sweet dog. The person was not positive about the dog because the dog was not friendly towards other dogs when out on a leash. It’s shocking that such a trainable issue is considered a serious weakness. Dogs can be trained to be less reactive, but I fear that dog may have ended up being selected for euthanasia because they were not even attempting to support the dog be adopted. Adopters would seek training. This was a beautiful and sensitive dog. Another sweet as sugar dog was also downplayed for adoption because he was possessive of his toys. Good grief!!!
As they don’t post adopted dogs, one would have to seek records to see what happened to those particular two but when the shelter is not recommending them for adoption, the chances are significantly diminished.
The paid staff, in my many experiences, are profoundly rude, unfriendly, and worse, get in the way of adoptions, as previously mentioned. I know people that walked away from dog and cat adoptions because of the staff. So if you want to adopt, you have to put up with it to save a life.
For a privately funded animal facility located within an animal friendly community, this place seems either incapable of raising funds or possibly not allocating funds they do raise for improving conditions for dogs. It would not take a vast amount of money to make positive improvements. After all these years, it’s hard to imagine why it has not been done.
They shouldn’t have birds at this facility as they don’t have an acceptable environment to care for them. The bird care possibly might not pass state standards.
Go there to save a life, but do not go there to relinquish a life.

I love coming here to take a look at the animals but just to thank them for finding me my baby leo. I’ve had him for 5 years now, I adopted him when he was 7 years old. The process to adopt him was fast but careful, I think this is a great shelter and they’re just looking out for good pet parents. I respect that. Compared to other shelters who just give animals away to anyone.

I volunteered there in various capacities for many years when Iived in Arl. Yes, the bigger a group gets, the more complicated, and sometimes rules seem silly. But keep in mind the larger issues that result in rules: Diseased/​badly injured animals, bizarre and demanding people coming in, people who try to steal shelter animals, insurance issues, lawsuits — and that’s just part of it.
So, be patient with the staff and volunteers there. And remind yourself just not to be paranoid. They are trying to do their best for the animals and make sure the best possible matches are made. It’s unfortunate that different people give out conflicting or incorrect information but you should indeed state your case to the director or an animal control officer. These are humans trying to do a hard job.

A great shelter with caring staff and a nice, clean environment. My two cats (Alia and Hecate) came from AWLA, and they now run the household.

Nice shelter, great mission, volunteers and some of the staff are generally pretty great… but as an organization AWL Arlington takes themselves way too seriously.
I volunteered. Here’s my saga should you care to read it:
— I usually run by there so I decided to stop in and see if I could take a dog for a run figuring they’d want to get them out and about. Was told «Sure…but you have to be a volunteer.» I volunteered on the spot but was told I needed to fill out an online form instead. Okay…
— Later at home, I filled out the online form, hit submit… then was informed I’d be contacted in 2 – 3 weeks??? Okay…
— 2.5 weeks later I get an email saying I have to attend a 4 hour introduction class. Okay, schedule that for the next week…
— Go to the class. Don’t see a single animal. It’s not very efficient. Then you break into groups of what you want to do: dog walking, cat room, small animals, front desk. I tried to volunteer for all of them, but apparently the tasks are so enormously complex my mind couldn’t possibly handle learning more than one… so you have to choose. Okay, I choose dog walking. We talked about that for 2 more hours.
— Not done yet. So to be a dog walker, after the initial 4 hour training, you have to then come in for 3 two-​hour long dog walking training sessions. Oh and you can’t do them one after another, they have to be separated by like 1.5−2 weeks for whatever reason. Okay…
— So a week or two later, training session #1 goes fine. Amazingly, it was about as I imagined and very similar to, in fact exactly the same as, when I’ve walked a dog previously in my life.
— Training session #2. Exactly the same as #1…we walk some dogs. Tough stuff. At the end Rebecca, my trainer and one of the managers there, is going through my checklist (yes, there is a checklist of things you have to learn) and gets to one part and passive-​aggressively tells me «oooo, and you have to wear pants.» Wearing pants was a rule that I purposefully ignored… mainly because it was July and hot as hell out. No way am I wearing pants. When I asked why that was a rule I was told «in case the dog bites you» — news flash, I don’t think pants are going to help much if the dog decides to maul you.
— Training session #3: I cave and wear pants (thin workout pants, which anyone will tell you are like armor against dog teeth) since by this point I have over 3 months (!) invested in this project and all I want to do is show some poor pooches the outside of their cell so I don’t want to flunk my certification. The girl who was my trainer was super cool and seemed to understand the whole ordeal was ridiculous so after 1 hour of the 2 hour session she signed me off (early! what?). I was then cleared solo to walk a dog. Seriously, all by myself! It had been such an arduous process and I was under the microscope so long it initially felt like I was doing something wrong by taking this complex animal out for a stroll down the sidewalk where so much could go wrong. If you want a feeling of empowerment that was it!
The whole process from signing up online to being a certified dog walker was 3 and a half months… and I didn’t slow roll this thing either. Min time baby. Baffling really. Should you choose to be a volunteer — great… but prepare yourself and good luck. They love their rules and they are very anal.
All I could think about this entire time were 2 things: 1) people have babies with less training than this, and 2) It’s a friggin dog!

They take anything. After my cat died we brought a lot of stuff. They were really happy to take it. They DO NOT put animals down unless it is absolutely necessary. There’s a dog that’s been there for years. The cages are so huge I don’t know if they even qualify as cages! Overall this place is amazing

Came to Animal Welfare League of Arlington as they hosted «KissAble Canines’» puppy classes. Great grounds conveniently located near Shirlington Dog Park. AWLA has a great facility that looks brand spanking new with great amenities for the pups and you gotta love their love for all things canine! If you are looking to adopt, take a look!

We’ve adopted two cats from AWLA in recent years and have had a great experience both times. The shelter staff and volunteers are knowledgeable and helpful and really take the time to talk to each adopter about his or her preferences/​situation. The shelter is well maintained and clean, and the animals are well cared for. I could really tell that they spend time with each animal individually both before and once they are put on view.
I highly recommend adopting from here and supporting the shelter in any way you can. They are a wonderful resource to have in Arlington.

We’ve adopted several new friends from AWLA. The interview process is reasonable, and I can understand they need to look out for their animals’ safety. The staff are very friendly and helpful and their adoption fees are quite reasonable. It’s a big plus that they have the animals that are available for adoption on their web site, so you can take a look without having to drive over.
I always try to adopt, rather than purchase from a store or a breeder, as these poor critters really, really need a good home. So, if you’re thinking of getting a companion animal, look no further Arlington dwellers, this is your spot!

I volunteer here and I have to say that the animals are the most loved and cared for of any shelter I have seen. A top notch shelter all the way around. Adopt here — don’t buy from a pet store!

Awesome! I really must admit I don’t have a comparison basis but this is the place that brought my buddy Link into my life so its hard not to love them.
They really are patient and understanding, willing to endure many visits as you (and your future pet) look to find each other.