Happy Dogs of New England

We adopted our puppy through Happy Dogs of New England in January 2014. The online application was simple, and I received a call from one of the adoption counselors the next morning. She was friendly, full of great stories about the dog we were interested in, and very patient with all of my questions.
A big difference after contacting other rescue organizations that posted dogs on Pet Finder but did not respond to questions, ignored applications, or had left up photos of dogs that had already been adopted.
Having visited a few shelters and local rescue organizations, we had not found a dog that was a good fit for our family.
We were fairly anxious about adopting a puppy we could not meet beforehand. The adoption counselor assured us that at 9 weeks old, our puppy would become the dog we made him. This was true, thanks in part to the loving care he received while being fostered.
He arrived as scheduled re. transport & quarantine. We had frequent photos, video, and FaceBook updates from the time we applied until he was in our arms. He was exactly as described re. size, breed mix, temperament, and health.
He is now 6 months old and we are constantly amazed by what a perfect addition he has been to our family. We had a fantastic experience with Happy Dogs of New England, have recommended them to friends, and would adopt from them again.

First off, our dog is fantastic.
That being said, our experience with HDNE was sub-​par at best.
My fiancé sent in our application and said the coordinator seemed extremely enthusiastic and willing to answer her questions. Encouraged by this, I called to ask a few follow-​up questions. The difference was night and day. The coordinator was sullen, monotonous, and basically pushing us to take the dog ASAP.
Having paid close to $ 600 for our dog (a vastly higher sum than most rescue outfits), we received very little notice as to the transport timing throughout the process. When we did receive the dog, my fiancé (a vet tech) saw some minor inconsistencies in the vaccination paperwork and called the coordinator to discuss them. Instead of walking through the paperwork and explaining what had/​had not been done (and contractually agreed upon, mind you), she FLIPPED OUT at my fiancé and basically kept revising her story «oh the vet is holistic, oh the vet did that, oh the vet didn’t actually do that» etc.
After getting off the phone we took our pup to our vet. Her weight (listed at 25lbs on PetFinder) was actually 40lbs. In addition, though the AVC clinic in NH ran a test for worms (and was cleared and «given a dewormer»), our vet found her to be infested with whipworms.
Overall, I applaud any organization that works for the betterment of animals but I would strongly suggest going with a local organization that acts less shady.

First off I do have to say I love my dog. Now that I’ve said that I’m pretty disappointed in Happy Dogs of New England.
I know it can be very hard to tell the breed of a rescue dog but what they told me and what she is are two completely different things. I don’t care about her breed, although they told me she was a lab mix and turns out she is a beagle/​pitbull mix. That part that bothers me is that they said my dog was going to be around 60−70lbs. I prepared for this, I bought a large crate, large bed, large toys, large food bowl, large breed puppy food. My dog is now 8 months old and weighs MAYBE 20 lbs. A vet would be able to estimate weight at 4 months so basically the vet was an idiot or they lied. The only thing I didn’t end up exchanging was her food bowl…
The next thing they did was lie about her personality. Now I know puppies are all mostly energetic but as a rescue group they should be able to tell basic personality traits. I wanted a calm, laid-​back dog. I got the complete opposite. She is very high energy, needs tons of attention, and is the most stubborn dog I’ve ever met and I still love her. Just not what I was told.
The thing I am most upset about is fleas. It took me a little over a week to realize she had fleas and by that point she had already infected my two cats (who sleep in my bed) and the entire house. I had to bomb my house multiple times. Isn’t basic dog care to apply flea & tick preventative. Especially when that dog is about to go on a transport bus with 50 other dogs?
Like I said, I love my dog but I didn’t like that I felt like I was lied to about who my dog really was.

I had SUCH a good experience with Happy Dogs of New England! In July, I applied for one of their dogs on
, a beagle/​chihuahua mix named Bella. A man named John called the next day. He was with a rescue group down south that takes animals from high-​kill shelters in southern states and transports them to rescue groups in New England. He was very kind and helpful. He told me that Happy Dogs of New England was hosting an event at a Petsmart in New Hampshire the following week and that Bella would be there. He spent that week calling and emailing me with updates and made it clear that I could contact him at any time. On the day of the event, I got stuck in awful traffic coming through Boston, and arrived an hour after the event began. Unfortunately, Bella was long gone. However, I was not discouraged. I stayed for two hours, and with the help of several very patient and enthusiastic volunteers, chose a nine week old puppy from a litter. The only snag with this whole shebang was that I was told I had to wait a week to pick him up, since they were going to have him fixed, and then they ended up not being able to, since he was so young. Audie, the coordinator was super friendly and helpful and I would recommend them 100%.

This is not an honest or reliable rescue group. I know there are many reputable rescue groups out there, so please do your research beforehand. My dog had many problems, which could have been avoided. We have spent thousands of dollars in the few weeks that we got our puppy and a lot of this could have been avoided if not for this rescue group’s negligence.
1. Our dog came covered in fleas. He had scabs all over his body from the bites. He was not given a flea preventative treatment even though we were told that would be taken care of before he was transported to us according to the contract. Subsequently, due to flea allergies he then developed a skin infection AND ear infection a few weeks later. Our house had to be exterminated. He also developed tape worm, which dogs get from eating fleas. This ALL could have been avoided if he had been given the proper preventative flea treatment. This would have saved us a lot of money and the puppy a lot of suffering.
2. The puppy also had giardia, another intestinal parasite when we received him. According to the contract and New Hampshire law he was also supposed to test negative for this, but was not tested because «he did not show any symptoms.»
3. Communication was extremely unprofessional. They would not take any responsibility for any of the issues that we had since day one with our puppy. They told me that I should «get a job» and to stop «harassing them.»
4. Communication involving the transport was awful. It was extremely difficult to get any definitive answer as to when our puppy would arrive. He was supposed to arrive on a Saturday morning at 9 am. We could a phone call the Friday night before at 9 o’clock informing us they were «running 24 hours late» with no reason at all. He came instead Sunday morning with short notice.
5. I have spoken with another family who adopted our puppy’s brother. This family’s puppy also came with fleas and giardia.
6. I know it is difficult to know the breed of a dog when rescuing because most of the time you do not know the parents, but this group blatantly lied about our dog’s breed. They told us lab/​rottie mix and that the dog was going to be VERY large. I was sent 2 more pics after I had already paid and knew something was wrong because his legs were extremely short with a very long body. I inquired about this and they lied and told me it was the «angle of the camera.» I said I wanted more pictures but never received any. Now that we have had our puppy for about two months, it is clear this dog is a basset hound and that he will not be a large dog. I added this complaint last because we still love our puppy unconditionally, even though he was not what he expected. I just wanted to add the last reason this group is dishonest.
As you can see, there have been a multitude of problems since receiving our puppy and these problems should have been taken care of. This rescue group did not hold up their end of the deal. Unfortunately, we and our poor puppy have had to pay for it.