Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue

We adopted the best dog ever named Dodger, from Homeward Bound in 2012. HB really does try to find a dog that will be a good fit for you. Keep up the fabulous hard work HB.

Homeward Bound Golden retriever rescue is an amazing rescue for homeless, abused, neglected, etc goldens and golden mixes. They truly care so much about every dog that enters the rescue and take such good care of them. Wish I could adopt them all:).

Mosh and Marie were saved by Homeward Bound and have made a wonderful addition to our family!
We agree with other Unilocalers that their bedside manner with people may lack in some areas, as we were looked upon negatively when we didn’t leave with a pup on Day 1. We returned later and had a better experience. Don’t give up, just realize they are extremely busy. We ended up adopting two magnificent goldens and returned back for several training sessions.

I have been a volunteer with HB for 15 years and have adopted three dogs from HB. It’s an amazing organization that has the dogs 1^st on the priority list. If you want to adopt, there is a process so be patient and persistent. Just know the process is in place to find the absolute best home for the dog.

Since 2002, we have adopted 4 goldens from HBGRR and fostered over 6 dogs ranging in age from 1 — 14 years. We have found the staff to be informed and professional with the dog’s best interests in mind while matching each one with appropriate families. My husband and I have also volunteered with this organization for many years and in many capacities. We support their mission and recommend the organization.

Warning… if you are not prepared to leave with a dog the same day… do not waste your time going to this facility.
My family and I were researching our options for getting a Golden Retriever, so upon a recommendation, we stopped by Homeward Bound. Not 5 minutes into the conversation with the staff, we were asked if we were ready to adopt a dog today. A bit stunned by such a forward question, we mentioned that we were looking at options. They proceeded to tell us that other families have come by, like a field trip, and wasted two hours of the staff’s time, leaving with no dog. As we attempted to explain our situation, at looking to adopt versus going the puppy route, they again pushed us about leaving today with a dog. I truly felt like I was at a car dealership. After 10 minutes, of being treated terribly, we left the facility.
Adopting a dog is a large commitment, which doesn’t, or shouldn’t, just happen in an hour. A family should be allowed to meet with the dogs to find a connection. And, even then, be afforded the opportunity to «sleep on it». The behavior of the staff is truly a disservice to the animals as one could have ended up with a very loving family.
I hope this posting will be seen by the owners and will help change the staff’s approach… for the sake of the animals.

Great place to adopt. I volunteer here and all the dogs are very well taken care of and cared for.

I cannot give enough praise and gratitude to the wonderful work that Homeward Bound Golden Retriever Rescue and Sanctuary does in their effort to save as many dogs as they can.
Homeward Bound is a nonprofit all volunteer organization whose sole purpose is the saving of Golden Retrievers. There are no paid positions at Homeward Bound, it is run by volunteers. Daily operations are funded by donations and moneys taken in during the adoption process.
My wife, Susan, and I have adopted two dogs from Homeward Bound. I say two dogs, because our first was a golden retriever and our current dog is golden colored. The reason being that Homeward Bound will often rescue other dogs besides Golden Retrievers. As I learned, Homeward Bound receives pleas regularly from shelters asking for placement of dogs slated for euthanizing. It’s not unusual to see a golden retriever like pit bull or poodle in one of the many exercise yards that make up the eight acres of the Homeward Bound property.
Our first adoption was an eight year old Golden Retriever named Rosie. She was given up for adoption by her first family, because of undisclosed reasons. We were told that Homeward Bound will take in any Golden Retriever no questions asked if it means that a Golden will be saved. Apparently, the mission statement is a simple one, Save Golden Retrievers.
Rosie’s adoption cost us $ 200.00. Reasonable, I thought and less than the $ 250 charged by one shelter, who we had frequently visited in our search for a dog to replace our 16 year old black lab mix that had recently past. Homeward Bound disclosed to us that there was a chance that Rosie would have cancerous tumors. This because of a pending biopsy on a mammary tumor found by a volunteer veterinarian. With eyes wide open we adopted Rosie, because we had immediately fallen in love with her easy going temperament, and quite honestly she was a beautiful Golden with wonderfully flowing feathers. She was our joyous companion for only two years, but we loved her completely until, alas, cancer did claim her.
Our current dog, Stella, was adopted after being shuttled up from a Southern California shelter on the «Golden Taxi,» a transportation service provided by the volunteers of Homeward Bound. Apparently the «Golden Taxi» brings dogs from as far away as Taiwan, can you believe that!
Stella, at the time, was a 12 week old golden colored mix. We think part Viszla. The surrendering shelter had slated Stella for euthanization and Homeward Bound had accepted her to prevent this from happening. We are so glad that they did. Stella is a fantastic addition to our family. She’s now 3 years old and enjoys walks, bully sticks, tennis balls, and tug of war. We love her wholeheartedly.
I think Stella’s adoption cost us $ 250, but I would pay more because of the work that Homeward Bound does to save Goldens. Recently I discovered that Homeward Bound spends hundreds of thousands of dollars in veterinary bills every year.
Thank you Homeward Bound, thank you, thank you. All I can do is give you 5 stars. All you do is save hundreds of dogs every year.

I have been a volunteer at Homeward Bound over four years. It is a paradise for dogs that have come from shelters or other situations where they could no longer be cared for. There are eight acres of wonderful yards for the dogs to play, lots of volunteers who care for the dogs, and lots of wonderful adopters that come and take them to their forever homes. Not many rescues have facilities where dogs are housed while they wait to find a home, which puts this rescue at the top of their game. A wonderful place ran by wonderful people. I hope to continue volunteering here for years to come.

This is one of those reviews that although it is emotional, I will do all I can to stick to the facts and remain unemotional while relating fairly to Homeward Bound and how it conducted business in each way with our case, and the end result. I shall leave the rest to the community to determine for itself.
I am actually building a website to share the story and will post it as an update to this review once it is complete. It’s quite honestly a heart breaking story and when I tried to put it on here, it was simply too many words. My short review became over twelve hundred words and I couldn’t even think of a way to simplify it.
So here are the facts, and just the facts:
1. In 2008 a dog that shortly after became ours was adopted from Homeward Bound.
2. The dog was skittish; belly crawled, was insanely skinny, had worms, and chewed everything in sight.
3. This dog was purchased Micro chipped, however Homeward Bound sent AVID the Microchip Company the wrong information mixing «Miley» up with another dog named «Mimi» whom they still refer to as Mimi and will not even acknowledge their mistake.
4. Nearly 5 years later, the dog ended up missing and found it’s way back to Homeward Bound. However, no one knew because they didn’t have any information correct for the dog (because of their mistake).
5. Through Craigslist, the dog was found at Homeward Bound, not through them, but through the Vet that sent Miley to them.
6. Homeward bound was contacted, it took 3 days to speak to someone which was only one time. They said the dog was sold and expressed they had no intent on getting it back. After this, they ignored all phone calls and emails and refused to even discuss the matter.
7. I tried to contact them as a outside individual, hoping that if it was just the dogs mom that upset them I could get them to talk. I failed in getting them to contact me, however:
8. After several attempts to plead with them, they decided instead of talking to us, they responded on Craigslist.
9. Their public response was very dishonest and misleading of the situation.
10. They lied about the length of time before they adopted out the dog (they said they adopted it on a day they were closed).
11. They made it sound like our dog was mistreated and we didn’t love her like she should be a part of the family when that couldn’t be further from the truth.
12. They falsely said we did not register the dog (we did, I have a picture of her with her tags on, she is just registered with the incorrect chip # they gave for her).
They tried to make us publicly look like jerks that mistreated our dog and didn’t deserve to have her, so they found someone that did. Our dog was wonderfully happy and a completely 180 from the skittish dog we received 5 years ago. What kind of legitimate business ignores phone calls and emails, messes up something as important as a dogs microchip information, then takes no responsibility for it and instead of after selling someone’s family member trying to make it right, talks trash about them on a craigslist ad like they didn’t deserve their dog back?
It is for these horrible practices I give Homeward Bound the worst rating possible. It’s easy to praise a business for just doing its business when things go right. It’s how a business handles itself when things go wrong that show the character of their company and in my experience this horrible company that deals in families and matters of the heart has no character at all.

Judy does not appreciate potential fosters and is extremely condescending.

Homeward Bound does an excellent job placing the right dog in the right home. I recently adopted a dog from them and I could not be happier with the match. He is just right for us and we often comment on how we could not have a more perfect dog. The volunteers are wonderful — it is an all-​around outstanding organization.

I adopted my golden in 2007. I wasn’t actually looking for a second golden retriever at the time. I saw ‘Joshua’s’ picture and story on line and had to meet him. He had been hit by a car and had his front left leg removed. We traveled to Elverta and he came out to greet us. Wow!!! what a spirit and zest for life. He had just had the surgery but was running around with such energy and I fell in love. Everyone at ‘Homeward bound Golden Retriever’ was so nice and it was a wonderful experience. I renamed him ‘Teddy’ and it is he, who rescued me. Love, love, love him. I Highly recommend Homeward bound Golden Retriever Rescue!

Adopted a labrador retriever from here. Was originally looking for a golden retriever puppy or a dog no older than 2. but at the time they didn’t have any puppies available for adoption so all my family could do was wait for a call as soon as one was available.
Got a call a couple days later that someone brought in a stray lab that was about a year old. We were hesistant because we were set on a golden. but we went to check out the puppy.
Sooo adorable. she had a brown nose and green eyes. and plus she was so clumsy cute I had to keep her :)
Adoption process was not difficult. Everyone was really nice to my family. Home visit was not a hassle. Adopt a golden… or lab!

We adopted a 2 year old boy here. It was great since you get to play with a couple dogs in the yard so you can see which one is a match. You’ll know which one is, because they are adults. You don’t have that luxury at a puppy mill. And the donation fee of 350 dollars is actually much less than at a regular breeder. I doubt that even pays their bills so donate more if you can.
Also, the dogs go through testing and ours even came out of a quarantine. They really take their health seriously.
The only downside is that the youngsters go quick, so you need to call because they don’t make it up to the website.
The volunteers here really seem to care too, which is fantastic. They are the nicest people. Maybe next time I’ll adopt one of the volunteers, haha.

For nearly 3 years, Homeward Bound has been like my second home. I discovered them when we bought our house and decided to add another dog to our family. The entire adoption process was great, even though we did not find a dog on our first visit.
Visiting the ranch and touring all the exercise yards really impressed me. I decided I wanted to get more involved and started volunteering weekly as a feeder. I adopted a puppy and she’s a wonderful addition to our family.
I can tell you from first hand experience that Jody, Mike and all the volunteers love these dogs like crazy. For example, I just read Julie E.‘s review and know exactly what dog she’s talking about. Sweet Jeremy.
If you have your heart set on a golden retriever, be sure to check out Homeward Bound. I give it four paws up!

Homeward Bound is like heaven for lost dogs. They have the most caring, personalized volunteers I’ve ever met who take excellent care of their dogs from beginning (when they’re found or abandoned) to the end… Wait, there is no end!
This is a no-​kill facility, which means that they take care of the doggies until they’re adopted out (unless they’re so badly hurt that they really do need to be put down). When my boyfriend and I found a lost dog — mix of corgi and golden, I think — I knew this would be the best place to bring him. Turns out he weighed on our heartstrings, and my boyfriend called back two days later to go ahead and adopt the little guy :)
If you’re looking for a worthy cause to support financially or with your volunteered time, this is an excellent place. The dogs are cool AND the people are cool. They even had some girl scouts come in to donate adoption kits while we were there.
This summer I’m hoping to get in on the volunteer action. I’ll be back! :)

If you want to adopt an amazing dog that needs a loving home, go to Homeward Bound. I found this place while searching on Pet Finder and I feel lucky every day that I did.
They take such good care of their dogs. Their on-​site vet is thorough. Before we left she made sure to review any health needs with the dog we were adopting. Also, the volunteers know the dogs’ personalities and make sure to inspect the potential home and family before a dg is adopted. They even play classical music for the dogs at the shelter to relax them!!! Bless these amazing people who rescue loving dogs!!!
I adopted a healthy guy named Gage, but we renamed him Chester. He is a nut!!! He completed our family and we are blessed to have him.
Thank you, Homeward Bound, for taking such good care of my baby until I could come take him to his forever home!!!

I love Homeward Bound! Thanks to Jody and her pheonominal volunteers I found Fiore, the world’s greatest little golden! Here are just a couple of the things that make this group so amazing:
1) They work very hard to ensure that the right fit is found for both the dog and the owner
2) They take in both Golden Retriever and other dogs that are in need
3) Once you’ve adopted from them you become part of the family. They hold reunion picnics, parties and are there for questions/​support
4) Their onsite vet, Dr. Codde, is one of the best!

What a wonderful place. We had to surrender Jason and Ashley. Our hearts are broken. After seeing Homeward Bound I felt reassured that they were in great hands.
I love and miss my Goldens.
Thank you sooooo much Homeward Bound.
–Sal Acevedo.