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February 2024 by Ann Hiller
Make sure to put on your donation "for the animals only" that way the president doesn't pad his 6 figure income. Wonderful work for the animals, they do a lot for our furry friends.
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February 2024 by naomi woods
They stand behind there dogs! Please rescue don't shop! I will go here again for my next dog! You should too!
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February 2024 by Kevin Olivas
Congrats on having Fred in the 2024 Puppy Bowl!
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February 2024 by Antonio Formacion
Good for birthday parties
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January 2024 by Michele M
I haven't been to this clinic but, when I called to ask for specialty surgery Gwen the outreach coordinator helped me with so much information. She was willing to talk to me when many clinics weren't. Other clinics wanted me to pay $250 just to even speak on anything related to my dogs illness. Customer service and compassion goes a long way.
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January 2024 by Chuck Jackson
Great place for kids
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January 2024 by Tom Cuccurullo
My girlfriend and I come here often looking for a kitten. The staff is very friendly and they keep the place very clean. I love what they provide for the animals. We currently have yet to find the kitten she is looking for, but will continue to come back to love on the animals here.
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January 2024 by Rich J.
Huge waste of time here. For dogs, Helen Woodward basically only takes in pregnant moms and largely only has puppies, something they do not (but should!) disclose on their site. Worse, critical information like "not okay with children" is not disclosed on the individual kennels' sheets so you spot a dog, ask to play with it and only then does critical information like this get disclosed. This is a very poor experience. HW would do well to include much more information per info sheet per kennel per dog. We completely wasted our time here and will never be back.
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January 2024 by Mark D.
Worst adoption process in the city. Filled out application was told to come in early . Treated me like a second class citizen because I'm gay and have a Deaf partner who can't wake up to a phone call cause he sleeps during the day
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January 2024 by Alex M.
Please do not support this business! It is not a rescue organization/center, It is a business $$$ in a wealthy area that is making a ton of money by selecting specific animals for adoption and not really helping older or large animals in need of adoption/care. They somehow always have puppies and or cute animals and charge a ridiculous adoption fee that varies between how popular the animal is or if it was shown on TV channel 10 news, bad on channel 10 for not to going to city shelters and showing real animals in need vs lush facilities claiming to help animals. The staff are nothing more than entitled, so called volunteers that are rude, disrespectful and just like plain out-of-touch! This place needs to reconsider what the real mission of a rescue center is vs à la carte designer rescue center. The staff treat people like trash and are very selective on who they help. This comment is not just my observation but others in the community! If you want to make a real impact go to your local County of San Diego Department of Animal Services and see for yourself the animals in need vs Disneyland adoption center that is Helen Woodward Animal Center!!! I am sure Helen is tuning in her grave if she saw how the center is being handled! If the people who run this facility really care and want you to make a change, read this and respond!
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December 2023 by Leah S.
Took my dog here for the first time about 2 ish months ago. Spent over $500... got a full assessment of her skin issues that have been ongoing for years. Came here in hopes they could give me a monthly treatment plan to keep up on her skin issue. I made it clear it wasn't reasonable for me to go to extreme levels or costs I just want her to live comfortably. The vet Hygan Baghoyan was very pushy about $80 a bag special diet food, changing the way my toddlers eat to be able to accommodate the dogs diet so she won't get scraps, and keeping her on monthly flea meds. This plan plus the monthly anti itch shot would have put me well over $300 MONTHLY and there was no evidence the food or fleas were even an issue. I still complied and did all that was recommended, however I had a health issue that landed me in the hospital and I was unable to finish her whole round of antibiotics so she still had an infection. I was told I'd receive a call back for scheduling and never did, (yes I should have done a follow up call) but the real kicker here was the way I was talked to when I called again about making an appointment and/or receiving another antibiotic. I was never opposed to bringing her back in, but the tech offered to first see if we could request a refill. When I got the call back I was told "dr denied your refill request because you failed to follow instructions to bring the dog back and failed to follow after care instructions" I don't care if the dr actually wrote it that way, or the tech was just a very rude woman but she made it a point to make me seem like a negligent pet owner. Negligent pet owners surely don't spend thousands over the course of 3 years on a dog. It was extremely unprofessional and inappropriate. I then called back to ask for her records to be emailed to me, I was given an attitude again, and upon receiving those records that I will be using to take to her new vet, I noticed the wording was completely different then the way it was said to me on the phone. After choosing them for my pets care despite living almost an hour away, they were a massive disappointment. If you're coming here thinking you're going to receive better care or treatment then another vet, Don't waste your time.
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November 2023 by Head Of The Household B.
Sammy's first Thanksgiving. Spent with family, went for a hike! Life is good. Can't wait till Christmas
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November 2023 by Dianne G.
No words could truly capture my incredible experiences and humble gratitude for all those who work & have dedicated their time,passion & energy to the noble profession of animal welfare.I learned so much from them.A deep appreciation with blessings and prayers as Helen Woodward evolves into other areas.I will share with others and encourage them to immerse themselves in the Helen Woodward dedicated community for the best future for the animals they serve.
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November 2023 by Tam P.
I came here in interest to adopt a kitten . My son is young and was very excited to see the kittens and was jumping up and down and he was controlled , normal little kid behavior. We have older cats at home and he knows proper respect of animals . One of the kittens had zoomies and I said a comment to my son out loud , " oh look this one is crazy ." One of the staff members then intercepted my conversation out of no where and said ," yeah ,crazy like your son." That was extremely rude and gave me a bad taste to not adopt from here. I can't believe someone who works with animals would say that, or an employee, in general . I'm very sad as they did have cute kitties and wanted to adopt one that day ; but decided not to not support a place with a staff member like that .
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November 2023 by Wendy W
We adopted Oreo (formerly known as Janice) from HW on June 1st, 2022. She has become a member of the family ever since. We walked around the kennels and jotted down a few names we liked. Then we had some private outdoor interaction sessions with the dogs and a professional trainer. I had a different dog in mind, but my mom liked Oreo because of her energy and outgoingness.Oreo was 6 months old and it cost 450 USD to adopt her. We were told she was healthy and spayed (It turned out she was indeed really healthy: never got sick except occasionally rashesfrom food allergies). She was labeled a terrier-mix but we didn't know what that meant. A vet from elsewhere told us she looked like a pitbull mix but it remains a mystery until we do a DNA test. I saw on their websites a lot of the dogs are pit-tull-looking dogs labeled something else. We then learned a lot of bad stories about Pitbulls. Oreo definitely changed my mind about pit bulls, even though it was still a difficult process to train her and I don't recommend first-time dog owners to get one unless they are ready for the extensive training and the frequent judgments from others).We were told that she was a rescue from Texas and she should not be home with a young child. HW also acknowledged the time and effort the owners need to put in because of the absence of training/family from her childhood. What she needed was training, socialization, and a lot oflove!She was already potty trained before coming to the house. She did have a playful bite thing where she liked to bite people's hands for attention in a non-hurting way. She has gotten muchbetter with private and group training sessions. During her first few months at my house, she chewed 3 pairs of shoes and 2 of my packages. After she got older and we bought her chew toys, she no longer destroyed the house. We then found out that pit bulls are not super energetic and are a low-maintenance dog breed once she is trained. She loves to take naps in her little bed. Somehow she leamed to go on the couch when people are asleep. She never goes on top of the counter to reach for food. She doesn't have separation anxiety (mainly because we didn't let her go upstairs at night, cratetraining will also be very helpful on the first night). She IS however very reactive to other dogs on walks but she never shows aggressiveness when we have her in the dog park. So it was mainly our fault for not socializing her much when she was young. Right now she is attending socialization courses to help her get better. So yeah, socialize your pup! And do a lot of puppy training &crate training.She is the perfect dog I have never imagined a perfect dog would be. I am glad we chose her on that date and we didn't give up on her. We took her on camping trips, ski trips and wewill take her everywhere we go!
