Defenders of Animal Rights Phoenix, Maryland

Wonderful people at this sight

We couldn't have come at a more impeccable time of year. We adopted a kitten, who we named Navi, and she is an absolute gem (or Rupee if you get my reference). The staff were friendly, welcoming, informative, and professional. Would definitely recommend to a friend or family member!

We’re now on our second adoption with this shelter our first (daisy) the shepherd mix was a fear bitter , we went through several appointments to make sure she was a right fit . We brought our dogs in to meet her to get her comfy we’ve now had her a little over a year , the puppy is our new adopty we needed a friend for our daisy since we recently lost our shihtzu. I’ll always go to this shelter when ever we have the desire for a new fur baby. This shelter really knows what they are doing and is very cautious for the future of the animals

Wonderful, caring shelter for dogs and cats, but I've seen a horse there occasionally also. I stopped by to donate soft dog beds and a sheepskin for a big dog to lay on after our baby passed over the Rainbow Bridge

Staff are amazing and so is their mission. We adopted a puppy from them and she is the sweetest thing ever. Highly recommended!

Such a cute location for an animal rescue !!

Very nice staff and welcoming attention to people looking to adopt a pet!

I adopted a cat from DOARS, who was aggressive, so I returned her and got an attitude from the staff. I took in a cat that had spent some time as a stray. The cat was fine with people. Three months later, I adopted a 14-week-old kitten, hoping it would be a playmate. However, the original cat had an aggressive reaction. This went beyond the normal hissing and growling. She was full-on lunging at the kitten. I had to interfere to keep the kitten from being attacked. I could not leave them together unsupervised. I returned the original cat to DOARS, figuring it was the safest thing to do. The cat was fine with people. She just needed a one-cat household. The staff at DOARS was rude and acted like I was an inadequate owner, which was not the case. When I initially took in the first cat, she was very fearful and I spent a fair amount of time socializing her. She hissed at her food bowl because she was scared of it. I had to open a can of moist cat food and hold it in my lap on a regular basis to get the cat to allow me to pet her. A fair amount of socialization was required and she came around. The cat was pretty active and I thought she could use a playmate, and obviously that did not work out. When I returned her, the staff at DOARS acted like I was an inadequate owner, which is not true because I did a fair amount of work with her. I felt that there was a safety issue. I did not want a situation where the cat seriously injured or killed the kitten. I wonder what kind of attitude the DOARS staff would have thrown if that had happened. The hypocrisy is incredible. I had adopted another cat years prior from DOARS, and the cat regularly pooped around my apartment. I tried to return her and DOARS refused to take her. Instead, they told me to take her to a kill-shelter to have her euthanized because she was unadoptable. I refused to do that and was able to re-home her to a single-cat household. I am grateful that DOARS operates as a no-kill shelter. However, their staff has an attitude problem that could use some improvement.

Very wonderful people who truly care about the animals.

Just the best! I adopted my dog Ruby from them. She came to them from another shelter with many health issues which they treated. The meet and greet area was large and clean and the staff and adoption counselor were wonderful to work with and truly care about the animals that come into their shelter. If you can't adopt consider donating to them so they can continue to help more animals.

What a wonderful group of people doing amazing work!

What a wonderful and loving no-kill shelter. Great, caring staff.

Very easy place to deal with. They give you a big area to meet the dog and they leave you alone so we can bond with the dog. I would highly recommend this place at for anybody looking for a pet

Reached out and applied about adopting a dog. They said our application was approved. We got back to them the same day saying when we are available. We got an auto reply but didn't hear from them for a week so followed up, only for them to say they moved forward with other applicants because we didn't answer the first time. Would not plan to adopt from here in the future due to poor communication on their end.

Got my 2nd kitty fur baby from here recently it's been 8 yrs since I got my Red girl and she still brings me joy. the ladies here do a great job and they are a no kill shelter . I love that you can just come sit and love on the animals with no pressure to adopt and kids are welcomed

The staff here is very friendly. They are always happy to answer any of your questions. The animals here are well taken care of. I will be adopting an animal from here again I am very pleased with the service I got here. They treat their animals very good here and they care about their job.

Clean facility and friendly staff.

Great staff. Beautiful cat room. Dogs are well taken care of.

I can’t believe they have such limited hours on the weekend. If you work, you will need to find someplace else to adopt.

Caring people who are very compassionate.

wonderful people. got my rescue here. great place to board.

We've adopted from them about 5 times total. We love the way they love the animals here. They work so hard for these babies.

Always doing there best with what they have to work with. Never had a less than a good time there looking for my next buddy

Seem to really care about the animals you take there

The best place to find a furry companion. My wife and I have adopted 2 cats from here over the years and we are really a fan of the cat rooms they have set up. You can enter one of two different rooms full of cats and let THEM choose YOU, which we fell is a much better way of finding a compatible fur baby than simply picking one from a store because they're "cute." Being able to spend some time with them in a large open room really lets you get a feel for their personality and is especially helpful to see how they interact with other cats, should you be adding to your already occupied (but never quite full) furever home ????????

My wife and I got our Cooper here 10 years ago. The people were very friendly and made the process easy. Our Cooper passed away at 10 years old in his sleep after battling lymphoma. We are ready for our next rescue

Lots of animals. Cats have plenty of room to run around but they do get into scrapes. The dogs are in individual cages. Looked clean. The women we talked to was helpful but not personable. The price after everything was high. They do need the money to run the place but a think some things could be included.

This animal shelter is the best shelter I’ve ever been to. The animals love playing with you and we were even considering adopting a dog from here!

i was finished the whole process required to adopt the cat had spent a very long time to make sure the cat and i were the right match.​ as i was getting ready to leave home one of the women behind the desk noticed that i planned tto let my cat out of my bedroom door that led onto a deck about 30 feet off the ground.​ she was nasty, and said noone who let a cat outdoors could adopteven telling her no cat would jump 30 feet, and that i would be right there, she refused and was not nice at all.​ though i could give this cat a loving home, after she had been there a long time, she thought it better tokeep her locked in a room foe a longer time.​ maybe forever

Above average shelter, though not many dogs to choose from, under 30 if I had to guess