Turtle Gardens began on April 8, 1988 as a no-kill facility to address a very real need for a safe haven for unwanted animals. There were no shelters of any kind for 250 miles – from Prince George to Terrace – 17 First Nation Communities and 11 Villages and Towns. Twenty years later there is still Turtle Gardens. We have adopted over 5000 dogs since inception; an average of 227 to 250 dogs per year.
Turtle Gardens began like any other shelter – with kennels and has evolved to a Group Foster Home and Rehabilitation Centre. Turtle Gardens has undergone extensive renovations to ensure the comfort and safety of our dogs. We live with the dogs as a family group; sharing our home so they learn to be a FAMILY companion.
Turtle Gardens is a family operated group home who specializes in stray/feral dogs from First Nation Communities and Municipal Pounds. Most of our dogs are first and second generation strays – they have never been in a building let alone a home. First we help them become dogs to heal their “inner puppy” and develop a relationship of mutual respect with lots of TLC. We teach them with positive reinforcement to learn how to learn. We give them the skills needed to adapt to city life where doggie social skills are so important in day to day living. 90% of our dogs are internet adoptions – there just isn’t enough population in the north to find families for so many dogs.
All of our dogs are vet checked, vaccinated, wormed and spayed or neutered. Turtle Gardens is continuing our renovations and upgrading our fencing. Turtle Gardens is situated on 27 acres of woodland and hills.
Realizing that the flow of dogs is not slowing down Turtle Gardens has instituted a Low Cost Spay Neuter Voucher Program. We have all four veterinary clinics in our area participating in our program. We do extensive outreach programs in schools. A daily blog about day to day activities can be seen on www.turtlegardens.org
Met with Cynthia and her doggles Sassy last night for our home visit prior to approval. Although confident with our decision to welcome a canine into our little family, I was still nervous of being judged. Cynthia and Sassy are an amazing team. Sassy is friendly with good manners and does her own assessment of the people and premises. Cynthia is so warm and open I doubt she wouldn’t be able to calm a train wreck. Just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate the care you take in placing your dogs.
hi! i am not sure this is the right place. we adopted blue (aka peppy blue) from a no-kill shelter in granisle, BC in late spring 1994. she is a tri-colour border collie blue heeler cross. she was one year old when we adopted her. she is now 17, blind, deaf, and now reaching her end of life. i am not sure how long she has but despite her issues with strangers and other dogs she has been very well loved, we have finally had a farm these last few years and she is able to wander at will. we love her so much, so if you are the people responsible for her, i just wanted to let you know how long we’ve had her and how well she is loved, so thank you from blue and the rest of our family,
jacqueline
Thank you so very much for the update from so very long ago. Yes it was me who you adopted Peppy Blue from in Granisle! We (Dave and I) now live in Topley! You have reaffirmed why we do what we do!! Thank you so very very much for your comment – you have made my evening so very much brighter!
Re Information about a Salluki( Grey Hound )/Husky
Color–Blond.. N. Male
Ear Tattoo No. 120 JTT ( File UPDATED )
I adopted Sam a couple of years ago. At the time the information was that he was from a Dawson Creek kennel that went broke and left the dogs unattended. A group of about 75 dogs were sent to Vancouver Island for re-homing .
Could you please provide some back ground information on him.
Sam has turned out to be a great dog and companion. He has completed Basic Agility and Basic Rally-O training.
Thank you
Hello Paul,
Our dogs came from Smithers and were named the Sherriff Dogs – October of 2007. There was 54 of them and some did go to the Island and were adopted. A picture would let me know if Sam was one of ours. Congratulations on your wonderful addition.
I was wondering what the cost is for adopting one of your puppies/dog and if the rate changes if you adopt 2 from the same litter.
Thanks,
Kerri
Sent an application in earlier this morning….but noted another email address…and was wondering if I sent it to the correct one..??? I sent i to turtlegardens@hotmai.com (but saw another email listed as turtlegardens@gmail.com) Did you receive our application regarding Zero??
Thank you
Tara
Hello Tara,
So sorry, I will be answering all of my emails now that the TG Bus chaos is just about over. Zero is still here and having her teenager-hood back! She is worry free and happy.
I was wondering if i could apply to foster? i would love to be one of your puppy helpers i have a passion for puppies . I have a big yard all fenced . Cheers Polly B .
Hey, I have a lovely young husky girl at my house that was found on highway 16 between Smithers and Telkwa on August 28th, 2011. She is probably around a year old and has brown markings with pale blue eyes and a big foxy tail. She was wearing a red Silverfoot training collar but no tags. I will be sending her over to the Northwest Animal Shelter probably on Wednesday, but anyone with any info can call me at 250-877-9583. I just wanted to get word out everywhere I could.
Thanks for all the great work you do and please let me know if anyone is inquiring about this dog.
Hi Turtle Gardens,
It’s me Peach. I’m so glad you sent me to live with the Adams family in Burnaby a month and a half ago. Thankfully the first thing they did was change my name from Mo-reen. I’m having a great time with them so far. The first couple days, my new parents looked a bit stunned but then my Mom realized she was madly in love with me just like their 8 year old son Cooper. It took my Dad a week or two but he was like that when Cooper was born too.
Cooper tells everyone I’m his sister but I’m not sure who believes him since he’s blonde and I’m black. The one thing we have in common is that wherever we go, people tell us how cute and good we are. The instructor at our puppy class thinks that Cooper and Mom spend all this time training me because I am by far the best of all the dogs. They just laugh. Mom says I’m just a very smart dog. Too smart, she says.
I like to garden. I watched my mom the first few times and just followed her around and lay down near her. She was so happy. Now I don’t get why she gets so mad when I garden on my own. She yells “those aren’t weeds!”, “stop digging!” and sprays me with water.
Right now I sleep in a nice cage in my parents’ room but I hear them talking that it’s just a matter of time before I’m sleeping on the bed with them. I love afternoon naps with my Dad but the best thing is in the morning when my Mom gets up and lets me out to do my business. When I’m done, she yells, “incoming!” and I fly onto the bed and attack Dad with kisses and snuggles before I settle down until he gets up. Sometimes he pretends he doesn’t like it.
My Dad spends part of the day at home working so I don’t often have to go to daycare but I have gone a couple times. There is a lady a block away who has a doggy daycare. My parents were happy to find a great place so close by and I can even have sleepovers. When Mom told the daycare lady that I was from Turtle Gardens, she started to freak. I guess she knows you. I love going there but all that fun makes me tired so it’s nice to go home.
I have lots of human and dog cousins and friends who come over to play and I go over to their houses. One cousin even has chickens. I don’t know why he doesn’t chase them. I love doing that. Then his Dad chases me when I chase his chickens while everyone laughs at us.
Mom and Dad talk about me going to get spayed soon. I have not idea what that is but I can’t wait because they are going to stay at home with me afterward.
Anyway, thanks for rescuing me and thanks to Gloria for being such a great foster mom. Everyone says I’m the perfect dog for my family and that they wish they had a dog like me. I’m just happy to have a family that loves me. Well, I’d better go. It’s time for another nap before going out to do some gardening before Mom gets home from work.
Love Princess Peach Adams
I’m probably in the wrong place, as I am actually looking to adopt a smaller bread of a companion as I do live in an apartment.Pugs, Shiu zuis and chiwawas I have always loved. I always have enough TLC for any other small breed who is in more need than they may be.If I’m in the right place I would love to hear from you. an older dog is actually better for me as I’m older myself. Thanks, Linda Thomas.