Big Paws of the Ozarks

I have never met a less empathetic person than Matt, the director of training. We adopted through big paws almost 2 years ago but sadly ended up having to rehome our dog due to aggression with us, our pets, and others. To do this we were told we needed to meet with Matt ~and~ the rescue team for a behavioral evaluation of our dog to talk through our concerns, where we were met with only Matt and in a room by ourselves. Our dog was understandably timid around him and his work animals since it was a new environment. We were continuously interrupted and met with nothing but snarky and insensitive comments along the lines of, “so this is the dog that almost killed your cat?”, “it’s never the dog, it’s the owner”, etc. followed by “have a pawesome day!” as my husband and I left in tears. We were extremely discouraged and gaslit and it made our decision even harder, but we wanted to prioritize giving our dog the home he needs, so we proceeded with finding him a foster. When one was available, we set up a drop off time where Matt told us someone would be there to greet us and take him inside. Upon arrival, he was, again, the only person there despite implying we would be meeting with someone else. He immediately and passive aggressively ripped our dog’s slip lead from around his snout (which one of Matt’s trainers instructed us to use, but he shamed us for) and took his leash from my husband. We were told the lady that was supposed to meet with us was home with her sick child (which we would’ve rescheduled for), so he didn’t have the surrender papers. I remained polite and bent down to give our dog a hug and kiss where he was again, pulled from us and he said “mmm I’m gonna put an end to that right there.” He started walking back into the facility and told us someone would email them to us. I have never been more heartbroken, ashamed, and confused. We went back to our car in shock and after later reflection, realized we shouldn’t have even left him until we had the papers. Several days passed and he was already put up for adoption on the website with a new name, without us having even signed them, and we had to reach out to get them. We sadly have no other witnesses to all of this behavior due to always being misled in emails on who we were meeting with. I would never wish this heartbreak on anyone else and know no rescue wants to see their animals returned - but some base level of professionalism and human decency would have helped. I want to add that I have taken a long time to write this as every other employee and trainer interaction I’ve had has been positive, but I hope no one else ever has to go through this.

The staff is clearly very knowledgeable, caring and thoughtful. We’ve had an excellent adoption experience and it’s obvious that they not only care about the dogs, but how the dogs settle in and fit in their new homes. *Update 3/14/26 We are now multi time adopters and currently working with the head trainer, Matt. We have a special girl who came from a terrible hoarding case and he has been incredibly patient and understanding with her lack of socialization and lack of confidence. She has already made so much progress in only two training appointments, we can’t wait to see just how far she can go. The great people here are what truly sets this rescue and training facility apart.