Four of their dogs are listed as "Urgent" on Petfinder: Buddy, Beauty, Chet, and Deeda. Both Beauty and Buddy have been adopted then returned, with poor Buddy going through this twice. And this is a usual occurance at this SPCA, with dogs being adopted and returned fairly often. Volunteers at Coquitlam admit there are problems and their frustration is evident by these comments made on Brindleweb:

"This is a question that we ask ourselves everytime one of our dogs is returned to the shelter. I don't know about other shelters, but this seems to be an ongoing problem with ours. We have several dogs listed that are on their second and third return to the shelter. As a volunteer, it is very, very frustrating!!"

" Yes I agree with you, but you have to be careful not to step on any toes in the process. At our shelter, there is a love/hate relationship between the staff and the volunteers. Some days it is "their way or no way". I would love to offer my two cents when it comes to adoptions but that isn't the way it is done. And as for follow-ups, I can honestly say that it is not done buy staff or anyone else. That again, would probably have to be cleared by management.
At least with fosters, you have a little more control over the situation. I know exactly who will be the primary caregiver of any of the animals placed into foster.
Even though I get so frustrated with the SPCA and their policies, I keep going back. "

The poor handling of dog adoptions by the Coquitlam SPCA, is another example of an organization that is NOT doing animal welfare.