Connect
To Top

Meet Adama Pfaff of Desert Tails Shelter in Scottsdale

Avatar photo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Adama Pfaff.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Adama. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
We are a nonprofit no kill animal shelter in the Scottsdale area. I have always had a passion for animals. I had a very intense unstable childhood that always seem to gravitate me towards animals for comfort support and love. I grew up wanting to be a vet but series of life events didn’t leave me in that path. I had a daughter at 18 and was a single mother. I was attending online school and working full-time for Petco as an associate, I quickly started working my way up the chain to management and then to run my own store. I work for Petco going on 12 years I love working with the animals and making a difference in their lives and the lives of unwanted pets through the adoption process of Petco that led me to a rescue group that I signed up with my store to allow them to run adoption events in the Petco facilities. As the years went by we grew the rescue group together to where we had hundreds of dogs being adopted through our Petco stores into new forever homes through rescue foster and adoption. This is always been a huge passion saving dogs in finding them new forever homes in making that difference just trying to find an outlet to make it run smoothly and efficiently as an all-volunteer base is so hard to do. As the rescue group grew and my Petco store was growing older they decided to relocate the store to another part of town to allow a newer updated facility to be built. This opened up an opportunity and discussion for the rescue group and myself to team up and open a shelter something we never thought we would see happen. We did exactly that and searching and searching for a building that would let us turn it into a shelter was hard especially with little funds but with a grant and a few donations we were able to make it happen. About a year after teaming up and opening a shelter together the rescue director decided that the shelter environment was not the right environment for their rescue group and wanted to stay foster based due to lack of funding in donations. That is when Desert Tails was born. After helping hundreds of animals through our doors in the short time we were together and open the volunteers groomer in myself just did not want to see that facility go away… my father built all the kennels in the back as well as running all the plumbing in hot water to the grooming facility we added flooring that cannot be destroyed by pet urine along with running electricity in the back for dog fans in their personal kennels… still have a lot of growing and programs that we want to start. Currently we have a full grooming facility we offer dog training seminars with an amazing dog trainer as well as a shelter and rescue facility for animals. We taking all breeds all sizes mothers puppies seniors. We take in strays owner surrenders and rescue from surrounding pounds in our valley and less busier cities on the outskirts of our major cities My daughters run a junior volunteer program, had 13 kids ages 9 to 15 call and tear over the summer and it was led by my daughter a junior volunteer leader herself. I am not a college graduate I never did finish my online school that is probably one of my biggest regrets and my next achievement that I do wish to accomplish continue to grow my shelter. I also I’m in the process of becoming a child advocate in a domestic violence advocate as well those areas are very close to my heart as my daughter and I are domestic violence survivors. I also pulled the military very close as my dad is a Marine Corps veteran and my husband is an army veteran these are all programs I wish to work very closely with the shelter animals make very good therapy pets in children and domestic violence situations as well as military PTSD and veteran affairs. I have a huge passion for animals and people and wish to do the most that I can in both areas… we are all donation funded so we work Daily at getting our name out there let people know that donations are definitely appreciated and much needed to continue our work we do.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As rewarding and amazing as journey has been it definitely has not been the smoothest we are 100% donation based and funded. This leaves us to have very many ups and downs and inconsistent months. As much good as we do, we definitely could do more if the funding was there some months we have a hard time paying all of our bills let alone the medical and all the other needs and requirements it takes take care of the dogs. The crazy work schedules and the phones blowing up are all things that we definitely welcome with the lack of funds or something we will never get used to. There are so many needs and groups out there trying to raise money for so many different charities how do you determine which ones are more important than others to donate to it’s just hard. So we hit the around and hang flyers go meet the public meet business owners and even stand on the corner with signs whatever it takes to make sure the doors stay open every month. I quit my job two years ago to pursue this dream I’m not one to let it go so easy. They say money doesn’t buy happiness but it definitely saves a lot of lives 😉

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Desert Tails Shelter – what should we know?
We are nonprofit no kill animal shelter we rescue many animals rehabilitate love and rehome them. All animals have the opportunity at vet care full shots, microchipped, spayed and neutered, dewormed, socialization and any other behavioral or grooming care they may need.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
There are a lot of qualities that are needed to be in this type of business probably the most important one is positivity. Being genuine and social and not to judge mental are also very important qualities. I am very passionate about what I do so I truly love it.

Pricing:

  • The cost of running a shelter is 7,000$+ depending on medical needs of animals in our care
  • Average dog with no major medical. Is about 200-300$ to prep for adoption not including food and bored
  • We are all volunteer and donation run

Contact Info:

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

Related Items

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in