I would not recommend this facility for dog boarding, even for a short stay. The star I'm giving it is only for the convenient location and reasonable price. In terms of service towards human customers and care for canine customers, we had a terrible experience.
We did a tour of this facility before making a reservation. The staff person who conducted the tour was friendly and helpful, and the place seemed relatively clean. However, during our tour was we saw a loose dog roaming in the kennel area, which we pointed out to the staff person. She was obviously surprised, and immediately got the dog and returned him to his/her kennel. She explained that someone had not securely latched his kennel after cleaning. A red flag, for sure, but we gave them the benefit of the doubt because "mistakes can happen." We should have recognized that as a warning sign that careful attention is NOT a priority of the staff, but we made a reservation for the following month.
Our dog stayed for 2 nights, less than 48 hours. Being super organized owners, we prepared her food by putting each meal in its own ziplock bag with her name written on it in large letters with a Sharpie. Four meals -- dinner the day of her arrival, breakfast and dinner the following day, and breakfast on the morning of her pick-up.
When I picked her up, there was a great deal of confusion -- it took two staff people several minutes to gather her minimal belongings (leash, blanket), and when they returned them to me, they gave me one UNOPENED bag of food, saying: "You gave us too much food." I said I definitely did not -- it was four bags for four meals, but she still insisted it was my oversight. When I remained firm, she tossed out some other excuses, such as, "Some dogs get nervous and don't eat all their food while being boarded." I know this was not the case because if food is put in front of our dog, she inhales it. Also, it was obvious the baggie had not been opened (and if it had, I highly doubt staff would take the time to put uneaten food BACK into a ziplock bag and seal it up again!). When I continued to try to get a better explanation, she tried to blame it on the staff person working the afternoon we dropped our dog off, and finally shrugged me off saying, "We have over 40 dogs here -- we're busy." She clearly just wanted to get rid of me.
I asked if there was someone I could speak to about this, and she told me I'd have to call the owner. When I finally got my dog from them (it took ages), we got into the car, and I immediately noticed she smelled very strongly of urine. My conclusion was that they forgot about her for part of a day (and one meal), including not hosing out her kennel space, and she walked in (or laid in) urine for some period of time.
I did try to contact the owner, including sending a professional and calm email explaining my concerns, saying at the very least I wanted him to know the kind of dismissive attitude his staff had towards a customer, in case he wanted to address that (even though I would not be returning myself). I gave it some time (several weeks), but I received neither a phone call nor an email in response, which simply confirms that this is a business I would not support or recommend. As a customer, I deserved the courtesy of a response, and my dog deserved far better care (what if she had been a senior dog or had a medical condition where diet was vital? She missed 25% of her meals during a short stay!).
I've been sharing this bad experience with everyone in my circle (we have a large number of dog-loving friends), but I decided to document it here so others could have our experience as a reference. read more