I've been using Barks N Rec for my dog's daycare for about a year now. There have been three or four occasions where I come in and the owner, Matt is screaming swearing throwing things etc. usually over the fact that a dog used the bathroom inside or something to do with his home renovations or something of the sort. On one occasion Matt actually called me and apologized because he was completely out of line when I came in to drop off my dog, he ended up comping my visit and the next on that occasion, because he had flown off the handle so badly that day (nothing to do with me). I had a very serious talk with him about my concern with continuing to leave my dog in his care when his temper is so bad. I did continue to bring my dog there though.
Another real concern of mine was the fact that Matt smokes cigarettes and marijuana inside the daycare every day. Anybody who uses this daycare knows that because it soon as you walk in you can smell the cigarette and marijuana. I'm sure he does this only in his office but this scent travels and I don't exactly want my dog getting high or his lungs filled with cigarette smoke.
There have been many occasions where Matt is so flustered and losing his temper that he tells me just go just go pay me next time because he's in the middle of losing his temper and throwing a tantrum.
Today was one of those days. So when I walked in and saw none of his staff in the dog play area I proceeded to let my dog out so that I could leave after Matt had instructed me to just pay him next time, from his smoke filled office. I could tell that he was in one of his frantic moods so I just wanted to get out of there and get my dog home.
When I opened the gate one of the other dogs pushed through so I did my best to get the dog back into the caged area but without knowing their name and not wanting to disturb Matt, I was having a hard time with it.
Matt proceeded to run out of his office and his usual aggressive form and proceeded to yell at me for opening the gate and letting my dog out. Telling me that I disobeyed his sign that he has up. Not only did I not see his sign but my intentions were just to get my dog and go home it really wasn't that intense for him to respond by yelling and screaming in my face. This time rather than just being quiet and leaving I yelled back at him and he got very heated. I had a 6 foot something man screaming so close into my face that his spit was flying at me. My poor dog stood behind me shaking and crying because he's never seen anything like this before. I was struggling to put his leash on to get out of there because my dog wouldn't stay still and Matt proceeded to tell me that he will physically remove me from the establishment. I'm a 5'3 woman and I treat people respectfully, his behaviour was completely out of line and had I been a man I know he would not have spoken to me this way.
There are several under ageco-op students who work at this daycare and I feel so bad for them because I can only imagine how they feel when Matt begins to lose control around them.
Because I didn't have the greatest experience at another doggy daycare I continue to use Barks N Rec regardless of how mad behaved so much of the time when I would come in. My dog loves other dogs so much so I wanted to continue to give him that experience . This will be my last day at Barks N Rec and I can honestly say to anybody who reads this review that I would not trust Matt with my dog. He does not have the ability to control his anger and that concerns me deeply to know that he behaves like that when I'm around, imagine how he behaves when nobody is watching.
I would never want to maliciously harm anyone's business or success so please know that this review is coming from a pure place of legitimate concern for the well-being of innocent animals and any human being who has to come in contact with Matt.
*Just to add in a response to Matt's comments on the review I had left*
I did not want to remove my dog from daycare. But I wasn't given a choice considering how Matt screamed in my face to the point he was spitting on me. Matt, you can say I refused to follow rules etc, but I didn't know your staff was in the room (if they were) as they were nowhere to be found. Maybe if you weren't too busy smoking marijuana and cigarettes in your office (I did check in with you when I got there because I didn't see anyone in the dogs room) then you could've opened the gate? I just wanted to get my dog without having to deal with your out of control temper. I could tell that you were in one of your frantic moods by how you said "get me next time" and couldn't even handle taking payment from me for the 3rd visit in a row. Yes I said a lot of good things about BNR when I first started bringing my dog there, I even referred lots of business our way... but after 3-5 episodes of you throwing things, screaming, swearing and me actually being scared to leave my dog with you, enough is enough. read more