If I could give this zero stars I would, here is my story, On Monday, we brought our 6-year-old…read moremixed hound, Amico, to Dogtopia for daycare. We have used this location dozens of times over the years when we wanted him engaged and social rather than home alone. When they first opened, we had positive experiences. However, over the past year, we had begun to feel standards were slipping. Unfortunately, Monday confirmed those concerns in the worst possible way.
Less than an hour after drop-off, we received a call asking us to pick him up because he was bleeding and staff "couldn't stop it." We were told another dog had been attempting to mount him and, before staff could intervene, the dog "had Amico's ear in his mouth." In plain terms, our dog was bitten.
When we arrived, Amico was covered in blood. His ear was dripping heavily. The bite had torn through his ear, severing the vein that runs along the edge. We immediately rushed him to Park Avenue Animal Hospital. Despite a busy schedule, the veterinary team saw him right away and fit him in for surgery at the first available window to repair the tear.
He is now home and recovering well, and we are grateful for that. Still, this was an awful and frightening experience -- the kind any pet owner dreads.
What has been equally concerning is the lack of response from Dogtopia's management. It has now been three days, and despite repeated attempts, we have not been able to speak with anyone beyond the front desk. We've been told someone from corporate in California would contact us, but we have heard nothing. The absence of any direct outreach, accountability, or follow-up has been deeply disappointing.
We understand that incidents can happen in group play environments. What matters is supervision, timely intervention, and how a business responds afterward. Based on what we were told, staff were unable to intervene before serious injury occurred. We had previously observed, via camera, what appeared to be crowded rooms and limited staff coverage, though we had no incident before to validate that concern. We now question whether adequate supervision was in place.
In addition to the emotional toll, this incident resulted in a $470 emergency veterinary bill. More importantly, it represents a breach of the trust we placed in them to provide a safe environment for our dog.
If you are considering bringing your pet here, we encourage you to carefully evaluate your options. While accidents can happen anywhere, transparency, accountability, and communication should not be optional.
We entrusted them with our dog's safety. They failed in that responsibility -- and have, so far, failed to address it directly.
