The word "play" is very subjective to this company. I was told my beagle, i.e. happy, playful, would get to play with other dogs in order to get exercise. That's great! However, after I had dropped Cailin off and hopped on the internet to watch her play through the webcams, I began to notice disturbing behavior.
The first thing I saw was Cailin running over to greet the new human. She still hasn't been broken of jumping on people on first meeting due to the exact behavior exhibited by the playroom supervisor! Instead of ignoring Cailin, the woman bent over to pet her as she was jumping on the woman's leg. Completely unacceptable for someone who is supposed to be trained in dog behavior.
The second and most unforgivable action occurred half an hour later. Cailin was finally getting settled in and began running around the room for the other dogs to chase her. Mind you, she was in the Toy Box, which is for small dogs only. At 25+ lbs, Cailin was one of the bigger dogs, if not the biggest. After approximately 30 seconds of running, the supervisor stopped Cailin and scattered the group. The dogs went back to following the woman. Finally, Cailin began to wrestle with another dog. It looked to be a large german shepherd puppy. I thought great! This is one of the more energy-reducing playing she does. Thirty seconds later, the woman broke them up. This happened multiple times through the day, probably more than I saw as I only watched for a total of an hour or so. I was infuriated.
When I picked Cailin up at the end of the day, I questioned the owner. I asked why Cailin wasn't allowed to wrestle with another dog. "One or the other was probably growling." I asked if she knew that for sure. "No, but I'm sure *insert supervisor's name* had good reason to stop it. I asked for her to be put in with the big dogs if she was too rough with the little dogs. "We have some very large dogs in the big dog room and will never be comfortable allowing a smaller dog in." (My beagle has played with an Irish Wolfhound with very few problems) I asked why Cailin was stopped from running. "Running is discouraged. It causes dogs to nip." I replied that my dog does not nip when running and has never drawn blood on another dog or made one squeak in pain. "Well, not all dogs are your dog." I expressed my disbelief that the company would allow dogs in who could potentially be violent. Also, how was my dog supposed to exercise if she cannot run or wrestle? Toys are not provided as well, probably because the company allows in toy-aggressive dogs. "Apparently this center is not the right fit for you."
Darn tootin' it isn't the right fit. I do not pay $26+ a day to see my dog follow a human around for 8 hours. This place is overpriced and misleading. I cannot wait for a REAL dog park to come to Waco and severely drop the level of Dogtopia's custom, if not cause them to go out of business. I've heard franchise fees can get mighty expensive. read more