HYGIENE ISSUES!!! Unfortunately I did not have the same experience as Jinny. I believe that this is perhaps because they are now oversubscribed and cannot give their attention to so many dogs at once. My 19 month old bedlington x whippet lurcher is very social and loves to play with other dogs in the park, but it seems that he did not like being in an arch under the railway tracks. He hated the rumbling noise of the trains. Additionally it seems he also did not like being left alone in the rooms with dogs where there were not many comfortable areas to sleep (laminate floors and one small bed on the floor for many dogs). After his morning run, he is a sighthound and therefore sleeps most of the day after he sprints in the park, so he needs somewhere comfy to do that. Perhaps it is slightly better for active dogs. And lastly, after using the overnight service for one night only on a couple of occasions, I did end up going on a business trip and leaving him there for 3 nights (the dog walkers who work for them take the dogs home overnight) and he came back with huge raw sores under his armpits and my friend who collected him was not given his bag of things (rain jacket- it was winter, bed cushion, herbal calming tablets) and they lost his £35 calming pheromone collar which I bought specifically to reduce his stress levels while I was away. They did, to their credit, reimburse me for the collar, but all of the other things they had lost and eventually found were returned to me covered in mouse feces, which was unpleasant to say the least. Again, they laundered them and posted them back to me, but I had already spent 20 minutes getting there to be given my belongings in a state of filth (which I rejected), and then 20 minutes back home for nothing because they had not checked my items before telling me they were ready to collect, so they had to wash them and send them back to me at a later date. I understand that with all of that dog food hanging around, mice might be a problem. But perhaps this calls for the need of industrial kitchen food storage units to keep the hygiene levels a bit higher. My other problem is that the sores under his arms were pretty bad (bloody) and nobody called me or sent me a message to tell me this. Instead my friend who picked him up was the one to inform me. I am guessing they let him sprint with his harness on, which is not a good idea because it is only for walking purposes- otherwise when he runs really fast like a greyhound, it is obviously going to chafe. I would hope that most dog carers/walkers would be aware of this, but it seems they didn't even notice he had an injury from it, which leaves me sad and wondering if they paid any attention to him at all. Needless to say he came back pretty traumatized and I personally would not use their services again. read more
