We heard so many good things about My Buddies. Let me assure you, it's all true. That being said,…read moreour experience came with a bit of a journey....We began our relationship with My Buddies as soon as we got our Goldendoodle, Willis. He was just around 10 wks old. Initially we set up puppy training with a trainer that is not an employee of My Buddies, but offers his services at the place. The trainer, John, came equipped with an impressive resume. Unfortunately, the first few sessions, although informative, ended up with what we felt were a few snags that we tried to overlook, but eventually left us in a "stuck between a rock and a hard place" scenario. In short, we felt the first 3 sessions were simply repeats of each other. As well, Willis was full of energy and unrelenting in his need to simply PLAY, rather than learn. But we paid for training specifically for puppies, and understandably, it's not exactly cheap. A couple other minor issues left us wondering what to do, yet we still felt like somehow we were missing out on John's talents. So we put it off hoping the answer would come to us. More on the resolution to this later....
Next, we decided to start day care for Willis which again, comes highly recommended. We wanted him to burn energy and also to simply learn how to be a dog by being around other dogs. Being protective of him, we were very glad to see they have puppy-cams in each day care room. We were sad to learn that the puppy room (where Willis would begin his day care) doesn't have a working camera, and still doesn't. But we went with our gut and took him anyway. After the first day, we picked Willis up and soon realized that he was pretty dirty (honestly, he was really a mess. We bathed him as soon as he got home and what ran down the drain was pretty troubling). But don't let that scare you! Please read on....
My initial gut reaction was frustration and wondering that if he got so messy without care to clean him up before leaving, was he being supervised during the day and if not what if something worse happened and it went unnoticed? But I calmed myself and contacted My Buddies the next day to discuss it. I wanted to make sure they knew what happened so they could be aware for their other clients. We had decided we would not bring Willis back no matter how highly recommended they are as we had concerns. That's when My Buddies did what every dang business should practice if they want to be successful. They LISTENED to our concerns and they made a TRUE effort to remedy the situation.... I spoke with Christine who literally runs the place like a champ! Professional, personable, and savvy when it comes to her business. She heard me out, expressed her concerns with the situations we described, and immediately began to offer solutions without expectations that we were somehow obliged to take her up on them. You could really tell she cared. That being said, we didn't know if we would return. What she offered was not blind compensation, but instead offered remedies to the problems IN DETAIL without compromising the integrity of her business. Honestly, if the rest of the business world would take a lesson from her actions, there would be much happier consumers out there..... We decided to give it another try. We haven't looked back since and Willis can not WAIT to get to day care!! They make Willis (and us) feel special. Not just Christine, but all of her staff..... Since then, we decided to resume training with John, still feeling he has the skills to help us. Willis now older, was very responsive and boy, were we impressed! The latest training we received was met with results that truly pleased us... We look forward to continuing our relationship with My Buddies as well as with John. As with so many others, we HIGHLY recommend My Buddies!!
