My family employed Melissa for nearly two years. Initially we were very satisfied with her services, she asked many questions about our dog and seemed to interact well with him on first meeting. She allowed for last minute bookings too which was helpful with our hectic schedule. Once when our dog had diarrhea in his kennel she cleaned it up and placed the soiled blankets outside so they wouldnt stink up the house which was very thoughtful. After nearly a year I began having suspicions she wasnt coming when she said, as I noticed the leash we left out was remaining untouched some days we booked walks. Sometimes I would ask her how the walk went that day and she just wouldnt reply, but I didnt want to call her out and risk appearing rude. I transferred her bulk sums on money every few months to use for walks, and she never alerted me to anything like missing a walk/that i had an extra walk paid for that I hadnt used. The dog started to seem pent up some days when he was supposed to have gone on a walk. Multiple red flags culminated in us buying a security camera to notice she missed two walks in a row. Upon confronting her she admitted she forgot to put that month's walks in her calendar but that she'd never missed a walk before this. Not believing her, and trust being broken, I professionally dismissed her services and asked for our money back. It took multiple attempts to followup as she stopped replying to my texts after, and she eventually said she needed a few weeks to return the money (also invoking the cancellation policy and keeping two weeks of pay, despite her being in the wrong.) Once those weeks passed I had to again contact her multiple times before finally having money transferred back to me (partially.) Later I followed up with out neighbours about the incident and was informed that though they often saw Melissa entering our house, they never saw her leave the house with our dog. I know she took the dog out at least sometimes, but based on another review stating Melissa attended their house but did not take the dogs on a walk, I assume this was sometimes the case with us as well. Melissa seems like a nice person, but is not running an organized or professional business. Her sudden lack of contact when asked for money back was disheartening. When it comes to the care of someone's animals, the utmost care and attention needs to be used. Knowing now that our dog was locked in his kennel for sometimes 10+ hours a day without getting the break/exercise he needed breaks my heart. I wish we had trusted our gut from the beginning. read more

I had the displeasure of contracting Duck and Dog for their dog walking services. Three things lead to me cancelling her services, and I wanted to warn others that Melissa is running a bad business. a) I made my first email transfer of funds for 6 dog walks. Was unable to get a hold of Melissa for the next ~5 days. I texted multiple times and left voice messages. I was quite worried at that time the business was a front for scam. Thankfully I did hear from her, but very poor communication with clients! b) She tried to charge me for walks that had already been paid for. At this point, I had paid for 9 walks, and she was carrying out the ninth walk, but contacted me asking for additional payment for that walk. When I replied with photo evidence of the walk calendar (I had her initial every time she came), indicating I had paid for the walk, she did not reply. Hopefully it was a simple mistake, which would indicate bad record keeping, but at worse it could have been a purposeful attempt to defraud me - which may have worked if I hadn't myself implemented the calendar record keeping. c) At that point I decided I did not think the way she interacted with me as a client was professional - from poor communication to poor record keeping. It led me to believe I was allowing access to my house and belongings to someone not completely trustworthy (despite her claim of being bonded and insured). I asked her to return my house keys. I was unable to get a hold of her again, leaving multiple messages, texts and emails trying to make some arrangements for the return of my keys. On two occasions she said she would drop them off, and subsequently didn't, with no communication about why or what other arrangements she would make. It took a week of doggedly pursuing her to receive my keys back. I should not have to hound a business owner for the return of my house keys. Unfortunately things went from bad to worse with Melissa, and I'm suggesting dog owners steer clear of Duck and Dog. read more

Unfortunately we had a bad experience using Melissa for our dog walker. We went out all day in Edmonton and hired her to walk my 2 dogs twice throughout the day to keep them occupied while we were out. Because it was lightly snowing I could tell that she came and went twice from the tracks but there wasn't one set of paw prints anywhere on my property. When I asked her about this she never did reply to me, making me believe further that what I suspected was true. Needless to say I haven't had any more dealings with her since. If you're looking for a dependable person to care for your pets I wouldn't recommend her. read more