Dangerously incompetent…read more I was leaving a condo building on Causeway Street and saw three dogs tied to a handrail by the entrance at the street. Two small brown dogs and a small, black pug-like dog. They were tied by their leashes to a handrail. Nobody in sight. They were a foot from the double-doors to the street. Anyone could have grabbed them when the doors opened. It would not have taken much for those three dogs to become bait at a dog fight. I waited to keep an eye on them. One of the dogs was barking incessantly. The building manager came from her back office, where she heard the barking, through the elevator lobby and into the foyer to the street where I was sitting on a chair watching the three dogs. Five minutes passed and a chipper young woman emerged from the elevator lobby with a fourth dog, Henry, a neighbor's french bull dog. She looked surprised when she saw the building manager and me. I asked her if those were her dogs. She said that she worked for DogParty and had left the three dogs unattended while she went up in the elevator to get Henry, the french bull dog. I told her I was concerned about the safety of the three dogs. The dog party woman stood smiling and blathering all sorts of platitudes and nonsense. Not once did she suggest that she would do anything differently. That's scary. I would not trust my dog with these people, they are dangerously incompetent. *note: here is my reply to Erin's comment here and a private message she sent to me asking me to remove the description of events, above. * * * * * Erin -- I appreciate your predicament, but am not at all happy with your defensive attitude and aggressive list of excuses and distractions. You make bold claims, such as, "I take this matter very seriously. The dogs safety and well-being is our top priority." Yet, the incident described occurred, and, to be honest, you cannot prevent it from happening again. I have used services similar to yours in the past and I have heard all sorts of promises and hyperbole regarding the level of service to be expected. I have also experienced the myriad of problems encountered when something as simple as a lack of common sense is the root cause. You mention that I am not a customer, so what? The event described still happened and still shows the risk the dogs were exposed to, regardless of your best intentions. Your intentions and your predicament are not correlating to the execution you manage in your business. Focus on that, not altering the truth. You write that you have taken steps to correct the problem, that's encouraging. Work on it. You do not mention firing the employee in question. Has she been fired? If not, why? What genuine 'corrective action' has been taken? I ask not for my sake, as I clearly would never trust my dog to your care, but for the sake of potential new customers who are considering your service. Will they be expected to trust their dog(s) to an employee with little or no common sense and a lack of responsibility? * * * * * HERE IS THE TYPE OF COMMUNICATION THAT FRIENDS OF DOG PARTY THINK HELPS. THIS IS THE COMPLETE TEXT OF A MESSAGE SENT BY MATT P. OF BOSTON ON 14-JUL-2011. MATT P. HAS WRITTEN A POSITIVE REVIEW OF DOG PARTY ON YELP.COM AND HE SENT ME THIS PRIVATE MESSAGE AS A COMPLIMENT, PRESUMABLY IN RESPONSE TO MY COMMENT ON DOG PARTY. (SOMEBODY AT YELP.COM SHOULD CHECK ON MR. MATT P. -- HE SEEMS A BIT OFF.) "You need to shut your mouth buddy.. You keep on making up stories and posting lies and you'll going to have to answer for it. Hope to see you soon." * * * * * IT TURNS OUT THAT MATT P. OF BOSTON WROTE A POSITIVE REVIEW OF DOG PARTY AND TRIES TO MALIGN ME AS AN AGENT OF ANOTHER DOG SERVICE (A LIE) THEN MISREPRESENTS THE FACTS. HERE IS WHAT HE WROTE IN HIS REVIEW. BEAR IN MIND, THE FOLLOWING QUOTE IS A FICTION WRITTEN BY MATT P. AND NOT MY OPINION. "First of all, I know the area in the lobby where the dogs are tied and it's 100% safe and secure with a video monitor and security woman watching while the dog walker walks the 2 minutes down the hall to pick up the other dogs." MATT P. MAY KNOW THE AREA IN THE STRADA LOBBY, HE CLAIMS TO LIVE THERE AND THREATENS ME WITH A CONFRONTATION IN HIS REVIEW, THEN HAS THE NERVE TO REFER TO ME AS A LOWLIFE. SHEESH! THE FACT IS THE AREA WHERE THE DOGS WERE TIED, RIGHT AT THE ENTRANCE DOORS, IS NOT SAFE. THE DOORS ARE LOCKED, BUT OPENED BY ANYONE AND EVERYONE FOR WHOMEVER SHOWS UP AND WANTS TO ENTER. THERE IS NO GOOD CONTROL OVER ENTRY. ALSO, THE TWO MINUTE WALK DOWN THE HALL TO PICK UP DOGS IS AN ABSOLUTE FICTION. THE FIRST SIX FLOORS OF THE BUILDING ARE OFFICE AND HAVE NOT DOGS. ANY DOG WALKER PICKING UP A DOG WOULD NEED TO ENTER A SECOND LOBBY, WAIT FOR AN ELEVATOR, GO TO AN APARTMENT ON 7 OR HIGHER, THAN RETURN. NOT TWO MINUTES BY ANY STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION. I HAVE TO WONDER ABOUT MATT P.'s REVIEW AND OTHER POSITIVE REVIEWS OF DOG PARTY, GIVEN THE REAL FACTS.

I don't know about the bad review but my experience here has been nothing but stellar!!…read more Let me tell you, Erin has been walking my dog Bailey for just about a year and a half now. I have used other dog walkers in the past and none even come close to displaying the care and professionalism that Erin does. She is genuinely a great person and I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a dog walker. Bailey loves the attention she receives from Erin and I couldn't ask for a better walker! Two thumbs way up.

I hate writing a negative review and would normally just let it go, but I can't in good conscience…read morerecommend this business for daycare as my life and my pups life has been completely altered after sending him here. I moved to Boston in November and decided to send my dog to daycare and boarding here as it's close by to my home. Previously my dog was in daycare for years in our other city we lived in and he absolutely loved it. Immediately upon arriving to this location it is incredibly small. I believe they take the pups on pack walks so they're not inside the whole day. It's so small inside I don't see how they even have enough room to play. I started sending my dog here on Saturdays and I noticed he would start crying when we would turn onto the block. I'd drop him off and he would have a complete meltdown and I didn't understand why, as the staff here is incredibly kind. I also had to start traveling for work, so when my pet sitter couldn't stay with him I'd send him to boarding, which they'd transport him to their Roxbury location. It was like pulling teeth to get any updates on how he was doing. They don't answer their texts sometimes for a full day. I had to beg them to finally start uploading a report card just to know how he was doing or if he was ok. The lack of communication alone should have been a big enough red flag to stop sending him here, along with the stress he seemed to be under upon drop off and pick up. In January I sent him for boarding for a work trip and a couple days after I picked him up he got incredibly sick. He ended up having to be hospitalized for a couple of days and I paid almost $10k in vet bills. They said he likely caught something from another dog. Several months later, again after a work trip he now won't let any of my dog walkers approach him with his prong collar. I don't know if maybe someone at the Roxbury location handled him aggressively with his collar, but he's 5 years old and has been wearing this collar since he was a year and a half old. We have never had issues with it until I started sending him here. I have no idea if something happened to him at that location since their communication is abysmal. A couple of days after this, I saw a Facebook thread of a woman who sent their dog here for a simple nail trim and they gave her pup back with a popped blood vessel in its eye and said they had no video footage to provide when she asked. Everyone in the comments said that a popped blood vessel in the eye is a sign of strangulation, and people started sharing their terrible experiences about this place. This would make sense why my pup doesn't want anything near his neck anymore. I'm not sure why there aren't many google reviews, but there were hundreds of comments of people sharing their unsettling stories here. On top of the financial stress this has put me under, I've also had to completely change my work schedule to walk my dog since he doesn't trust any walkers anymore. I now have him in a harness and have been doing more training with him, but I've had to cancel all of my travel for work because of this. I've never had any behavioral issues with my dog until sending him here.

They are friendly and very pleasant people. My dogs love going there! They do a superb job. I…read morehave two Cocker Spaniels, and that breed requires a lot of detail and time to clip and groom with a proper Cocker Spaniel cut. They are patient and attentive to details. This is the place to go to get your dogs groomed well! I can't say enough good things about them!

Daisy is great! She handles everything. Pick-up, playgroup and drop-off. We send our pup with her…read moreevery week!

We recently moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts and Daisy Cares has been a lifesaver. We rescued a…read morelab mix puppy about three months ago and he has done walks, playgroups and even overnights with Daisy. Jax gets super excited when he sees Daisy and always comes back pooped and ready for a nap from his playgroup. Daisy is flexible and easily reachable by text. Daisy is also very good at keeping us updated when she notices anything we should know regarding our pup. We really appreciate Daisy Cares and the daily videos of our pup being out and about!

This is a highly responsive and responsible group of people! They love our dog and all the dogs…read morethey care for-- my dog is always anxiously waiting for their scheduled arrivals-- 5 stars and much gratitude. These folks really care and your dog will sense that!

Jake, James, and the entire training team at BDB are absolutely phenomenal. When we first adopted…read moreour dog, we had no idea how many training challenges we'd face, especially living in a busy seaport apartment building with a leash reactive dog. We felt completely overwhelmed at first. Enter James and Jake, who truly saved the day. From the start, they were patient, knowledgeable, and incredibly invested in our dog's success. The progress our dog has made in just six months is nothing short of amazing, night and day from where we started. What really stands out is how much Jake genuinely cares; he treats our dog like his own, and it shows in the results. If you're on the fence about training, don't be. BDB is worth every penny. We couldn't recommend them more highly!

We LOVE Monica and Pedro! Our dog thinks of them like a second family! We appreciate all they do,…read moretheir flexibility, and how attentive and knowledgeable they are.

Monica clearly loves cats and has gotten along very well with my tabby, Reese. She is reliable and…read morecommunicates well which puts me at ease while I am away knowing my cat is in good hands. I highly recommend Monica.

Dandy Dog is amazing! They took such great care of Otto. Both Brittany and Rachel have been amazing…read moreat helping Otto socialize ever since he was a pup. They do a great job at pairing dogs so that they all get along and also learn from each other. Otto's walking skills improved so much thanks to his walks with DD, but most importantly he was always so happy when it was time to go on walks with them! You can just tell he cared for them, and they cared for him. When we relocated out West we were super bummed about a number of things, including having to find other humans to take care of Otto. Highly recommend!

Brittany and the Dandy Team are great. Pros -…read moreknowledgeable, kind, patient, caring, trustworthy. Cons - zero I highly recommend Dandy Dog for training/dog walking. Wren was afraid of walking in the city, for the first few months she wouldn't even go down the hallway. She is now walking in the city and knows most commands. Wren is a work in progress but with continued help from Brittany I see a huge improvement. It's also very nice to get pictures of your dog once the walk is over. I trust the Dandy team with my dog, you will too. Highly recommend.

It truly doesn't get better than West End Walkers. We've worked with a few dog walking services in…read morethe past and I can honestly say that WEW takes it to another level. Here's just a few highlights of what makes them so awesome: - Team training: Carly and Dana hire amazing people and there is comprehensive training involved for each new team member. This benefits the walkers and puppy parents because they really get to know each other and communication is excellent from the get-go - WEW LOVES DOGS (and all pets!): Nothing is more reassuring than knowing that not only are your walkers super responsible, but they are as obsessed with your pet as you are! You can feel this with every text update/social media post and with how hard they work to provide an amazing experience for pets and pet parents - Communication: the whole team is incredibly communicative and they share amazing photos/updates that make clear each walker goes above and beyond to care for your pup. WEW deserves all of the stars and we enthusiastically recommend them to everyone we know.

West End Walkers is absolutely amazing! Carly and her crew are so organized, trustworthy, and easy…read moreto communicate with. They are absolutely great with our pup and we trust them with with anything!! Highly recommend!!!

Do NOT recommend for anxious dogs. This company has major problems with internal communication…read more There is also a complete lack of communication with me about changing the walker last minute, despite repeated requests and complaints about this happening again and again. When I first started with this dog walking company, I spoke with the owner Elizabeth who was very reassuring and seemed to have a process in place for getting anxious dogs familiar with their walker. We started off well, with slow meet and greets with our designated walker, and with a plan to start getting my dog familiar with her backup walker. However, after 5 months, they started sending a third walker without notifying me at all. I called and spoke with the owner, who again reassured me. However, this continued to happen, and I learned that our training plan for the backup walker was never communicated. I was redirected to the manager JC, who also stated he would get to the bottom of the issue and solve it, but they continue to send a different walker without notifying me beforehand.

Monumentails has been a fantastic partner to me and my husband, and has resulted in some great…read morerelationships between my dogs and their walkers (special shout outs to their walkers Chris, Erin, Nick, Will, and Sarah - sorry if I'm missing anyone, we've enjoyed partnering with you all). The walkers are very personable, passionate dog-people, and when you get to know them also all busy and motivated individuals with varied interest areas (management, music, real estate, etc.). My Boston Terrier Ollie started "walking" with them in Somerville, MA (Inman Square area) for puppy potty breaks in 2017/8. He was around 3.5 pounds at that time. When our family grew with our other two adopted dogs (Tucker and Tyson) and got more complicated (and we moved to the Winter Hill area), Monumentails was still always there for us! Our dogs are probably the definition of not easy--one is headstrong, one is anxious and leash reactive, and the other is ball-obsessed and leash reactive as well. Instead of telling us they wouldn't walk our dogs, Monumentails took great care with them: having new walkers trained carefully on our dogs (instead of just inviting a new walker into a situation where their hands would be full and our dogs wouldn't be safe), adapting walks based on weather conditions, even checking to make sure our dogs were walking at the right time after eating. Their attention to detail with our dogs, our home, and our neighbors was always appreciated. Our dogs were always safe and incredibly well taken care of. When we left to go out of town, Monumentails was almost always able to help out and stay in our house with our dogs for the duration of our trip. If we were continuing to live in the area, we would absolutely and without a doubt continue to ask them to care for our dogs. For anyone who is looking for a new walker/boarder, I would highly recommend Monumentails and their walkers. Also, a note that Katie--who is an office manager and has helped with email responses on walk changes and boarding--was always incredibly pleasant, helpful and timely with her responses. Thank you, Monumentails!

Can't say enough good things about the Pooped Pooch! We came to them right after I adopted my dog,…read moreTubbs, and he was a nervous mess with no training and a million other problems. Daycare was not his favorite thing but I kept having him attend, once a week to build his socialization and have an outlet without me. After going to daycare once a week for months, he finally had a switch flip and absolutely LOVES daycare. He knows on Tuesday mornings he has to get ready early and spends the entire drive there with his tail wagging excitedly. This once very anxious and unsure pup now looks forward to playing and "going to school". He is always worn out and sleeps for like 2 days straight after attending. Tubbs also has a lot of allergies and needs special attention to those medical things. They make sure he never comes even near any of his allergies and i fully trust he is getting great care. Whenever we do an overnight stay, they make sure he takes all his meds, update me on his visit and has lots of fun playing. We love the pooped pooch and are totally of the belief that everyone should be going to doggy daycare - especially them if you live in the dorchester area!!

My dog is usually pretty skittish around people. Within three days, he was jumping to greet the…read morestaff and couldn't wait to get out of my car to go to daycare. Reasonable rates for a great experience.