Andre (the owner) is really fantastic and comes out personally to meet you and your dog. He brings…read morethe person who will be your dog walker so the 4 of you can get to know one another. We've used POP for the last 16 months and have been very happy with them. Our dog walker would leave us notes so we knew when they came. Andre was very flexible with scheduling and we would continue to use them if we weren't moving out of state. If oyu are in the Rockville/North Bethesda/Potomac area and need a dog walker, give them a call!

I cannot say enough good things about Jenny and Paws of Potomac…read more She has been my dog walker for over 5 years and my dogs Sadie and Ozzy LOVE her and her son Sean who often accompanies her. Not only is she a professional but a truly lovely person. She has helped me coax Sadie to do her rehab exercises while on her daily walk. This has been so successful, she does not need hip replacement surgery. She has the code to my garage and I have never had any issues. I trust her completely. She has also been very gracious about accomodating me when I needed extra walks or had to ask for specific times for walks because I had contractors in the house or needed the dogs out of the house when prospective buyers came for last minute showings. I will be moving to Northern Virginia sometime this year and wish that I could take Jenny and Sean with me. We will all miss them!

A Nightmare You Don't Want to Subject Your Beloved Pet To…read more I've never been so furious in writing a review. If you love your cat, do not--DO NOT--bring them here. Our cat came back looking as though he'd been through a horror show, and we are livid. Bruises All Over from "Gentle Grooming" (we have pictures) Our cat was a long hair that we asked to have their fur taken down to that of a short hair cat. What was unforgivable were the purple, fingerprint-shaped bruises scattered across his body. When we first saw those marks, we were horrified and confused: bruises? How could regular grooming leave deep purple handprints on our pet? We immediately took him to the vet, who confirmed they were bruises--plain and simple. This was not a sleepy "heavier-handed" brushing; these were bruises from someone handling him roughly enough to leave real-live finger marks. Cuts, Cuts, and More Cuts If bruises weren't appalling enough, the groomer also managed to slice our cat multiple times with her clippers or scissors. These weren't tiny nicks; we could plainly see irritated, bleeding slashes in his skin where she obviously rushed or mishandled the tools. We've taken our cat to other groomers before--no one else in their right mind inflicts this kind of damage on a healthy, cooperative animal. Our Once-Happy Cat Was a Panicked, Hissing Mess Our normally sweet, affectionate cat came home terrified, his personality completely altered. He hissed at us--his own family--cowered in corners, and spent hours hiding under furniture, trembling. He refused to engage with any of his favorite toys or treats. He was in a full panic. Whatever "technique" this groomer used traumatized him beyond belief. Quite frankly, it felt like we picked up a stranger from the shop--an anxious, broken version of the cat we dropped off that morning. Pushing an Unreasonable Subscription Plan Instead of acknowledging their horrific performance, the groomer had the gall to pitch us a subscription plan--a monthly grooming plan--for an outrageous fee. They tried to convince us that our cat "needed" this routine maintenance. Are you kidding? After the physical and emotional trauma their so-called "service" inflicted, the last thing we want is to trust them near our cat again. This pushy upsell felt downright predatory: gouging a raw deal to "maintain" a pet they'd already harmed. Final Verdict: Avoid This Place at All Costs If you love your animal, do not, under any circumstances, take them here. I'm seething that we even gave them a chance. Every parent of a cat knows that trust and safety come first. This groomer not only violated that trust but injured our cat both physically and mentally. They clearly lack basic compassion, competence, or respect for the creatures they claim to care for. Save yourself--and your pet--from this horror. Take your cat to a groomer who actually cares about--and knows how to handle--animals safely. Our experience here was nothing short of negligence bordering on cruelty. We're deeply angry, heartbroken for our cat, and will never forgive the damage they inflicted.

Unfortunately, I have to update our previous review as I noticed it is still getting hits based on…read morea write-up which no longer reflects our experience. After roughly a year of bringing our dog here (since he was a puppy so he would develop a relationship), this business completely "ghosted" us as the kids say. We went to make our appointment in advance as usual and were told they'd get back to us with availability...no response. Reached out multiple additional times and were told they'd get back to us with availability...no response. Now late for grooming with a dog starting to matte, we reached out to owner who told us they'd call back...no response. Strangest thing. I would have been content with a(n early), "Hi, we're really sorry but [insert reason here: your dog is getting too big, your dog in a pain in the hindquarters, you don't tip well enough, your dog is too much work, we're simply too busy, etc] and we're not going to be able to schedule and tend to your pup the way we would like" but no such luck. Just leaving us hanging with a perpetual promise to get back to us regarding availability was terribly odd and unprofessional. Really a shame because we enjoyed supporting this small local business and were very fond of their team. Silver lining: After a bit of work, we've found good service elsewhere. I try not to drop bad reviews in anything but the worst circumstances, but this felt like it needed an update since I couldn't simply delete our initial 5-star experience. YELP: if you are able to delete both reviews, please feel free.

The "girls" love Rivermist! They both run in any time they're either staying there, just for…read moregrooming or for daycare or over night. They staff is patient and seems to really love the dogs. It's not cheap, but I feel like the dogs are in good hands. We get pictures from the staff when we're away which always makes us happy. Also, they have fun little days when they're having a pawty and take pictures which we receive. We've gotten a free day or two depending on how much the girls are there. We usually only send when we're away or sometimes just when we need a day to do things all day. Groomer is awesome!!

We highly recommend Rivermist. We are first time clients and found Rivermist from Yelp and…read moreneighborhood reviews. We appreciated the Meet and Greet before her scheduled stay. During our trip away, they sent us a pic of her looking very happy. Each time we called, the staff were always very helpful. We will make plans to visit with them again soon.

Annie and I love Bone Jour! I love the people - as soon as I walked in to check out the place, I…read morewas greeted warmly. It's clean and inviting & it smells good! We were treated to a first day free and Annie will definitely return. She came home happy and tired. We are thrilled to have a place close by where we feel our pup is safe and loved.

Not sure why Bone Jour's average rating is so low, but they were very good with communication and…read moreefficiency! My senior doggo, Xena, got a simple bath and grooming appointment with toothbrushing (extra $10), for the grand total to come up as $77 (so $67 for the wash/grooming). The process to get a grooming appointment may seem daunting at first, but I assure you, it goes fast and is all online. You go on their site and fill out a form for grooming, your information, your pup's information, and create an account where you can fill in your payment information. Then, all you have to do is email your pup's up to date vaccination records to Bone Jour (they will tell you these steps if you call or email them as well). I believe they are doing this for safety reasons, which puts me at ease that my dog won't get any infections here. She came back happy, smelling very fresh even 2 days after, and they even sent her back with a nice red bone bandana. The overall appointment took about 3 hours and it looked quite busy since I saw 3 other people dropping their fur babies off as I was arriving. They are staying safe with COVID protocols and assigning people generous windows of time to drop off their pups (ie: we were assigned the 7-10am slot). Bone Jour is staffed by friendly, organized, and efficient dog lovers, everyone spoke so well of Xena and I could tell they were gentle on her weak teeth and detail-oriented with her grooming!

Sarah Stoycos runs this dog training school in the Rockville area of Montgomery County, Maryland…read more She offers in home dog training, plus classes at Your Dog's Friend in Rockville. I met Sarah through a program at You Dog's Friend for foster dogs. I highly recommend her! She's smart, bright, funny, engaging, patient, down to earth, nonjudgemental and a good listener. Sarah helped me train several of my foster dogs, including an under-stimulated blind herding dog, a 12 year old Border Collie without any training and a feral herding dog. These were not your typical "family dog who jumps on company" training issues, and Sarah took them in stride, offering awesome suggestions which helped these dogs gain confidence, helped me understand them better, and, ultimately, helped them get adopted into amazing families. If Sarah can train my complicated foster dogs, she can definitely train your dog! Sarah is a great dog trainer: she listens to your concerns, watches your dog and how you interact with your dog, and then offers reasonable solutions to your issues. Because she talks you through the problems and solutions, clients are more likely to understand why their dog is acting a certain way, and the best way to help them. I have worked with a lot of dog trainers. With Sarah, you understand your dog better, and because of that you are more likely to keep up the training skills and find success (and happiness). Sarah uses positive reinforcement training techniques (including clicker training!), which IMHO (and the dog training community's HO, and the scientific community's HO) are the only way to build a better relationship with your dog and find success in communicating with and training your dog.

Sarah Stoycos is a fantastic trainer! She uses positive reinforcement clicker training that is…read moreeffective, and gentle and wonderful (NO choke collars, prongs, alpha dog, etc techniques that are dangerous and ineffective). She is easy to work with, is patient, calm and smart. I highly recommend her.

Formally expressing disappointment regarding the experience at the Dog Stay, Silver Spring location…read moretoday, Saturday, March 14th. Having been a long-term client since the previous management under Lincoln and his brother, I was surprised & frustrated by the unprofessionalism encountered during our visit (social evaluation). I recently requested a week-long boarding schedule for pet for next week. Following the request, a staff member emailed for a new social evaluation. Despite the stress of recent travel, my pet completed the evaluation successfully. However, the process was abruptly ended & pet was ultimately disapproved--not based on behavior, but due to a personal personality clash between myself & the staff member, TT. Furthermore, TT mentioned additional daycare fees outside of the standard boarding costs. It became clear the decision to reject pet was based on TT's personal opinion of our interaction rather than pet's conduct. My pet is friendly, loving & has historically been a model guest at this establishment. The current lack of a standardized, objective process for securing daycare & boarding is concerning. It is highly unprofessional for a pet's approval to be contingent upon a staff member's personal feelings toward a client. The level of service & care experienced today is incomparable to the high standards set by previous management. I hope you will review the evaluation procedures to ensure they are based on objective criteria rather than personal bias. I do not recommend the Dog Stat under the current management. New management has drastically changed its climate.

Our dog absolutely loves staying here every time! He's happy and waggy going in, and he's also…read morehappy and waggy on the way out. We've left him there to board for 3 days, and he was just as happy when we got him after the longer stay also. He's always tired when he comes home, and the staff is great.

The only place nearby I could find that would board my diabetic cat while I was away on a trip…read more They did a good job. The staff seemed to know all about my cat, who is a bit of a character, when I went in to pick him up -- so it was obvious they had spent some time getting to know him. They also did a routine test which revealed a problem that I was unaware of. All in all a very positive experience.

Don't ever book your animal for this vet. The miscommunication is ridiculous and they don't listen…read moreto anything you have to say.

Our lab loves his swim sessions. We first brought him as he recovered from ACL surgery and now just…read morefor fun. It's so well organized and clean. His instructor is gentle and friendly. She knows just when to let him rest a bit as he was recently diagnosed with diabetes. Don't hesitate to schedule an appointment. You won't be disappointed!

Tried this place yesterday. It's not cheap but the service provided is unique and there aren't too…read moremany places like it in the area. The owner was very informative and receptive and the trainer in the water was great with our beloved Beagle. It was his first time in the water and he was trying to get used to his surrounded. Overall I think he did well and he can swim. We took advantage of the Wild Wednesdays, so it was a little cheaper to go that day.