Bad experience with Heidi's in home pet care. After a long interview that went over our expectations and our reluctance to use a typical kennel facility, we felt comfortable that our dog was going to be treated, for the most part, as their own pet. We discussed in length about how our dog is not normally left in a kennel for extended periods of time and we didn't' want that for him. We were told that the business owner would be on vacation and in the middle of moving so she was going to have one of her employees keep our dog at her home (we also met with her several times), We were told that our dog would be in the home with her and kenneled if she had to leave. She even mentioned at one point that our dog would probably sleep with her son (we did not expect that). We were also told that the business owner might be able to pick him up and take him back to her facility after her vacation. We opted to keep him where he was to make it less traumatic for him.
When we dropped our pet off, we provided the sitter with instructions for feeding and reiterated our wishes on how the dog would be cared for- limit kennel time, never in the kennel with a collar on, don't keep him in the heat too long.. etc. Our first facetime call to check on him we could not see our dog, and when asked where he was, she said he was in the kennel because she had to rotate dogs in the kennels to keep them safe. We can appreciate and understand that, but we were never told this is what was going to happen. When we did see him, he had his collar on which we explicitly said we did not want because it could get snagged and choke him.
We facetimed a couple different times the subsequent days, and I even tried calling at different hours each day and every call except for one he was in the kennel. I would ask if she could take him out so we could see him, and he would go straight to the water bowl and gulp water like he hadn't had any for a while. When this was questioned, we were told he did have water. We have never seen him gulp water the way he did even after a couple mile walk when he is hot and tired.
We called the business owner to express our concerns, she asked what we wanted her to do, and I said go get our dog, and she said that is not an option as her facility was not up and running yet. She acted like our concerns were not valid, and said it was a problem that I was facetiming so much, and we are only seeing a snippet of what is happening. While I agree we only see a snippet, when you call at different times and it's always the same thing and he gulps water the way he was, it clearly appears that he is in the kennel way more than we were told.
Upon picking our dog, up he was outside in their fenced area and his gums were grey, which is a clear sign of dehydration, and we noticed an injury on his head. The sitter said the cost would be $15 more a day then what was already agreed upon, which was resolved. Once home we also found our dog lost 5 pounds, even though the sitter told us he ate great. We fully understand some dogs will lose some weight under stress, but we weigh him weekly and has consistently put on 2-5 lbs a week and never lost an ounce.
We called the business owner the next day and our concerns fell on deaf ears. The business owner was very defensive, and we were basically crazy for expecting what we did. We were told our expectations were too high and ended up hanging up on us. Even if our expectations, were too high, we made them clear during our interview and they still took on the job. Had they said this is how he would be taken care of, we would not have used this facility. We sent a text recapping the conversation and expressing how unhappy we were with the whole situation but have yet to get a response. A little customer service goes a long way, and they didn't do anything to ease our frustration.
Let's just give them the benefit of the doubt and say he wasn't kenneled much as we think, I don't understand how he can come back with grey gums from dehydration. This clearly shows he didn't have access to water. When we asked about the injury to his head, the owner stated they were fully aware of that, but nobody bothered to tell us. We still don't know what happened.
We do not recommend this business and will never return. read more
