Review for Puppy Camp/day care only
TL;DR: It was a great experience only when the owner was working. If she's not there, some of the other staff could care less to supervise the puppies or cause regression in puppy training/behavior due to improper correction techniques. If you choose to bring your dog, I highly recommend not just watching but listening to the Twitch stream.
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It pains me to have to write this review. If any of you are either new puppy parents or consider your dogs like family, you would also be disappointed with the unacceptable behavior my puppy experienced when you're putting money and trust of your fur baby in someone else's hands. I spoke directly to the owner about our last visit, who agreed what happened was unacceptable and was assured a conversation with her staff was to happen. Two weeks later, I have yet to receive any follow-up communication. What this tells me is the incidents that occurred were either not that huge of a red flag and/or I'm not valued enough as a return client.
I had high hopes for MG. My partner has experience working in dog daycare in SF and our senior dog regularly attended many dog daycares as a young puppy to 10 yrs old, both in SF and Seattle. When we got a new puppy, I was drawn to MG's puppy camp w/naptime and enrichment activities. I also loved that they have a live stream so you can see (and hear) what they're doing. On my puppy's first day, Shannon, the owner was working. I was able to check in on her via Twitch and see my puppy playing and having a blast with the different activities. I got a load of pictures and video on her report card with positive remarks. I was extremely impressed that I told everyone I knew in my Seattle dog group how wonderful this place was. I nearly bought a package that day but decided to wait after her second visit.
The following week on my puppy's second visit, the owner was not working that day, but there were three other workers. When I got home, I checked the Twitch stream. I see my puppy playing with another dog who was getting a little rough with her so my puppy reciprocated the behavior back. All three staff members were on their phones off in a corner and not paying attention to what was happening. Puppies are gonna make mistakes and will learn from each other, but it's also important to intervene and break up play behavior that should be corrected. The lack of supervision made me concerned so I decided to stay on the stream the rest of the day to see what happens when I leave my puppy in the hands of MG. My biggest regret is not pulling her from their care sooner.
Watching the stream, I eventually learned that I'm paying $50/day to witness distracted staff failing to properly supervise no more than 7~ dogs (they take 30~max so this was a small group). Most of the scheduled activities never happened. One staff member was always down on her phone and another staff member sat most of the time preoccupied doing personal activities and calls.
If a puppy yelped or something to interrupt her from her device, she would get frustrated and shout the puppies name over and over again in a negative tone until finally getting off her stool to intervene. At several points she yelled my puppy's name over and over again followed by "no!" from her seat. At one point she even stomped her foot down after saying my pups name. Anyone who has bothered to learn basic puppy training knows that you should NEVER use a puppies name repeatedly like that or for correction. It can cause stress, increase the energy level, and make things worse. Calling a dog's name should also only be used positively to make hearing their name a good thing. It can impact recall and regress in training.
That same night my puppy had her graduation from Seattle Puppyworks (highly recommend) She's been attending puppy play 4x/week for well over a month there in addition to training classes. Without mentioning what happened at MG that day, 5 minutes into class the trainer immediately noticed something wrong. She asked me if my puppy had a bad experience today because she wasn't her usual self or responding well. My puppy on a regular day is very playful and sweet. Never had any issues prior at Puppyworks.
I hope the owners take my feedback into serious consideration w/who they are hiring. I know it can be hard to find experienced staff, but it's crucial to have staff with proper training on how to handle puppies in terms of how to properly correct bad behavior, intervene, and practice positive reinforcement. With a new business that's been open for only several months, it's unfortunate that some of the staffs carelessness & poor training knowledge fails to meet the great potential I know Martha's Garden can become. There's positive reviews on the dog bar meetups, and maybe that is their strong suit where owners are present. But for the sake of safety and training of my dog, I will unfortunately need to look for daycare somewhere else. read more