I write this out of concern for the many wonderful dogs that attend this daycare. They and their owners deserve to know the reality of this unsafe operation.
Amongst many veteranarians and petcare experts (just ask), this daycare has a less than desirable reputation. This is largely due to shoddy, broken, neglected facilities and equipment; undertrained staff, and a high volume of injuries sustained during the course of the day due to unsafe dogs and dog behavior being allowed into Metropet.
Metropet will not disallow dangerous and aggressive dogs from coming to their daycare, and will be dishonest with dog owners about how their pet is handling the experience so as to not lose customers either through the knowledge their dog is constantly stressed out or through kicking out dogs that repeatedly cause problems. It takes many very serious "incidents," the reports on which the owners will alter to suit their narratives, to be kicked out.
A past employee suffered a stage 4 dog bite, and the dog was only briefly told not to come back before being allowed to return to daycare to interact with more dogs and staff members. They also witnessed dogs going without water during group due to staff neglect and dogs locked into crates for 2.5 hours during unsupervised naptimes, with the internal tempurature of the building at 90 degrees in the summer. There is no properly set up heating or cooling system to regulate tempuratures in extreme heat or cold. All of this is documented in photos and video obtained by employees.
In the winter, Metropet will require your dogs to remain outside in freezing or below freezing tempuratures regardless of the dogs' tolerance for the weather. Emails are sent recommending to bring a coat for your dog, but owners are not told that dogs and staff will be forced outdoors for hours at a time in tempuratures below 30 degrees.
The owners, who have no pet care background outside of Metropet, do not have any qualms about allowing their ill-behaved kids to interact with dogs, even dogs that do not like children (a narrowly avoided dog bite did not correct the issue), and treat their doggie daycare like a personal daycare for their two under-10 children. This was not only a distraction as they roamed freely around the facility having broken out of their baby gate, but a potential for injury as dogs frequently would be coming in and out of the hallways they constantly occupied. These kids are loud, boisterous and frightening to many of the more timid or anxious dogs that are allowed to attend this daycare, and I do not forsee the acceptance of having to find another child care solution for two new, young business owners who do not have the time or knowledge to dedicate to it.
Besides regular injuries and improper maintenence, new owners Susan and Tim have tried to manipulate staff into not discussing their wages with each other, a result of employees noticing the owners' haste to enact nepotism to hire family and pay them more than other, unrelated staff. They also do not allow full pictures of the facility on social media, they must have potentially distasteful angles of the play yards cropped so as not to reveal the state of what they allege to have "renovated." Litter, sharp broken pieces and holes abound in the outdoor play yards and many shortcuts have been taken in the maintenance of Metropet.
"Highly trained" employees these are not, as is claimed on their web page; experience is not asked for in potential employees and training consists only of watching a short dog behavior video and a period of time spent in the smaller dog group before moving onto larger more active dog groups.
I would NEVER recommend this shady daycare that operates only as a cash cow to careless, dog unfriendly owners (who shock train their own pets). I highly recommend Camp Bow Wow only a short distance away. At Bow Wow at least there are cameras on which you can observe staff and dog behavior.
This is a dangerous, unethical and unhealthy facility with dangerously uneducated and unethical owners. Avoid if you value your dogs' happiness and safety. read more
