I thought about giving this PetSmart location a 1-star review, but decided on 2 because the store is clean and well-organized and the cashiers are friendly.
**GROOMING**
I had read many of the other bad reviews for grooming here, but have had great experiences at my "home" PetSmart location for grooming that I figured all the other bad reviews were from crazy pet owners who are too particular about their pets. My mistake, should have trusted the yelp-iverse!
The employees in the grooming salon seem to be overworked, understaffed, and untrained. First, when I called to try to get an appointment, the person who answered the phone placed me on hold because they were busy. Someone else picked up, asked for my contact info, and put me on hold while they retrieved my info from their online database. I was on hold so long the phone rerouted to the main line, from which I had to be transferred back to grooming, where someone else picked up. It's like this almost every time you call.
I often joke that my dog would be the easiest dog to kidnap in the world, because he would go home with anybody who calls him. When I dropped him off here, he planted his feet and refused to go back with them.
All of this would be fine, except that the grooming job they did was TERRIBLE. I often clip my dog's hair at home, but don't mind paying for "professional" grooming once in a while, especially if I'm going for a shorter cut, because when I do it it always ends up patchy and uneven. The shave job this PetSmart location did was just as bad as what I could have done for free at home. In addition, I specifically asked them to trim around his ears and behind his legs, which they appeared to not have done at all. I ended up having to cut the hair around his ears and legs myself when I got him home, which defeats the purpose of paying someone else to do it.
My dog also seemed super depressed for hours after I picked him up, maybe because they CUT HIS WHISKERS. Or maybe he got yelled at.. I witnessed a groomer shouting at a toy poodle that was squirming while having his ears cleaned: NO! STOP IT! BAD DOG! STOP IT!. She forcefully grabbed his face, and when he yelped, she scolded him STOP BEING SO DRAMATIC.
There are envelopes for tip at the checkout counter. I will NOT be bringing my dog back here for grooming EVER. Save yourself (and your dog) the heartache and headache and go to a REAL PROFESSIONAL.
**DOG HOTEL**
Had planned to leave my dog here for almost a week while I was away on vacation. It is $33 / day, plus $2 for medication administration. You can pay an additional $8 for 30 minutes of group play. However, after getting the runaround for scheduling (similar situation as above for the grooming) and warnings that "if your dog looks like he's going to have a seizure, we're taking him straight to Banfield," I decided to cancel my reservation. They gave me many many warnings about medication administration, had to look up his medication in the computer (another 5 minutes on hold) to make sure it's on the "approved" list, and told me multiple times about potentially having to take him to the vet. I thought at first maybe they were just being thorough, but seeing how the grooming salon treats animals, I don't feel safe or comfortable leaving my dog here. I also have a feeling that he "looks like he's going to have a seizure" is code for "we can use any reason we want to charge you money for an emergency vet visit." read more