I wish I didn't have to write this, but I think it's important to share what happened with our dog.
Unfortunately, our 1 yr old rescue doxie mix Finn got lost on his second day with the pack. I got the call that no dog owner wants to hear - during a walk in the Mission, he had been momentarily unattached to anything and bolted, and the last place he had been spotted around 4:30pm was running down South Van Ness traffic. My state of mind was just total panic after hearing that, and we spent the next hours combing every inch of the Mission for Finn, trying to stay positive as it got dark but it was difficult to avoid imagining the worst (he's a small dark dog, impossible to see at night).
One of us must have had some good karma, because Finn was eventually found nearly 5 hours later - in the Castro. He somehow crossed a ton of major streets/intersections and was ok! Maybe his childhood days of being a stray had paid off - who knows. My mom had driven in from the East Bay to help look for Finn, and she, my boyfriend and I were all in tears when we finally reunited with our terrified but somehow physically unscathed baby. We got SO lucky.
We almost lost Finn forever - so leaving a star rating feels like a superficial reflection - but I know that as a dog owner, I want to see every single review (the good and the bad), so that's why I'm writing this. Since I have to add a rating on Yelp, I am leaving 2 stars instead of 1 because while it's table stakes that a dog isn't able to run away on an on-leash walk, Danielle did everything in her power to help find Finn after he got away. She stayed in the neighborhood with us searching all night, made calls to shelters and posted online, and even printed out fliers and put them up. I know that Danielle was devastated by what happened and that this was an unfortunate mistake - I am not writing this to make her feel bad or bash her business, but I do think it's important to share this experience - it nearly changed our lives and I can't just pretend that it didn't happened.
Finn was able to run away because he was momentarily not attached or tethered to anyone or anything. This should never have happened. There are other reviews on this page that mention nervous pups who can't be off leash, so I trusted that Finn would be attached at all times. I'm hopeful that this will never happen to another dog again - I know it was traumatizing to everyone involved - but I just assumed that I could trust that my dog would always attached - especially on his second day of an on-leash walk in a really busy neighborhood.
I really wish this had worked out for Finn - we were so excited about him joining the pack and building on all the progress we had made with his anxiety from his past life and building his confidence. Unfortunately now he has PTSD from getting lost and is terrified of being outside (I'm hopeful that with a little time and re-training, we'll get him back to his old self) - but all that matters is that we got him back. I'm torn about leaving a negative review because I can tell that Danielle puts so much heart into her role as a walker, but I would feel like an irresponsible dog owner if I didn't say anything about our experience. read more