What a Good Dog Inc

Poor communication/disappointing boarding experience for 7 month old puppy In addition to all the up-charges ($15 for each activity - nothing included beyond giving the dog a place to sleep, feeding her the food you bring, and letting her outside for the bathroom), the administrative staff made this a very stressful experience, namely due to poor communication both among themselves and with clients. There were several contradictions and confusions: (1) I was emailed forms to complete less than 48 hours before the tour that I thought were for the boarding reservation itself, but upon our arrival for the tour the staff expected them all to be completed beforehand so I had to sit in the lobby filling out 15 mins worth of paperwork, making our tour extend beyond the time allotted, in the middle of a workday. FYI you need a printer - the forms must be filled in by hand, as they are not in an editable/fill in the blank PDF format or available online. It was our first time there and already the front desk was annoyed. (2) On the tour there was no mention about the up-charges for all the activities they offer. I’ve never boarded a dog before so I didn’t even think to ask if there was an additional charge. It’s probably included in the fine print somewhere in the paperwork, but to take you on a tour of the facility and boast all the offerings and neglect to mention they’re not actually included in the stay was not the right thing to do. (3) I was told on the phone before the tour that normally the tour includes dropping the dog off so they can acclimate but because of the uptick in kennel cough they weren’t doing that. I was surprised and unprepared when we arrived for the tour and they asked when we’d be by to pick her back up later that day. (4) At the end of our tour I confirmed the drop-off and pick-up times for boarding. I was told 9am for drop-off and that it was flexible, so long as it was within a general 9-10am window. On the day of drop-off, we arrived at 9:20am and the admin staff stated they operate in 15 min drop-off windows and was not pleased at our arrival time - same grumpy front desk lady - or the fact that we showed up without a PA dog license, even though as I told them during the tour and as is shown in our paperwork, we do not live in PA. (5) The day of drop-off I confirmed for the second time that pick-up could be any time before 1pm. You can imagine I was then very surprised and stressed when I called the day of pick-up to let them know we were en route and they told me that they are closed from 12-1. I raced to get there, arriving at 11:50am. (6) I figured that even if the admin aspect was less than ideal, at least our dog would be well cared for but I have not a shred of insight as to whether or not that was the case. Our dog was only there one night and the two staff who walked her out to meet us in the lobby couldn’t tell us anything about her stay. We paid $15 extra for her to have a playdate with another dog and the two staff members told us they weren’t working the day before so they don’t know who she played with nor how it went (or if it didn’t work out and she instead did a different activity.) All they could share is that she pulls a lot and told me to get a harness. Since our dog wasn’t signed up for the $15 walks I can only assume that their experience “walking” her was the 30 seconds it took to get her from her room to the front lobby. With no staff communication as to how her stay went I can only assume it didn’t go well, as they handed our dog back to us incredibly anxious - she was pulling and jumping and has never behaved even remotely that poorly. I went into this experience thinking we’d pay $65 and ended up spending $92 (in addition to the $15 up-charge for the playdate, apparently there’s a 15% administrative fee which brought the $80 total to $92) and, more importantly than the cost, I didn’t get any indication as to how my 7 month old pup who had never been boarded before actually did during her stay.

WARNING! I dropped my dog off here for six days. He had no preexisting conditions. When I picked him up he wasn’t eating and very sick. He was diagnosed with hemorrhagic gastroenteritis AND hematoma in his right ear. He spent 3 days in hospital and I have almost $1200 in vet bills. Left a VM asking for response and they ignored it. I Physically had to go there to get information. The reports were incomplete and missing. They tried to say it was “stress.” After coming here for 7 years, will never come back. Also, older lady at front with short hair is the rudest, coldest person. I hate dealing with her and pray I don’t get her for drop off. She needs to be no where around customers

We had such a wonderful experience when our dog stayed at What A Good Dog, we recommend their services to everyone. While the location is a bit off the beaten path, we found the property to be in wonderful clean shape, the people who work there super friendly and caring, and they gave our dog personalized service. You could tell that the people there really enjoy what they are doing. They were accommodating to our schedules and helpful when we needed to reschedule. The best!