Piedmont Bark — Attraction in Atlanta

The mindset of the organization receives 0 stars. The kind managers and some stuff (minus the gentleman at the front desk) are the only reason why Piedmont Bark receives any stars at all.

Genuinely hate to say it, but I'm disappointed. This place is only about a mile from my house, so I was hoping this would work out.

I was given a little grief this morning upon showing up for my intro day with my pit mix. I was very clairvoyant in the registration process regarding my dog's breed, letting them know multiple times in multiple different ways that my dog was a pit/lab mix - for pete's sake, it's on her vet records which I sent to them for review over the weekend. I was unaware that it was an issue. Upon arriving, I was embarrassed in front of other customers about the breed of my dog by the man at the front desk. Everyone else at the facility was very friendly, particularly the managers. I was allowed to leave her there for her intro day, as she didn't "look like a pit". Whatever that means.

I received a call around 11:30AM informing me that my dog passed the temperament test with "flying colors" and was "more than welcome" to partake in any of their services in the future.

So, now that my pit mix passed the temperament test, I really want to know why this organization discriminates against pit mixes and pits in general? I understand that pits have a bad reputation due to irresponsible breeding and dog fighters, but why discriminate against an entire breed? Although she is half pit, my dog does not have a hostile bone in her body, as made apparent by the fact that she passed her temperament test. She does not bark, she plays well with others, and she loves belly scratchies. We have 3 cats at home, all weighing less than 1/4 of her weight. She has never so much as growled at any of them. She cuddles with them constantly, and I trust her to be in the house with them alone.

I hate to think how much discrimination she would receive from this place and places with similar breed-specific rules if she looked more like a pit and less like a lab.

I've met just as many aggressive pits as I have aggressive poodles in my life. The only dog I've ever been bitten by was a Golden Retriever  Point being, dogs will be dogs. Nurture matters MUCH more than nature when it comes to dogs. You can raise any dog to be vicious towards other humans and animals - bad behavior is not a product of breed; it is a product of the humans in that specific animal's life.

Advice to Piedmont Bark: do your research. Stop "bullying" pit bulls, and I will consider doing business here. Until then, I'll be on the hunt for a new doggy daycare that doesn't discriminate based on genetics.

Also: completely unrelated to my comments above, I have a strong feeling that she was crated for most, if not all, of the day. When I arrived to pick her up, she jumped on me. She only ever jumps on me if she has been in the crate for a while. She also seemed (and still seems) overly energetic, further bringing me to the conclusion that she was crated all day. So, I spent $25 for you to crate my dog for a few hours? I could've done that at home for free. Very...

If your dog is your family, I wouldn't leave him/her here! I boarded my dog here for 5 days. I called twice to check on her. Both times, the person at the front sounded like they didn't know who my dog was, so they put me on hold for several minutes to find someone who knew how she was doing. When they came back, they responded with a simple "she's fine". No more information given. The day I came to pick her up, they handed her back to me and said nothing. I asked how she did, and they again said fine. When I got her home, I saw that she had two separate pairs of cuts on her lower jowel, which were clearly from dog bites, as well as one deeper cut about a centimeter long on her back leg. I realize these things happen when dogs play all day long. The issue wasn't that my dog was hurt -- it was that they didn't bother to mention these injuries to me when I called or when I picked her up, and confirm that they were checked and monitored. Dog's mouths are nasty, and full of bacteria. I would have just liked to have known that bites were sprayed with disinfectant to prevent an infection. To make matters worse, two days after her boarding stay her eyes became extremely runny and starting producing large quantities of yellow goop. I took her to the vet, they diagnosed her with infectious conjunctivitis (i.e., pink eye) which she had gotten from Piedmont Bark. So in addition to her wounds, she got pink eye which cost me $200 in bills! When I called Piedmont Bark to tell them these things (I didn't want anything, just to inform them of what had gone wrong!) the receptionist was cold and nonchalant. She told me these things happen, that she wasn't the one in the runs with the dogs so she didn't know if the wounds had been seen or not. Very reassuring! So basically, a terrible experience overall. When you board your dog, you want to go away and not feel like you've left your dog in some place where they will suffer. Imagine how sad I felt when I came to realize my poor girl hadn't received the care I trusted them to give. Not cool, Piedmont...

When I entrusted my 8 month old puppy to Piedmont Bark for daycare, I didn’t expect that when I picked her up later that day I would discover a large bloody laceration on her leg that required stitches. Her tail had also obviously been bitten and was missing hair.

The reason, however, that I will never be returning to Piedmont Bark is not simply the injury. Nor is it the $800 emergency vet bill that evening for stitches and pain medication.

No, the reason I will never return to Piedmont Bark is because I didn’t find out about her injuries from a phone call immediately after they happened. Instead, I had to be the one to find the injuries, hours after they occurred, when the blood in her fur was dried and matted.

Staff not only didn’t notice the attack, but never noticed the wide bloody gash. How long did she sit in pain without any medical attention before I came to pick her up?

This gross negligence is the reason I will never entrust any animal to Piedmont Bark again. My dog’s wounds were not hard to spot and they were serious enough to require an emergency vet visit. If Piedmont Bark cannot prevent or even notice that type of injury, I can never trust them to take care of my dog. I would encourage anyone who cares about their dog’s health and safety to find a different daycare where staff show even the bare minimum level of concern for the welfare of the animals they’re being trusted to protect.

UPDATE: I spoke with the manager several times on the phone and they apologized profusely for the event, and especially for staff not having noticed. Because the injury went unnoticed, they agreed to partially...