Bark and Board — Attraction in Brookhaven

I tried to like Bark and Board Brookhaven, but they failed me time and time again.

I began going to B&B 1-2 times a week at the end of 2017. I used to use PetSuites in Norcross (HIGHLY recommend!), but I had to switch after I moved closer to the city.

I had no complaints the first few times we went. Everyone was very nice - my dog seemed to like it, and she was tired at the end of the day (mission accomplished in my book...). I remember a few times waiting in line to pick her up at the end of the day & I would hear people complaining about random things (some small, but also some bigger issues). But none of those things applied to my dog so I brushed it off.

Then a few things happened to us. Very minor things such as charging my card on file when I paid in cash (this ended up happening a total of probably 6-8 times for the almost 2 years we were there. Mind you, I only went 1-2 times a week... if that.). It was just a organizational issue. No big deal... right?

Then a few bigger things such as bringing me the WRONG DOG. Not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES. That's when I started lifting an eyebrow. Most people would have left by now, but I stayed mainly because, at this point, I rarely took my dog (maybe 2-3 times a month) & I didn't have time to try out new places.

THEN, I took her to get groomed. Being a husky, you are not supposed to shave them. I specifically wrote on the grooming sheet (and told the person working the front desk at the time) “DO NOT SHAVE HER”. All I asked them to do was to trim her extra long belly hair & run the Furminator through her hair. When I picked her up, she was completely bald. I had no words. It took all of me to make it to my car before I started crying. My dog hated it too. She was completely unlike herself. She never wanted to step outside, she didn't want to be around anyone but me for WEEKS, and I had to put a t-shirt on her to keep her skin from burning in the sun when I took her out for bathroom breaks. It was awful.

But that's not it... (yes, I still took her back for daycare). I went to pick my dog up from daycare last week & they brought her out with the wrong leash. I told them it was the wrong one, so they took about 2-3 minutes to go look for hers in the back. They came back and said, "We can't find her leash, but you can just take that one." They wanted me to take somebody else's leash home - which is basically the same thing as stealing.

I told them there are multiple reasons that I'm not taking this leash. 1) My dog has ripped through leashes before so I only use one type of leash that I know she cannot rip and 2) it. is. not. mine.

They told me that they think they know who "accidentally" took her leash home. They would call & ask her to return it (For those who are wondering, it is been a week and I still do not have the leash). I told them "That is fine, but I have to take my dog for 2-3 walks every day, so what am I supposed to do for her walks until I get my leash back?"

I had to basically twist the manager's arm to give me money for a new leash that day. (I almost had this happened at PetSuites in Norcross & they IMMEDIATELY said they would reimburse me the money for a new leash and credit my account for a day of daycare.) The manager did not offer any "we are so sorry this has happened & that it has inconvenienced you." "We made a mistake & we apologize." Nothing. No owning up to their mistake. Just a "other than crediting your account for the leash, there is nothing we can do." To which my response was, "This is the last day I am coming here, so that won't do me any good." After that response, the manager literally scoffed and said "Well..."

Which is what I have come to learn about this business. They NEVER own up to any of their mistakes, they always take the easy way out of everything, and they are not professional. I wish I could like this place. I really do. But I am going to need management to do a major re-haul of their employees & their customer...

Leaving a one star review feels very off putting, yet so did my experience at Bark and Board.

For context: I have a 3 year old long haired dachshund who gets professionally groomed once a year outside of my regular at home monthly maintenance.

My prior experience at Bark and Board aside from yesterday’s was also negative. My dog ended up having a pretty severe skin reaction where he was flaky, and he had some mild scabbing after a full grooming. We decided to visit our primary vet, where we discussed that the experience could have amplified some underlying allergies; HOWEVER, my experience yesterday proved this theory wrong.

Yesterday, I decided to take him in for his annual grooming, where I dropped him off at 10:30. I did have an existing appointment for this coming Wednesday booked, yet I wanted to pull this up for Saturday- where I could drop him off and pick him up immediately after the services were completed versus having to wait for work to be over if it was still scheduled for Wednesday. When I called, the staff mentioned this request to move the appointment up was feasible, and it would not alter the daily schedule.

3:00 comes- and I stop by to check on the status of his appointment, as I was walking my other dog in the neighborhood. I was advised that he was not ready, but would be soon.

4:30 comes (the facility closes at 5:00) and I still had not received a text or a call that he was ready. I call Bark and Board, to only be notified that he was just getting started and that he would not be done until 5:30 or 6:00. The front desk told me that they would wait for him to be completed before locking up, yet I had prior commitments to attend, and I did not feel comfortable with my dog in their care for going on 7 ish hours. I admit that I did get frustrated, and voiced my concerns with him being in their care for this long without a curtesy text or call. I told them that I was on my way to get him, and that I wanted them to pause on his services.

I show up to see my dog still wet from his bath and was visibly anxious and overwhelmed. When I saw that he had eye damage due to “something unknown” I immediately knew my anxious thoughts and feelings were valid.

I offered to pay for the bath, but ultimately left without paying due to him having blood shot eyes, discharge in the eyes, and swollen eyes. One eye was unable to open with the other squinty and very cloudy. I was up with him all night applying warm compresses, and consoled an emergency vet due to the severity of it.

Bark and Board- my ask for you is to make it make sense. I have every reason to believe that yes, you did start grooming my dog around 3:00 when I stopped in on my walk. BUT I also have reason to believe that poor care was practiced, and my dog was exposed to either harsh chemicals, improper restraint, or hot tools.

I want to trust “professionals” when my dog is under care, yet I cannot feel confident leaving him with you again knowing that something won’t happen.

Dog owners- these are our babies. I’ll be sure to read every review when searching for our next groomer to ensure we do not experience this sort...

Lia had a great stay at Bark & Board Brookhaven. My boyfriend and I boarded her for 4 nights. It was great watching her on the cameras and knowing she was happy and comfortable in big, clean, quality suites and spacious yards. We love the prices, too.

However, there was miscommunication with a few incidences, such as her bed being destroyed, her nail being cut too short, what day she would be bathed, and what time we were supposed to pick her up.

Brittany was great. She set up our reservation and let us tour the place. We were told Lia would be bathed Monday night for us to pick her up Tuesday morning (today).

This morning when we arrived around 11:30am, we were told by Ari that Lia had not been bathed yet and that we were supposed to pick her up at 1:45, which nobody told us.

When we came back at 1:45, we were told that Lia’s bed had been destroyed, which wasn’t a big deal, but I asked when it happened, and they said they think it happened a day or two ago.

The biggest incident was when Lia was brought out to us and her quick started bleeding badly. They brought out Styptic Powder to stop her bleeding and let us keep the bottle. Dream, the manager, said it was strange that she was bleeding because there wasn’t any blood in the suite she was staying in. Already, this was making no sense and nobody was giving us any straightforward information.

When we got home today, I called and spoke to Dream (manager) again to express my concerns for the lack of communication during Lia’s stay. We had not received a single phone call about anything.

Dream apologized, and said as far as Lia bleeding, she spoke to the groomer (Jess) who said Lia did not bleed when her nails were trimmed. Dream went on to say what may have happened was that Lia’s nails were filed down too much on the pavement when she was let out after her nails were clipped.

However, she then put Mike (General Manager) on the phone, and he said the groomer communicated to him earlier today that Lia’s nail had been cut too short and that she had been monitoring the bleeding for about an hour, and Mike apologized to us for forgetting to tell Dream.

Keeping in mind, this was said immediately after Dream told us she talked to the groomer who told her nothing happened with Lia’s nail.

The destroyed bed and the nail being cut short are common incidents with dogs. What we can’t get past is the lack of communication to us and between staff, and seemingly lying to cover up a mistake.

Mike (GM) credited us, and the phone call ended on a good note. Lia is happy and healthy and acting perfectly normal, so we know she was taken care of for the most part while she was there.

The place itself is really nice. If it were ran better, it’d be perfect. Even so, we don’t trust the staff...