Dogtopia of Grand Rapids — Attraction in Grand Rapids Charter Township

We have been bringing our dog here for over a year now. The hours are great! The location is great! They tire our dog out, and we know she loves it! The staff are helpful and friendly, and it is clear how much all of the staff love and care about our dog, which means a lot to us! These are all of the reasons why we have a membership and keep going back! Front desk staff are always responsive and helpful (shout out to Lilly Rose, who always has a calm smile and an answer for our questions!). 5/5 stars for the staff all around! But 3/5 stars overall because my dog comes home filthy and stinking every time we bring her!! And I know she is a dog, but this goes well beyond a reasonable amount of dirt and smell! And we do not have the same experience at other dog daycare facilities in the city, in terms of how dirty and smelly she gets. She is an all white dog, and no exaggeration, she has come home with large black areas/visible debris in her coat on her legs, tail, face, ears, belly, and back. We’ve taken pictures because it’s so unbelievable. We pet her and our hands are turned black and covered with grime! And the smell is overwhelming of urine and some other horrible kind of stink! On the very worst day, like what I just described, they did give her a complimentary bath the next day, which we appreciated (so much!), but her being unacceptably filthy and smelly is becoming more and more common an occurrence at this point. They do a good job of bathing her/spa services, but you can’t bathe a dog 3X per week. It isn’t financially sustainable for us, and it isn’t good for my dog’s coat, or her stress levels! The alternative is they spray her with some kind of doggie perfume when she leaves with us, but that just makes her smell like a perfumed urinal, which is still very, very bad. We love the place, but give this location new floors, or different cleaning methods for the rooms, or all of the above, or something else! Anything! Please! We cannot take the urine smell and grime...

We recently had our two dogs boarded with Dogtopia while we honeymooned. It was nice to be able to check in on them throughout their stay but, more often than not, one or both of my dogs were in crates when I checked (which was often). This may have been bad timing on my part, but it didn’t sit all that well with me. Especially since upon pickup the staff told us they both did great the whole time but were getting restless for the last two days. We signed them up for grooming while there as well so we didn’t bring back smelly dogs. They did a good job bathing but I’m not sure they actually did their teeth and they definitely did not do a proper nail trim. It was 60$ per dog for the full groom, which my regular groomer charges the same for a groom and cut plus nail trim, I just don’t see the value there. My biggest complaint, this may be silly, is that the desk staff confirmed that both dogs would be included in the complimentary photo op and they were not. I had a brief interaction with the woman in charge of photos and she told me she ‘didn’t know she was supposed to get their pictures’. Isn’t she supposed to take photos of all the dogs? For nearly 900$ in boarding and 120$ in grooming I’m just not sure I see the value and I also don’t know that I trust this business’s for follow through. After the photo incident I’m glad we didn’t opt for daily treats for an extra 5-10$ each because I would not have been confident that they...

The staff at this location profile based on the breed of your dog and do not follow the proper steps of introducing a dog to others.

We took our Akita for a meet and greet and were told that she would be let in to the room to get oriented and then progressively, the other dogs would be let in 2-3 at a time. My husband watched on the screen as they let our dog in and then brought in ALL of the other dogs at one time. To no fault of their own, the other dogs surrounded her, sniffing and getting in her face. The ONLY reaction our dog had was the hair on her neck standing up. She was immediately deemed “aggressive” and we were told she didn’t pass and she wasn’t welcome for 6 months, when we would be allowed to schedule another meet and greet to try again. We are well aware of the reputation that Akitas have and if our dog embodied any of those characteristics, we wouldn’t have entertained the idea of socializing her. She is 3 years old, socialized, very good with other dogs and has never had ANY issues with any type of aggression. How is she to blame when the staff here didn’t follow the steps that they said they would be taking to ensure a proper introduction?

If this was how they handle the dogs during a meet and greet where they can acquire new customers, I can only imagine the shortcuts they take on the daily when they already...