Dogtopia of Montgomery — Attraction in Montgomery Township

Despite the otherwise positive reviews of Dogtopia, I unfortunately had a poor experience boarding my dog with them. Poor planning on my part led me to have to find a new dog boarding option last-minute for the Saturday night of Memorial Day Weekend 2 Fridays earlier (8 days earlier). Thankfully, I called Dogtopia and they informed me they would have availability and that all I would need to do is upload my pup's vaccine forms and bring him in for a meet and greet. I promptly uploaded the vaccine forms, and booked the meet & greet the following Wednesday, but then on Wednesday was informed that I needed to leave my pup again on Thursday to acclimate him to the environment. That was a bit of a nuisance as I didn't plan to leave him there on a work day, but it was okay. Then, after leaving my pup there on Thursday, I received a call from Dogtopia that my pup required a flu vaccine 48 hours before he boarded, so I had to literally pick him up from daycare and scramble once again during work hours to find a walk-in vet to get his flu vaccine. Even though Dogtopia had my vaccine records for at least 3 days by then, I wasn't informed until day of. Despite that, I was able to make it work and was just happy to board my puppy. But then I found out I couldn't board my puppy for only Saturday night because they were closed on Sunday, and so I had to board him through Monday night. Again, I understand businesses may close on certain days over the long weekend, but this hadn't been communicated to me clearly at any point during the week I had been working with them. It was especially unfortunate as my wife's birthday was on Sunday so she didn't get to spend it with our pup. So my initial plan of paying for daycare and overnight boarding doubled, or so I thought, because I was required to put my pup in daycare and boarding all of Sunday, and even though there are coaches on premise, I was not allowed to pick him up Sunday as none of the front staff was working. Finally, I still boarded my pup, and even though the promised 24/7 webcams malfunctioned 50+% of the time, my pup seemed happy when I went to pick him up Monday morning. What ensued was the straw that broke the camel's back - I had provided 6 individual bags of food for my pup as he eats 3 meals a day and I left him for 2 full days. However, I was given back 2 unopened bags of food at pickup.. He's boarded before at many other locations (public facilities and houses), and has never not ate. I spent a week calling Dogtopia to try to understand what happened. Again, I could have understood if perhaps they forgot he eats lunch or owned up to it. After 3 calls over 5 days, the only response I got was that they "were looking into it" while only confirming they forgot to give him his first lunch (I had dropped him off at 11am Saturday and said he needs lunch, but they didn't feed him). They claim their coaches fed him, but I still was left with 2 unopened bags of his food, despite their manager promising to reach out to me to clarify. The lack of follow up and accountability was a huge red flag. The final cherry on top is that they informed me at pickup that I would actually have to pay for Monday's daycare. Even though I went right away on Monday morning when they opened (9am sharp) to pick my puppy up, I was charged for a half day because they charge from 6am. So I was charged for Sunday's daycare, boarding, and Monday daycare by the end when I simply just wanted to board him Saturday night in the first place. They refunded the Monday daycare charge (against policy) after discussions.

Update: I was finally able to speak with the manager and while the above went incorrectly, I provided the following feedback that should hopefully make other customer experiences better: provide estimated invoice upfront to avoid payment confusion and ensure customer understands dates of service clearly indicate upfront meet&greet PLUS extra 1-2 daycare requirement before boarding as well as other vaccination requirements ensure staff is aware of meal frequency and logs...

We recently moved to the area, and had a stellar year experience with our previous Dogtopia. Unfortunately can't give this place a high review. Our dog did boarding here a few times in the Toybox. Unfortunately, we saw a male worker hold another dog up by the collar choking it, while berating it with a pointed finger. Literally saw a switch happen with him, and it was super disturbing to say the least! Not what you want to see while away. We had previously watched him during other boardings -- he was constantly on his phone, and never interacted with the dogs, including not having water for them. Everyone else who worked inside the Toybox was completely different, very kind with the dogs, attentive and present, so there was a marked difference. When we brought this up three times, the manager was super excusing, calling the abuse incident an "alleged" and "supposed" occurrence (despite my fiance and I both seeing it over footage -- we know what we saw and there's no excuse for handling a dog that way). The supervisor was also incredibly patronizing. We'll be reporting them to Dogtopia headquarters.

In response to the owner: As I stated in my email to you, my partner and I saw your employee in the Toybox lift a brown fluffy dog by the collar from the ground, which would result in choking, while pointing and yelling at said dog. I have also asked for the footage to be sent to me, which you have not done. I'm sorry that you feel it's too "extreme" but we know what we saw and we also respectfully disagree. You keep alluding to "corrective action" while not specifying exactly what that means, and because your supervisor or manager immediately removed authorization for us for the Dogtopia Montgomery site after we picked up our dog, I cannot see on the video if the employee is still employed, nor can I review your establishment there. The amount of distress this has caused us and the dog that was choked, was absolutely surreal. That's great that you donate and volunteer, but that has nothing to do with this situation, nor does it negate what your employee did, as well as your supervisor and manager repeatedly lying and condescending to us, as well as withholding information from you, that you yourself said you were shocked by over the phone with my partner. Your establishment certainly has very toxic employees in the managerial positions. The way you're speaking in this review versus how you talked over the phone is quite telling, but I suppose you're doing everything you can to damage control and keep up appearances. Update: Owner emailed me stating this: "I am truly sorry and will not reach out again. Just wanted to let you know the person in question is no longer working for us. And many strong corrections and changes have taken place and new systems are underway.

Thank...

Edit: Please practice caution when using this Dogtopia location. Due to the turnover there is currently a lack of experienced staff. This has lead to an incident with our puppy where she was injured during play. While this was expected, we were not informed of until several hours after it had occurred. It was deemed it was not a reportable incident. Which is a decision I should make as the owner, not the staff. Meanwhile when I picked her up, there's was dried blood at the site of the injury. This all leads me to believe that the staff is not currently capable of managing the daycare. Please proceed with caution enrolling at this location.

Original: As first time dog owners, we've been quite picky about where to send our female Doberman puppy. We decided to do a meet and greet here. The team couldn't have been any more welcoming and were super excited to meet our pup. After returning to pick her up, you could tell she was exhausted from having a ton of fun. If you're looking for a trustworthy place that your dog will love, give this...