Bark Public House — Attraction in Nashville-Davidson

We recently moved here from NC where our dog went to daycare all the time and loved it. I’ll say ‘we are going to daycare’ and she jumps up and runs around and follows me until we get to the door. She LOVES daycare, she loves people, she loves other dogs. I’ve been looking for a new place for her out here. I found one I love but it’s 45 min away and that’s without traffic so there have been times when it took over an hour to get home. I started to look for places closer by and found this one. I signed our dog up for her first day evaluation. When you pull into the parking lot it’s a pay to park lot. I drove around thinking there’s no way they don’t have at least one spot reserved for drop offs and pick ups. They did not. So you either have to pay or run the risk of possibly getting a ticket while you’re inside. As I was walking our dog up the steps the smell of pee hit me. It just smells so gross and dirty. The other places she has been have been very clean, the one that’s she’s been going to out here is pristine. My old neighbors have a franchise of it in NC and the cleaning they do daily for that place is unreal. Anyway, im not used to bringing her to a place that sticks so for a second I thought about just turning around and going home but I felt I was maybe over reacting. So I dropped her off. They sent me a text after about 4 hours letting me know she passed her evaluation. They mentioned she was shy for the first hour. When i picked her up they mentioned again that she was super shy but this time the guy said almost 2 hours. It’s weird because she’s been to daycare before and she’s never not played or been shy. I’ve never known her to be shy ever. So idk what was going on. She does get scared by loud noises so maybe being downtown was too much for her. Something that really annoyed me was when I was there to pick her up. Like I said, she loves people, so something she did at her NC daycare and something she does at the other daycare here is she likes to say bye to the humans there. so she might run behind the desk or just wherever they are and get one last pet from them before she goes. This guy comes from the back with her. They come from behind the desk anyway so as he was walking her to me she tried to go to the girl working there to say hi. He was kind of mean to my dog and called her name in a really stern tone a couple times and pulled the leash a bit and wouldn’t let her see the other worker right away. I said ohhh she’s just trying to say bye to her friend kind of trying to let him know I don’t care if she wants to say hi. So idk if he thought I was in a hurry and he was trying to rush her to me or what that was about but I didn’t like it and the thought of anyone being mean to her was upsetting. I was thinking what if he was mean to her while she was here this whole time? Maybe she was shy because she was scared of him. I have no idea. Between that and the other stuff that I decided I won’t be bringing her back here. I’ll just keep bringing her to the other place until I find...

This place does not care about the needs of your dog. We wanted this place to work out because of the location is super convenient. They give 5 free days per new dog so thank goodness we didn’t pay for this mess. To start, I have 2 dogs who are very attached to each other. They love to play with other dogs, but they have to be within sight of each other. The first day, there were no issues (I’m guessing now it was because there were very few dogs that day and they were all kept together). The second day, they were separated in different sections. We were genuinely curious because this never happened at other places to dogs from the same family. We called and spoke with Angie and explained that they get very stressed out to the point of sickness if they are not together. She said it was not a problem at all and so they were put together. Day 3, they were separated again. My fiancé called while I was with him and spoke with Angie again. She apologized and explained that the person working was just starting the week, so they just didn’t know. She said that it was no problem at all that they get put together. After we hung up, we saw (on the live web cam) her walk to the back to tell the person back there and we could very clearly tell that they were upset and talking bad about us. But they were put back together. They were so happy, and we watched them play with each other instead of being stressed. Then... they were separated shortly after. That’s when I dropped everything and went to pick them up early. When I arrived, I was told that it was corporate policy that they separate dogs, but that my dogs had a “great time” separated. Wrong, we watched the camera the entire day. And have screenshots and screen recordings of them trying to jump to each other with the divider in between. And they didn’t play with any other dogs until they were put together. When they were so tired from jumping, they were laying right beside each other with the divider between. Also, no one there seems to know why they separate dogs, one person says because of age, one says it’s because of size, another says it depends on who likes to play. Then the person from the back that was first told we called came out and accused my fiancé of demanding our dogs get put together when that never happened. I was with my fiancé when he called, and he was extremely polite. Again, we were just confused because we were told differently on the phone by Angie, twice. We hate to see how they treat other dogs that have needs because it’s probably against their corporate policy, yikes. There are many other places in town that are trustworthy and truly care about your dog...

Does my dog like day care more than home? Yes, yes she does. My dog has been coming to Bark Public for about two years, and I'd like to say she thinks of it as "home away from home," but in all honesty, the moment I say the words "day care," she is at the door holding her own leash, amped and ready to go. The entire team at Bark Public is so completely over-the-top wonderful that it's easy to see why she loves it SO much. She's so much better socialized than most dogs, both with people and other pets, and she has no fear of getting in the car or going anywhere. Honestly I attribute this to how much fun she always has at the best doggie daycare in Nashville.

Also, because she's so comfortable here, I have boarded her rather than gotten a house sitter (who wants someone else putting their spoons away in the wrong drawer and using their $50 shampoo, right?). It's been such a blessing and lifesaver to be able to leave her for a night or two when I have a weekend away or an event in town, and I've even boarded her for two weeks when I've been away on longer trips. She's always been healthy, well-loved, and happy as can be when I return.

I will forever love Bark Public and everyone who works there for being SO kind, warm, and helpful when it comes to being my dog's preferred place to be....