Willow Pet Hotel — Attraction in Town of Babylon

I have had dogs my entire life and my last full time position was working in a doggie day care/kennel/grooming salon so I am really particular about where I leave my own dogs for day care or kennel. Willow Pet Hotel is an amazing place and right from my very first call through picking up my dogs from the kennel it has been a great experience. The first step for me was to call to see if I could stop in for a tour. They do allow you to come in for a tour within certain hours but with no appointment which is what I wanted to hear. I stopped in and met the owner Mark who was answering a phone call at the front desk when I went in. He personally gave me a complete tour of all areas of the kennel and day care, along with all the information I needed and answered every question and concern I had. The complex is very clean, staff is very professional and friendly and they even have an area for boarding your cat or other small pets which I was also able to tour. I was also happy that they require a list of shots, clean fecal test, flea treatment prior to going into the kennel, etc. It is a great way of knowing your dog won't bring any unwanted illness or fleas home with them!

Each dog has it's own larger private area with sleeping quarters (you cannot bring your pet's bedding for sanitary reasons - it is provided). The outside area for playing & day care is very clean, quite large and well staffed. They day I was there they were filling kids plastic swimming pools for the dogs to play and stay cool. There are many play structures which I didn't think my dogs would use, but the staff was posting daily photos of their day care on the Facebook page and I was surprised to see my dogs on the structures. I was impressed that they had daily postings and allowed me to call to check on them anytime while we were out of town. I selected one of the three kennel packages (their Luxury Package which is the middle package. It included 2 outings per day, 1 off leash play time, 1 courtyard stroll, toys in their room, bedtime biscuit and I selected to bring their own food which I pre-bagged in meal size baggies with their names on each bag).They also offer A la Cart extras such as a filled kong, etc. They also offer grooming (we selected bath and grooming the day we were bringing them home). I was very happy to have them so well cared for while we were out of town. When I picked them up they were bathed, well groomed, nails clipped, tails wagging, happy, healthy and excited to see me. All around it was an excellent place to leave them and we will be back when kennel is needed, but also will be back...

I dropped my dogs off for grooming and I am very unhappy. They were rude and they hurt my dogs.

I waited for over 20 minutes to drop my dogs off, while the receptionist and two workers talked about paperwork and ignored me, with the exception of telling me they would be with me shortly. When I picked the dogs up, I waited another 15 minutes to even be acknowledged. The receptionist was on the phone for some of time, rudely speaking to the person on the other line, before sharing the situation with a coworker. The coworker then picked up the phone to deal with the caller and lied, saying she didn't know what the call was about and manipulating the caller, all right in front of me.

When they finally brought me my dogs, one was bleeding from the tip of his ear. I asked what happened and got no response, but got to wait some more for the groomer to come talk about it. She said they noticed his ear had a scab and when they looked at it, it fell off and was bleeding. I asked them if they could put something on it to make it stop and they did. Part of me believed the story for a moment, until I saw my other dog.

When they brought my other dog out, they asked if he "smiles." I didn't understand what on earth they were talking about and said no. They explained because he showed his bottom teeth to them when they just took him out of the cage. He doesn't "smile." He must have been baring his teeth at them which he never does unless he feels very threatened. He's done this at a particular Petsmart we no longer frequent because of their poor treatment of the animals. When I arrived home, I realized he had a small bald spot and the skin was red with dark red dots from where they got too close with the buzzer and scraped and cut his skin.

And I'm supposed to believe they saw a scab on my other dog's ear that just "fell off when they looked at it"?????

If they were professionals, and that story were true, they would have explained the bleeding ear to me at pickup instead of waiting for me to ask about it, and they would have mentioned the buzzer incident with my other dog instead of just hoping I didn't notice it and went home.

These people are rude, unprofessional, and should really rethink their treatment of the animals in their care if they expect to stay...

I came alone one day to request a tour to board my puppy, (she had never been away from me for more than a couple hours) they only give a tour on certain days and hours, which I find a little sketchy. The staff was welcoming and polite and everything was very clean! The kennels were clean and the dogs looked a little wet, but I did come in on a day that was pouring, all the dogs were inside though. A young lady showing me around explained everything in detail, there are different packages to chose from, the basic come with 4 outings a day, no play time and extra charge so they can feed them the food that you bring, honestly I think that’s a little ridiculous and should be included in the price since all there doing is putting the food in a bowl it’s not like there providing the kibble. But they do provide this house food which is included in the price, the other packages are a little pricey and it includes some play time but since my puppy is not spayed she will not interact with other dogs. Check out is before 12pm If not there is a charge, and you cannot bring a bed or blanket because they will not be returned to you which I find odd, I wanted to bring her bed since it would remind her of home and make it easier for my puppy to adjust. I decided I was going to board her there. My fiancée shortly after heard from a close friend to ‘ whatever you do do not board your baby there’ he used to be an employee there and said a lot of dogs get sick, one even died, everyone leaves at 6 which mean the dogs are in the kennel the whole night unsupervised and sundays there in for like 3 hours to clean and leave, most dogs don’t even come out there kennels on Sunday. For a weird reason I had a bad feeling about this place too, my fiancée and I went on a Sunday morning to get another tour since he wasn’t with me the first time and the lady in the front stated that she could not give me a tour, that they don’t do tours in the weekend, how weird is that. They should provide a tour anytime when requested. If not it just indicates theres something to hide, This could really be a good boarding place, I guess I will never find out. There’s just a lot of things I don’t agree with and Willow Pet Hotel is maybe just not for me and my...