Barking Hound Village Old 4th Ward — Local services in Atlanta

I will not be returning here again. The lack of communication, professionalism, and honest neglect of my dog was unacceptable.

I had my dog Kipper stay here for the first time for 6 days after being referred by my boyfriend who went to their old Barking Hound location for a few years now. I guess with the recently updated location, they also changed management, because this visit did not meet either one of our expectations and resulted in my dog walking out bleeding.

I went out of state with my boyfriend for a festival, and we opted to save some money by having my large dog and his small dog share a room. Throughout their stay, I got zero updates sent to mine or my boyfriend's email about my dog, so on the second day I called and spoke to the manager who assured me that she would upload photos and that Kipper was doing well. That never ended up happening.

My boyfriend reached out and emailed them, and got no response. He tried calling them the following day, and again, no response. The lack of follow up and their hard to use portal increased my anxiety about Kipper's wellbeing, and my boyfriend felt very frustrated with the way management was choosing to handle it.

When we went to pick them up, management didn't seem to remember us speaking on the phone with her, but assured me she took "so many photos of Kipper," which I never saw. She brushed off our concerns and did not offer any sort of refund or discount or even an apology, just that "we'll do better next time."

We had opted to have our dogs bathed when we had dropped them off, and when they came out, they were still damp, and when she handed his leash to me, I saw Kipper's foot was covered in blood. I pointed it out, and the manager goes "Oh! The groomer's must have cut it too short!" And proceeded to grab Kippers leg at an unnatural angle and pulled it up towards herself while he tried to pull away from her. She tells me "oh the blood has dried up," which was not the truth. He was leaving paw prints behind him and continued to bleed in my car.

I've tried trimming my dog's nails before and have cut it close on accident, it happens, but I'm not a trained professional, and he definitely wasn't bleeding as much as he was this time. I found it unacceptable that this wasn't disclosed or even noticed by the manager and I was the one who pointed it out. Accidents happen, and if she had brought it up when we got there, I would have been a bit more understanding, but with me being the one to point it out, it just made our whole experience feel even more unprofessional than before we arrived.

We had been driving for 8 hours before picking up our dogs, so I wasn't in the mood to get upset or argue about the treatment of my dog in front of other customers waiting to pick up their dogs, but we will not be coming back here or referring anybody...

Absolutely Do Not Recommend – Serious Safety & Communication Failures

I feel an obligation to share my experience with Barking Hound Village on North Avenue, as a warning to any pet parent considering this facility.

My 5-year-old pup, who is typically social and passed their “compatibility day,” was boarded here over a long weekend while I was out of town. I even opted to pay extra — $75 per night — for the “Presidential Suite,” thinking it would provide him with more comfort and care. Unfortunately, what followed was an unacceptable series of events that left me deeply concerned for the safety and well-being of pets in their care.

Two days into his stay, I was informed via email only that my dog had been bitten by another dog on his ear — allegedly because he “barked” at the other dog. Let that sink in: a dog was bitten for barking… at a facility called Barking Hound. Not only was this an alarming incident, but their handling of it was even worse.

I was across the country with limited phone access, and my voicemail happened to be full. Instead of trying to reach me again or — more importantly — contacting the emergency contact I had provided, they did absolutely nothing. My emergency contact could have picked him up immediately. Instead, my dog was left in their care, and they continued to charge for his stay.

When I called to follow up, the manager I spoke with was dismissive and offered a hollow apology. When I asked if the dog that bit mine would be banned, I was told that they only consider banning a dog if another dog’s ear is completely bitten off. Let that sink in.

To make matters worse, I was told that staff on-site didn’t know the emergency protocol or how to contact emergency contacts — yet they were entrusted to be alone with dogs? That’s terrifying.

Since picking him up, my dog has vomited six times in twelve hours — something they failed to mention. Whether this is stress, illness, or something else, I was never informed of any symptoms during his stay.

This facility is undertrained, unprofessional, and unprepared for emergencies. They failed my dog on multiple levels — from safety to communication to basic care. I would never entrust them with my pet again and strongly urge others to look elsewhere.

Your dog deserves to be safe. Barking Hound Village showed me they are not equipped to...

Stunned to be writing this review but here I am. I have spent tens of thousands of dollars at Barking Hound Village Lofts over the years between my 2 large active breed pups. As they aged out of daycare I stopped using BHV's services. Since then they have downgraded locations and fallen under new ownership.

Earlier this week I called to set up a trial day with my new pup. I shared his back story, he's a hound dog I saved from being euthanized in a rural kill shelter. We've been going to the dog park daily where he is very relaxed. He has no reactivity and has been a wonderful guy ever since I rescued him.

Tuesday I dropped him off at the mandatory 8:30am time for a trial day. The guy at the front desk when we entered hardly acknowledged us. He seemed like one of those awkward people who are better with dogs and should never be customer facing. Another girl finally came back to get him and he happily trotted back with her. They advised that he needed to stay until at least 4pm.

I checked their webcams off and on all day long. I only saw him in their "yard" once- which is really just a colorful indoor prison. He was in there with one other dog while a staff member stood at the other side of the room ignoring him. He went back and forth between sadly sitting down and jumping up trying to leave. Since I know he's relaxed and friendly with other dogs I hoped I had missed more positive interactions on their cams, but I genuinely don't think he ever even got a chance to play with the other dogs in a group.

Later that day I got a call from Lexi, who sounded like a stoned high schooler, saying he had "failed" his trial. That he was "anxious and barking most of the day and this wasn't his vibe". It is clear to me that no one works there who actually understands or cares about dog behaviourism. I'm sure he thought he was back at the shelter, the slightest bit of positive reinforcement would have gone a long way. Forcing a dog from that background to do an 8 hour day there is a horrible policy that does not have the needs of the dogs in mind. I told them I wished they had called me earlier to come get him when they realized how anxious he was but she said they don't do that.

So the ultimate irony is my dog was rejected for being a literal...