Camp Run-A-Mutt Gainesville — Local services in Gainesville

Edit 2/2: Since the timing of my review seems to be a concern, I’ll clarify. After Maeve’s stay, I decided that communal boarding was not the right fit for us. A recent trip left me scrambling to find boarding and reminded me of our experience (and how I wish I felt comfortable with facilities like this). After reviewing the photos and videos from 2023, I decided to share our experience. While I appreciate the business responding, their focus appears to be more on the timing of my review than on the substance of the concerns. Even if I had reached out at the time, it would not have changed our experience nor would I have been comfortable with any explanation, as it seems we have different views on what’s acceptable. My intent here is to share information transparently so that others can make informed decisions for their pets.

Edit 1/2: I’ve added a photo showing the date they were taken in response to the owner. I also figured out how to add videos so I’ve added those as well. And again, there’s no reason for one dog to be restrained in an area with 20+ off leash dogs. Several of them were herding her around the yard, which isn’t an inherently negative behavior, but the point is how this can make the restrained dog feel vulnerable and potentially display fear-based behaviors.

My dog, Maeve, stayed at Camp-Run-A-Mutt in 2023. I hate leaving bad reviews so I chose not to but recently came across the video I took of her when we got back home after her stay (of which I’ve attached screenshots). There are a lot of positive reviews for this business, and it makes me wonder if anyone else has had a bad experience and also chose not to say anything. I’m not looking for any response from the business, I just want to put the situation out there for people to consider when booking a stay for their dogs.

I saw a sore under her chin the day she got home from her stay. It looked so bad in person that I initially thought maybe another dog had bitten her. But I remembered there were a couple of times I checked the cameras and saw her itching under her chin and just didn’t think much about it at the time. She must have been allergic to something on site, but that’s not the issue. She was supposed to get a bath on her on her last day (which I paid extra for), and I’d assume someone would’ve seen it and notified me if she was bathed (or bathed properly). So the thought that she was neglected enough for no one to take note of her constantly itching enough to cause a wound like that, for the sore to not be noticed at all, and them taking my money and not bathing her (or she was bathed and someone saw the sore and chose to not tell me - I’m not sure which is worse) put such a bad taste in my mouth.

I also have a video recording of one of the live streams where Maeve is the only dog on a leash out of ~30 dogs. The worker was walking her around the yard and visibly tugging on the leash to make her walk. If you know anything about dog behavior, one dog being restrained and the rest being free causes anxiety in the restrained dog. They was tugging on her when she was visibly cowering because she was anxious. I have no idea why she was leashed but I can say for an absolute fact that she doesn’t have a mean bone in her body to have caused an issue to warrant that. I have a problematic dog, bless his heart, and she is not that. And even if something did happen, remove her from the area and call me. In the video, the worker eventually takes the leash off of her, she walks over to the fence line and gets pushed against the fence and bullied by another dog RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE WORKER and they didn’t react at all. I included a series of screenshots of this since Google isn’t allowing me to add a video.

This review is not a dig at the owners of the facility, because I imagine it’s difficult to manage a business like this and stay on top of everything. But due to our experience with the staff at the time, it wasn’t worth returning or even making a huff about it with them because it wasn’t going to change...

We can’t say enough about Camp Run a Mutt!

Our dogs previously went to another local doggie day camp which was going fairly well, but the staffing started to change and we could tell the new staff were not well trained, most were there just for a job (not a job they wanted), and the leadership was changing to one of business over safety and well-being. We started to look at another popular place, but noticed that our dogs would be in kennels for a lot of the day and we would pay for sessions of play time per day. We certainly weren’t interested in sending our dogs to camp for the day to get socialization, exercise, and cuddles, just for them to spend half the day in a kennel.

Then as luck would have it, Camp Run a Mutt was opening just around this time! Our dogs went for a trial day and our brave dog went right back and had a great time. Our other dog (big goofy dog, basically Scooby Doo) was nervous and unsure so one of the owners got down on the floor with him and let him get to know her slowly. She suggested we bring him back at another time when it was slower so he could see the facility when it was quiet, then he could meet the dogs. When he went back a couple days later and went outside, he saw the waterfall and that was that!

What impressed us so much about CRAM was their attitude of wellbeing/work environment/dog safety even if sometimes that came before business. They are true dog lovers and have gone way out of their way to help with several lost dog rescues, and donated their time and supplies to helping rescue pups.

I have always been extremely critical of those that care for my animals and have never boarded my dogs. We decided to try boarding at CRAM because we trusted them so much and it was wonderful! Our two younger dogs love to sleep in their crates but they turned out to love the sleep over vacation at camp where they cuddled with their buddies all night.

Highly recommend at least trying the trial day at Camp Run a Mutt. Your pup will get to know lots of new dog friends and human friends who work to get to know their personality so they can have the best...

We loved Camp run a Mutt when we left our dog Scarlett for a week while we were out of the state. We loved the fact that we could watch her on the dog cams while away and that she would be able to play with other dogs freely. On the day of pick up, I spoke with Mike about my arrival time to give him a heads up. Mike was always great. When we came in to pick up Scarlett it was almost closing time and the young lady checking us out informed me that her eye allergies were acting up and that that was why her eye was so red and swollen. Her allergies never cause those symptoms. When we got home we realized how horrible her eye had gotten (red, swollen, almost closed shut and with fluid coming out of the eye) and knew something was seriously wrong. We rushed her to the animal hospital and were told that she had an injury to her left eye and that if we had waited any longer, it could've gotten infected and she could've lost her eye! WHAT!!!??? WHY WERENT WE INFORMED WHEN THIS HAPPENED? HOW MANY DAYS HAD SHE BEEN SUFFERING LIKE THIS!?? I understand that these things can happen but why lie to me and tell me it was her allergies and not that she had gotten hurt!? If we would'nt've listened to our gut instincts, she could have lost her eye! Now Scarlett is taking a whole slew of medicines, wearing a cone and will need several follow up vidits in order to correct the problem and after several hundred dollars spent at the animal hospital all I can say is that I'm super disappointed in the way that run a mutt handled this situation. Everything else was great. But when you don't let us know something happened and pretend the injury is actually allergies acting up, that is unacceptable. For this reason, we'll never...