Central Bark Gurnee — Local services in Gurnee

I've been taking my two dogs, Harley and Schatzi, to Central Bark Gurnee for a month. Harley is a 4 year old YorkiPoo and Schatzi is a 2 year old Dachshund. Schatzi goes to day care 4 days per week and Harley 2 days per week. Before I signed them up for day care at the Bark I met with the owner, Layne. He gave me a tour of the facility and answered all of my questions. The facility is very nice and there's lots of room for play inside and outside. Layne has a wall in the front office with pictures of all the dogs who regularly attend day care. I normally drop the dogs off as soon as they open in the morning, sometimes a few minutes early, and Layne is always there. He is extremely professional and it's obvious that he cares deeply about every dog in his care. He's a stand up guy. The girls on his staff are very friendly and love dogs. I feel comfortable leaving my dogs with Layne and his staff. My favorite thing about the Bark is that they post pictures of the dogs on Facebook every day. There's normally between 30 and 80 pictures that are posted each day to Facebook so you know your dog had a great time. The other thing I love about the Bark is how tired my dogs are when they come home. They are absolutely exhausted and I know they played all day and had fun. If you're looking for a new day care or you're taking your dog to day care for the first time, your dog will be well taken care of and have the best time...

I brought my dog in for a grooming and when we got him back he was completely shaved down to the skin. My poor puppy even had cuts from being cut too short. The little hair he did have left on his paws and ears were uneven and horribly butchered. I didn’t discover all the cuts and nicks till I got him home. I proceeded to call and was told I could bring the dog back for it to be fixed. How can you fix a dog with no hair. I asked to speak to the manager. When he never called me back, I called back on another day and got him. He said he did not notice the cuts on the dog and he had had a little matting in a couple spots so the groomer decided to shave him down! The owner was not concerned about all the cuts on my dogs face or body or the botched shave down that wasn’t even done properly... it had stray long clumps of hair all around. The owner told me he could not compensate me and there’s nothing he could really do! Really?? I find this to be horrible customer service . Why not offer the next grooming to be free? Maybe half price? I will not be returning to this establishment ever again. Save yourself 85.00 and take your dog somewhere that has a professional groomer and good...

Doc and Jo love Central Bark and so do I!!! Jo used to be very unsure of strange dogs to the point where I didn’t think she would ever have a positive and confident interaction with another dog besides Doc. She got rejected from group training and a daycare before they even gave her a chance when my vet recommended I take her to Central Bark. Layne didn’t make me feel like a bad dog mom and was SO reassuring! And sure enough Jo immediately started breaking out of her shell with her daycare friends and I have noticed she is less reactive when we see strange dogs and people in public. After a few times of going on her own my old man Doc decided he wanted to go too. They get excited to go to daycare and sleep the entire night away when they get home. The staff is so friendly and passionate about what they do....