hmbdoghouse — Local services in Half Moon Bay

Do not bring your pets here! Instead of addressing facts- this man lies. Our dog was not brought to him injured or with a nail problem. What an absurd reply that represents what you can expect here. 1- You did not know it was a nail problem until the night before we flew home- 5 days after the injury. Meanwhile I had to contact you every day instead of you letting us know how she was doing! You were belligerent in not answering questions- sending random photos instead & not addressing specific questions about her status. Treating it as if it was any regular visit, not a dog who had an injury with a worried family far away. I have the text thread readily available. I cannot share it here without permission. 2- You did not answer questions about what happened or what the injury was, nor provide requested photos of the paw or indicate care beyond initial wrap you sent photo of. You provided no reassurance or information. 3- You did not assure the status of her circulation or remove the wrap as I asked. 4- You did not get her to a vet as asked & told us you could not. Clearly you are not in a proper position to care for animals who need a vet if you cannot leave or get a vet when needed. We would not leave an animal in a situation like that- it is not reasonable not the basic care that is expected. 5- Instead of ever showing any concern or empathy, you were only difficult, evasive, & then resorted to lying as a reply here. You are not someone anyone should leave an animal with based on this experience. Original post: Experiences progressively declined over visits- to the last straw of Slav treating us & our dog so poorly we would never return. While bustling for a milestone family trip, we received a bloody nail photo within minutes of dropping off our dog. Slav didn’t provide explanation & was not helpful in answering questions as to what happened. Was she injured? How did this happen? Has the bleeding stopped? We texted we would stop back after we picked up our son. Slav encouraged us to continue on our trip, saying it would cause Daisy more anxiety if we stopped back to check on her. He sent a photo of Daisy’s wrapped paw. The wrap looked tight (I’m an RN) & I asked Slav if he could remove it soon for circulation & check the injury. Slav was dismissive of my concerns & told us -as we were boarding the airplane for international travel -that we could come & get our dog if we didn’t like it! This was unprecedented & appalling. We had no one who could go pick up our dog. I had to continually check in on Daisy from our trip as Slav did not provide sufficient update on how she was doing. His lack of concern & rudeness continued as he blew off my concerns with short, non descriptive replies. He had zero empathy for us or our dog. (Imagine my now building horror of having left her with this man!) He was not helpful at all in describing Daisy’s condition or reassuring our concerns. The same tattered wrap remained on in photos despite my asking him to unwrap it. Did he check the wound? Was it getting infected? He wouldn’t send me photos requested of the paw unwrapped. Slav stated he had other dogs so he could not get Daisy to any vet! This is a huge red flag- if a sitter cannot get your dog the care it needs when accident or illness occurs- they are not providing acceptable care. He indicated no prior experience or knowledge of Daisy’s injury type & we wanted her to get vet assessment as that was the basic. This was all so frustrating & upsetting that this daily ignorance & our worries for our dog all but ruined the long-awaited, rare family trip we had saved up for. Never mind all we had paid this man in full & in advance for our dog’s care. Daisy had never been happier to see us when we picked her up! We got her to the vet for care. There were no words of apology or...

After my original pet care plans fell through a few days before our 3 week trip, I contacted Slav. He was very responsive and we arranged a meet up the very next day. He answered all my questions and immediately made me feel comfortable leaving our 1.5 year old there for what would be by far the longest we have ever left our pup. Slav agreed to take her and the drop-off and pick-up process went smoothly. He sent pictures everyday and I could tell that HMB Dog House had quickly become her second home. I am very grateful to Slav for accommodating me at the last minute and I absolutely plan to leave our pup with Slav in the future when we go away.

This was the first time we had left her with a kennel or professional caregiver since we got her, and I was nervous. So many of the kennels have business models that require you to decide in advance how many times you want your dog to play per day or how many walks you want, etc. I wanted to find a professional that I could trust to use their own judgment and make sure our pup got everything she needed, and Slav was definitely that person. He is great with all the dogs and has set up a beautiful home-away-from-home for our loved ones. ...

We have boarded our dog Fay now a few times with Slava at the HMBDogHouse in Half Moon Bay. We have had really great experience with leaving her with Slava! He frequently takes the dogs for long walks and they can run freely in the house and the yard. If the weather is nice, the door to the yard is open most of the time and they can go in and out as they wish. Slava sends us pictures of Fay every day she stays there. She seems to be very happy and is always very excited to go to Slava’s house. It really looks to feel for her like a home away from home. And Slava always states that this is exactly what he wants to offer to the dogs he takes into his home. When we are on vacation, Fay is on vacation as well at Slava’s place! We only can say the best about Slava and we are very thankful that we found him to take care of our dog when we are out of town. It’s just great to be on vacation and you get daily pictures of your dog that show how happy they are at his place. We highly recommend Slava at the HMBDogHouse in Half Moon Bay if you would like to board your dog and are interested in finding a place for your dog that feels like a home away from home ! Thank...