Smart Parke | Dog Boarding in Laguna & Orange County — Local services in Laguna Woods

⚠️ Please Read Before Boarding Your Dog at SmartPark Laguna Woods - SmartParke Deleted response in photos.

I’m posting this to share what happened to my dog, Grim, during a second recent stay at SmartPark Laguna Woods, and to warn other dog owners to be extremely cautious.

Before boarding, I had a detailed phone conversation with a manager named Grant. I explained that Grim is a high-energy dog who typically runs 2–6 miles a day. Grant specifically requested that Grim be dropped off medicated, I wasn't comfortable with this request but I needed to board him so I complied with his request. Grim is an intact male, and was not allowed to co mingle with the other dogs per their policy.

When I dropped Grim off, I gave clear instructions — multiple times — that he should only be handled by a strong male staff member due to his size and strength. Staff acknowledged this at check-in. Not one person during the check in process told me this request could not be met and there were 5 staff members at the check in desk.

The next day, I received a report saying Grim was “doing good,” but that he hadn’t eaten or gone to the bathroom.

When I returned for pickup on Sunday, I called ahead because my flight was delayed. I called again to let them know I landed and I would be right there to get Grim. When I arrived, I was told there had been a bite incident just five minutes earlier. He was taken out to get a fecal sample per my conversation with Grant 3 days after the incident. Weeks later, I was shown the video of the bite incident by Animal Control, which clearly showed two Smart Parke employees in the room and no real attempt to secure or safely handle Grim before things escalated. The handler involved in the incident blames Smart Parke leash policy for what happened in her write up of the incident. They are required to wrap the leash around their neck and side. When you slow the video down just like she stated in the report my dog's paws were tangled in the leash and he was trying to get away after being teased with what looks like a hotdog in the video.

When I was allowed to retrieve him myself, I found him in a dark, humid room and Grim smelled strongly of urine and feces all over his coat. He was panting heavily, with a dry mouth, and there was no visible water. His coat was filthy and smelled so bad it took several baths to clean him after only being there for 2 days.

When I asked who had authorized a female employee to handle him despite my clear instructions, a staff member confirmed that the male-only handling request had indeed been communicated.

Animal Control later reviewed the video and visited my home. This was my first opportunity to see what had actually happened.

For context: Grim has been with us for nine months. He’s around my wife, our two adult kids, and our two small dogs daily. He’s exercised regularly in public settings like beaches and bike trails and has never shown aggression toward people or other animals.

Based on everything I witnessed, I believe Grim’s behavior was the result of stress, confinement, improper handling, and unsafe environmental conditions— not aggression or temperament.

This experience was heartbreaking, completely preventable and has cost me tens of thousands of dollars to save his life from OCAC. They tried to terminate his life while keeping him from us for 43 days and Smart Parks employees lied to try and cover their ass... but documentation shows otherwise.

If you’re considering boarding your dog at SmartPark Laguna Woods, please reconsider or at least ask serious questions about their staff training, handling procedures, and care standards.

No pet should have to go through what Grim did.

In response to Smart Parke's deleted comment... Thank you for finally admiting there was a hot dog in the video (for giving medicine only as outlined in the medication documentation) How was it used to "Encourage Grim to relieve himself for a fecal sample"? Smart Park was not able to provide the first 5 minutes of the video to show how he was being "encouraged"...

July 2025 I was curious about how this location was doing as my family will be needing to board our dogs later this summer, and I was deeply disappointed to see that another multi-dog family had similar experiences to my pups last year where dog collars were mixed up during intake and THE WRONG DOG RECEIVED MEDICATION during their stay.

My biggest concern during my dogs' last visit in summer 2024 was about the fact that mislabeled dogs could lead to disaster if medications/medicated diets are involved. The team lead assured me that they would be refreshing the staff about intake protocols, but it is clear that the refresher did not last.

I will never consider this facility again for my dogs.

Aug 20, 2024 I appreciated that the SP management reached out to me to discuss my concern (the mislabeling of the dogs, not necessarily their lunches) with their most recent stay. The team sounds like they will refresh on the importance of appropriate name collars for each visiting dog to hopefully avoid this kind of mixup from happening again.

UPDATE Aug 17, 2024 My two dogs stayed for another day of private daycare and while it seemed like they felt more comfortable this time around (yay!), the staff had mislabeled them. The employee helping with their discharge was unable to clarify if they were fed each other's lunch meal as a consequence.

Thankfully for my dogs it shouldn't be a big deal, but this type of error feels very unprofessional given the reputation and prestige of this boarding facility. Each dog's information (name, breed, color, weight, etc) should be in their file in addition to the veterinary records I shared for each of my dogs in order to daycare/board at this facility.

If a mixup of this kind involved dogs taking medication/prescription diets, it could have led to something serious. I'm hoping that Smart Parke management can do something to avoid this kind of error moving forward. If this mistake had occurred in a grooming salon or even worse at a vet clinic, people would be freaking out 😬

Original review I have been able to use Smart Parke a couple of times for my two dogs - 1 time private boarding and 1 time private daycare.

During their initial Evaluation, it was quickly confirmed that my dogs did not do well with the other dogs and the staff was very kind explaining that they were still welcome to come as "private" dog guests where my pups could play and board with just each other.

While they stayed at SP for boarding over a few nights, I received mini reports at the end of the day for each of them about how my dogs did along with a ~10 second clip of them playing in the outdoor yards.

It was great being able to check into the webcam every once in a while to watch them resting, but the angle of the camera wasn't ideal and most of the dog suite was cut from view. When I asked someone over the phone about changing the camera position, I was told that the cameras are anchored in place and cannot be readjusted.

The staff was sweet and handled my dogs well again for their most recent private daycare visit. I was, however, very shocked at the final payment for their 6-hour stay for daycare (regular price being closer to $40 per dog and private boarding $100 per dog).

I called SM after checking out and asked to confirm that this was the normal price for private daycare as another employee had led me to believe that it would be just a bit higher than the group daycare daily fee (not over double!) The lady who answered my questions was polite and explained that since the dogs are private dogs, the facility needed to set aside a room per dog - as if they were taking up a spot for a boarding pet. It makes sense, but I definitely wish SP had been clearer about the private daycare rates ahead of time.

Overall, it's a well run facility and the staff does what they can to make the pets comfortable. It's beautiful and expensive. And while I can't see myself using them every time we need daycare/boarding, the ability to call and check in on them with the...

We DO NOT recommend Smarte Parke for pet boarding. We had a terrible experience with boarding our dog. If we could give a negative star rating we would. Our dog was supposed to receive a bath and nail trim prior to pick up. When we arrived to pick up our dog, the staff brought her out and she was soaking wet and smelled like a combo of sour milk and urine. The staff explained that she was just bathed but didn’t have time to dry her. The dog had a massive hot spot on her chest, nails weren’t trimmed and the staff was adamant that all had been competed and dismissive of our concerns. The dog was also very skittish and shaking when we picked her up, definitely not the personality of our high energy golden retriever. We brought our dog home and gave her a bath where the water was absolutely filthy, proving our dog had never been bathed while at Smarte Parke. We will never use their services again and could not recommend them to anyone!

This is in response to the completely inaccurate response provided by the owner that was never available to speak with regarding our incident. We were told we could only speak to the manager of Smart Parke, Sahar. Your completely inaccurate and misleading response is only an attempt to cover up a well founded BAD review from perspective clients that should never subject their animals to the neglect this staff provided.

This is the communication provided to the owner, who never bothered to reach out to us directly.

Smart Parke Incident Greg, I wanted to take the time to reach out to you directly regarding an unfortunate incident that took place a few weeks ago as a result of our dog staying at your Aliso Viejo Smart Park facility. We brought our 14 year old Golden Retriever in for boarding Jun 10 - June 14. When we picked up our dog we noticed that she was panting excessively and smelled horribly. She was supposed to be bathed and nails trimmed prior to pick up. We called in advance letting the staff know we would pick her up after she had her bath. She was clearly not bathed or nails trimmed and worse she was in physical distress. We ended up taking our dog to the animal ER for treatment, where she was diagnosed with heat exhaustion, dehydration, hot spots that were infected under her coat and excessively elevated blood work. The elevated blood work was due to the staff at Smart Parke not giving our dog her medication as instructed when she was dropped off. The meds were in individual AM/PM pouches for easy dispensing and still not given. We had to keep our dog in the pet ER for two days to become stable before we could bring her home. After paying the $3000 bill and picking up many prescribed meds, she is finally starting to get better. I complained to the Smart Parke manager, Sahar Shishavi and she informed me that she was sorry that we weren't a fit for Smart Parke and that we could no longer use the facilities. This was an unacceptable response as you would agree if you were the one complaining. I also asked to speak to the owner and I was told that I could only speak to Sarah. I'm very disappointed in the lack of care and neglect my dog received while in the care of Smart Parke and the ridiculous response provided by the manager. I would like to ensure that you as the owner review the staff's training, SOPs and ability to handle the signs and symptoms of animals in distress. We will definitely not be using the services of Smart Parke, that was a one time experience we can't afford to repeat. We will also ensure that vets, dog owners and prospective clients become aware of the significant challenges present at Smart Parke and carefully think about other options for boarding. I'm available to provide additional details if you choose to engage in a...