The Pet Station Country Club — Local services in Louisville

Recently I adopted a beautiful 1-year old poodle named Ludo. Ludo was one of those typical stories: surrendered to the shelter because he was “too much” for his elderly owner. There he was, terrified and without a home... so, I busted him out of dog jail. While Ludo was smart and picked up training very easily, it was clear that his biggest hurdle was socialization. Being outside of our home was an incredibly scary thing for him. The kind of scary that turns a fluffy goofball into a growling, barking, cowering in his own puddle of pee MESS. This is a big problem for me and my lifestyle. My dogs are my family, my life, and they go EVERYWHERE with me. And here’s where the wonderful Coach Carole enters the life of Ludo.

We set up our initial consult about a week after his adoption. The initial consult is FREE and is a chance for Carole to discuss your concerns about behavior and remedies. And we’re not talking a 10-minute convo; the consult was an hour. Carole discussed her balanced training method and tools, plus options for individual or group classes vs board and train options. We decided that due to my very busy schedule a “board and train” option would be the best for Ludo. This would allow him to get used to situations outside of the home, while learning skills to prepare him for the outside world. Carole was a wealth of knowledge and explained every aspect of her training methods. And I had PLENTY of questions. Full disclosure, I’m an emergency veterinarian, and I have seen the results of what happens when a trainer uses dangerous/non-balanced training methods. I’ve seen dogs that have ocular hemorrhage due to strangulation, fear aggression due to abusive trainers, even fearful reactions to seeing a collar or something that resembles a remote for an electric collar. I had my own reservations about using an electric collar, mainly due to my ignorance and seeing extreme examples of negative training methods. But Carole was very patient and explained their benefit. Knowing that she has dedicated her life to make dogs and their families happy and safe, I put my trust in her. And thankfully I did! Ever see a dog danced around when he sees the E-collar? Ludo does - bc it means fun and freedom! I don’t know how she’s done it, but he has a positive association with a device used for correction. Ludo stayed at the Pet Station for 3 weeks, in what I affectionately referred to as “Brunch Bootcamp”. I received photos, video, and email updates the whole time. At the end I had a 2-hour session with Carole to train me on how to use Ludo’s new skills. I was taught how to use all his equipment and how to effectively give him a correction and reward. We practiced his new skills and Carole provided helpful feedback to ensure I would be successful in continuing his progress. Carol even made a video explaining his new skills and how to give him commands so that I could reference it later. After our paired training session, I headed out to meet some friends for Ludo’s first brunch outing. A busy patio with lots of distractions, people, children, and other dogs…and he NAILED IT! He was calm and confident, no barking or fear induced puddles. Since his training Ludo has been able to enjoy the comfortable life of an included family member. I’ve even taken up some hiking (not my typical outing) to keep up with his off leash recall training. His recall is better than my older (well mannered) poodle. His training has added to my life and even encouraged me to pick up a healthy hiking habit. What a win! For anyone contemplating training for their dog I HIGHLY recommend Coach Carole. Her devotion to dogs and desire to ensure they are well adjusted members of the family is incredible. I wouldn’t trust anyone else with my dog’s education and happiness! Thanks, so much Carole for allowing Ludo to have a new...

I was really excited to bring my dog to the country club. My dog is 4, almost 5, and we have lived in Indianapolis and Chicago during her life. We just recently moved back to Louisville, my childhood home. We have been to doggie daycares in both cities and loved them! They worked wonderfully for us- she got to play all day with other dogs and burn off some energy, she was safe and I knew she was well taken care of while I was at work! I waited weeks for an opening at the country club without a real explanation or communication about their setup or what to expect. I finally had to reach out to them weeks in and then I got a response the next day- seemed like they forgot- go figure! When I took my dog for her evaluation, we were excited! However, when I picked her up and had the “after evaluation” chat, I was told they only get to play with other dogs TWO hours a day! I was in disbelief. What’s the point? The rest of the time she is just in a room by herself with bathroom breaks. I could easily just take her to the dog park after work and a walk before work and on my lunch… why only TWO hours? I dropped her off at 8am and picked her up around 5pm. She was there for 9 hours and spend 7 of those alone?? I felt awful for my girl. I was very nice when I explained I didn’t understand or like the setup and that other daycares we had been to, other than an hour for a “nap”, they got to play… the worker said she understood but they just have a different setup. I told her, it wasn’t what we were looking for and I really wish they would have communicated better prior to. To add insult to injury, I’ve never been charged for an “evaluation day”… they charged me close to $40! I was very unimpressed with the entire operation. It seems like just a way to make money off of people, not a real care for the animals… if you want more “care” for your dog (additional walks, playtime… etc.) you have to pay up charges. I couldn’t fathom. I paid $35/day at a very well reviewed doggy daycare in Indy and $45/day in Chicago for the best doggy daycare- it has a 2 year waiting list! For a doggy daycare in Louisville to have the audacity is crazy to me! I hope others are aware of the lack...

Best boarding facility in Louisville - hands down! We just boarded our two dogs for 10 days at the Pet Station, and every part of the experience was fantastic - for myself as the owner and for my dogs. After coming off a bad experience at another facility, we were very cautious about boarding our dogs again, and I personally had a lot of anxiety about leaving them for a long stay. From the moment we came to the Pet Station I knew it was the right place (and the right people!) to take care of my dogs. The facility is consciously designed, extremely clean, setup for varying pets' needs and paired with an amazing team of people that provided excellent service from start to finish. The indoor boarding area is NOT chain-link, and is setup to allow for a lot of dogs to be in one space w/out the chaos of a typical facility that is dog after dog kenneled in chain-link. Additionally they also had a suite option that allowed for our dogs to be together in a quieter part of the facility, which included the ability for us to video chat our dogs (pretty fancy, and so fun for our 2 year old daughter to say hi to her doggies while we were out of state) Our dogs are older (7 and 11) and have only been boarded one other time. My blue heeler often experiences separation anxiety and does not do well without us. This had lead me to be nervous about boarding them, but after the first few days of updates from the Pet Station, including emails and videos of my pups, I knew they were in good hands. And frankly, after their first trip to the mineral pool for a swim, and all the love they were getting from the boarding staff, I wondered if they were going to want to come home! The owners (who are present and involved in the daily operation of the business) have really established a true home-away from home for dogs and other pets. Their passion to provide excellent care for animals shines through in the way they run this business. The team that helped take care of our dogs went above and beyond, and took care of our pups better than we do ourselves (which is not easy to do, we spoil them!)

Thank you Pet Station Country Club - keep up the...