Playground Pups — Local services in New York

I can’t say enough good things about this place. My dog (Oscar) and I just moved here from Minnesota in January. I visited several potential boarding places in Manhattan and researched many more online before taking the anxiety-ridden plunge of leaving Oscar at Playground Pups for eight nights over this past week. It was the longest I’ve ever left him anywhere (which most certainly bothered me more than him … haha), and it was a new place in a new city, etc. Yikes! So here’s the thing — About two days into his stay, Oscar had an unexpected medical issue come up. But instead of that shooting my anxiety through the roof, I was immediately put at ease by how wonderfully they handled the issue and handled him. Normally one doesn’t have (because they shouldn’t need) contact multiple times a day with the place they are boarding their pets. In this case, I got phone calls, emails, and photos constantly that reassured me that he was not only safe and doing just fine, but that also showed just how professional the entire staff is and how much they care about the animals in their care. While it’s never fun for your dog to have a medical issue when you aren’t around, in a way I’m almost glad it happened, because it answered the unspoken fear we all have about whether or not everything is going to be okay if something goes wrong for your pet while you are away. In the case of Playground Pets, the answer is that your dog is absolutely in good hands. Plus, it seemed obvious from the photos they sent that Oscar had a good time while he was there. I have already booked his next stay when I’m gone for a week again in June. These...

Mabel, our chocolate lab really loves it here. After her sister passed away this year she was extremely depressed. We started bringing her for just 1/2 days visits to see if the interactions would help. She came home happy and exhausted. Mabel tends to be more of a people person but at playground pups she happily plays about with both humans and poochies!

Since our initial visits, we have graduated to full play days and boarding.

The staff is also quick to inform you of any issues. Mabel started an UTI when she boarded last (she has an inverted hoohaa since birth and vets are surprised she does not get more UTI’s to be honest) The staff wasted no time contacting us and asking us if we wanted them to quickly run her to the vet. They had her there, tested, back and started medication very quickly. We were so thankful! By the time we picked her up a few days later we could tell she was well loved, and on the mend.

As a dog mom I am always happy when I find a place that makes my poochie happy and when I travel I trust she is getting a good boarding experience also. Mabel gets so excited when we walk towards Playground Pups, and when we make the turn on Amsterdam - she knows it is going to be a good time for her.

Thank you...

I dropped my Black Lab off there for 4 days while I was out of town. In order to be accepted, they made me pay $30 to drop the dog off for a few hours to see how it behaved. That is ridiculous, but fine... They promised to walk the dog twice a day, and to feed it the special food that I gave to them. When I picked the dog up in acted like it hadn't been out in days, and went to the bathroom several times on the sidewalk, as if it hadn't been walked in at least 12 hours. Mind you, I picked it up in the afternoon, so I don't think that she had been out yet that day. This is very abnormal for my dog to go to the bathroom so much, so we knew there was something wrong. They failed to feed her the special food that I dropped off for her, and fed it to another dog instead. Also, she developed a rash all over her body and now for the past few weeks has been itching herself nonstop, to the point where she bleeds. She wasn't like that when we dropped her off. My poor dog is going to the vet now, which will only cost more, in order to get a cortizone shot to relieve the rash. Considering how expensive it was, which was a few hundred dollars for 4 days, and how much competition there is in the neighborhood, I would never go...