Dog Town NY — Local services in Town of Southold

Let me start by saying that I NEVER leave reviews, but I feel I have not choice but to share so that others avoid this issue. We booked our golden doodle for a groom. I gave very specific instructions including a picture of what he should look like. He has a beautiful shiny coat, and we have had him groomed quite frequently over the past 3 years. When I went to pick him up with my mom I knew we were in trouble when my mom let out an audible gasp when she saw him. He literally looked like he had been electrocuted, or like a caricature of what a mutt in an alley would look like. His tail was chopped so short it looked like a rope toy, and there were tufts of uneven fur everywhere. The groomer asked if there was anything she wanted us to "clean up" but there was zero chance she was ever touching my dog again.

I left and took him home at which point my wife was near tears upon seeing him. I called and asked for a manager, and got a call back FROM THE SAME GROOMER. So that was awkward! I explained I needed a manager, and eventually the owner called me back. He was very apologetic and said this had never happened before. He said that he could have another groomer try and "fix it", but only at their Calverton location, which is 45 minutes from my house. He refused to offer any help at the location in Southold.

I took him to Calverton today. The groomer there was very professional, but immediately told me that she was not a "miracle worker" and there was only so much she could do to fix this "hatchet job". She also said she had to fix 3-4 dogs from this other groomer just this week!

She did a professional job, and did the best she could, but in order to do that, she had to go really short to even out the places where he had basically been shaved down. My dogs hair is now 3x shorter than it ever has been before, to the point where I don't even recognize him.

I called the owner back, and explained that I should not have had to pay for this service, as the other groomer admitted it was not a professional job, and that she had cleaned up multiple other dogs done by this first groomer. Additionally, I had to devote three hours of my day to getting this fixed. The owner said the best he could do was a 25% discount off of a future grooming, which I find laughable given this experience.

I WOULD RECOMMEND EVERYONE AVOID THIS PLACE FOR GROOMING AT...

We usually use the Hydrant Hotel in Riverhead but they were booked up. We were under the impression that Dog Town was associated with the Hydrant Hotel (which they formerly were) but they’re not. We dropped 2 of our dogs off at Dog Town for a 2.5 day stay and it was chaotic during the check in and we didn’t get a warm and fuzzy feeling. We reserved two separate kennels and individual play time so the dogs would be safe away from other dogs. Upon pick up, one of the owners asked if we wanted the dogs in two separate kennels. I asked where the dogs stayed for the past 2.5 days since he was asking me this question. One of my dogs was injured and would not put her rear leg down and cried throughout the night. Either Dog Town knew the dog was injured and didn’t tell us or they didn’t pay close enough attention to see that the dog was injured. A trip to my vet revealed that my dog had a sprain in her rear leg. Dogs get injured, that’s not the problem, but not being told about it was a major issue. I would not use Dog Town in the future, even if it meant staying home with my dogs instead...

GREAT EXPERIENCE! I found out about Dog Town online and ended up calling and making a reservation for my two older German Shepherds. The were so friendly, thorough and professional. I asked a family member to stop by and check out Dog Town (I live out of state) and when they got there they had nothing but great things to say as well as about what they saw (everything from the attentiveness of the staff to the condition of the facility). A few times I emailed back and forth with the staff to ask questions and they were so helpful and friendly. When I dropped off the dogs I found the facility clean, calm (seriously!), pleasant and left the dogs there feeling really good. From all that I could tell they were taken care of very well at Dog Town and I have absolutely nothing negative to say whatsoever. I live out of state and was in town visiting family, but if I lived closer Dog Town would be my go-to. I know when I leave the dogs there next time I'm in town I can do so confident that they will be well cared for. Highly, highly...