BBM's Reviews

Careless!

Brutal !!!! Countryside is big business they only care about the $$$ and the numbers, they specifically advertise that they do not crate dogs, LIARS! We rescued a mix terrier that has separation anxiety and needs day care while we work and he cannot be crated because he tried to chew his way out of a crate during his abuse. We are assured he will not be crated and I ask if you must move him please call me I will be happy to pick him up. After only 5 visits I come to pick him up and he is not in his normal room and the first thing I hear is the panicked bark of Benny, the woman informs me she had no information of not being able to crate him......first of all the premise of your business is that you DO NOT crate so even if the morning shift did not pass that information along to you why would ever crate him. So that evening we had to obtain medication from our vet to calm down our panic stricken dog and we were awake the entire night. It took over 10 days to get him back to a...

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By: BBM

Countryside Boarding Grooming & Doggie Daycare

Kitchener, ON

Comments

By: CRADDER

Countryside is a busy center that has the care of many happy pets on a daily basis. We have been in business since 1984 and have several employees who have been here over 20 years; we love the animals and what we do.

This client had at least 2 tours of Countryside prior to bringing Benny to daycare. Our tours are not appointment based, you are allowed to come anytime our office is open, but we do prefer if you come between 9am and 4pm as we have greater staff availability to accommodate a tour. We feel this is the best way to show our day to day operation.

The client explained that Benny had anxiety issues if left alone. The pets are never left alone here, staff and other pets are always around, and despite what this client says, we do not crate pets during daycare.
Benny was in one of our daycare rooms where the pets are less rambunctious; they socialize indoors and play outdoors together on a revolving basis all day long. Benny was with us for daycare a total of 7 days; January 29 & 30; February 3, 4, 5, 6 & 9.

One of the stipulations this owner had was that Benny was to wear his coat all the time, indoors and outdoors. For safety sake we remove all collars and coats generally speaking, with a few exceptions. It is very dependent on the other pets in the daycare group, whether they could rip the coat and attempt to swallow the torn piece, or pull on the coat and it would be a strangulation problem for the wearer etc. Benny’s group was amenable to Benny wearing his coat; however we had asked the owner to provide us with two coats because Benny’s coat would be damp after being outdoors. We didn’t ever receive a second coat for Benny so we would remove his coat and dry it in the dryer before putting it back on. Benny was a happy agreeable little guy who integrated well with his group.

Our hours are 7-7 weekdays; the bulk of our daycare clients arrive between 7 and 8 in the morning then start to leave just before 4 in the afternoon. Quite often clients come “in waves”; what I mean by this is a few at a time with lulls in between. The dogs are very aware of when they are usually picked up and are naturally looking forward to the next exciting part of their day. Each daycare room is a group and sometimes in certain groups we have pets that become tremendously good escape artists at going home time. What we do in this instance is remove those dogs from their groups, into a run or crate depending where they are in the facility, just before their pick up time. This facilitates the desk staff when the owners come to pick up pets; the staff then doesn’t have to run all around chasing a Houdini and slow down a waiting client plus there is no risk of injury to the pet if it tries to squeeze out and escape.

Unfortunately Benny’s owners did not come to speak to us about this issue, we would have been happy to talk with them about it and if they were still not satisfied either arranged an earlier pick up time for Benny or make a different decision as to Benny’s care.

Strangely enough, Benny seemed unconcerned about relaxing in a hall crate, until he heard his owner’s voice; this is not unusual with any dog. I am very sorry indeed that Benny had a problem, we hope he has recovered.

By: BBM

First of all the dogs name was "Benny" and I heard him barking the minute I walked in the door so he had no way to hear a voice that had not spoken. The sweater was not even mentioned in my review because it was not crucial to his well being but it's nice that the staff can document a sweater request and not the discussion I had on my initial visit regarding crating due to his separation anxiety.


I have since read a few other reviews of carelessness at your business I should have done my homework........ I highly recommend petvacay.com and lavish small dog daycare BOTH provide exception care for people who love their pets.