Great Dog Daycare Inc

**RESPONSE TO HEALTH INSPECTION POST*** I am not sure if it is customary to respond to a negative review, but, in all honesty, we felt compelled to explain the negative review left by anonymous writer.

At Great Dog, we encourage our clients & prospective clients to take a tour to gain perspective on the kind of care their pets receive. We remain proud of the work we do with your pets, the staff & facility we oversee. We like to share it with everyone that comes in the door!

Recently we did have a staff turnover but not for the reasons that Anonymous reported. Two were unhappy in general one of these staff was under investigation for theft & it put a damper on staff morale for a while. Once that staff left, the air cleared &we were able to get back to having a good time with the dogs. A couple staff left to go back to school & another went on leave to care for her dog who was diagnosed w/ cancer.

We do have a lot of dogs at our campus, but 120 is a bit of exaggeration. Our numbers typically range between 80-95 dogs. Actually, nearly 30 of those dogs leave to go to our off site Adventure Park, making our numbers more roughly 50-65 (with 3-5 staff) Some of the dogs are there for grooming & others are there for overnight or training. Some dogs are in respite care for post surgical procedures, seizures, etc. Our numbers have not risen in the past four yrs. We have excessive staff with the dogs in the daycare. All staff have formalized workshop & ongoing professional development training. Dogs do get hurt, on occasion just as kids can get injured at a playground. At Great Dog, we are upfront with parents about any mishaps & always try to discuss any behavior changes or challenges that arise with the pups in our care. Just like people, dogs respond to changes in their homelife, feel icky or have a bad day. If things become a chronic pattern & we believe that a dog is escalating towards negative behavior, we are quick to track, identify & place the dogs on a (positive based) behavior modification regimen.

Our prices are in line with other dog daycares in the area. With the rising costs of staffing, not to mention supplies, utilities & real estate, it can't be surprising that we have to occasionally raise our rates. We put a lot of money into our business & our staff development.

Finally, the concerns about the health inspection. We had some corrections to make on this year's health inspection. Within a week, our health inspection crisis was resolved and we passed with flying colors. The hotwater tank in our bathing room was missed during the night-time cleaning & there was some hair accumulation on top of it. Our bathing staff have been retrained in their cleaning procedures to make sure every nook & cranny gets the appropriate amount of attention.

We had a rat family in residence recently & they left some droppings behind. As with many areas in Seattle, rats are present & diligence is the best remedy. The setback along our building was overgrown & when our landlord cleared out the ivy we found that the siding had pulled away from the building..just enough to let the little critters in. Once closed off, we were able to trap. Poison is more effective, but we didn't want to risk having poison on the premises. We are happy to report our rats have all moved on down the street.

We encourage folks to come & take a tour of our facility, & seek to make your own judgment/opinion about the care that we give Seattle's pets, staff and pet lovers in our community.

We welcome the opportunity for Anonymous to discuss her concerns with us directly. It is always our goal to insure a wonderful experience, enrich the lives of the dogs and the people who love them each and every day..

Sincerely,
Leslie & Judi
Co-Owners, Great Dog

Great Dog Daycare, overnight playcare, grooming, retail, and many, many more services is actually the best all around shop I've ever had the pleasure of visiting. I breed and show dogs that require skilled haircuts, and the groomers at Great Dog followed the guides for my breed very, very well. My dogs have enjoyed the day long experience of being "at the spa" for their groomings. I have taken my last 2 litters of puppies there at 6 weeks for their first haircuts. This is a critical time, and any bad experience could stick with them. Instead, they are a delight to groom, including toenails.
The staff at Great Dog, led by owners Leslie Csoskasy and Judi Anderson-Wright have developed a well educated approach to canine and feline food options, which has been especially important since the pet food industry has been in turmoil - what's safe to feed our dogs?
Personally I don't need to be anonymous as I'm not interested in dissing anybody that used to employ me but no longer does. I'm a customer, and refer customers to Great Dog.
Go, and ask questions, and know before you decide - it's not called Great Dog for nothing.

I have to spread the word on this.
I was a client of Great Dog for many years and I have stopped taking my dog there because of how it has changed over the last year. What used to be a friendly, clean and fun place to go has obviously gone down the toilet. I stopped recognizing any of the people working there and when I asked an employee where all the familiar faces had gone, I was informed that they had all quit at the same time due to the unhappy work place. More and more dogs were getting injured, including mine, because they have WAY too many dogs there at once (approx. 100 in the same room with only 3 employees!) The prices have also become TOTALLY OUTRAGEOUS for the poor service I was receiving. As if this wasn't enough, I was informed that they failed their health inspection last month! Disgusting! There are rats in the doggie daycare!!!
NEVER EVER TAKE YOUR PET TO THIS PLACE!!!

Hi. I'd like to respond to the last posting. I am the founder and co-owner of Great Dog in Seattle. I am truly sorry that you (and your friend) had a lousy experience with us. That is certainly NOT the type of guest service we are about at Great Dog. As many people can attest to...we do care....about each and every dog in our care and those that come through our doors.

When Lisa, our head/master groomer for years, got married and moved out of the immediate area, we did flounder a bit. We tried out several new groomers until we found our current team (which I'm pretty confident has changed since your friend's bad experience). We have pretty high standards of excellence and finding the right fit of groomer turned out to be more work than it should be! The gals we have now absolutely embrace our vision for the the kindest and most enriching care and treatment of our four legged (and two legged) guests.

As for your friend's hurt (and exhausted) pup, all I can say is that I am sorry. We have a lot of safe-guards in place and are not a "production" environment groom shop, but obviously we failed her dog. And that is very disheartening to see. Since there wasn't a lot of elaboration, all I can say is that we'd welcome the opportunity to chat with your friend so that I can make sure the changes we have put in place are the right ones. We are always open to improvement! And I hope that you will come in again, get a tour and see all that we have to offer.

Thank you everyone who is an avid supporter of Great Dog! --Leslie

I have had extremely poor service here, but what was worse was how one of the groomers treated a firend and her dog. The dog was ill with problems with loss of fur and loose skin. She had difficulty standing. She had been to the Great Dog monthly for several years.
The last time she was in, the groomer must have been impatient with her as she was rough with her and actually cut her. By the time my friend returned to pick her up, the dog could no longer stand or walk and was horribly stressed. The cut never healed.
And to make a bad situation worse, the staff member yelled at my friend about how bad her dog was, in front of many customers.
These people are cruel to a sick animal.
Since Lisa, the former head groomer left, the place has seriously gone down hill.
Take your dogs here at your peril

Great Dog Shoppe is the retail portion of what I believe to be Great Dog Daycare, a dog-sitting program. I enjoy shopping at their little retail area when I'm there on weekends for fun runs with my dog or if he's getting groomed (they also have groomers on staff).

They carry quite a good selection of things for such a small space. A nice variety of squeaky toys, some essentials like dog seatbelts for your car and traveling gear, and also a stylish collection of leads and collars. I also purchase my dog's shampoo here as they are one of the few places to carry it (it is an herbal anti-itch shampoo), and when he was a puppy I'd purchase his food here as he was very sensitive to many types of food. They carry a nice selection of wet and dry specialty foods for both cats and dogs.

It's a great place to visit especially when you happen to be in the neighborhood or if you're going there for a fun run. My dog always gets a treat when he's there so of course he absolutely loves it. And the staff is always very friendly.

PROS: Unique products, health-conscious products, convenient location
CONS: Kind of a small space and parking is very limited.

This was one of the first stores I shopped at when I moved to Seattle - after all, I needed to keep my cat happy! They have a great selection of cat and dog toys (I found my cat's favorite toy, a catnip-stuffed squirrel, here), and the prices are very reasonable. As an added bonus, they work in conjunction with local rescues to place animals, so you're likely to find a cage full of kittens or a dog or two hanging out in the shop, waiting to be adopted.