The Dog Wash Resort

Wonderful staff. This is the only place I have complete peace of mind when I leave my furry children behind. They even post photos during the day, which surely takes away the sadness when I miss them terribly. Great place to socialize your dogs. Highly recommend!

I switched from a competitor to Alaska Dog Wash resort for doggy daycare and occasional boarding when I realized how close they were to my office and I stayed there about 6 months or so.
First the pros: kennel tech’s are AMAZING, very great people with an obvious love of dogs and their jobs. Also the place is always very clean and well organized (kudos to the manager) AND someone is there overnight which gives you some peace of mind when you’re leaving your dog there for boarding. They also post pics on Facebook and it’s kind of cool to see your dogs pictures on there sometimes.
The con, and what ultimately made me decide to leave (for which they gave me a refund for my remaining 21 doggy daycare credits which was great, thank you!) is the manager. Although she seems to love dogs a lot, almost every interaction I had with her was negative, it’s almost like you’re taking your child to school instead of a service you are paying for. It got to the point where I was bracing for what I’d get scolded for next every morning when I brought my dog in.
It started a few months into taking my dog for doggy daycare when the manager implemented a policy of scheduling your dog. Now, I for one, work a lot as I’m sure many of the customers do, and the reason I like doggy daycare is that I don’t have to feel as guilty working late when I don’t have time to take my dog for a walk. With the scheduling requirement, which was implemented for «safety» they claimed (bull*#%, any manager knows there are great budgeting and employee scheduling benefits to having regular customers, so I don’t buy it) a lot of the convenience was taken out of the service. For one, I’d often learn mid day I’d be working late and I could no longer run home at lunch and let my dog get some play time until they closed at 7). But whatever, as a manger myself I can respect it as a business decision and I went along with it.
Next my dog caught kennel cough while there. I also do not blame AK Dog Wash for this, it’s a risk going to ANY kennel, however I didn’t know what it was and it was very scary when my dog began hacking and struggling to breathe. When I called out there I was pretty unhappy to learn they had learned about the outbreak in the kennel DAYS before I last took my dog there. Sure enough on facebook they posted a warning but did they call any of the owners for scheduled dogs? No! If they had warned me I could have taken him home and avoided the exposure (he wasn’t going to daycare daily anymore at that point). It cost me over $ 100 in a vet visit and medicine besides lost time from work for the vet visit.
At this point, you can imagine with the scheduling requirement and lack of notification regarding the kennel cough outbreak, I’m a little annoyed by the service but again, my dog loves it there and the kennel tech’s are great. However, when I brought my dog there a month after he contracted kennel cough (he had to stay home to avoid exposure to other dogs) the manager, without saying hello or anything remotely welcoming, came out the door to the back area and immediately told me I had to leave because my dog’s vaccines were out of date 3 days before. MY dog, MY responsibility, but since I am spending hundreds a month on a SERVICE would notification be too much to ask? I had to take him home, luckily I live close, though I was late to work. 2 WEEKS later, I did receive a phone call from them that my dogs vaccines were out of date… uh, thanks.
I then decided we were going to skip Doggy Daycare for awhile, being unhappy with the customer service but not quite ready to give up the proximity convenience and kept my dog home for 2 months. When I brought my dog back (to wear him out before a flight to Seattle), the manager was unusually friendly, and she even gave my dog a toy from their bin of dog toys they sell and asked that I keep bringing him back. I was very happy with this sense of unexpected welcome and learned I had 25 visits left (although the manger had to comment that from now on I’d be charged 1 visit a week if I didn’t bring him for a week (meaning for those weeks I take him out of town, I now have to notify my doggy daycare my dog will be absent??? Just like school I guess!) Despite this, I was determined to make it work and I decided to schedule my dog out the remainder of the credits and see how it went before renewing.
It didn’t go great. I think I pissed off the manger when I showed up on a non scheduled day having left the house and forgotten to call ahead to see if there was room in the 30 spots available. When I arrived she didn’t appear pleased but she did say there was 1 spot left and let my dog in for the day. After that there were more minor comments and incidents (she didn’t like where I parked for example) until I realized I was bracing for a scolding every time I went and asked myself WHY was I putting myself through it???

Fantastic place to board pets when out of town. Attentive staff. Dog lovers. We had a medical issue with one or our dogs while in the lower 48 and the Dog Wash Resort contacted us immediately, facilitated treatment for our dog, and kept us informed the whole way. Our dogs love going to the Dog Wash Resort!

Great place for do-​it-​yourself dog wash… especially convenient for cold days! That’s the only service I’ve used so far. Air dryer is pretty neat and selection of shampoos and conditioners is acceptable.

This place is for big dogs only. It’s in an industrial estate, the outdoor section is a small muddy patch, and they do not seperate dogs in the medium sized play area. Friendly staff and cute office dog, but would not repeat this visit for small dogs — it terrified them.