Just Four Paws

A lot of the reviews here are really old, so I wanted to post about my recent experience. I really like this facility. I have a 1-​year-​old Doberman Shepard. She is a big hyper puppy who needs a lot of exercise. I called a lot if different places before bringing her here.
Most of the places I called keep the dogs in small, cramped cages, or they only let them out a few times a day. They also price gouge the hell out of you. One facility I called told me they have a mandatory $ 30 «play orientation». If you don’t have time for the orientation, they bill you $ 45. Fuck that. Another place required a nasal vaccine, so even though my dog has had all her shots, they were going to require me to pay to have her re-​vaccinated nasally. A third place was going to make me pay for a mandatory flea dip, regardless of whether of my dog actually has fleas. Other places charge «per day» instead of «per night», so if you stay overnight, you get billed for two days. Ridiculous.
I really like this facility because they don’t have any of that BS. It’s $ 35 per night. No stupid mandatory orientations, re-​vaccinations, or unnecessary flea dips.
The dogs stay in runs, not cages. They also let your dog out to play all day until they close, which means your dog does not spend the entire time cooped up in a tiny pen and can actually run around and play with other dogs for the majority of the day. That was a huge plus for me because my dog needs lots of exercise, and this is one of the only facilities that will do that.
When I arrived, they had a bunch of the smaller dogs up front with them, which I thought was sweet. They gave me a tour of the facility and showed me all the yards. The staff is very nice, and they listened and were responsive to my questions and concerns. When I picked up my dog, she didn’t seem traumatized or scared like she normally does when I board her. She was happy and tired out! I love that she got to play. She has been sleeping all day ever since I picked her up.
The only negative I have is that they close at 6, so it is very possible that the last time your dog will be let out for the day is around 6 pm unless you specifically ask for other arrangements. They told me they do have someone come check on the dogs 9 – 10 pm but do not let them out unless they act like they need to go. I asked them to please let mine out at 9pm every night, and they said that was not a problem. I think they just need to make this the routine for all dogs — I know mine would really suffer if she wasn’t let out before bedtime, and it kills me to think of her trying to hold it that long.

The guy here is a great groomer we have a pretty large dog I’m having coming now for nearly a year every six weeks and the haircuts have been perfect also really good pricing I would highly recommend not sure why Unilocal stars are so low
One last point that I particularly enjoy is that before and after the dog is groomed they are not kenneled like some of the chain stores like to do

Marc the groomer is very talented and patient he did a fantastic job on my sheep dog Molly his prices are extremely reasonable. I would highly recommend bringing your pooch to Just four paws
We have been using him for more than two years and when I saw the previous Unilocal reviews I felt that the truth should be told. Not sure what these other reviewers were talking about. To groom and cut a sheep dog can be challenging and he does it perfectly everytime and might I mention at a really good price.

We have been taking our dog, a very high energy German Shepherd mix, here since he was a puppy. We also took our two previous dogs here without incident or complaint. We have never had a problem or concern with the staff or facility. They have always gone out of their way to take care of our dog, who has numerous food /​environmental allergies requiring a special diet as well as multiple medications. It is certainly not as though we would just leave our pet anywhere– we don’t have children, this is our child. The fact that we leave him here at all says how much we trust and appreciate all they do to care for him when we aren’t around.

Great kennel. I love the staff and my dogs are always so happy when we pull up. I know that when i leave town my pups are in great hands. I would highly recommend this kennel for boarding.

This update is necessary for anyone thinking of leaving their dog here. I made the mistake of leaving my 13 month puppy here for 2weeks over the holiday break. A good friend went to visit him on my behalf and saw that he had a bloody tail and a mark on his nose. She was concerned as she had to wait a long while in the front office to see him.
My husband picked him up and they said that he wags his tail so much that it got hurt. No bandage or apologies. I found that hard to believe and he bled for a good 2 days at home. His nose was injured, it bled too. I can’t assume that he fell or wagged himself into injury. I really don’t know what happened as I wasn’t there to see it but the evidence was clear.
My heart was broken when I saw him, I felt guilty, blamed myself for leaving him there and it’s taken me a few months to share this with others here on Unilocal.It’s just a shame that I don’t feel the same way I did just months ago.
According to my husband, he’s a dog and he’ll heal up fine. And he did, but you wonder what his heart and his mind could tell us about his stay. To me, he’s more than just a dog, he’s my best friend and part of my family. I feel my heart pounding in my ears as I write this, please be wary of leaving your pet here.

Chaotic, Aloof, Disorganized
Boarded dog here for about 12 days, non-​consecutive, May/​June of this year.
Compared a few places & choose Just for Paws because they appeared to be the lesser of evils (ok, maybe not ‘evils’ but we weren’t thrilled with any of the options in our area).
So, on the positive side, they let us bring the dog in for several hours to test out the facility & see how she interacted in the play area with other dogs. Very well, just what they should do to get business. Unfortunately, I had to wait 10 minutes to be helped, then got only a mini-​tour of the place because they seemed to be understaffed/​stretched thin. The front desk person didn’t seem to know much about customer service.
The facilities were not impressive. The indoor runs that I saw looked run down, a bit too dirty even for a dog facility. There didn’t seem to be much natural light, either. Outside play area was not ideal.
They said the dogs are out in a playgroup for HOURS. Like, up to 8 hours. Many other places would only give your dog two 15 min. play times/​day. This sounded excellent, but who knows if they really did that… Clearly the chaos was directly related to the number of dogs out at one time (maybe 10 – 20 dogs???). But there was only one staff member outside with all those dogs. I just can’t imagine what would happen if something went wrong.
During boarding our dog came home with a can’t-miss-it sized scab on her nose. They didn’t notice it or tell us about it. On another visit, she came home with a pimply skin problem on her head. I called to see if they had other reports of this or had noticed it. He said they had no reports of it but that he had started to notice it (but again they did not report it to us). We had to take her to vet & although it was no big deal & may not have even come from boarding, I just feel like they need to be more proactive & communicative. Both incidents made me feel like they are too aloof.
Oh, and just like another reviewer, we checked out their website which showed one rate, only to arrive and find another rate which ‘had just increased’ (again before a major holiday). To their credit, they did give us two nights at the old rate. Still, I don’t have patience for outdated websites — it reflects poorly on your business and your attention to detail. As far as I’m concerned they should have honored the old rate until they could get their marketing materials consistent.

I only take my dog here when I have to, but I’m never happy about it. When everyone else is booked up this place always seems to have room, and that’s probably because nobody wants to leave their dog here. The staff always seem totally disinterested, and they’re always disorganized. I really do fear for my dog when he’s there because I seriously don’t know if he’s being treated well. The people who work there don’t seem to care about the animals much — it just seems like something they have to do. When I compare this place to the place I prefer to take my dog (Dog Boy’s) it’s night and day. I wish there was another option nearby, but this is always my fallback place when everyone else is booked up.

I only got as far as a phone call to ask about tours. I couldn’t hear anyone on the phone for several seconds but I heard several different dogs barking. Finally I said Hello, Can anyone hear me? Finally a gruffy male voice answered yes. They never introduced themselves or their business.

Well on the positive side I was happy they weren’t completely booked up when I began looking for a place to board my dog 3 weeks prior to July 4^th. And the owner (who was at the front desk when I arrived) seemed nice enough.
However, two things disturbed me:
So as mentioned above I booked my dog Sam for the week of July 4^th, three weeks prior to the 4^th. Their website advertised $ 25 boarding per night, and when I called I confirmed that price. When I arrived to drop him off on the 2^nd there was a big white sign taped to the front door that stated «EFFECTIVE TODAY OUR PRICES HAVE INCREASED» (and by the way the new prices were not changed on their website, which I checked that day). Really… so two days prior to a major holiday you increase the price $ 5 bucks per day, when you know its far too late for anyone to change their boarding plans, and with no prior notice at all. I call that bad business practice. So his stay ended up being $ 40 extra, as the bath also went up another 5 bucks. Its not that I think this is an unreasonable price, but I think it was a shyster move to increase the price without notice on one of the busiest dog boarding holidays of the year.
They bring Sam out into the front desk area and I’m while I’m distracted with settling the bill I get that immediate sense of «oh oh»…and look over to see a pile of poop on the floor which my dog is devouring. This because they keep a cat litter box in the front lobby and receiving area. Eww gross!
So from now on I’ll book way in advance at my regular place, where I get report cards with gold stars and smiley faces on them telling me about my dog’s experiences, and Sam has his doggie day care buddies, and where when they did increase their prices after three years, they put the notice on their door two months in advance! (I’d tell you where but I don’t want to have to compete with you for boarding come the holidays; I’m just that selfish).