Charm City Dogs

Charm City Dogs is an absolutely an oasis for my four legged best friend. Every Tuesday and Thursday morning, Roxie leaps into the car with anticipation that she will get a day full of love, attention, and play. Further, she runs to the staff at Charm City Dogs who are always there with open arms ready to receive her snuggles. Finally, Charm City Dogs is extremely flexible. For a very modest fee they are happy to accommodate early drop offs or late pick ups — sometimes even extremely late pick ups. Roxie and I would not know what to do without Charm City Dogs.

I just moved to the area and was excited to find this place online. My dog loved going to Camp Bow Wow where we used to live and as an ICU nurse it is important for me to have my dog cared for during my long work days. If you want to spare yourself the book I wrote below just take my advice and hire a dog walker! Do not leave your dog at this place. I swear they are all on drugs or from another planet.
Day 1-​temperament test. My dog was nervous being dropped off especially since I had just moved. Dogs are like children – they should be nurtured and interacted with to be made to feel comfortable in a new place. There were no grand efforts made by the staff. Red flag #1: the play room she was dropped off into had one girl sitting in the middle on a stool playing on her cell phone. There were roughly 10 dogs in the small area and I had my worries at her lack of vigilance but I really really wanted this to work since she loved Camp Bow Wow so much so I gave it a chance.
1^st Day of Daycare-​Mid morning I got a voicemail that my pup had tried to jump over the wall and may have rubbed some of her fur off but was otherwise unharmed. They told me they moved her into the bigger play area and it fixed her escape attempts. Red Flag#2: I’m not sure why they weren’t in the big play area in the first place considering she’s a big dog and there were A LOT of dogs there. When I picked her up that night the evening staff member said she hadn’t had any more problems once she was in the big area. I observed her playing with several other dogs and she looked happy and tired!
2^nd Day-​The owner was at the front desk. She mentioned the escape attempt the day before and told me that if she continued to try to escape they wouldn’t be able to have her at daycare because she could get hurt. I asked why this was an issue if the dogs were supervised at all times. Red Flag#3: I was told they have to leave the play area to answer the phone and attend to the front desk! Umm. That is extremely unsafe. How about you hire enough people and get portable phones like Camp Bow Wow. It takes less than 30 seconds for a dog fight to happen even between the sweetest dogs.
I picked her up that evening and asked the evening guy how she did and he again said she did fine. She looked happy to me.
Day 3: Monday morning after driving out of my way in downtown traffic to drop her off before work, it took almost 10 minutes to be greeted at the door. I had to call out «hello?» There were several dogs playing, clearly unattended. Finally the employee, who seemed like she was stoned, came out of a back room with cleaning gloves on and greeted me. There was no sense of urgency or consideration for me trying to get to work. She then told me my dog couldn’t stay because she had tried to escape the last time she worked. (She also mentioned this incident had occurred when two other dogs were being «gate aggressive» which had not previously been disclosed. I was shocked. No wonder she tried to escape! Nevertheless I told her she had been there two whole days after that incident and I had asked each time how she did and I was told there were no problems! I told her the owner had said she would let me know if it was a problem. She proceeded to call the owner who said they would take her today but that she couldn’t stay again. She said my dog was «too agile» to be there. Ironic considering that I read on their website they offer agility classes! Again – they are on drugs people! At that point I was so upset I drove all the way back home and was over 30 min late to work.
Clearly I shouldn’t have ignored the red flags as they piled up but learn from my mistake and please please do not take your dog here! A. They do not have a strict supervision policy – SO unsafe! B. They are lazy and clearly don’t love dogs enough to be in this business because seriously everyone loves my dog and she loves to play once she gets acclimated to a new environment. If one person had taken five minutes to play tennis ball with her or pet her she would’ve been comfortable. I told them she loved water too and saw they had an outdoor play area with pools. I asked if they had been outside the first day and I was told it wasn’t hot enough. (It’s August and it was 89 degrees). I’m sorry but how can you have an outdoor area and not take dogs outside ALL day. That is pure laziness and shows a complete lack of compassion for the dogs.
Luckily I’ve found two great dog walkers and they will come twice a day for a trip to the dog park and it will cost less than this nightmare of a place! Oh and the dog walkers are personable, normal people – not on drugs/​from another planet!

I don’t even live in Baltimore anymore, but I feel like I must augment my last post. Having learned that Ruthie Skelton and her husband have taken ownership of Charm City Dogs just makes my heart sing. Ruthie was an absolute delight to deal with and she treated our dogs with so much love.
All the negative changes came about when CCD moved from its original (fabulous) owner to its second owner. As of August 2014, Ruthie and her husband are owner-​operators and I couldn’t be more pleased. I’m certain that they will thrive and the issues that arose were due solely to bad (2^nd) ownership.

I am sure this place is great, just don’t plan to use it if traveling into town. They require a temperament test, which I totally agree with, but right now they are booked for two weeks. Availability was not described on the website. The hotel we are stating at recommended this place, but that will change since it is inconvenient for travelers. So, if you are traveling to Baltimore, you need to plan well in advance. Or shop around.

Our dog, Boh, has been going to Charm City Dogs since January 2013. Lynn and her staff care for Boh as if he was part of their family. They let us know when he isn’t feeling right or when he has been extra spunky.
We are writing this on the eve of his last daycare day, due to change in job locations. It was a serious factor taken into account that changing jobs meant leaving charm city dogs.
We visited numerous doggy daycares in the new area, but we always wish they were more like charm city dogs.
We will miss the no-​kennel daycare, convienient drop off and pick up times, getting surprise photos of Boh in our Facebook feeds, agility days, the paw «finger» painting art, seeing his antics on their webcam during breaks at work, and peace of mind that he is at a loving, caring, fun place while we are busy.
Boh greets the staff with a full body tail wag and a big smile letting us know how much he loves going to charm city dogs as much as we love taking him there. And when we pick him up, he is happy, calm and wiped out — the signs of an excellent day in the life of a dog!

They will love your dog as much as you do. Leaving for two week trip and I won’t hesitate to leave my dog here.

Started taking my dog here about a month ago. He loves it! He has so much fun playing all day. He’s dead tired when comes home. The staff is nice, and they love dogs. They even do agility training one day a week. Definitely recommend CCD!

I can’t believe I’ve never reviewed CCD. We’ve been bringing our dog here for 3 years. The staff are really, really wonderful, and they love our crazy dog. I love that their boarding is cageless. Highly recommended.

We have been taking our dog to CCD for over a year now. It is an excellent place for daycare and boarding (we have boarded her 3 times so far). The dogs are supervised, doggie cams are available to watch your dogs while they are there. The dogs are free to roam around, and are not caged. Our dog is always excited to go, and we are happy to have her get socialized with other dogs while we are at work.

CCD ROCKS! My dog would like to play fetch all day long but unfortunately, I have to work. Thank goodness for CCD because they play fetch with her as much as she wants! I really don’t know what I’d do without them. The staff is top-​notch and my dog and I both love them. Maddie is so happy when it’s a daycare day and after we get home, she sleeps all night and the next day. There’s lots of space for big dogs and little dogs… even outside on nice days. Another great bonus is the bath and nail trim that comes with a 10 day package. Not to mention the homemade treats and the love and affection the staff gives to each and every dog. There’s no question they know Maddie and treat her as their own. I couldn’t be more impressed and pleased. I feel like days at CCD are Maddie’s favorite thing (besides tennis balls). Thank you, Charm City Dogs — for making Maddie and me so happy; I’m very grateful!

False advertising! When you visit during the week to have your dog evaluated to be «admitted» to the kennel or daycare, it seems very clean with a lot of supervision. My dogs were assigned to the small dog area so I thought they would be in the small dog area for the whole time. It turns out that over the weekend when you can’t watch the web cams, they only have one person working and all of the dogs are kept in the same small pen. 3 dogs were bitten by the same dog the first time my dogs boarded there. I’m not sure why the aggressive dog wasn’t isolated after it bit ONE dog. It shouldn’t have had the opportunity to bite 3! The employee told me she had put it on a «time-​out.»
No one called to tell me that my dog had been bitten on the face. Before I even knew what happened, I felt uncomfortable with the situation because all of the dogs were isolated in the feeding rooms when I arrived to pick up my dog at 3 PM. 2 large dogs became loose and ran through several puddles of pee to greet me by jumping up on me. The employee informed me that my dog had been an «innocent bystander» in an altercation between other dogs and had a bite wound on his face that was still bleeding. She put hydrogen peroxide on it and told me I didn’t need to go to the vet unless it became infected. When I called my vet, they told me since it was still bleeding several hours later and the wound was on his face, I had to go to the Pet ER that night because if i waited until AFTER it was infected, it would be too late. The vet told me that the hydrogen peroxide likely prevented the wound from closing and it should only be cleaned out with gentle soap and water. I called the owner to explain the situation and ask for reimbursement of the $ 200 I had to spend at the vet since I wouldn’t have had to go if his employee hadn’t provided untrained, harmful veterinary treatment and because the situation could have been prevented if they provided the same environment over the weekend as I had observed during the week. The owner refused to accept responsibility for the incident.

I don’t even know where to begin with this place. Save your money and frustration and go to SoBo Doggy DayCare in Locust Point, where they have trained professionals (as you can see on their website) rather than a group of girls who just needed a job.
Long story short, the girls did an «evaluation» on my puppy and after about three minutes decided that she was ok to keep for the weekend. (Note: SoBo daycare does a four-​hour, thorough evaluation.) Imagine my surprise when I returned from the weekend and asked to pick up my six month old puppy and was greeting with a snarling faced attendant, and the comment «OH, YOUR DOG was a huge problem and will NOT be returning to this daycare… ever.» Whoah, lady… this is a sensitive topic for dog owners. How about a hello? Perhaps an explanation? Turns out that DESPITE the promises of putting the dog in the second play pen if he/​she gets too rough, or in the hallway, or something so that they will «never be isolated» (direct quote from front-​desk girl), or even calling if it gets too bad (which I specifically asked them to do), my puppy was kept in the back in a pen the entire weekend. No walks. No attention. Laying in her own excrement. I’m at least glad they fed the poor thing, or at least I hope they did. Did I also mention that the back-​door where we were asked to enter on the weekend (in a sketchy area, mind you) was completely wide open? I could have walked in and grabbed every single dog in there and the one person on the job would have never known.
But it gets better. The second play pen was completely empty when I picked up my dog. Could they not have let her out in there to play by herself? Then, this girl only charged me half-​price since the dog «didn’t require any day-​care services.» Translation: we didn’t pay the slightest bit of attention to your dog. At all. All weekend. But thanks for the discount — seriously.
Other quick tidbits for your information:
— Witnessed girls shouting at dogs and throwing handfuls of food/​treats/​something at them from a large container with a label that clearly stated «DO NOT THROW HANDFULS OF TREATS AT DOGS.» Can you not read?
— Lost all of my dog’s vaccination, registration, and microchip tags around her collar. Despite numerous calls, I have yet to get them back. Way to be organized.
— Emailed numerous times to the «CONTACT US!» form on the website, but haven’t heard anything back in months. Evidently customer service is not a priority at Charm City Dogs, despite me saying that I would like some more information on the situation before putting the organization on blast on internet review sites. Whoops! Look what happened instead.
— Mopped up pee with disgusting mops with water that was black, and left the mop containers out while the dogs drank out of them. Basically spreading pee around rather than using an industrial strength cleaner meant for animal facilities.
— Don’t let them sell you on the «puppy cam» — it’s so high up in the ceiling, garbled, and poorly timed that you can’t even tell which dog is yours or what they are doing.
I understand that the owners/​workers want to keep other dogs safe and find it necessary to seperate dogs when there are issues, and I respect that as a dog owner. However — exercising a little customer service, sticking to your promises, and knowing when to give a dog another chance will get you far.

Cageless boarding. I won’t tolerate otherwise.
Better prices than Falls Road Animal Hospital (for cageless boarding).
Super-​friendly staff.
My dog was in very competent and capable hands for a week there.
Highly recommended.

What a horrible experience! When we picked up our dogs, we found out that one was in a fight. They said they tried to contact us and left a message, but since they couldn’t reach us, the dog never received care from a vet. In fact, they never contacted us or left a message. When we contacted one of the managers, she apologized and said that the other manager must have called the wrong phone number. We checked all of our numbers with them, and they were all correct. The manager then admitted that she never left a message, even for the wrong number. The story kept changing! We felt lied to and very upset that our dog was in pain for the weekend.

Charm City Dogs is like an oasis in the city for dog owners.
To say that our dog, Hunter, is rambunctious is to put it very delicately.
To say that after boarding at Charm City Dogs he slept like a baby is the god’s honest truth.
I love that they let the dogs roam around the play area together all day rather than keeping them cooped up in cages while their owners are away. The staff is always very friendly and you can even catch a glimpse of your pooch on a puppy cam if you want.
Make sure that your dog is up to date with its shots/​vaccines and that you have time to do the temperament test before you want to board with Charm City Dogs and your furry-​friend will have a wonderful stay.

I can’t tell you how amazing Charm City Dogs is. I’m in Baltimore for a week-​long business trip, and I decided to bring my dog up since I live in the metro area. Unfortunately, traffic got the best of me. Rocky (the dog) was two hours late for his temperament test! Despite my inability to be punctual, the staff graciously and happily accommodated us. They were so polite, despite the fact that it was the end of the day (a feat I don’t think I could have accomplished myself).
I dropped Rocky off the next morning for a full day, and he came back to the hotel room tired and happy. The staff knew him when we arrived, even though the employee wasn’t there the evening before. When I brought him back for the second day, and mentioned his bathroom routine was off, the staff stepped in to help. They are amazing. I felt so at ease in my meetings, knowing my boy was being well taken care of.
It was $ 30.00 for the day. Where I come from, that’s a steal. I highly recommend Charm City Dogs. The staff is knowledgeable, and will go the extra mile to take care of your pet. A happy, well-​socialized, sleepy dog is definitely worth the price of admission.

Our ten-​month old pup Job loves this place (and so do we.) Job is an extremely social and playful dog, so he loves getting to run around and play with the other dogs in their giant common play areas. Boarding is cageless, so all the dogs sleep on little cot-​like beds in the play areas. This means that Job gets a hell of a lot of playtime while he’s there, so he’s all tuckered out when we come to pick him up. We are constantly staring at our laptops, so we appreciate getting to watch Job on their webcams while we’re away.
In addition to doggie daycare and boarding, they also do training and grooming, though we haven’t tried those yet.
There are only two downsides: (1) it’s expensive — $ 30 for a day of doggie day care PLUS another $ 20 for overnight boarding; and (2) it’s so damn popular that it might get booked up for boarding, especially on long weekends. So make sure to call ahead to make reservations.