Lucky Dog Pet Shop

Hmmmm, I guess the City closed them down and seized all of the animals and took them to better care after Lucky Dog was closed for suspicious animal treatment. They are no longer in business.
I’m bummed because this is where I got my chicken feed, but apparently people’s concerns about the animals’ health had validity. I hope.

What happened to this store? This store used to be a great pet store, well-​stocked, clean, friendly. Now it is dark and filthy. I didn’t even dare buy the cat food because the cans were dusty, some were rusty, and the stock was real low. The current owners obviously don’t care about maintaining the store.

Kinda gross…

I’ve known one of the owners here for 23 years and have seen how ethically he treats animals. He is a nice guy and works long hours to support his family.
I find it very hard to believe that a pet store would survive in Berkeley of all places if it treated their animals the way some of the posts describe — selling fecal covered half dead animals that have not been fed for days that freely run around the store and are dumped in the back parking lot.
I don’t monitor this spot as closely as others seem to, but when I dropped by a few times it wasn’t like this at all. It is a little down home Berkeley store, but not the slum described.

One word for this place: HORRIFIC. The poor birds and other small animals! They are in filthy cages! The stench in here makes your eyes water. The sparse, dusty shelves are just sad. Why does anyone patronize this place? I felt like I needed to take a bath after I left.

I would give this place 0 stars but that’s not yet an option here on Unilocal.This place is the most appalling pet shop I have ever seen.
Their rabbits had NO FOOD, OR WATER AND WERE LIVING IN THEIR OWN FECAL MATTER FOR DAYS!!!
There are cats and kittens running loose around the store with once again NO FOOD OR WATER FOR THEM and have never been handled by people.
I found one cat roaming around so starved that it was half dead and managed to buy it off the guy to save the poor thing.
If you shop here you obviously don’t give a damn about animal welfare. I have filed a formal complaint against this monstrosity of a pet shop.
… I’ll post an update about the poor kitty i saved IF SHE RECOVERS FROM STARVATION…

This place is even WORSE than I thought before. I just found out that Lucky Dog just dumps their unwanted rabbits in the backyard of their store, where Berkeley Animal Control picks them up (there were 11 of them) OR dumps them at the Berkeley animal shelter (ANOTHER 11 two weeks ago). Lucky Dog lets the rabbits breed in the store — creating a situation where they are clearly not in control of the population, and not being responsible — if all the rabbits they sold were spayed & neutered, this would not be an issue. Lucky Dog’s lack of fixing rabbits and their rabbit dumps have strained the rabbit rescue folks in Berkeley who transfer rabbits from the shelter, get them fixed, and adopt them out.
Lucky Dog should not be allowed to sell animals, especially not rabbits. They have demonstrated repeatedly that they are irresponsible in their care & keeping — let alone that anyone could walk in and buy an unfixed (all the girls are pregnant) rabbit and have no idea how fragile rabbits’ health is, and how important it is for them to be spayed/​neutered and live inside.
Have I mentioned that the place is filthy?
Lucky Dog is not a progressive pet store. Don’t spend your money here. Pet Food Express doesn’t sell animals and they’re based here in the Bay Area. Even Pet Club is better than this place. Seriously, don’t give Lucky Dog your money.

This store may be good if you’re some urban farmer but holy crap what a joke of a store. Everything is thick with dust and you are confronted by a terrible piss smell long before you get any help or modern pet toys. I don’t even know why it smells like piss, I’ve never seen any mammals for sale here and of my memory serves me correctly it smells like hamstir pee. Anyhow I saw no redeeming value to this store, their prices certainly don’t reflect the old tymey décor and merchandise.

customer service is really bad here — not only was the employee here not helpful, but he was borderline rude to my dog and I. Wouldn’t recommend this place at all.

More like «Unlucky Dog.» The window display of two fish tanks containing so much green algae I could barely see inside sets the tone… This store is very uninviting, cluttered and dusty. I feel as though no one has lifted a finger since the day it opened. Nothing about this store makes me want to spend my money there. This store needs to be gutted.

I feel compelled to explain why many people feel turned off by the service at Lucky Dog. Yes, it’s a small business, and as far as I know, there are only maybe three employees. I’ve only really dealt with the owner of the store and I must admit that that air about him will turn you off. But (I believe) he is simply a bit awkward around people. He is nevertheless eager to offer advice and help and loves the animals. He is very knowledgeable; pretty much the only one I go to for chicken advice and supplies. People also don’t seem to realize that he himself breeds and raises chickens in the back of the store, out of the customer’s view. Though the atmosphere can be a bit intimidating at first, it is still worth a visit.

I was not happy with this store. They have large and small parrots who are not getting a healthy pellet diet, but are only getting high-​fat seeds. I don’t ever see any fresh food in their cages either. Seed diets lead to short life spans and heart disease in parrots. Not only that, but it is very hard to wean them off of these diets when you get them home. It’s like feeding yourself doughnuts all day long. The largest parrot’s feet are all sore from a cement perch he stands on all day with no other options! Worse, I once saw these people «treating» a dove with deformed legs. They were tying the legs together, and the bird was covered with excrement because it couldn’t stand up. The poor thing needed to be euthenasized. Also, one of the owners was teasing another bird until it tried to bite him. And the small mammals give birth in cages with other adult mammals (hamsters, gerbils) that are likely to attack and kill the babies. The owners seem to like animals, but are woefully ignorant about what it takes to care for them properly. If I see these things again, I will call the humane society.

Customer service here hovers around zero. I like them in spite of that, but they ran out of the pet food I buy long ago and despite my ordering more food, twice, it’s never been in stock again. Reluctantly I am moving on to a different independent pet shop that’s much farther away.

the first thing i noticed about lucky dog is the display stuffed cat in the window. oh, wait, that’s a real cat, MEOW! upon walking in, there’s a menagerie of pet supplies, including ones for farm animals. the loud chirping of birds and another meandering feline, coupled with the non-​commercial shop appeal really made this place feel very homey. i love being able to support locally owned businesses. and lucky for me, lucky dog’s around to supply me with various pet goodies.

This store smells like pee. And it feels dreary and creaky like a lonely old lady. Play some music or something, anything to liven up the place.
But at least they have Evo for my dog baby.

I have only bought pet food /​supplies from Lucky dog, so I can’t comment on their pets… but, Lucky Dog is AWESOME for supplies & food. They have always had (in the store) exactly what I needed. The first time I bought two pallets of cat food, and the associate (who I think owns the store) carried all of the food to my car for me. The service is awesome. Both visits I have had employees take me to what I needed or advise on treats, etc. It’s the only place I get pet food now!
PS. I can’t comment on the smell… it has always been perfectly fine/​acceptable for me.

This store seems to have a large selection of quality pet items. I loved hamsters, rabbits, etc as a kid, and im sure this would be my spot. Unfortunately, Im not a kid anymore. Now, i can barely shop here because of the strong scent of rodent and bird urine/​poop. Being pregnant, it is unbearable, though even before i got knocked up i remember having a lot of trouble tolerating the smell of this store. I debated between a three star and a four, but for now it’s a three. Maybe after i have the kid I’ll give this place another chance.

This is a great shop; it’s been around for as long as I can remember (and that’s like twenty-​something years, lol).
I’ve bought Tetras from them in the past, which lasted a few years. I was only a lil’ kid at that time too, so I didn’t know much about fish maintenance. But I did have a trio of hearty lil’ fishies.
Just recently, I went scouting for Bubble-​Eye Goldfish. The shop owner saw me make 2 visits in one week, asked what I was looking for, and to my surprise … he had ordered some Bubble-​Eyes by the next week. I picked up a beautiful, orange Bubble-​Eye (named Kitty) and a good looking, tri-​colored Telescope (Pierre). They’re both very healthy, and have unique personalities as well.
To my luck (or my friend’s luck more so), I found a good sized, black Lionhead Goldfish (named Gunnie). It was the perfect addition to her tank of «Sea Cows.» As of today, it’s also doing very well.
From time to time, they’ll have cute puppies for sale. I fell in love with a spunky Yorkie. But being that I’m not big on little dogs, I passed on the Yorkie. The shop just had a new litter of bunnies (the floppy-​ear kind). The babies were all healthy and oh soooo cute! And they’ve got a lot of great looking hamsters too.
A lot of their products are a bit pricey, but understandable since the (shop’s) rent’s probably expensive.
Great Mom’s & Pop’s shop!

This place is a really good, family owned pet store. You can tell that all of the animals are well cared for and loved.
I got bit by a rat when I stuck my finger in the cage — it was a big white one with red eyes — lesson learned. Won’t be getting friendly with him anymore. But don’t let this discouarge you from adopting him. I’m sure he was just freaked out.
We got a very nice old man hamster here. The owner was very honest about how long he had left to live, but we took him anyway and he’s doing quite well (knock on wood).