Pet Care Plus

This was my first time boarding my dog Coco. She spent several days at Pet Care Plus. When I went for the initial tour, I felt comfortable with the facility and the staff. Everyone was very friendly and professional. When I picked up Coco she was excited! I could tell that the staff took excellent care of her. They did a great job of grooming her as well. I would recommend Pet Care Plus for boarding and grooming as well doggie daycare. I will definitely bring her back.

Update on PCP — still no notes or information can ever be provided about my dog’s stay despite the fact that Jennifer said she was going to implement a new policy last spring.
And this time the dog’s come home with a rash and conjunctivitis. Last spring it was the canine flu. Unfortunately I’m done with PCP.

I promised an update in my previous post back in 2014. We couldn’t be happier with PCP. Our pup loves it, and they have been so good to us. The pictures show it…

They have been my one and only boarding/​daycare facility for my dog. I would not go anywhere else! The level of professionalism and care is consistent and the facility is very clean. Knowing that I can watch my dog on the web cam provides that added level of accountability and I really appreciate this feature.

Ramsey has been going to Pet Car Plus for a few months now and loves it! We always experience great customer service from all the staff members. One morning, Ramsey wouldn’t eat and they fed him for us and didn’t charge us. That was very nice. We are relocating to California and I hope we can find a place as good as this one for our Ramsey.

This is the only pet care service I trust when leaving town. Their facility is always clean and staff is always helpful.

Our dog gets groomed at pet care plus. The facility is clean and well maintained. My husband jokes that the groomer’s facilities are nicer than where he gets his hair cut. The staff we interact with are always incredibly pleasant. Our little guy is a puppy mill rescue and far from the easiest dog to groom. Our last groomer even recommended we sedate him beforehand. However, the groomers at pet care plus just take extra time with him. He always looks fantastic after. I am also incredibly impressed that they don’t knick him given how much he moves around. Perhaps most amazing is how reasonably priced they are given all that they do. It probably takes 2 or 3 hours to groom our long haired constantly wiggling dog but it only costs $ 65.

Because of Jennifer and her terrible attitude and unnecessarily confrontational and very rude behavior, I will not bring my dog here again. However, I have had other issues along the way…
First of all, in less than 2 years, they left my dog unattended in a crate for several hours with her leash IN the crate over and over again — and she chewed through her leash — this has NEVER happened at home or at any other daycare or boarding facility.
After the FIRST time, they assured me they had made a note and it would not happen again. After the SECOND time, they promised the same. Then it happened a THIRD time. This leads me to believe they don’t listen, don’t refer to their notes and put my dog in a potentially dangerous situation as she could’ve choked and should not be unattended ever while I am paying for daycare — not to mention I have had to replace THREE leather leashes as a result.
While I have had positive interactions with most of the staff while I’ve been taking my dog here, I have elected not to come here anymore as a direct result of a very rude and unprofessional phone calls conversation with Jennifer. She was rude, defensive, raised her voice to me for no reason and berated me for expecting them to follow through on what they say they will do. I was polite and trying to be constructive while Jennifer continued to raise her voice and be very confrontational with me. I finally hung up because I couldn’t get a word in edgewise and didn’t want to be yelled at any further by someone in customer service at a business I patronize regularly. I will NOT be bringing my dog here anymore as a direct result of my conversation with Jennifer.

My dog boarded at Pet Care Plus for 4.5 days and when we picked her up on Sunday, 4÷26÷15, she was lethargic and coughing. After taking her to the vet the next day, she was diagnosed with canine flu, bronchitis and pneumonia. Called and spoke to someone from the facility to let them know how sick she is and the response was «she could have gotten it from a dog outside» Really? Seriously? That’s your response? Our dog doesn’t socialize with any dogs and is only outside in an enclosed backyard, The lack of care, concern or compassion was completely unexpected and unprofessional. You would expect more since this is a growing issue among dogs, especially in the City of Chicago. We will NEVER send her to this facility again and will not recommend it to any fellow dog owners we know.
Clean it up! Dogs are dying from this!

Amy LOVES going to Pet Care Plus and we love bringing here there. We trust PCP with our most prized possession and they’ve never failed us. Everyone that works there (sorry I can’t remember all their names) truly care about the dogs and really seem to love their jobs. Prior to being a regular here, we checked out other places and while they were all okay, we chose PCP because it really does stand above the others.
NOTE: I am not a family member, employee or in any way associated with Pet Care Plus, I just like giving good reviews to places that deserve them!

NEGLIGENT… BEWARE! After our puppy stayed here Tues-​Friday this week, he is suffering from Kennel Cough and Pet Care Plus never bothered to 1) pick up the phone and call us to inform us was sick AND 2) isolate our pup so that other dogs wouldn’t catch this HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS illness (YOUR DOG CAN STILL FALL ILL, EVEN IF HE/SHE’S BEEN VACCINATED – LIKE OURS WAS).
I picked up our dog yesterday afternoon and WHILE in Pet Care’s lobby, he was coughing incessantly and sneezing. He fur was also oddly damp– when I asked the employee why he was wet, they told me «we spray them with perfume before they leave,» which I later realized was to mask the smell of urine, which my dog clearly smelled like once the fragrance wore off during the ride home– GROSS! I had to rush my puppy to the Vet ER because he was in bad shape and they informed me he was highly contagious to other dogs and they would have to bleach down the exam room afterwards.
These people are clearly boarding too many dogs for the handlers to properly supervise… ANY person with hearing and/​or vision could tell my dog was sick. They are also negligent to not identify and isolate sick dogs from the rest of the animals in their care. I called the manager this morning and informed her of the situation and she couldn’t really care less.
Don’t be fooled by the façade this place puts up. Far too many other boarding options in the city for this place to receive my business or yours again.

Because my friend with an Afghan Hound raved about Robyn, the groomer, I
started bringing my lab mix to her. He’s got some odd hair on his feet
and around his ears, and Robyn asked me if I wanted that trimmed. I
asked her how often he needed to be bathed, and she told me that he only
needed a bath when I thought he smelled strong— but if he were a
long haired dog he might need a bath every week. I thought that was
honest of her. She also noticed that his collar was falling apart, and I
mentioned that I was thinking of getting him a harness. She showed me a
martingale collar (which this store does NOT sell), and gave me a
catalog where I could get one for under $ 10. it made a HUGE difference
in how my dog behaved — he’s practically stopped pulling!
Well, they just moved the kennel in September, and while it looks
beautiful, I know from working with a dog trainer that there is a lot
’not right’. It looks sort of like an animal shelter. My dog will not
walk on shiny floors. I had to put a runner down in my kitchen! & all
the floors are shiny. Very slippery. The outside space they have now is
less than a quarter of what they used to have. They have several daycare
rooms for dogs, but when I took the tour, 1 room had nobody with the
dogs. That could be dangerous.
But worse, I had booked the appointment to have Robyn, specially, to
groom Pep, and when I got there and asked just to say ‘Hi’, the guy at
the desk said she was no longer there. He wouldn’t tell me where she
was, or who would be handling Pep. I asked to speak to a manager, and
there was no manager available. I also asked where Stacey was, and SHE
was no longer there.
It’s really hard to find a kennel or daycare space in the city that
is safe. This may work for some dogs, but I’d be cautious and do some
research. There should always be a manager… someone who has trained dogs.

We had been bringing our bulldog to Pet Care Plus for roughly a 18 months. Everything seemed to be working out well. Our bully loved to go especially for the pool parties. He was even put in the extremely popular underwater dogs book. He would come home with the occasional marks on his face, there are some bigger dogs that would get to him, but I know and understand that they are dogs and tiffs can and will happen. All we ask for and ask every time we pick up him up was how was his day because we want to know how he did. Even if he comes home with bite marks we want to know. Every single time they would say he had a great day.
On our way to pick him up one evening we received an email stating that our bully would no longer be able to come to pet care plus due to his problem with the hose. Let me explain that our bully loves loves water– hence the pool, but he had been getting extremely aggressive with the hose and would not leave it alone. We were told in the email that he even bit one of the handlers a year earlier who was handling the hose, but were never made aware of anything of the problem and now a year later and him never learning how to fix the problem. I can appreciate and understand that they are not trainers or vets but I do expect to hear if anything is going on to protect my dog, other dogs, as well as the staff. Not an email a year later after bringing them many new clients and just an email side blinding us with what has been going on.
I would not recommend bringing your pets to pet care plus because I cannot trust what they are not telling me.

I have an incredibly energetic but also incredibly antisocial Pitbull mix. She is super loving with people but stresses out and can’t be with other dogs.
The staff at Pet Care Plus do an amazing job of making sure my dog gets plenty of exercise while also keeping her away from other dogs. We leave our dog there every time we go on vacation and on many hectic holidays and I never worry. Our dog also has to take medicine daily and the staff there are always happy to help us make sure she never misses a pill.
Overall we are super happy with the friendly service and great care they give our dog. It can be stressful to have to leave our dog behind, but I can sleep better on vacation knowing she is getting personalized care at Pet Care Plus.

we’re from out of town and wanted a daycare for our dog so he wouldn’t be stuck in a hotel for four days. it was convenient that they took him the same day. a lot of other places needed a separate day for their temperament test which is very inconvenient for a out-​of-​towner.
I took a tour of their facility and right off the bat, I didn’t like how the dogs have to stay outside with the pack and didn’t have the choice to come in. my dog gets hot easily and there wasn’t a big shaded area so that was a little worrisome. they have a little dinky kiddie pool for the small dogs and a really nice in-​ground pool for the big dogs.
picked up my dog after a few hours and it looked like they cut his nails which I didn’t request. they cut three of them too short and he kept licking them. it was really disconcerting.
it’s really annoying that they only have full day prices when I just want to leave him there for a few hours and that two of those hours, he’s constricted to a kennel for nap time when he just got there…
and I wanted to redeem a free blueberry facial from Unilocal and conveniently their groomer wasn’t in today.
needless to say, we will not be going back there when we come back to chicago.

Not recommended for toy breed dogs.
I was really excited to see the great reviews on here, and discovered that this place is not far from my house. I don’t have a need for doggie day care– I’m self-​employed and have the luxury of bringing my two dogs (8 lb Papillion and 4 lb Chihuahua) with me to work daily. My 16 mos old Chihuahua is getting wonderfully socialized to people as a result, but doesn’t have enough regular interactions with other dogs. He tends to bark a lot at first as a kind of greeting, which leads a lot of owners to pull their dogs away from him, but in actuality he’s timid around other dogs and not at all aggressive, just shy and unsure of himself. Just needs more regular interaction, and this frigid weather hasn’t helped since I can only take him for micro-​walks.
I brought both my dogs for a temperament test and dog groom, in case I should ever need boarding services (my dogs are registered with another facility but it’s good to have options), and also thinking I could bring my Chihuahua on one of my days off from work while I run errands just to get him around other dogs more. He’s at a critical developmental phase and I’m trying to get his confidence and obedience levels up, both of which are improving tremendously. I clearly stated my objectives to staff on his intake paperwork and in person.
When I picked the dogs up, they we happy to see me and nicely groomed. However, when I got my dogs home my Chihuahua’s behavior rapidly deteriorated for the evening. (My Papillion who is 10 and properly socialized was fine.) He marked in 4 – 5 places in the house, cowered, hid, and generally acted afraid. I was really put off, especially since my Papillion had once had a rib broken at another facility. Toy breed dogs are a specialty type of dog, and require special handling. In retrospect there were some things that should have alerted me against this place as a good fit: They stated they were going to initially get my dogs introduced by placing them outside (my Chihuahua can’t tolerate being in the cold longer than 2 minutes in these temps); when he acted scared to enter the facility, they dragged him by the leash/​neck rather than picking him up (which is perfectly appropriate handling for a toy breed); they would not allow me to sit in on the room where my dogs were going to be introduced; and although they have a buzzer system on the door, they had no qualms buzzing in 100+ lb dogs into the reception area with little regard for safety or separation with my toy dogs.
The final straw was calling to report my experience. I was upfront in letting them know the purpose of the call: to inform them of my dog’s reaction, and that I was pretty sure I would not patronize them again based on my dog’s reactions to the facility. I was not looking for any other response than just to feel heard and respected in my observations. The manager became increasingly rude and defensive on the phone, trying to «help me figure out» why my dog would have this reaction, and shift blame by trying to suggest scenarios in his life home with me that would cause him to act this way, as opposed to as a direct result of the interactions he had at her facility.
In short, I would recommend that if you have a toy breed such as Maltese, Pomeranian, Chinese Crested, Shih Tzu, King Charles Spaniel, Chihuahua, Pekingese, Havanese, Japanese Chin, Papillion, Matipoo, toy Poodle, and the like (delicate, toy breeds), this noisy, loud, chaotic facility is probably not for you. I assume terriers and other small breed dogs (like a Min Pin) with more of a robust countenance would probably do fine. I assume the reviews on here are well-​founded, from a place of recommending a facility that is good with large breed dogs. I would not recommend this place for dogs like mine.
UPDATE:
I did receive a follow up call from the GM Bridgette, which I appreciated. She did acknowledge my concerns and stated she would talk to her staff about my experience. Still, the bulk of my review stands as I believe this facility is not a good fit for dogs like mine, although I do appreciate good commitment to customer service. Upgrade from 1 start to 2.

This place is great! I started boarding my 120 lb Great Pyr (Sebastian) a few months ago when his previous boarding facility closed. Sebastian can be a problem child. He’s sweet as pie, but has a bad case of separation anxiety, which makes me a bit of a nervous wreck when it comes to boarding. However, each time I board Sebastian I am impressed with the level of care he receives, as well as the staff’s responsiveness to my calls and emails.
Most recently, my boyfriend surprised me with a last minute trip for Valentine’s Day. The night before our flight, dear Sebastian managed to rip off his toenail and bleed for more than six hours. We showed up at PCP the day of our flight after an early morning dash to our vet with a bag of medicine and a bandaged dog sporting a big plastic cone. I was ready to cancel our trip… until PCP assured me that they had it under control. Not only did they take AMAZING care of him, they even took him to the vet for me to have his bandaged checked out/​changed! Fantastic service, fantastic people.

This place is a class act. I could totally tell that my dogs had a wonderful time at the facility while I was gone for a week. They were happy to see me when I picked them up of course, but they certainly didn’t act as if they had a bad time at PCP. And, they were actually more playful together when we finally got home.
The facility is great. It has a swimming pool and web cams so you can spy on your dog (s) while you’re away.
If ever you need to board your dog (s), or you just want to drop them off for a day of fun with other dogs, this is the place!

I was nervous about boarding Stella when my husband and I were going out of town but I heard about Pet Care Plus from a fellow Weim mommy and thought I would check them out. We first took a tour of the facility with her and everyone was very friendly, patient, and helpful. Of course I had a lot of questions about everything; rest time before and after eating, playing with other dogs, etc. and they happily answered them all.
After the tour I thought I would try daycare first before boarding her overnight so I made a reservation and filled out their online application with proof of shots. It was all very simple but thorough. They also have a several page questionnaire to learn about your dog and their personality which I think is great. When I went to drop her off everyone was nice and I actually could watch on the cameras as they took her out to the play yard and slowly introduced one dog at a time to her and see how she reacted and her behavior. This was very comforting. I also could watch on the cameras throughout the day to see what she was up to. She was playing and having a great time. After the positive experience we made our boarding reservation.
Before dropping her off for boarding I got a little nervous and so I called and talked with Jennifer. She was so sweet and comforting that I felt much better. When we were in Texas I checked in on Stella everyday and was able to see her playing with the other dogs and having a good time. I could also see that when she walked over to the employees they would lovingly pet her which made her smile so big. They all seem to really love their jobs which is the type of people you want taking care of your furry baby. I picked her up and she looked even more beautiful than when I dropped her off because they had given her a bath and trimmed her nails. All in all I am very happy with the whole experience and have already made a reservation for next month when we have to go back to Texas!

I am a huge fan of PCP even after just a one night stay for my two pups.
I really love that it doesn’t smell like a boarding facility when you walk in – where as with other places the pee smell hits you as soon as you approach the door. It’s super clean and I’m sure that has everything to do with the lack of odor. The front foyer area is lovely and well kept with all sorts of cute toys and treats for the pups. The «suite area» just past the foyer is where mine were housed. They have solid plastic doors with locks instead of cage, which I like, and I bet the dogs do too.
They don’t have a lot of indoor play space, but this place is all about fun outside! They have 5+ play yards, with a couple reserved for your pups that prefer to be alone. Several shaded areas, easy to clean up flooring, agility pieces, and an in ground pool for warmer months. The pool area faces Lake street, and if you pay attention you will see it from the street. There are many sturdy gates with locks and they do really well with keeping all areas separate. The pool is the reason I am already planning a day or two away for mine next summer. They will LOVE it. What a great idea, and this one amenity make this place a stand out.
I really like that the pups are outside most of the time, weather permitting. The employees seem really cool and capable and I felt great about leaving my babies for the night. They were pooped when they got home, slept the rest of the day and night til morning! I’ll take it!