Smart Paws Chicago

Excellent company! I use them for my hamster if I am going to be gone for a weekend and want him to get some time running in his ball/​out of his cage while I’m away. They have been great about scheduling, quick at responding to inquiries, and have also been able to come by for last minute appointments. I am very happy with them. Highly recommend!

We started to use SmartPaws service end of last year when we had to leave town for a family trip overseas. This was our first use of such service with our newly adopted 2 years old pet. We were a bit worry but starting with the registration visit at-​home we started to relax. You could tell they love pets. During our trip we slowly got hooked to read the walkers emails (automatically sent to you when they start and end the walk along with pictures) so we knew what happened to our dog. The emails were so funny that this was first thing the kids would ask in the morning. This kept us informed and relaxed knowing all was going well. To be truthful, they had to deal with our dog refusal to be put on a leash but never gave up and day by day things go quickly better. Overall we are very satisfied with the service and will use it again.

I’m so glad that I began using Smart Paws! From the beginning they were extremely easy to work with and very reliable. You start by setting up a home-​visit where they come to meet your pup and hear about their routine, home environment, and any special needs. They asked tons of questions and wrote down info that I wouldn’t have even thought of.
Booking is very easy — through their website you can schedule individual or repeat visits. When the walker comes they scan in and out with a QR code magnet on the fridge so you know they came for the full time. They also use GPS so you can see where exactly your dog was walked. When the walk is over the website updates with the time in/​out, whether your dog went #1/#2, and a short blurb. If you get a longer walk you even get a photo included from each walk. You can also make the settings so that you get a recap email with the same info.
Every day I look forward to hearing how my dog did, and hearing about her walk.
I appreciate that I typically get the same walker, although on occasion it will be someone new. It’s nice that I can book the day before, and cancel day of if something comes up. If I need to email for any reason, I always get a prompt response. Billing is very easy as you can set up automatic billing if you prefer and get an invoice at the end of the week.
So far I’ve been very happy with Smart Paws, and I have a lot of trust in them which is saying a lot since I’m an overly nervous/​protective first time puppy parent!

Smart Paws is the absolute BEST! We’ve been using them for two years now to check on our cat, Albert, when we travel. We always sign up for the extra time so we get pictures and email updates — they are the highlight of our day! They provide the best of care and ensure he gets treats, food, fresh water, a clean litter box and most importantly… lots of attention! They treat each visit like it’s their own pet.
We cannot thank Smart Paws enough for giving us peace of mind when we are away!

I’ve been using Smart Paws on a daily basis during the week for nearly a year and I couldn’t be more pleased. From the very beginning the entire staff (including owner Sam) has been extremely accommodating, professional and reliable. They’ve been really great with my pup, Finn… who marches to the beat of his own drum and can be a little challenging on a leash.
When I adopted my dog, I brought him home without having a walker lined up. I didn’t have a chance to perform a ton of research when selecting a dog walker/​service because I needed someone asap. Smart Paws was the first place I contacted and they were able to come out to my home, assess my pup and get us on-​boarded extremely quickly — in fact, the owner came out on a Sunday so we would be ready to go for Monday.
In the beginning, I was a little anxious about strangers coming into my building/​home, but the walkers have been great and it’s typically the same walker each time. I’ve met a few of them in person on the rare occasion I’m home during the day and they’ve always been super friendly and have gone above and beyond to care for my pup. They’ve cleaned up accidents that occur while I’m gone, helped administer medication and gave countless belly rubs and snuggles when my little guy wasn’t feeling well.
Each walk begins with an email confirmation that the walker has arrived. Once the session has concluded, another email with a details of the walk, whether the pup did a #1 or #2 and two or three pictures from the walk is sent. I actively look forward to receiving these emails each day and the summary of the walk is always fun to read. They really care about your pets and it shows in their email summaries.
The office team/​Account Managers are very easy to work with and have always been able to accommodate any last minute schedule changes or cancellations. I’ve had to request evening walks and weekend sessions from time to time and it’s been a very easy process and they always come through for me.
I honestly don’t know what I would have done without Smart Paws. I recommend them to anyone in they city who needs a reliable walker a regular or occasional basis!

This is so sad to write, but I feel that anyone who is curious about SmartPaws needs to know. They seem to be having trouble maintaining dog walkers and began sending a different person every day with out informing me. I should have caught it sooner when one email stated my dog was so scared she peed on the rug and began growling. (SHE DOES NOT GROWL EVER). After reaching out to the company in concern (they had NO idea that our dog was having issues, even though it was in the email update) they reported that her usual walker was longer with smartpaws and had a different walker assigned every day. WHICH IS A NIGHTMARE FOR A RESCUE.
Our dog is now seeing a behaviorist as she barks, growls and is fearful of anyone that walks through our door.
Just a warning when you consider using this company. I really hope they can figure it out for other dogs and their families.

Hands down best walkers in Chicago! I have been using Smart Paws since I rescued my dog in March. I have always been pleased with their service and on Monday they even exceeded my expectations. My building unexpectedly had carpet cleaners come for our hallways and it really shook up my dog. She never growls at anyone, but she was scared, growling, and would not come out from under the bed for her scheduled walker. He texted me and let me know the situation right away.
The owner Sam came to the rescue and let her out shortly after. Since she already knew Sam she felt comfortable enough to go outside. Thank you Smart Paws for being so patient with my girl who had a «case of the Mondays» today. Keep up the good work.

Recently switched to Smart Paws per our bossy feline babies and we are incredibly happy we did. I cannot get over how detail orientated Smart Paws is, their top of the line technology, prompt customer service and reliability. We sincerely look forward to their funny and thoughtful emails regarding our catbabes while we are gone. I would HIGHLY recommend this company.

What a great dog walker! Smart Paws walkers were very professional and seemed to really love our pup. The pictures and daily updates are huge highlights in our day. We won’t hesitate to use them again and again!

I’ve been using Smart Paws for more than a couple of months now. They have been really great to work with and very responsive/​professional. I get little notes from them after walks and it is very reassuring (and entertaining at the same time! The walkers are great at this!). They have an online platform that is relatively new where you an schedule walks. Since it is new there are some kinks but it does go to show how accessible and easy they are trying to make themselves be.
I would definitely recommend them.

Getting pictures of my pup while I’m at work is definitely the highlight of my work day! I love the walk maps, notes, and texts from the walkers. The notes crack me up. I can really see my dog’s personality in the walkers’ comments, which is reassuring. It’s nice to know that he is comfortable with the walkers since he tends to pout when I leave.
We’ve had a few special situations, and each time Sam, Elizabeth, and the whole gang have been amazing. When I locked myself out of my apartment, Elizabeth and Anthony were life savers. Last week, we had a puppy guest who is also walked by Smart Paws. Elizabeth brought a new walker with her so both dogs could easily be walked together, and they made the scheduling/​billing very easy on us.
Any time I’ve had a concern, Sam has responded right away. We’ve been really happy with Smart Paws, and we recommend them to all of our friends who are looking for puppy assistance.

Very professional and sweet to my two pups! I highly recommend them.

AMAZING. So we were going out of town last minute and our vet always charges us for an exam and unnecessary shots, and with limited hours we end up paying for an extra day or two, it just gets too expensive! We were referred to Smart Paws by a co worker who has been using them for quite awhile and had nothing but great things to say about it. After talking to Sam, the owner, right away I felt at ease… it is clear that they love dogs and at the end of the day my dog is my baby so I expect them to see her as that too.
The technology they have tracks the walk, and the walkers do WRITE UPS of their experience there. Even better, they post pictures to it too! These little things, are HUGE things for me… it not only made me smile, but it was so calming to know the behavior of what she was doing because I could tell from the notes she was happy and being herself.
Most people with dogs would agree on this, whenever my fiancé and I have to lave town last minute or just want to do an overnight, our dog can be a deciding factor of it we can do it or not. This will be AWESOME for last minute weekend trips or just to get out of the city for a night. I can not thank you guys enough and look forward to using you from not until forever :)
Thank you Amanda and Gina for the pictures, they made my weekend :)

Smart Paws is such a great service. My dogs love them and that’s the most important. My walker is always going above the call of duty and I appreciate that so much. Plus they are great with accommodating me with whatever my schedule needs. Thanks SmartPaws!

Sam and his team are the best! Reliable, flexible, incredibly communicative and very cost effective. Recently, they’ve embraced this new technology that sends you emails and personal notes regarding the details of each visit. This, makes the whole experience extremely personal. And most of all, they’ve loved and cared for my dogs from the very first visit. I trust them in my home and would assertively encourage anyone looking for a dog care service provider to hire Smart Paws.

I am so happy I stumbled upon Smart Paws. We’ve been using Smart Paws since our now 6 month old Golden Retriever puppy, Gerty, was 9 weeks old. My husband and I both work full time jobs, so we needed a walker that we could trust to enter our home each day and help potty train the pup. We started with two 15 minute potty breaks when Gerty was little, but she has now graduated to one walk per day. Smart Paws provides a detailed report with GPS map for each walk, and I love their photo updates. They have recently implemented a new scheduling software that makes it so easy to setup appointments online up to 11pm the night before. My work hours are often changing, so I love the flexibility of not having to have a definitive walking schedule set in stone for each week and that Smart Paws has no minimum for walks per week.
Aside from their standard services, today I received a notification from our walker, Sara. Gerty has been sick and had had diarrhea when she arrived and rolled all around in it in her kennel! Sara was kind enough to go above and beyond her 25-​minute walking duties. She still took Gerty for her walk, gave her a bath, cleaned out the kennel, and opened some windows to air out the apartment. She continuously kept me updated and was able to give me enough information I needed for the vet that night. Sara truly rocks, and I know Gerty loves getting to hang out with her each day.
I truly can’t say enough good things about Smart Paws. I’m always very willing to recommend Sam and his team to anyone I run across in need of a dog walker.
Thanks for everything you do, Smart Paws!

I am so happy to have found a dog walker through smartpaws. I have a somewhat difficult dog who jumps and barks at people when they walk in the door. Because of thos it was hard to find a walker but smartpaws is wonderful. You get the same walker do they get to know your dog and vice versa. Love the comments they write getting email and text alerts when they arrive and leave. I highly recommend smartpaws!

Smart Paws is really, really fantastic. I just adopted my first cat a few months ago and was definitely nervous to have someone else looking after her while I was home for Christmas for 5 days. I got a text each time they arrived to my apartment and a detailed email about the visit with pictures of her after they completed the visit. It gave me such peace of mind, and she seemed very happy and content when I returned home! I had lots of questions when I booked services with them and the owner, Sam, was super patient with me. Thanks, Sam! Smart Paws is wonderful!

We first used Smart Paws Chicago this Thanksgiving weekend; scrambling last minute trying to find a dog walking service that not only would be operating on a holiday, but one that didn’t require a minimum number of walks each week.
After reading the Unilocal reviews (they were amazing-​with the exception of 1 review that actually wasn’t even for Smart Paws, the reviewer had the wrong Company) I decided to give them a try. I’ve had my son (yes, I refer to my dog as my son) since he was 3 months old and he’s now a striking old man at the age of 8; I’m very skeptical of letting people I don’t know take care of him. But after meeting Sam (the owner) those feelings of discomfort slowly disappeared. He met with my boyfriend and I beforehand to find out our dog’s needs, any special requests, etc., etc. Come Thanksgiving weekend, sure enough our walker (who happened to be Sam) was at our apartment during the time slot he said he would be; how do I know this? Because Smart Paws Chicago offers this AMAZING feature that will email you a Dog Walking Log once the walk is finished. It includes a break down by time of what your dog did, Sam even includes funny little comments which I thought were great. It tells you what time your walker starts the walk, how long the walk is and when they finish. It even includes a GPS map of your dog’s route… and my favorite, pictures of your best friend! Who doesn’t want to get pictures of their pup sent to them??! I cannot say enough how happy we were with Smart Paws Chicago’s service, in fact we already have them booked for next weekend! It’s super easy to do with their online booking service. Thanks Smart Paws for making our furry friend seem like he was your own, we can’t wait for our next appointment!

I can’t say enough good things about Smart Paw Chicago! I am a self-​proclaimed crazy dog owner … and if you saw my 5-​lbs poodle you’d know why! Smart Paws’ reliable, caring walkers make leaving my little girl at home while I’m at work much easier. The online scheduling is super convenient. Our schedule fluctuates each week so I appreciate that there is not a minimum number of weekly walks.
The Doggy Logs are truly the highlight of the days I’m away from my pup. They are incredibly funny and cute. I love seeing the pictures of my pooch — proof the dog walker actually came that day and that the walk was fun.
Sam, the owner, could not be more thoughtful and easy to work with. I will recommend Smart Paws to all of my dog-​loving friends and neighbors. This is one business that should thrive! WOOF!