Dogpatch Academy

Aloha. I am filled with great sadness to know that Dogpatch Academy is closed. Aunty Cheryl and Uncle James were like my Julius’ godparents. Always happy to arrive and also good when it came time for me to pick him up. I will miss them dearly. Aloha. Monoiki.

Cheryl and James gave my cat Ming ultimate bath times over the last 15 years. Ming just LOVED his spa day at Dogpatch. He felt so-​o good and sassy afterwards :)
This is tribute to Dogpatch and Ming who went to heaven on August 18^th.

I love this place. I have been taking my dogs here for 13 years now, and they have always come out looking great. The owner has a great deal of affection for dogs and you can see that in the way she handles them. I have a Maltese and a Poodle, and they need a lot of specialized grooming. I will say that all my dogs hate getting a bath — even by me — and I would not expect them to be overjoyed at the prospect of getting a thorough cleaning.

I have been taking my English Cocker Spaniel, Lady, to Dogpatch Academy since I got her at 10 months old. She had 3 homes before me and was very scared of everything. She still has problems and only likes certain people. She goes in to Dogpatch every other week for a bath and has haircuts when the owner thinks she needs them. My dog loves going to there and loves the owners. They have always treated her very well. Also, they don’t board, but because my dog still has anxiety issues she stays with the owners at their home when I travel. They are the only ones I would leave her with. I’m sorry the other two posters had problems, but these are good people who treat my dog Lady like she is their own dog and she loves going there and I have never posted anything anywhere else on Unilocal — only on this page because i think it’s unfair. In fact I have rarely posted anything on the Internet.

The time finally came when my baby needed to get her first haircut and I decided to take her to Dogpatch Academy since it is in my neighborhood and was convenient. While I hadn’t heard anything great about them (bad Unilocaler), I had failed to hear anything bad about them either and figured I would give them a shot. That one visit was the only time I ever took my dog there.
I instructed the owner that I just wanted certain areas to be trimmed and that she needed a bath and nails trimmed as well. I was told that she wanted to trim other areas on my dog as well to «even it out» and that is how the breed is trimmed. I told her I didn’t want that and I was very specific. She relented and told me to come back in a few hours.
I returned a few hours later to my dismay that she had gone ahead and trimmed away on my dog against my wishes. Also, my dogs nails were cut far too short and obviously bled and cause pain to my dog. Note, my dog has white nails, not dark so it is pretty obvious where the blood line was.
The location may be convenient, however it is street parking only and the store itself clearly has the «dog» smell. While somewhat tidy and organized, it could use a good sweep. It certainly has a homey feel to it though.
On the plus side, the prices are pretty reasonable and on the lower side when compared to other independent town establishments. So if you want to save a few bucks, it definitely isn’t anything to sneer at.
While, I normally like to give businesses a second go, my dog was clearly scared and not something I would want to subject her to again. Definitely check out other spots.