Livermore Ranch Kennels

Recently I had to go out of town and leave my dog in a kennels for the first time in the eleven years since we adopted him. I was something of a wreck over this, since we had never left him at a kennel. He has separation anxiety stemming from his life before we found him, and reactions to attacks by off-​leash dogs and needs to be separated from close contact with other dogs.
In addition, he is a large, friendly, but independent dog.
I called, went for a visit, met Michael, the manager – very impressive – and some of the staff, and we discussed my concerns, and my dog’s issues. I felt confident that Michael was paying attention to my concerns, and to my dog’s needs, and that my dog would be well treated there, and carefully taken care of.
Next we had a get acquainted visit, and all went well.
The big day came, I dropped off my dog. While there I chatted with a man bringing his large dog in for several days, and he told me that after he began leaving his dog at Livermore Ranch, the dog was more relaxed and mellow when he picked him up than his dog had been when left elsewhere.
When I picked up my dog, he was calm, healthy and happy. Since Malamutes limp if they don’t get enough exercise, I could see that he had had daily walks and play time. He seemed calm and relaxed. The friendly staff told me specifics about his stay, which told me they pay attention to the individual dogs and their needs.
From what I saw, this same kind of care would extend to cats.
I have no concerns about leaving him at Livermore Ranch again. The staff seems dedicated to what they do and never forgot my dog’s need for special care, and it is clear they are both caring and careful about the animals in their kennels.

Today was Maci’s first day at Livermore Ranch Kennel! My little 8 month old Boxer puppy is very shy and timid when she’s in unfamiliar places without her mommy or daddy in sight… but this place made her feel right at home!
When I called to inquire about how Maci’s stay was going (even though it’d only been
2 hours) I was comforted in knowing that Maci was already the highlight of everyone’s day and photos were available on Facebook! She looked so happy!
I love this place and will definitely be taking Maci back. Keep up the great work LRK!
Tawni

We had a hard time finding a place we loved when we moved here until we found Livermore Ranch Kennels. They’ve always done a great job and my dog always seems happy when we pick him up. (He was a mess after taking him to another place so I now know the difference). Very thankful for a place we feel comfortable taking him too!

Edit: The manager of the kennel called me and was concerned about the health of my dog after her experience here. It turns out, she is fine. The vet said she was stressed out and not eating very well which is not the fault of the doggie daycare. The manager was very concerned, he offered to pay her vet bill, and was very quick to assure me that this does not normally happen. I am inclined to believe him, and I am changing my rating from one star to two. I do feel like they should have contacted me when my dog was sick, but they obviously do care greatly about the animals they watch.
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Original review:
I really don’t like writing negative reviews. I hesitated before posting this one. However, I sent my dog here based on the 100% 5 star reviews on Unilocal.Before someone else sends there dog here, I feel like they should be fully informed.
My dog was kenneled here from around 7:30 to 5:00 for eight days. For the most part, she seemed to be OK here. She did not seem anxious about arriving, and she adored the staff. She was not spayed, so she was kept separately from the other dogs and did not participate in group play. I stopped taking here here after this one incident.
My dog had thrown up the night before, and I mentioned to one of the staff to please, please call me if she seemed off. I was worried anyway since she was in her first heat, and if she was sick I wanted to go straight to the vet. The guy at the counter told me no problem, they would contact me anyway if they noticed anything wrong with my dog.
Which brings me to what I saw when I picked up my dog. I came in at 5:15, and they hand me my dog, and she was VERY CLEARLY COVERED IN HER OWN POOP. She obviously had some bad diarrhea during the day, and a) They NEVER called me and b) they saw NO problem returning her to me covered in her fresh feces. My dog is mostly white, and I keep her very clean, so the fact that her back half was covered in poo was not hard to miss. Needless to say, I did not use the last two days of my ’10 day package’ and I will not bring my dog back here.
My dog is fine, FYI. She was checked by the vet, and her stomach problems have stopped.

We’ve been taking our dog here for a few years now. We trust them with our dog and he loves it there. He goes for day care once a week for some play time. And we also take him to get groomed. They are all super nice and we love it here. We’ve also taken him for boarding when we have gone on vacation and did not worry about him at all. I work at Pet Food Express and always recommend my customers come here! Great prices and great care.

Took our boy to get his first professional grooming done! We did the undercoat bath/​brushing and teeth brushing, he also got his ears cleaned and nails clipped. He almost didn’t want to leave the room he was in until he noticed we were there waiting for him. He came out super soft, fluffy, and smelling good! We will definitely be bringing him back! The pricing was also very reasonable!

We’ve taken our maltese to be groomed at LRK for four months now, after our other groomer closed. They take good care of a nervous little dog who hates being groomed, and she always comes out looking great. Yesterday, she even came home sporting a little Halloween «Boo!» scarf too. My wife loved it.

We’ve been taking our Sheltie here for a few months now and they do a fantastic job every time!

Fantastic! We feel 100% comfortable leaving our dog here. Very organized pet friendly. The people who work here are all clearly animal people based on their demeanor. My boys love watching the giant tortoises they have.
100% Animal-​centric facility. Additionally we love our dog can get groomed here so she’s clean and cut when we pick her up. It’s like the Claremont for pets.

I’ve been taking my dog to Livermore Ranch Kennels for about a year and a half now for his grooming. I posted an initial review after our first appointment, but just to follow up, they still do a great job! I just had Oliver groomed again and he saw Dana who gave him the best cut he’s ever had. I can’t stop staring at him because he looks like a new man!!!
So, if you want to give your dog a haircut that will make all the other dogs in the dog park jealous, call Dana. She’ll fix you up. Thanks again!

Our family loves Livermore Ranch Kennels. Our happy campers — dogs — have been going to LRK for about ten years. The staff is friendly and helpful, the grounds are clean and welcoming and the location is great (lots of open space and trees).
If you are taking your pet (dog or cat) in for grooming, we highly recommend asking for DANA J. We are avid fans of her grooming skills and have followed her from another grooming salon to LRK; she has been grooming our dogs for years. She clearly loves ALL her four-​legged customers and works her magic every time. LRK grooming prices are very reasonable and services are parsed out so you only pay for what you want.
Well, I’m off to make an appointment for Bubba…

We’ve been taking our two dogs to Livermore Ranch Kennels for years and they are hands down the best! They take such good care of our two labs (Ortiz and Tanner), that our boys start wagging their tails as soon as we pull into the parking lot. Michael and the staff welcome our dogs each stay and make them feel like part of their family. We love our dogs and wouldn’t trust leaving them at any kennel other than Livermore Ranch Kennels.
–Steve & Linnea

I read all the great reviews before choosing this place, but for what it’s worth, my experience here a couple of months ago was less than great. (I should preface this by saying that I’m not one of those «my dog is my baby» people; I’m okay with dogs being treated like dogs.) The people I dealt with on the phone were nice, but when I got there to drop off our pooch the feeling was more like a school office secretary: [sigh] «whaddya want?» I agree with a previous poster that the staff seemed uninterested in animals generally, and certainly didn’t show any interest in my dog in particular. The young lady at the desk was taken aback that I asked to see where my dog would be kept, and was put out at showing me a kennel, giving me the excuse that she didn’t want my dog to be upset at seeing me leave (?). I was surprised that there was no way to shut off the kennels from the outside — it gets cold in Livermore at night, and there was no bedding provided for the concrete floor. It was pretty well shaded during the daytime. I didn’t understand from the website that boarded dogs aren’t walked or played with unless you pay extra. That was a bummer, but mea culpa. I can appreciate that they offer a no-​frills service, but it seems that some playtime should be part of that. Maybe the daycare experience is different, or maybe we had an unusual experience, but our dog wasn’t particularly happy afterward and I wasn’t either. There’s nothing awful about these kennels, but nothing great either so we’ve found other boarding since then.

Best kennel/​doggie day care in the East Bay. My dog loves it and they treat him like the royalty that he is: D

This place is mediocore. I just had my dog boarded here of a week. The website sold me, however I feel compelled to share my experience to others chosing a place to take their doggy. During drop-​off and pick-​up, I interacted with staff that obviously sees this place as a job, not as a passion for animals. Since they don’t have webcams, I was promised my dog would be on facebook, but my doggy was never posted. Sleeping areas are not in a climate controlled building (it was 90 degrees here last week). If you are not crazy lovey with your pooch, then this place is fine. But, for those that go the extra mile for their four legged best friend, I would recommend elsewhere. Honest truth.

This review is for grooming only. I brought my 4yr old 75lb pit/​lab mix for the first time today. She got the full treatment, bath, brush, nail trim, ear cleaning. I added the gland expression for a small fee. Competitive pricing, excellent job, my girl is so shiny clean and happy! I’m very pleased and we’ll be back.

Great place to board my little 5 lb Yorkie and they groom him too. I’ve been taking my animals to this kennel since the 70s and have never had any issues with their services.

My dog thankfully recovered after 3 weeks of treatment after return from the kennel. The kennel owner refunded all the charges. He also offered to pay some of the vet bills, which I declined. The kennel was regretful that this happened. We might consider using the kennel again sometime in the future.

I was the annoying lady playing phone tag all day trying to get last minute boarding for my dog last week. The man I spoke to was so patient with me and all my questions and when I had to call a million times. Seems like the process here is very simple and laid back, just my style. I ended up being able to get a last minute appointment to have my dog stay here for a few nights, only to have to call back and cancel the night before because unbeknownst to me, my husband ended up getting a friend of ours to watch the dog instead. The rates seem great and my experience over the phone was very pleasant. Even though we didn’t end up using them this time, we will definitely call them first in the future! Thanks!

We were nervous because our rescue is not great with strangers and is a bit submissive with other dogs, so when we decided that we were going on a 9 day trip, we needed to find some place that made Fae and us comfortable.
We scheduled an initial visit for Fae and she stayed during the afternoon, she was a bit shy, unsure of the folks there but went back with them on the leach with no drama. That evening we got a glowing report back from LRK on how Fae handled the situation, so we scheduled another day so she could do a couple of play times with other dogs. Again because she is a bit submissive, they put her in with smaller dogs and kept an eye on her, even provided a video to ease out minds :)
SOLD, We booked 9 days there for Fae, brought our own food, our own bedding, our own toys and felt pretty confident that she would be well handled and would not be traumatized. The wife called once on our vacation, if not twice and we got the report that she seemed to be settling in okay and having no issues with the care givers or the play groups. AWESOME.
After 9 days, we picked her up this morning, she was happy to see us, looked healthy, her bedding while slightly dusty was not at all that dirty, we got all her toys back and she was in great shape. She looked good, acted fine, and does not seem to be worn out, meaning she was comfortable enough to eat and sleep at Livermore Ranch Kennels.
I didn’t grab names (my apologies), but the young gentlemen really seems to care and we are glad we have such a setup so near to us, so when we can’t take her (she was not ready to get her Scuba certification :), we feel we have a trusty source to care for our FAE.
Thanks everyone, she seems like she did well and seems to be in great shape and spirits!
Maybe we will try the grooming next, but she is not a fan of it, so we may retain that privilege :)
The Blues