Linda’s Camp K-9

Have taken my beagle dachshund Banana for 10 day camp sessions and have been so impressed. The staff is so great, cheery and helpful. They genuinely seem to love my dog and know him as soon as he walks in. He never shows any anxiety from being around the other dogs and he is so tired his little eyes are shut before we even get off the street. He slowly walks into the house and collapses so tired from the fun. :) His weight has gone down and I’m just so happy he can get so much exercise to live a longer healthy life.

Got my rott/​bernese mix groomed here by an employee named Ryan. The whole staff was very friendly and the prices here are very affordable compared to the bigger chains. He was so soft after and his nails were perfect!

We used Linda’s as a place to board our lab puppy while we went out of state for the weekend, after doing our research it seemed to be the best place that we were able to find at the time. I really liked the fact that the dogs were about to run and play and not be locked in a kennel all day.
My issue is with the sanitation of the area. As I know it is hard to keep everything spotless but when we picked up our puppy we had to take him to the vet due to an eye infection that he picked up while being at the camp. I was very disappointed in the way that they handled everything and that we had to spend even more money fixing an issue that was their fault. We will not be going back and do not recommend this place.

Camp K-​9 is our dog’s absolute favorite place on earth. The staff is incredibly friendly and it’s so clear they all love what they do — and the dogs they care for. Every time I called to set up a day of daycare for our lab, Buckley, anyone who answered the phone always knew him automatically and sounded so excited to have him there. It’s so nice to have the peace of mind to know your pets are being taken care of so well. He stayed overnight here as well multiple times, and even though I know he was always too excited to sleep, there just isn’t anywhere else in the area that I’d leave him. Also, the pricing is so reasonable and the pre-​paid packages are a fantastic deal. We sadly moved out of the area, and haven’t found anything quite like it anywhere else! We miss Camp K-​9!

My pitbull, Karma, goes to camp once or twice a week. Honestly, she is obsessed with going. When I say «camp», she runs to the door with her tail wagging. She is 1.5 years old and very energetic. As a Law Student at Notre Dame, sometimes I am in class or in the library studying longer than I would want to leave her. On busy days, I take her to camp to play with friends. The counselors know her and take care of her. They are also very patient with her. While I was in California this summer, Karma went to a few day camps and we did not find any that we liked. The dogs were expected to stay inside and be calm all day. At Camp K9, they separate the dogs by size and activity level and let them play all day. Karma always comes home tired and happy. This is an incredible resource for people that want their dogs to get exercise and be social while they are at school or work. My only caution is: make sure your dog eats and drinks before going to camp. Sometimes they seem like they play so hard that they forget to stop and rehydrate and Karma always comes home and drinks a ton! But otherwise, 5 stars. I love this place

I’m Lena’s mom, the dog who came home from Camp K-​9 with open, bleeding sores covering her face, neck, chin, and chest, caused by moist dermatitis. The infected skin was a result of her swimming in pools for a week and being left wet overnight. I wanted to share more information about her injuries sustained at Camp K-​9. I am also uploading photos of our veterinary bills, which are dated, so please check those out as well (our personal information like our address has been cropped out).
Lena was at Camp K-​9 from June 14^th to June 20^th. Coincidentally, both of our dogs were seen by a vet the day *before* we dropped them off at Camp K-​9 (June 13, 2014), and Lena was given a clean bill of health. This is important because it shows that she did NOT have this condition when she arrived at Camp K-​9.
We picked up Lena from a week of boarding during the early evening of June 20^th. The following day, after she was lethargic and unwilling to eat, we discovered the open, bleeding, pus-​filled sores on her face, neck, and chest, matting her fur and resulting in a foul smell. We took her to the emergency vet, and the emergency technicians took Lena to the back, sedated her, and shaved down the fur on her chin, face, neck, and chest, revealing the bleeding wounds and infected tissue. She was seen by our regular vet the following Monday, 6÷23÷14. Our vet confirmed the diagnosis of moist dermatitis, and that it happens in heavy coated dogs that are left wet for too long a period of time. Essentially, the moisture and bacteria are trapped against their skin. This is why double-​coated dogs always need to be adequately dried off after swimming. We are originally from Florida, and despite swimming daily in our swimming pool at home, and many trips to the dog beach, Lena had never had this problem before. That’s because in the past, she was always dried off. Lena was given antibiotics, a steroid, and painkillers.
The photo of the emergency vet bill I have uploaded reflects the date she was seen, Saturday, 6÷21÷14. Again, we had only picked her up from a week of boarding the previous evening.
The photo of our follow-​up visit to our normal vet, where she was again shaved and treated with medicine, is also uploaded, and is dated 6÷23÷14.
When we informed Linda’s Camp K-​9 of what happened, we were treated very unprofessionally. We were hung up on, faxes sent to them by our vets were mysteriously never received, and then we were called liars after sharing our experience on Facebook.
I want to be clear that I have never asked anyone to leave a review for us. We only wanted to share our story so that other people can make an informed decision about whether they feel comfortable leaving their pets here, given the practices employed at Linda’s Camp K-​9 and given the response of the owner when we informed her of the injuries Lena sustained at Camp K-​9. The owner called us liars and said this was a «classic case» of owners trying not to pay. Of course, we already had paid, and had been loyal paying customers for a very long time before this occurred.
Everyone is entitled to their opinions based on their personal experiences at Linda’s Camp K9. Before this happened to us– and before we discovered the other people who have had similar issues– we might have felt protective of Camp K-​9 too. Just know that, if your pet is ever hurt while at camp, this is the treatment you will be subjected to. You will be hung up on, called a liar by the owner despite vet records, and basically told your years of being a loyal customer mean NOTHING. I sincerely hope they change their practices as a result of us sharing Lena’s story, because it is heartbreaking to see your dog in pain, especially when it is an avoidable injury.

Before the incident related below, we had been very satisfied customers of Linda’s Camp K-​9 for almost 2 years. Our dogs are Lena, now 4, a Newfoundland, and Teddy, now almost 3, a Labradoodle.
On June 14 we dropped off Lena and Teddy for a week-​long stay while we were on vacation out-​of-​state. During that time, we were told, Lena spent every day in the pools and there were photos posted on the Camp K-​9 Facebook page of her luxuriating in the pool. My girlfriend called every day to check on Teddy and Lena. We picked them up on June 20. She was given a bath that day before pickup. We believe that the groomer suspected something was wrong – she told me as I was leaving that she had trouble «washing the drool off» of Lena after giving her a bath. But if they did notice anything amiss, they didn’t tell us explicitly. By Friday night, Lena was lethargic and refusing to eat. On Saturday night, we discovered what felt like scars on her face and neck, and her fur around this area was foul-​smelling and matted with pus. It was clear that Lena was in serious pain. We immediately took her to the emergency vet and were told she had dermatitis. She had open, bleeding wounds on her face, neck, and chest. We took her to the normal vet on Monday, where more sores were discovered. The vet confirmed the diagnosis of acute moist dermatitis (hot spots) for which we were given antibiotics, a steroid, and painkillers. The vet told us that the combination of heat and moisture under Lena’s chin would provide an ideal environment for bacterial growth if she were not adequately dried off. Although Lena spent the first years of her life in Florida swimming in pools regularly and, like all newfies, drools a lot, this was her first case of hot spots. She is up-​to-​date on her flea medication, has no known allergies, and we groom her regularly.
My girlfriend called Linda’s Camp K-​9 that day to tell them what happened, and we were told by an employee that employees could not totally dry off all of the dogs after they used the pool. We were told to send the vet bills to Linda’s Camp K-​9 and the owner would consider payment, which we did a few days later.
From this point on, we were told to deal exclusively with another employee who apparently does customer service. It took us a while to get in touch with her, but I finally managed to get her on the phone on Friday, July 11 (this was partly my fault, but it was also difficult to reach her since her hours were, exclusively, 11 – 2). I explained what had happened and told her that it should be standard operating procedure to thoroughly dry off heavy coated dogs in the summer after they have used the pool; she agreed. In other words, she admitted that a practice that should have been in place and that could have prevented the harm was not in place. This makes Camp K-​9 liable. I reminded her that we had spent literally thousands of dollars over the years at Camp K-​9 and that the last thing we wanted to deal with after having just arrived home from our vacation was the stress and expense of a painful medical problem. After about twenty minutes, during which the employee offered no justification for *not* paying the vet bills beyond saying (1) that the harm was not intentional and (2) that she did not think it amounted to neglect, the employee told me that the owner would not pay the bills. And that, apparently, was that. We never actually spoke to the owner and were never told why she wasn’t going to pay. Like Mary K., we have since been told that Linda’s Camp K-​9 cares for way too many dogs than the few employees can handle, and we have doubts that they are dried off at all after using the pool facility.
Overall, we were just flabbergasted by the indifferent and callous treatment we received after having spent so much money there. Not only did the owner not pay our bill or offer to reimburse the cost of boarding; she refused to explain why she didn’t. I should also mention that we when we called her on July 11^th, the owner hung up on us twice and then did not pick up the phone when we called back. Eventually we had to call from a different number. What is so perplexing about the owner’s behavior is that if she just payed the bills, which came to about $ 400, we would continue to come back and shell out thousands more as long as they promised to dry off Lena adequately. As it is, we will not be coming back.
UPDATE: The owner commented on Facebook that our story is a «complete lie» and that this is a classic case of pet owners trying not to pay. Again, I must emphasize that prior to this incident, we had been loyal customers for *years* without making a single complaint. Sometimes dogs just get hurt. This was avoidable.

We’ve taken our dog here for daycare and overnight boarding. The staff is nice, but we stopped going once we heard that they care for hundreds (literally) of dogs each day. No wonder ours, who’s a bit sensitive, came home worn out and was nervous when we took her back.

We’ve been taking our two Miniature Schnauzers to Camp K-​9 for 4 years for boarding and daycare once in a while. I recently moved to Illinois but still have taken my dogs there 3 times for boarding because its worth the trip. My dogs love being there and have never gotten sick or shown any signs of neglect. They are super excited to go to camp and pull me to the door when we get there. They can’t wait to play and be dogs. As an added benefit to me, they are worn out for a day or two after I pick them up from playing. Keep up the great service

Nothing makes my yellow lab, Lucy, happier then spending the day at Camp K9.