Manhattan Paws Walkers

I love having Vera and her employees as a dog walkers for my dog. I have used her for about a year now and have no complaints. Vera is highly professional and is always accessible through email. She even emails a gps tracked route after every day’s walk.
Her prices are fair and she is very flexible. There have been times where my dog has required an extra walk and a quick email to Vera was all I needed to send to make sure he got it.
Vera is especially friendly, I have even run into her at the dog park with her own dog!

I have been using Vera for doggie boarding (in her home with her dog Pedro) and for Mon-​Fri daytime dog walking for a couple of months now. My dog has aggression issues and Vera has no problem handling my dog in public around other people and dogs (whereas previous dog walkers could not handle my dog). My pooch always comes home happy from doggie boarding. For dog walking during the week, I see that my dog is very happy and excited to see Vera every day (sometimes I happen to be home during the afternoon, and sometimes I take a look at the home video camera). She clearly knows dogs and is in control of the situation — for that, she will likely continue to have my business for a long time.

Manhattan Pawalkers is extremely unprofessional and unfriendly and worse, they are UNRELIABLE and DISHONEST. As usual, we agreed to a set time for them to come and walk my dog. Unfortunately they could not follow simple directions to access my apartment (the directions were to see the doorman for access) and would have left my dog stranded with no bathroom break if I had not called in to randomly follow up. AND on at least two occasions I was lied to by either the office or the dog walker (not sure which one was telling the truth) about whether my dog was actually walked and their procedures. To me this is unacceptable. Reliability and communication are two things that are a must in a dog walking service and they lack both. I can’t decide if I am more bothered by the fact that they were just going to skip my dog’s walk or that they were not going to notify me about it so that I could make alternate arrangements. If you love your pup and don’t want him/​her to be left stranded when you think a walk is occurring, go elsewhere.
Lastly, the office is very rude and does not respond well to customer concerns and questions. Maybe I have been spoiled by friendly, reliable and accommodating dog walking services in the past, but in my opinion, that’s the way this kind of relationship should be. After all, you are trusting your dog walker with your dog and your home. If you value either, go elsewhere.
UPDATE TO OWNER COMMENT: I was completely fine with not being able to communicate directly with the dog walker, however, there are times when a message needs to get to the dog walker such as «don’t give the dog him meds today.» While Owners’s theory of needing all communication to go through her could work, it doesn’t because she is often unavailable to relay messages. My complaint with the requirement of needing to go through her is just that — she needs to then be available. It took over 5 hours to reach Vera one day to try and get a message to the dog walker. Her response was «I was busy.» If that’s the case then she needs to hire someone else as a point of contact.
Lastly, be warned that there have been many more negative comments regarding this business, but somehow they all mysteriously disappear. My guess is the reviewers cave under pressure when The Owner often puts reviewers’ first AND last names in her responses to the reviews as a way to get people to remove their reviews in order to protect their Unilocal anonymity.
Does this sound like someone you want to trust with your dog’s happiness and comfort???