Alpha Dog Daycare and Boarding

my out of town drop in and babysit my babies while I tourist it around town.

From the very first visit, the folks at alpha dog welcomed our pup. They gave us a ‘report card’ from her first visit, telling us how good she was and how hard she played. Our high energy lab/​border collie mix pup was exhausted from all of the play. By the second visit, there was a picture of her on the wall with her very own hook. She became a weekly daycare visitor. Never once, has she come home with kennel cough or fleas, which has happened at other places in town. And she has never once come home with scabs, indicating she’d been hurt, which has also occurred at other places. She just goes, and plays hard, and comes home and sleeps. They really watch over the dogs and it appears that all of the dogs have a great time. The staff is friendly and really dog oriented and I highly recommend.

We held six summertime Applegate Beagle Reunion at this wonderful, clean doggie daycare and each time we give it four paws up! Dave & Valerie go above and beyond to welcome us & to take great care of us (as well as keep the Saturday boarders mellow too!) With over 20 Beagles bounding about, we are all kept busy! Everyone has a great time, we have plenty of room and chairs for all. Thank you for helping us celebrate the birthday of Jean Applegate, former owner of Applegate Beagle Kennels for six wonderful years!

Very nice staff, clean facility, and drop off/​pick up couldn’t be easier. Nothing but good things so far!

Approximately two years ago I adopted an energetic and admittedly untamed puppy. I was at my wit’s end with her and realized I needed help (and a break)!! I chose Alpha Dog based on its excellent location and brought Lucy in for her initial evaluation which went very well: she was happy, exhausted and fell asleep as soon she was in the car. It was a win win for both of us.
Alpha Dog has not only provided a welcome outlet for my high energy dog, the excellent and caring staff have also worked on training her and socializing her with a variety of dogs. I continue to bring Lucy to Alpha Dog for day care and have also used their boarding services.
I have recommended Alpha Dog to my friends and they have also been very pleased with the service as well as the reasonable costs of day care and boarding.
I honestly do not know what I would have done without Alpha Dog: they provide a large, fun play area for Lucy, are open long hours and are there in a pinch for day care and boarding.
Thanks Alpha Dog!

I will add one more star since I did end up getting the credit today in the mail.

I can’t say enough about how wonderful Valerie and Dave are! The best doggie daycare in town! I have a moose, well he’s a dog, but he resembles a moose and he literally leaps out of the car and runs to Dave on the mornings he goes to Alpha Dog. Otis (my dog) is a Great Dane. I tried a few other places in town before I found Alpha Dog. Most places take on too many dogs and can’t really watch them all. Otis was bitten very badly by a dog at a facility close to Alpha Dog, and it’s because there was not enough staff to watch him. Not only that, but he was never indoors even if it rained or snowed and that didn’t go over well. My dog is a big, docile dog, but because of his size he has special needs. Valerie and Dave take wonderful care of him, I feel like they treat him as one of their own. My life is better because my dog comes home tired and happy. No more problems with him at home. I can honestly say that Alpha Dog is the best doggie day care on the east side. Your dog will be very happy to become part of the pack. You will be happy to have a tired and better behaved dog. Take your dog to Alpha Dog! They rock.

When I was younger, sometime during the cretaceous period, I used to have a recurring nightmare. I’d be running in these dark caves, rounding corners frantically trying to outrun gibbering monsters hooting & snuffling behind me. Periodically I would look behind me & see huge shadows with spikes, tufts, & jagged maws closing in on me spurring me to greater spurts of speed. Eventually, I’d turn a corner that brought me to a panicked halt. A dead end. The jostling shadows expand as they come closer, rounding the corner as the monsters close in on me. And then… I would wake up as I was being tickled by countless technicolor fuzzy muppets. Yes, even my nightmares are G-​rated.
The pooch is a bouncing 79lb muppet & after moving to PDX was missing his muppety friends up in the emerald city. It’s not exclusivism or doggy breedism. There’s just nothing like watching a herd of muppets running, hopping, flopping, prat-​falling, & rolling around like… well, a bunch of crazed doodles. Get a bunch of guys together, the topics & behavior can fall along certain lines…(*cough* booze, sports, & erudite discussions like who would win in a face-​off between Norman Bates & Jack Torrance *cough*) Get a bunch of doodles together & you get to watch crazy things like WWF for pooches involving forward flops onto your buddy’s head, a 20lb plushie jumping bean bouncing up to kiss a 6 ft man, & my favorite – the human slalom. If you take nothing else away from this, NEVAARRR lock your knees around romping dogs. [crashthumpwhump! OW!!]
After stalking some unsuspecting doodles & strong-​arming the rest, we arranged with Alpha Dog to rent their daycare for 2 hours on a Saturday for our first romp for the unbelievable price of $ 1/​dog which is pretty priceless during the interminable mud pit that is PDX in the winter. During the week they have a doggy daycare where for $ 22/​day (discounted rates at multiple day increments) you can drop off your antsy, energetic pooch between 6:45−9AM & bring home a happy, tired, mellow dog in the evening (they’re open till 6:30PM). They also do obedience training & agility classes for you over-​achievers out there. So far we haven’t needed to partake of any boarding services but they also provide that as well. (There’s a waiting list to babysit the pooch cuz he’s such a babe magnet. «Ooooh, what a cute doggy! Can I pet him? What’s his name? [looks up with starry hazel eyes.])
So while I still occasionally have nightmares, they no longer star muppets. Instead I have this recurring dream where I’m being smothered… sta​tic​.px​.yelp​.com/​p​h​o​t​o​/​A​Z​N​K​u​r​M​v​a​4​D​A​k​J​a​o​3​x​J​Zmw/l