Tails of the City

I feel so lucky that I found this place. Seriously.
I spent weeks searching all over Seattle proper for a dog daycare for my pup Maple. I visited a number of pretty highly reviewed places on Unilocal,only to leave with this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. I’m sure most of these places were fine – but I just got the sense that they were more about the money than they were about the dogs.
Of course, when I first visited Tails of the City (TOTC), it wasn’t what I expected either. This is not a fancy place. It definitely has this home-​meets-​warehouse vibe. Not a lot of bells and whistles. But I was immediately won over by the wonderful ladies that run TOTC. They really really love dogs, and it shows.
My Maple is a shy girl, and from her very first day, the women of TOTC went out of their way to make her feel comfortable and a part of the pack. Basically: lots of treats and lots of attention! In fact, when I called to check up on her one day, she was napping on Olivia’s (one of the owners) lap. Amazing. I have also been impressed by the reports we’ve been getting on Maple’s mood/​interactions/​etc. during the day. I think they put a lot of effort into making sure that each dog that’s at TOTC is a good fit, and I really appreciate that.
However, before you rush to take your pup here (and you should!), some important things to know:
1. Big dogs and small dogs play together, for the most part.
2. They don’t have a web cam (but they do put up pictures on their Facebook page).
3. They are only open M-​F, and they do not do boarding (bummer).
4. They do not accept pit bulls because of insurance issues (also a bummer, and I understand people’s frustration with that, but it doesn’t mean this is a bad place!)
5. They charge by the day, not by the hour.
6. You pay at the end of each month, cash or check only.

After speaking to these people several times on the phone and spending hours tracking down my old vet and the rescue I adopted my dog from, I went to visit the facility without my dog to make sure everything was in order. During my visit they asked me what breed of dog I had and when I mentioned she was a 35lb. lab/​staff they told me they would not take her even though I had mentioned her breed previously on the phone and they never met my dog. I urge you all not to support a facility that practices breed discrimination! Luckily, I was able to bring my dog that same day for a meeting with the owner of the Canine club, after meeting with my very friendly dog and checking on her vaccines, he invited her to come to daycare the very next day! she has been there for months now and never had a problem. Shame on tails in the city for passing up on a chance to meet my fantastic dog, I hope your choice to pass up income based on breed leads to your business’ failure!

I can never think of the name of this place but I always know how to get there! LOL. These guys are AWESOME! Ran by a bunch of hot flight attendants, they take great care of your loving canines. It clearly shows in their enthusiasm and energy giving you a feeling of security and happiness knowing your dogs are in good hands with Elaine and her Crew. Prices are very fair. The play areas are large and clean. They have an indoor/​outdoor area and separate quiet rooms for dogs of all temperaments. There is no boarding but they are always happy to refer you to quality business partners (boarding, training, grooming, photographer, etc). If you bring more than one dog, you get a break in fees. Although I wish they had longer hours and a Webcam for the play areas, the PROS definitely outweighs the CONS. If you are a looking for a reasonable doggie daycare with super nice folks that treat your loved ones like its theirs, this is the place for Lassie’s home away from home!

I have had a great experience with Tails of the City for the last six months. The dogs are always welcomed with a treat upon arrival and when they go home for the night. Ruger always runs to the door to be let in which I’d have to take as a good sign. My experience is that the staff and owners are genuine and caring. I’m always met with a smile and a thank you, and Ruger is completely exhausted for the night by the time I pick him up.
I see a lot of great interaction between the staff, dogs, and owners so you really get a sense of the loyalty and trust established with the longtime patrons.

Went to check this place out. First off, the door is always locked, you have to ring the bell and it took nearly 3 full minutes for anyone to answer the door. They are a little out of the way, but I thought I’d check it out since I’ve heard such awful things about the downtown dog lounge. They have ZERO furniture there for pets to sit on. Their website goes on about all the furniture and comfy digs for pets. Not true. Also, they do not separate the little dogs from the big dogs. They are WAY overcrowded and I didn’t feel at all comfortable with the 30+ dogs they had and they had the not so intelligent comment to tell me that they were «light» on dogs that day. Clearly these people are in it for the money and don’t seem to take good care of the pets. It was the middle of winter (Dec. 1^st) and they had the door wide open and the staff of 2 had on large parka’s to keep them warm but the dogs seemed cold. I’m sure glad I checked out this place before taking my dog here.

After reading the review by Alix H. I decided to take the love of my life (yes, my dog) to check this place out. A big indoor and outdoor area to socialize… a doggy pool… sounds like canine heaven. I could sense a lasting relationship here! But alas, it wasn’t meant to be because this place practices breed discrimination. We didn’t even make it inside before being told that my dog wasn’t welcome because of his breed. This is a HUGE disappointment especially since my dog is very affectionate, well behaved and not aggressive in the slightest. My advice to every dog owner is to not stand for this type of disparate treatment because who knows, your dog could be next!
PS: For those of you who are curious, my dog is a pit bull. Since my original post I have found a wonderful doggy daycare that doesn’t judge him based on his breed so we are both very happy! I know that many of you are probably relieved that TOTC doesn’t allow pits. Please, think for yourselves, base your judgment on firsthand experience, not the sensationalized reports provided by the media. I offer you critics/​skeptics this challenge: we live very close to TOTC, send me an e-​mail and come meet Atticus, my door is always open, come see for yourselves firsthand, what an amazing, gentle, friendly dog he is before you judge him. I sent TOTC a very friendly e-​mail back in May asking them to do the same but they failed to respond, even in the negative.

The owners (3 ex-​flight attendants) that run this place really do love dogs. They have a really big indoor area that your dog can socialize in and an outdoor area for dogs that want to venture outside or use the kiddie pool. They write you cute notes letting you know about the kind of day your dog had.
Couple downsides about this place: it’s out of way from downtown and they close at 6pm on the dot (makes it really hard to get to esp during game days and a few of the staff members are really rude when you’re not on time).
Juno made a lot of friends there but sadly, her mom had to take to other doggie day cares cuz Juno was almost always the last kid being picked up. :-(