Tysons Kennel

My dog recently spent 3 nights with Eileen while I was traveling for a wedding. After researching potential dog sitters in the area, I was immediately struck by the fact that Eileen had 30 five star reviews on
. In addition, she did not personally own a dog. All major pluses in my book.
I reached out to inquire about her availability for the weekend. She responded and after some discussion we decided to plan a meet/​greet. My dog and I met Eileen at her home without incident. I specifically asked that no other dogs be in her care during that time as my dog is generally not dog friendly.
Eileen was very responsive via email and text in the days leading up to the stay. Upon arrival, I reconfirmed with Eileen that she would not have any other dogs in her home during my dog’s stay. She verbally confirmed there would be no other dogs. Not even two minutes later I hear a dog bark from the back of her apartment. I immediately asked Eileen about the fact that there was another dog in her home. She informed me the dog was not staying the entire weekend. I had a plane to catch so I left my dog with Eileen but I was not happy about her dishonesty. If she had been upfront with me from the beginning, I would have felt more at ease.
During the stay, Eileen sent me two photos of my dog. She was responsive via text and told me there were no issues. Upon pickup, my dog was all packed up and ready to go. Eileen had informed me that she had to replace my dog’s harness as she had left the other one on and my dog chewed it off. She casually mentioned that my dog’s blanket was wet but it was not pee. Eileen said she had just spilled water on it.
After arriving home with my dog, I began to unpack her things. Not only was her blanket wet but it had a very obvious pee stain on it. It was not washed but simply sprayed to mask the scent. I had also packed up three days’ worth of medicine (a chewable tablet) for my dog and there was a dose still in the bag. I also did not get back a bag of treats I had sent with my dog.
My dog was returned to me healthy and in one piece. Hooray for that. The fact that Eileen was dishonest with me is why I’m leaving a less than stellar review. I didn’t even realize she ran a kennel (no mention on
) until she contacted me after the stay to ask if I’d leave her a Unilocal review.

I have left my dog here at Tyson’s Kennel several times, and he always came back happy. So this time, I also left my two cats with my dog. Everyone returned in good health, and no one experienced «kennel shock», which happened when I left them at the vet. I trust Eileen to make good decisions for my animals and to take good care of them. I recommend Tyson’s Kennel, and plan to return for my next vacation and animal boarding needs.

If you are looking for a place where your dog will be the only dog there, this is NOT THE PLACE! Also, if your dog doesn’t do well with kids, STAY AWAY!
I wish I would have done more research and found the Unilocal reviews for Eileen’s business before booking with her. I found her on
and like Nicole Y.‘s review, there was absolutely no mention of this being a kennel. Her profile said that: 1) she doesn’t have other dogs and 2) there will be no kids. There were other dogs and a little girl.
My dog doesn’t do well with other dogs, so I specifically searched for a sitter with that setting and even made a point to mention that in my initial message to her. My dog’s OK with kids, but she’s never been alone with them, so I was looking for one without kids. When we came by at 9:15pm to drop off our dog (we skipped the initial meet a greet because Eileen assured me that there was no need for it and that she is a professional) there was a little girl running around and two other dogs barking in the other rooms of her tiny 2^nd floor apartment. Our dog immediately got alerted to the other two dogs barking behind closed doors. I right away knew that this wasn’t going to work out.
When I asked Eileen why did she neglect (I’ll use the nicer word, but really, she plain out lied to me) to tell me there would be other dogs, her response was «well, it’s busy season with everyone going on vacations». At which point, my husband and I quickly put our dog back on the leash, gathered her things and left.
This complete deception by Eileen left us scrambling at 9:30pm to find another pet sitter before we had to fly out at 9am the next morning. Luckily, we were able to find a replacement, but not without much frustration and panic.

Our family really appreciates the work that is done by Tysons Kennel. Our 5 year old lab /​husky mix is energetic and playful, more importantly she is always happy to stay with Tysons Kennel. We get flexible service, our precious family member is well taken care of, and she enjoys her stays! We tend to travel for long periods of time at short notice and we know that we have a provider that can meet our needs at a good rate and with excellent service. Thank you for what you do to keep our Mochi happy!

My recommendation is to not take your dog to Tysons Kennel. After few nights, my dog came back hungry and half dehydrated. We believe it was not provided feedings from his own food and bowls which we provided to Eileen. We believe there were too many dogs in her small apartment causing Eileen confusion, not knowing which dog is which. At times Eileen would leave the dogs for long period of times. No updates were provided.
I could have left our pup at home alone and would have been better off.

In all of my experiences, I have never been prompted to take the time to write a review about anything. After my experience with Eileen, I felt it would be doing others who were considering using Tysons Kennel a disservice by not sharing what happened with my experience. There are two common themes with Eileen: complacency and the absence of truth. After reading several of the negative reviews on here, against my better judgment, I went ahead and gave Eileen a chance and hired for a job that was less than 24 hours. Her job was to take my dog out a total of 3 times since I was out of town for the evening. The events that took place ended up being an absolute nightmare.
I scheduled a time to meet Eileen at my place to interview her and tell her more about my dog’s needs. I went through our daily routine with her and was very specific about certain instructions. I let her know that my dog was a rescue and suffers from separation anxiety, so gave her very clear instructions about the fact that he needed to be left with a certain toy that I used to fill with peanut butter. I warned her that it would be a disaster if she did not leave him with this toy. I also told her that he was not able to hold his pee longer than 8 hours at a time. Additionally, I had let her know that she needed to keep certain doors of our place closed as he likes to wander and chew things when he is bored.
On Eileen’s first visit I get a text message that she was not able to find his toy. I told her that he had more than likely pushed this under furniture and to please continue looking for it as he could not be left alone without it. She ended up leaving without finding the toy and told me he was fine. I was very doubtful about this, because if left alone without the toy, he is known to get extremely anxious. Later that night on her second visit, I get an extremely vague text message from her telling me that everything was fine except for something bad he had done to the carpet. I became extremely frustrated as she would not answer me directly about what had happened. She then told me he had locked himself in our bedroom (which is entirely impossible) and sent me a photo of our carpet. He had shredded well over a foot of the carpet in length and 6 inches in width. Knowing that she was lying to me and had in fact locked my dog in our bedroom made me so furious, that I chose not to respond that night.
The next morning, I noted that it had been almost 11 hours and I hadn’t heard anything from her and had anticipated hearing from her on her third and last visit. I decided to text her to see where she was, and she texted me back telling me she was currently on a walk with my dog. It was less than 2 minutes later, and my security gate called me letting me know they had just let my dog walker through. I had caught her in 2 lies in less than 12 hours and was extremely upset.
When I came home, I not only came home to shredded carpet I will now have to replace, but there were 4 pee stains in our bedroom from her having locked him in our bedroom. She had also not followed through on my instructions to close our kitchen door, and our dog also chewed up multiple wires and cords to our vacuum. It was an absolute nightmare.
If you decide to hire Eileen, you are not only putting your dog in the care of someone who is not qualified, but you are dealing with a dishonest person.

My dog recently stayed with Eileen for five days. I came across her profile on
. I used the website before and was very pleased with the experience. After reviewing Eileen’s page she seemed to be a good fit for my dog, I was wrong. The first of my many grievances, Eileen changed the drop off time twice the day of. We first agreed upon 9pm, then she changed to 8pm only to text me asking to drop off as late as possible, preferably after 10 pm. 2) my profile clearly states that I prefer my dog the be the only in the home (there is no mention of «Tyson’s Kennel»). I asked if my dog could be the only dog and she told me he would. When I dropped my dog off, there was another dog there locked in a room, she would have tried to hide that from me had the dog not started scratching on the door. She told me the dogs owners flight had been delayed, but they would be there to pick the dog up soon. A lie I would soon find out. The two updates she sent me, which I had to ask for, were of my dog in her home with three other dogs and one video of my dog rough housing with bigger dog. Wow, so much for my dog being the only one. 3) when It came time for pick up again she wanted to change the time, we discussed between 8 – 9, which she wanted to change to 915. I was so anxious to get my dog back home I didn’t want to wait another min. I’m not at all happy about being lied to, wouldn’t not recommend her services.

Eileen is great! I travel standby and tend to travel a lot unless I get bumped from flights. She has been great about dealing with my last minute scheduling. My dog is always healthy and just the same as I left her. Eileen takes my dog out and feeds her at my home as my dog does not do well in other locations. She is affordable and a great dog caretaker.

I had my dog stay with Eileen for 7 days and was not happy with the experience. I was promised daily updates including pictures and Barely received them. I found myself having to reach out on a daily basis to see how my dog was doing. My dog also has a special diet which was not followed when she was feeding him. Upon picking him up some guy came to bring him down which I thought was odd. Once we got home I noticed he also had a bump on his nose that was not brought to my attention. Although her cost is very reasonable it was not worth it in the end.

My dog recently stayed with Eileen for 2 weeks. This was our first time leaving her with someone other than family and we were really nervous about it. From the website it seemed to be a very professional dog boarding business with a cheap price. It just seemed to good to be true and unfortunately it was.
This is just a lady’s apartment and she has another part time job. She did say she had partners that would help with walkings and feedings.
I was a little nervous leaving my dog for so long so I might of overdone it on the bag I packed for her. I didn’t expect to get everything back like the bag of treats and the bones. It was 2 weeks she probably did use most of them. I did expect to get back her toys, her gentle leader, and my nice bag.
All I was given back was her bowls and what was left of her food in a torn paper bag.
She wasn’t there for the pick up a man brought my dog out. I texted her later to ask about the gentle leader and I never got a reply back.
My dog also had 2 scabs on her belly. They were pretty noticeable so I was surprised that she didn’t at least let me know they were there.
My dog won’t be staying with Eileen again to many red flags. She is cheaper than most places but I don’t think it’s worth it. I will be looking for a more professional place and staff next time.

I would highly recommend Tysons Kennel At Home Pet Hotel to anyone looking for their pet to be cared for in a relaxed «home away from home» environment. The owner, John Hicks, is very friendly, professional & hospitable. He was accommodating to our schedule & welcomed us into his clean, comfortable home surrounded by 5 acres of fenced in land to enjoy. Upon introducing our 8 yr. old Chocolate Lab, Jasmine, to her new surroundings he attentively assessed her demeanor while interacting with the other dogs.
She engaged with her new friends in the designated dog rooms for supervised play as well as being welcomed to socialize & relax in the living room with John. (He also mentioned he offers private accommodations for those who prefer it.) He made sure she felt safe & secure while surrounding her with items brought from home, although he had plenty of supplies on hand as well. Her medications were properly administered & he even rewarded her with some treats to keep her happy. She got plenty of exercise, play & at lest 4 walks a day where she enjoyed going leash free (an opportunity she doesn’t often have in our housing complex).
What I really appreciated was that he kept in contact the whole visit, sending daily updates with pictures reassuring me of the great time she was having. I will definitely be trusting my «furry child» in John’s capable hands in the future. He genuinely loves caring for animals and it shows!

I am so lucky to find John Hicks and Tyson’s kennel. He is one of the nicest people I have ever met. Even when picking up our dogs, he invited me in for Sunday dinner. I have 2 13 year old labs and am always nervous taking them to a kennel. One is blind and needs to be monitored when outside and off the leash. John took all my concerns away. I will be back every time I leave town.

I have three dogs that absolutely HATE being left alone and I hate leaving them in kennels. I believe it is equally traumatizing for all of us. I had recently moved back to Virginia and have a situation where I needed to board the dogs for a few months. I was boarding them at an animal hospital which I now believe is the worst thing in terms of long term boarding because my dogs were all depressed, sleeping all the time and when I picked them up they had all lost significant amounts of weight. Plus at an animal hospital they take the dogs out for bathroom breaks but then the poor animals are pretty much jailed for most of the day.
I decided to find a better place for my dogs and I came across Tyson’s Kennel and owner John Hicks. He has a nice big property and he loves dogs and it shows. My dogs have been there for over a month and they are happy, healthy and safe. They also really REALLY like John. That says a lot for my dogs who normally only love me.
I feel happy and comfortable knowing he is watching my dogs and he walks them, plays with them and spoils them just like any good dog owner would. I highly recommend that everyone looking for a dog boarder, walker, or pet sitter uses Tyson’s Kennel. I really believe that it is THE best place around in northern Virginia. I will ONLY ever board my dogs with them.

We have used Eileen twice to watch our 80 pound mixed breed dog. She has taken excellent care of our dog on both occasions, one of which was an extended stay. She is very kind and professional and we would recommend her very highly to anyone in need of a dog sitter.

I found Tysons Kennel after having previous negative pet sitting experiences. Eileen is professional and a caring sitter. I received updates about my dog’s care while I was away. For the first time, my dog returned healthy and in good spirits!