We use the barkmore for our two dogs (at the time they were puppies - one was 10mos, the other 4mos). We started them out with doggie daycare to aviod any possible anxiousness for when we planned to go on a two week trip. I said my dogs were puppies - one is a pure breed lab and the other is a lab mix. The pure breed is a large boy (at the time his was about 40lbs and now his 90lbs) and if anyone has ever been around a lab before they know that especially when they are puppies, they are very hyper! My pup was no different. He was always very excited to go anywhere, the barkmore included. One girl that worked there would always make comments about how wild he was and how her dog was so well trained... I would ignore her for the most part because my dog was a PUPPY and we were putting him through training which he was doing very well in... Well, the day that I dropped them off, before we were going on our big trip, I got a call about 20mins after leaving, from that same girl saying that I needed to come pick my puppies up because they felt that my 4mo old lab puppy was ""showing aggressive behavior"" and didn't feel that it would be safe for their staff or the other dogs if they stayed. I was in SHOCK and complete disbelief!! I asked what he did - she then told me that he was barking at other dogs through the fence.... I asked if that was it and she said yes. I explained to her that was NOT aggressive behavior. Dogs bark at one another. That does not mean they are aggressive. Aggressive behavior would be biting someone or another dog, getting into a fight with other dogs, growling, showing teeth... SOMETHING!! Not merely barking at another dog through a fence... She insisted that I need to come pick them up anyway and at that point I was so frustrated that she would suggest that 4MO OLD LAB PUPPY was aggressive. I told her I would come but that I wanted to talk with the owner. I felt and still do feel that she just thought my pup was too wild to handle and if that as the case, she should of just said that instead of suggesting that there was something dangerous about my dog. When I got there, they had my sweet boy ""quarantined"" in a small separate room that looked like a closet. When I looked into the small window, he was sitting in the corner, whimpering, shaking, head down obviously terrified! I was furious! When I opened the door to scooped him up, the room reeked of bleach as well, doing a number on his senses i'm sure... at that point I just wanted to get them out of there. I asked for my other dog and to speak to the owner. She said the owner wasn't there but that she would call me when she got in. After gathering up my two puppies and all their stuff, I left and a year later, I still havent recieve that phone call. Not only were they unprofessional, obviously completely ignorant of dog behavior, almost ruined our trip (we were able to get friend to watch them last minute) but we found out after we got back from the trip that our lab had to be taken to the vet because the pads of feet were literally flacking off and he had these wierd snotty nose bleeds. Our vet said that he suspected (after hearing our puppies horror story) that the room was recently coated in bleach or some other strong cleaning solution and that it was still wet when my puppy was thrown in there. He said that standing in it for any length of time could cause such a reaction. Also, he attributed the bloody congestion to being locking in the small unventolated room... my dog still has a problem with congession to this day.
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