I've been taking my whippet here regularly for 5 years. He loves it. Drags me toward the place when we're still a block away. He sees daycare workers on the street during non daycare hours and drags me over to them tail wagging. That tells me he loves it which is the most important thing. Many long term staff who get to know the dogs really well. Keyed access is a huge convenience and the crates ensure time outs and ability to rotate dogs in and out who play best together. I hear online reviewers complaining about the esthetics of the place. Dogs don't care. Don't forget they roll in poop every chance they get. And the place is cleaned constantly. The smell is cleaning products. Yes it surfaces look a little beat down but that's what happens when dogs are on the loose, running around etc. Bottom line is the dogs are happy to have canine and human company all day and come home tired and content. The dogs go out for short walks but it is your responsibility as an owner to provide longer more vigorous walks - not the daycares. The dogs are lucky to be walked in a park multiple times a day. Better than holding it all day in the house alone. I also leave my dog here for boarding occasionally because its familiar surroundings and less stressful even than pricey in-home boarding where he freaks out -- even though its nicer, homier surroundings. He prefers the daycare basement!
We wanted to like this place, as it is very conveniently located. However, we learned the hard way, after a $350 vet bill and 2 weeks of a cone and antibiotics, that our dog's safety cannot be entrusted to this establishment.
On 08/14, my husband picked up our 6-month old puppy from Umbrella Pets after a full day of daycare. The woman who retrieved our dog told my husband that our dog was bitten by another in a scuffle and the tip of his ear had a minor injury. When pressed for more information, the woman said she only heard this second hand and that she had no other information to offer.
Our dog's fur is black and it wasn't until we walked into the sunlight that we noticed there was a substantial amount of blood caked on to the area surrounding the base of his ear. We immediately took him to the vet to have his ear examined and were told that there was a deep puncture wound on the base of his ear and that the tip of his ear is, in fact, split (not just a minor injury). The wounds had already started to develop scar tissue and the vet estimated that the wounds were about 5 hours old. He would need four stitches to close up the wounds.
I am not upset about the fact that my dog was bitten -- they are dogs and they can be rough when they play. What I am upset about is the sheer negligence in how everything was handled.
(1) Is there adequate supervision? Generally speaking, dogs won't just turn around and bite another dog out of the blue. There are usually warning signs like growling or bluff lunges. While the circumstances behind my dog's injury are not clear, I have to question whether there is adequate supervision to ensure that dogs that are reactive are handled appropriately.
(2) Why were we not contacted about our dog's injury to let us know that he may need medical attention? And beyond the physical injury, the dog would have been in pain and possibly also scared for those five hours. If anyone left a child in this state for five hours, there would be lawsuits galore; dogs also have emotions and can feel pain so this is simply unacceptable.
(3) Why can no one answer our questions? Are there no procedures in place to report incidents and manage them appropriately? The woman who handed our dog over to us couldn't answer our questions. I called while at the vet to get information about the other dog (i.e., did it have updated rabies vaccinations, etc.) and I got a very terse "Well, duh, of course. All of our dogs have updated shots!" No concern about the fact that I'm calling from the vet clinic, no additional explanation of what happened, no apology. When we called the next morning to get more details about the incident, the person on the other end of the call (we believe it was Alice, the owner) did not have the first-hand account of what happened and likely our puppy was just not socialized enough and brought it on himself. Sure, there's a possibility that our dog is at fault, but if you don't have the first hand account of the incident, then (a) don't speculate fault and (b) who the #@^&$ does have the first-hand account??
I received a 3-line email from Alice, the owner, on 08/21, asking about my dog's recovery and letting me know that they have new procedures in place to ensure that they notify dog owners when there is an incident involving their dog. I suspect this was prompted by the fact that our dog plays regularly in the park that is in front of their establishment and when people ask, "Oh, why is your dog wearing a cone?" and we tell them what happened, they are appalled. Many of these folks use Umbrella's services and have likely asked Alice what happened and so she felt the need to do some damage control.
Unfortunately for her, her words come a week late and smack of CYA-style insincerity. We have already found new service providers, that while not as convenient location-wise, have well-established policies and procedures in place that ensure the safety of my dog and who seem far more responsive to my concerns.
Samer Alameddine
Jan 4, 2017
I left my cat with friends over the holidays who were sitting him over a 2 week period. Prior to my arrival to Canada in a day they had an emergency and had to board the cat for one night. Umbrella pet services was in a convenient location and was one of the few ones available with occupancy over such short notice. The price was also very reasonable
I arrived to pick up my cat the next day to the horrific scene of the cat placed in a tiny cage (when my friends dropped off the cat they advertised a big cage with a hammock and hiding spaces). However, my cat was placed in a rabbit cage with his food incredibly close to his litter box!
To make things worse, I had already identified on my application form that my cat is afraid of other cats. Well his cage was placed really close to another cats cage. Needless to say that the other cat hissed whenever my cat made a movement. I was tired from travelling and didn't want to make a scene so I took my cat home and thought I can call it a day.
A few hours later and my cat is vomiting all over the place at home. Took him to the vet and it seems he ingested some poop that has stuck onto him and fallen into his food.
Needless to say, I am never coming back again. They seem like a good doggy daycare place but do not say you can board cats until your facility is actually ready for it. So disappointed and upset!
Justin Hiscock
Dec 10, 2016
I'm giving two stars only because of the *very* poor customer service we received.
First of all, I should say that the grooming lady seemed nice enough and the haircut was good.
The bad:
Before taking my dog there I called ahead and booked an appointment for a hair cut/groom. The owner gave us a quote for $35-45, told us that the price may be slightly more or less because the groomers are essentially contractors who work for her and the price may vary by a few dollars. I told her specifically that my dog was a Corgi-Yorkie mix with more Yorkie-like hair.
I dropped her off this morning. I told her the type of cut we wanted (a buzz), she said she understood what we wanted and would pass it on to the groomer.
She ended up charging us ~$85 for the haircut, almost double the max price she quoted us. I paid right away, but was obviously unimpressed that she had so poorly quoted a price. She blamed me for the misunderstanding, saying that I asked for a bath (obviously that's not close to what I wanted, so I wouldn't have, and why would I pay that much for just a bath when I can do it at home), and said they "don't usually shave corgis." She claimed to remember my phone call perfectly, alleging that I must've misunderstood as if her memory for the phone call superceded mine. I disagreed, saying that I was clear about a haircut in the call and if I didn't specifically say "shave" I don't think that's a huge issue. Also, my dog is not a regular corgi, she is a corgi mix with more Yorkie-like hair, so her logic there isn't exactly correct.
The problem is this: she knew what we thought we were getting (we told her before we left, a buzz cut), she knew the price we were quoted (she originally quoted us and clearly she remembered the phone call!), but didnt think to warn us as we were leaving that we were mislead and the price would be more than we might be expecting. That's one thing, and alone would've ruined the experience, but was only half of the issue.
Obviously there was a miscommunication between us -- that happens and that's life. That being said, it is totally inappropriate for her to go on the offensive and try to shift all the blame to us. I had already paid, wasn't disputing the charges (though the price was reasonably high), and was not arguing with her. She didn't need to tell us that we were wrong and blame communication errors on our misunderstanding for an additional 2-3 minutes following payment. It was highly unprofessional for her to condescend us as if we were fully to blame and take zero responsibility whether she believed she held any or not.
I would never talk to any customer, much less someone who had just willingly paid twice what they expected to, as she did. Disappointing. I hope she can improve her customer service skills, because based on the comments here this is a recurring theme.
Notwithstanding the price, I would've returned had she treated us more professionally.
Sonia Michael
Jul 15, 2016
I brought my cat here to have a lion cut done, and the woman who does the grooming is AMAZING. Patches was done in 15 minutes, Donna took great care with her, and I will definitely be back for her next trim!
I haven't been here for awhile, and wow, it's really turned into a dirty shit hole. Smells like dog urine, the old linoleum floors are stained .
