Well, I am pulling Chase and Zahra out of the XXX XXX Pet Spa. Zahra had another not so stellar day there, I also don't like that they keep referring to her as "aggressive" and she isn't, they keep putting her in with small dogs and she doesn't do well with small dogs but that is their rule there. It frustrates me because they have her labeled as the "bad dog" and I don't think that she is (crap, I am not one of those mother's who think their kids are wonderful even though they are on house arrest, am I?).
They did daycare today because originally I was going to travel to Delaware from Virginia after work today but the NorâEaster has changed my plans. There were two things that rubbed me wrong tonight when I went to pick them up. I had them groomed today, when I walked in the girl who does the grooming told me that Zahra was "difficult", that she didn't like having her nails trimmed (I do them and have not had a problem and neither has any other groomer), she was all over the place while she was trying to bath her. Then she started telling me that maybe it had to do with all of the noise in the place with the construction still going on there and all of the dogs there for boarding for the holiday. I am thinking that maybe it was her young child who is all over the place each time I have been in there.
She then got busy with another customer and I was checking out with the other girl. I asked this girl how Zahra did today at daycare and she told me that she was Aggressive again. I started to ask her questions and she told me that I would have to talk to the trainer. So, I asked to talk to the trainer, and the girl was kind of rude and told me that the trainer was too busy to talk to me. I told her that I could wait a few minutes but the last time I was there the trainer told me that she would let me know how Zahra did today when I picked her up. I told this girl that after our last visit I took both Chase and Zahra to the another Doggie Day Care that I use the next day and asked for a full report on Zahra and she was perfectly fine. Can you believe that this girl said to me that she finds it hard to believe that they (the other Doggie Day Care) are telling me everything because it is odd that she would be fine other places and aggressive here.
After some rude body language and my persistence she got the trainer (My words were I donât know if I should board them here for Christmas if Zahra canât play with the other dogs). The trainer comes up a few minutes later and tells me pretty much that every dog that Zahra was introduced to, in a group, but one by one (that made no sense to me the answer kind of changed when I asked if it was individual or in a group) she was showing aggressive signs with, hackles up, teeth showing, growling (Duh, she is a Basenji she doesnât growl she voices her opinion). I told her that Zahraâs best buddies are the two Dobermanâs down the street and that I think the issue is that she is being introduced to smaller dogs. She told me that they do things by size there and that is the rule for that Pet spa.
The whole time she never referred to Zahra by name, it was âthe Basenjiâ this was the number one thing that bothered me, any place else I have been (The other Doggie Day Care, PetSmart grooming, Banfield, the Pet Nanny) they know the dogs by name and they love on the dogs as soon as you bring them in, I donât see that there and I can NOT leave my kids somewhere for any time period where I donât think they are being treated well, how can you not know their names?
So, I remembered that someone else I know, is taking their dog, to a PetSmart that just opened up the PetHotel for boarding and for daycare and she is pretty happy with them. I called there to see if they had any openings for Christmas and then I drove over to check it out with the dogs. As soon as I walked in they loved on the dogs, called them by name, Zahra was wagging her tail and seemed to really like the girls that worked there. The daycare is all inside, I am going to try that next week, if it doesnât work out, I can still occasionally take them and keep trying. They donât separate the dogs by size if they get along.
So, I am cancelling the reservations at the Pet Spa and they are booked for PetSmart. The price is a little cheaper at PetSmart and there are some add onâs that I can do like doggie ice cream treats, extra play time, etc.
See, this is just like having a kid, the first one is the sucker kid then the second one is the challenging child!