Your Dog’s Best Friends

We’ve been taking our dog, a very active goldendoodle, to Your Dogs Best Friend since February. I was a little overwhelmed at first by the size of the place. Our previous dog daycare had been much smaller. This fact colored my opinion, I was always a little unsure. Until, our puppy had a seizure. When we returned to daycare they made sure he received special care, accepted my worried phone calls, and updated me at the end of his day there. Beyond that as he aged into his more rebellious puppy stage, the trainers and staff worked with him and taught me how best to handle his training. If that’s not enough, one day my flight was cancelled and my husband had to leave for work at 5:00am. We were so worried about what to do with our puppy. But they worked it out so he could be picked up and cared for! The result is that we have excellent dog care and a well trained puppy. I am reminded regularly of how thankful I am for Your Dogs Best Friend. On another note, they aren’t just accepting of all dogs, but all people too.
Pros: attentive dog care, responsive staff, welcoming atmosphere, very clean, considerate, committed, professional

Wow! What else can I say about this place besides the fact that it was the greatest mistake I’ve made since I’ve had my puppies when they were 8 weeks old. I dropped both of my puppies off at 10am to be groomed. I didn’t get a call until 1:30pm to pick them up. When I came to pick them up, I hadn’t noticed anything until we finally got home. (See pictures)
I was shocked that this happened to my puppy. Don’t get me wrong I expect for there to be nicks whenever you have groomers shaving your dog and using clippers. What I don’t expect is to be deceived and for information about how my dog got hurt to be withheld from me. That is what I have a serious with.
When I called them to report what I had found, they call me back this morning and tried to accuse me of trying to get a free haircut for my dogs. I informed the lady that if I was trying to get a free haircut for my dogs why would I tip the groomer $ 25? I didnt expect them to accuse me of trying to pull one over on them. I gave them a chance to fix it and they accuse me of trying to get a free cut for my dogs. Seriously?
I will NEVER EVER visit or recommend this place to anyone who cares an ounce about their pets.

I started taking my dog here after a bad experience at another doggie daycare. My pup has done great here and I love it so much that I drive 40 mins out of my way just to take him.
Things that I love include: the dog watchers are actual dog trainers, they have 2 sides one for higher energy dogs (aka my dog) and another for chill and smaller dogs, there is lots of transparency (you are able to get a tour of the facility and they have two way mirrors you can watch your dog playing), they learn you and your dog’s name and quirks quickly, and they are very knowledgeable about how your dog did during the day when you pick them up or call during the day to check on the dog. I honestly would not take my dog any where else and feel super lucky to find this place!

They are totally amazing. Our dog tends to be reactive and they handle him like he’s a pushover. We’ve never had any issues, our dog LOVES to be there, and with the bedroom boarding he comes home from boarding more calm and collected than anywhere else we’ve boarded him. Can’t recommend enough.

If there were negative star I would give it negative. If you want your dog groomed please save your dog and get as far away as possible from this god forsaken place. Not only is it dirty but the receptionist rachelle is a total nightmare and has no personal skills whatsoever. She was horribly rude and should be fired right away. Terrible lady. Awful. Not one nice thing to say about her. Also my dog came out and was bleeding. Please save your pets. Do not come here.

I am a long-​time customer of their boarding, and have always been satisfied with the service. Friendly staff and convenient. My dog is always excited to get there, and returns home tired. The location is a huge plus for convenience.
Cons? Probably price. Your Dog’s Best Friends is one of the pricier boarding places in the area. Not that it should surprise you — they don’t hide their costs or add-​ons or anything like that.
However, allowing my dog to run around and play with others is definitely preferred over having him caged for the majority of the day, especially when he’s boarded for a week or more.

This review is for their grooming services only.
I took my two dogs in to be groomed over the weekend and had a pretty negative experience overall.
First, when I got in to drop them off the lady working the front desk was not particularly friendly even though I told her that myself and my dogs were new to the professional grooming experience. She was shouting to have someone from the back come get the dogs and pushed the paperwork at me to fill out with no guidance. When I asked about how long it would take she said approximately 45 minutes and the would call me when the bath was done.
Fast forward to 2 hours later when I called to ask about the status of my dogs since it had been so long, the lady on the phone told me that they just «happened» to be done at that very moment. I came to pick them up and as I was waiting there was a sweet little pomeranian just kind of wandering around the waiting room who had just been dropped off. When I asked about her, the same lady from drop off told me that the owner had just dropped her off but no one seemed to be tending to her yet. Now, on the positive side here which is what earned this place a 2^nd star is that the dog seemed perfectly comfortable, just kind of meandering around wondering what to do.
Now to the grooming… Wow. I don’t even know how it is possible for dogs to feel and smell worse post-​grooming than they do pre-​grooming. I got them into the car and petted them a bit to calm them down before we took off. I took away my hand and a thick film was on my palm from where I ran it down their fur. In addition to the sticky film, they smelled like a sickly sweet perfume fragrance that I am still trying to air out of my car. I was so upset that I drove straight to the Unleashed pet supply store near my house to use the self-​serve bathing station and actually re-​wash them. There was no way I was going to bring them into my clean house in that condition. I felt reassured that I wasn’t overreacting when I got to Unleashed and the lady behind the counter came around and bent down to give my dogs treats and said very pleasantly, «Yep, I can tell you boys are due for a bath, huh!» — having no idea that they had just come from an $ 80 (for two dogs) grooming session.
I am disappointed in the quality of the bathing for the price paid. Albeit the price is definitely comparable to other grooming places around Arlington/​Alexandria. My suggestion if you try this place for grooming — ask them to hold the perfume/​fragrance and request that clean towels be used to dry your pets at the end of their bath. I personally will be sticking to the self-​serve bath stations from here on out.

I’ve been meaning to write this review for the past couple of months. I loved bringing my dogs to Your Dog’s Best Friends. The orientation is great and I met the owner who gave me a great tour of the facility and really put me at ease regarding putting my hyperactive 3 legged pit bull in a cageless boarding facility. Recently, I noticed that the professionalism of the staff has really gone down at this facility.
We used to board our dog at this location a couple times a year. One of the last times I brought her to be boarded, I noticed that she had a very obvious gash over her right eye. When I asked the staff person at the desk what happened to my dog, I was very disappointed in the fact that she didn’t know nor did she really show concern. Now, in their defense, my dog is INCREDIBLY hyper and I’m sure she’s a handful to deal with in a cageless facility. Knowing this about my dog, I assumed she got a little too hyper for a dog and took a scratch to the face, no big deal. I wrote that off.
Months later, I called to board my dog while I took a short trip out of town. I received a call 2 days before I was supposed to leave for my trip and was told since my dog is so hyper, she needs to go to a day of doggie day care before they could board her. This would have been fine if they provided me with this information when I made my reservation weeks before, however 2 days ahead of time is not cool. Needless to say, I cancelled my reservation as 2 days notice simply wasn’t sufficient to get my dog to doggie day care and haven’t been back since.
The lack of professionalism when my dog received her now scar on her face and the lack of professionalism on that aforementioned phone call really disturbed me. If you have a hyperactive dog that requires a little more staff attention, this might not be the best place for your dog or plan on bringing your dog to doggie day care a couple days before boarding.

For starters, I should clarify that my dog is a nervous fella. That said, we’ve left him at many other daycare places, bring him to dog parks all the time, go for walks/​run in the neighborhood with him, bring him on all sorts of trips to new places and give him new experiences all the time. We have never had such a negative experience with him as we did during the evaluation here.
Upon arriving for our evaluation, we were put in a room which had big windows looking into the dog room. All the dogs were barking like crazy (not saying there’s anything wrong with that… just to be clear. Dogs bark… that’s cool… I get it). However, I looking into the dog room & saw a bunch of very unhappy looking dogs barking at one of the attendants who was screaming at them! I’ve had a lot of dogs in my time and have been through a lot of training and dog training 101 is not to yell back at barking dogs… in many cases, yelling at a barking dogs, especially a pack of barking dogs, can lead the dog to think you’re barking back at them and just make a bad situation worse. It’s just not a training method I’ve ever seen work or had any success with. I understand needing to keep control in boarding situation, but yelling at a large group of barking dogs is threatening and in my experience, not an effective manner of positive dog control.
I should have left then… but I didn’t. I waited in this room with my dog for, on the order of 5 minutes, in which time my dog became more and more agitated listening to the dogs barking and whining in the room right next door. I did everything in my bag of tricks to get him calmed down, but it was so loud and so bad, the only thing that I could have done was remove him from the situation, which I should have done. Now, I need to clarify, in the two years I’ve had my dog, I have never witnessed him get aggressive-nervous…ever. Nervous, yes. Aggressive, no. None of the other daycare places or even the vet have made this observation of him. Ever. To this point, he still was not demonstrating aggressive behavior, but was notably nervous and had started barking. I so wanted to leave, but had read such great things that I felt like I needed to give them a chance.
When an attendant finally came into the room with us, anyone who spends time with dogs would have been able to notice my dog was in a nervous state. The rule of thumb that I’ve been taught and have had an abundance of success with in approaching a dog that’s in this state is one of making yourself as much of a non-​threat as possible. Do not make eye contact, wait for the dog to approach you, give treats to show you are not a threat… things like that. This gentlemen, a complete stranger to both me and my dog, came into the room staring at my dog, and when my dog continued barking, the attendant proceeded to start screaming QUIET, much in the same way I witnessed the dog room attendants screaming. My dog knows the quiet command, however being screamed at, by a stranger, just made my already agitated dog more nervous, fearful and he acted out by becoming the most aggressive I’ve ever seen him. I still didn’t fear that he would hurt the attendant, but I had never seen him bark like that at someone.
At no point did anyone explain to me what was going to happen when we were in the room, what the evaluation was going to entail, how long it would take, who would be performing it, etc. When the attendant entered the room, he did not introduce himself to me, he didn’t explain what he was going to do, nothing. He walked in, stared my dog down, quite frankly looked fearful of my dog, and started screaming at my dog.
We left before going any further with the evaluation. I was, frankly, astonished at how this went down given the wonderful reviews I had read. This may be a great place for your run of the mill, easy going dog, but based on how I witnessed the staff interacting with the dogs and how I witnessed them treat my dog, I saw no evidence to indicate anyone had any sort of positive reinforcement dog training (which I thought I had read on their website they practice) or that any of them had any experience with nervous dogs. I’m not saying they don’t…all I’m saying is I saw zero evidence of it during my time there and would caution anyone with a nervous dog who’s considering this place to maybe arrange a time to meet with staff, see the facility and especially gain an understanding of what will happen during the evaluation before bringing your friend in.

This has been my favorite groomer for my Golden Retriever since moving to the area in 2010. My dog is about 100 pounds and a sweetheart but very excitable. He’s always had positive experiences here and always come home looking neat and clean. I especially appreciate the attention to detail on clipping the fur between his toes. They really listen to what you want done– or not done for that matter. They do a great job and now that I’m living in Annandale I think it’s still worth the trip!

Great place. They know dogs are dogs and not children. They take good care of my chocolate lab, Leon. Always available if and when I need them. Friendly staff!

Victor has been coming here about once a week since I last wrote. We just boarded him for the first time ever, and he seemed to do great! He came home suitably exhausted after 4.5 days of play, and may sleep for another 4.5 days solid.
My husband jokingly calls YDBFs ‘Your Dog’s Best Golden Shower’, so we splurged and had them give him a departure bath. He looks shiny clean– strangers commented on his sheen on our walk this morning– and I love the smell of their shampoo. Next time we’ll make sure to ask that he not go back out on the floor after his bath, but aside from that it’s great.
I love the debrief from Kevin and the rest of the overnight staff. I’m shocked that V even managed to settle down and sleep around other dogs, so their comments are reassuring.
My only concern is that V still doesn’t seem to want to be left behind and he immediately rushes to the door to go outside when it’s time to go home (he also nearly clears the 4′ dividing door, in anticipation), but sending him to YDBF has undoubtedly been good for him. His interactions with other dogs, people, and us have much improved– he is calmer and more polite now!

*CORRECTION BELOW*
DO NOT GET YOUR DOG GROOMED HERE! Worst experience in the 8 years we’ve had our dog. Went Friday, and spoke with the groomer, Renee, and asked for his body to be about the same length as his head fur, which is about ½ — 1″ long. I also explained that the last groomer said that she’d used a #7 which was way too short, and stated that I didn’t want him to look like a Marine. I’ve given the same set of instructions every time I’ve gone to a groomer. She said she’d use a #9 blade which she said is meant to be 1″ but quote: «usually winds up closer to ½ inch». I said as long as it looks like his body fur is about the same length as his head fur that’s what I wanted. Turns out a #9 is actually SHORTER than a #7. (Hence the correction) Actually, several groomers I’ve contacted since then have said it’s what they’d use to shave a dog down or get mats out.
This was the quickest grooming he’s ever had. Normally it takes 4 – 5 hours, but they called back in 2 ½ hours, and they require you to pick him up within an hour or be charged extra. It usually takes that long to get him washed and dried fully. I had to go in the middle of work, so I had very limited time to spare.
When I picked him up, his fur was WAY shorter, 1mm — ¼″. I made the huge mistake of paying AND tipping before I saw him, because I was so short on time. I only had a minute or two to pick him and get home to get back to work. I freaked out, but Renee spent most of her time telling me what I ‘said’ and how she’d «warned me repeatedly» that this blade would leave his fur «½’ OR SHORTER» and that I had OKed it. OK I don’t speak groomer blades but the whole conversation I was referring to wanting it LONGER. When you shave half his body so short I see pink skin, you missed the point about LONGER. (I didn’t see the full extent until I got home). This argument got nowhere — she was clearly more interested in defending herself than trying to resolve the situation. I wanted a refund. No luck there. Finally as I was leaving Renee actually ran out to my car and told me they’d refund it, and to call back to fix it.
When finally had time a few hours later to look him over, he was SHAKING with fear. I’ve brought him back from many groomers and needed to cut some weird hairs afterward, and he sits and look pitiful at me, but he has NEVER shaken like he was scared to death. No visit to the groomer’s or vet’s office, no matter how bad has ever had that effect on him. I also noticed a red irritated spot on the back of his scrotum that he wouldn’t let me move hairs to inspect more closely.
When I called back after this to find out what exactly had happened, I was then told by the asst. manager that they could refund the cut but not the other services without authorization from the manager.
That night (and a few after) my dog has been licking two paws and that scrotum area, and while doing it has whimpered in ways I’ve never heard before.
I finally got a hold of the manager Tuesday. I’ve worked retail enough to know you don’t just lay into the person who just got into the conversation. But she immediately started doing all the talking; very confrontational. She said they would have comped the cut (or a cut? but not a refund) but I chose to trash them on Unilocal,and clearly nothing was going to make me happy. She talked and interrupted so much I actually had to complain about letting me get in and finish one sentence.
She also tried to say that I said they abused my dog on Unilocal, (Abused? I didn’t go there. Traumatized? Clearly he was!) and that he was probably shaking because I was freaking out and dogs pick up on nervous energy. WHAT?!? Me freaking out, earthquakes, Derechos — never had this reaction in 8 years! And I don’t try to do a careful look over of my dog if I’m that upset. She was essentially telling me that all of this was my fault and said that she stood behind her groomer 100%. So she stands behind the clients… 0%? Who tells a customer that? I had every reason to be very upset. But since she’d determined nothing would make me happy, they would do NOTHING.
Do you blame, insult and talk over every other upset client? There’s a reason I don’t have scathing reviews of Petsmart on here, even with gross mistakes — because they listened instead of lectured, apologized, and were more interested in me leaving happy, even if that meant a refund.
*CORRECTION*
When I first wrote this I wrote that Renee said she’d be using a #9 guard which was longer than a #7, and thus totally lied to me. I have since been made painfully aware that it’s not a #9 guard but a #9 blade, which the manager explained is shorter than a #7 blade. (If only someone had said that Friday!) CLEARLY I don’t know dog grooming tools, so why keep referring to that and ignoring every other comment and instruction that tells you «I don’t think this chick really gets it»?

So I took my Australian Shepherd mix, AO, here today for a grooming appointment. We went to the cabin in the woods this weekend and AO did a little wading in the river, so needless to say, he was a little dirty. He has a long coat and an undercoat, so I wanted to get him shaved down really short so that he would be comfortable for the summer and also remove the layer of grime he worked up over the weekend.
I called Monday and made an appointment for Tuesday at 8. When I arrived, I was met by Renee, who was the groomer and we went over how I wanted him cut. We talked about his coat from head to toe and she made sure we were both on the same page (I wanted him cut REALLY short!) She took AO back and another employee met with me and said that when he was finished, they would let him hang out in the grooming room and put a bed and water down for him there. He is an old guy, so being out in a room with a bunch of rowdy dogs would not be best for him. I thought it was very considerate of them to make sure he was as comfortable as possible while he was there. I left and they said it would take about 4 hours to finish his appointment.
Renee called me about 4.5 hours later and said he was all done and did great!
I went to pick him up and I was so happy with how he turned out. He is nice and trimmed up and all ready for the summer. I will definitely be taking AO back there for all of his grooming needs. They also board dogs there, so I think I may try that the next time we go out of town.

**Update from my 4÷10÷2011 post***
Since writing my original post we’ve adopted another dog, Oscar, and have continued to use the excellent services at YDBF.
Two things that make me love YDBF even more:
1) I’m 7 months pregnant and it’s getting pretty difficult to walk both Sooey and Oscar (totaling nearly 150 lbs!). The staff at YDBF have been so great about handing them to me one at at time or even walking one out with me to the car! They have even offered to come by and pickup the dogs when it’s time for us to deliver.
2) A few weeks ago my husband and I locked ourselves out of the house! It was a sight. Locked outside with two dogs and to make things worse, my husband had to catch a plane! We called our friend who has a spare key, but no answer. Times a ticking and we’re starting to panic! Then we thought to call YDBF– sure enough they were there in 10 minutes, opened the door, and even took the dogs with them back to daycare since we were running late. Absolute life saver!

Upon moving to DC, I was THRILLED to finally find another cage-​free boarding place. My little Eddie hasn’t had that experience since we lived in Sacramento.
I liked and appreciated the «interview» process and getting to meet the owner right away. And I really liked everything the owner had to say about dogs, his staff, etc.
Eddie, naturally, loves it here. And the staff always seem sad to see him go — which is a great sign.
Unfortunately, I don’t live close enough to justify taking Eddie to daycare here regularly. However, every time I go out of town, this is the only place I will take him.

I haven’t been able to receive their service but I had a very bad experience with their lack of professionalism. I needed a dog walker because I was going on an unexpected trip the following week. I called them up and asked them if they serviced my area (Arlington, near Clarendon). They said they did. We scheduled an in house consultation the following day and I called off my dog walking search because they assured me they came to where I lived.
I had to miss work for the visit and when the time for them to come came and went I became frustrated. I then received a call 30 minutes after the visit was supposed to happen and they told me they actually didn’t service my area and she wasn’t coming. This was a simple «check the address» problem, and I ended up wasting 2 days where I needed to be looking for a dog walker as well as part of my work day waiting around for them to come.
I hear they have great service, so don’t use this review to learn how they treat dogs. However their lack of professionalism really bothered me. If they had called me prior to the visit (not 30 minutes after it was supposed to happen) or even came for the visit and explained the situation, I would have understood.
So if you live in Arlington, they probably can’t help you. Or if they say they do, double and triple check to make sure before you wait around for them.

I have been a dog owner for 10 years and a dog lover for longer than that. I like them more than most people. I even got a part-​time job at a «well reputed» dog day care facility to be around dogs. Well, that experience opened my eyes to the reality of dog day care. Here is the deal, in my opinion. Most times the people working at these facilities do care for the dogs, but VERY often they are completely clueless when it comes to how to interact with humans. Bottom line is they run a mediocre establishment and when I see that I wonder what else they need help with.
I went to YDBF expecting a similar experience. I just assumed it was going to be another situation where people don’t know how to communicate and I am left praying my dog will get back to me in one piece.
I cannot say enough how beyond thrilled I was to find that this place is by far the best dog related business I have ever frequented. Everything is organized, dog-​centered, clean, user friendly, and exceptionally managed. The love these folks have for the dogs is crystal clear but they also treat the humans like part of the family, too. The people who work there are professional, friendly, caring, intelligent, dedicated, and pro-​active. There isn’t a clunker in the bunch. The guys and girls on the floor, the ladies behind the counter, Jenny the GM — thank you!
On my dog’s first day of orientation the owner took (no lie) about 60 minutes just talking to me about my dog, their philosophy, and slowing letting the pooch get comfortable in his new environment. Everything for that time was centered around what was best for my dog. I was told I could stay as long as I liked and just watch. They explained how the rest of the day would go and assured me that he wouldn’t be forced to interact in any way he wasn’t comfortable with. My dog has been back several times and every time he is eager to get out of the car and get inside. He comes back to me exhausted and chilled out and he doesn’t even smell bad (don’t know how they handle this one).
The other very important thing to me is their dedication to rescue dogs. They have two dogs living there who were unable to be adopted for various reasons — they spend their day, basically, being ambassadors for the facility. I’ve never known another day care that does something like this. Giving back is a big deal to me and I try to give my business to people who walk-​the-​walk.
I really cannot say enough good things about YDBF. I guess the MOST I can say is that I trust them with my dog. That pretty much says it all right there.

The best.
Being fairly new to DC (and townhouse living), Wifey and I were at a loss regarding our Canine Americans’ daytime care.
Enter Your Dog’s Best Friends.
To describe the staff as caring is an understatement. They remember you, your dogs and your routines seemingly overnight and always greet you with a smile.
Beyond the quality of service they provide their human customers, our dogs LOVE IT. They know the routine and beg us to take them in the morning. When we pull in the parking lot they start jumping around and pawing at the glass. When we pick them up at night they are happy and (maybe more importantly) worn out.
I truly don’t know how we could balance two different schedules with great care for our dogs any other way…

I feel a little guilty giving YDBF 5 stars, but not because they don’t deserve it… because it’s the ONLY place I have ever brought my 8.5 month old goldendoodle, Lucy. She started as a wee pup of 5 months. They were wonderful at helping get her acclimated and she was introduced slowly into the full pack of dogs. They took great care to be sure that she had a good introduction so that she wouldn’t be scared or overwhelmed. It was really the best decision I could have made.
Let me tell you why.
1) The staff is incredible. Paul, the owner is an amiable ambassador for his business. He was the one who talked me through the orientation. He sets a great example for his staff and they all echo his love and passion for dogs. They care deeply about dogs and it is evident in all they do.
2) I have so much peace of mind when Lucy is at YDBF. The dogs are so well supervised and I rest assured that she’s in good hands. Once, Lucy had a little accident playing with another dog and Felitia called me at work to tell me so that I wouldn’t be worried when I picked her up. Dogs play. They get scratches and bumps; it happens. The fact that they called me at work made me feel such a sense of trust in their integrity.
3) Did I mention the wonderful staff… Manny, Callie, Lana, Erica, Felitia… they are so great and Lucy is sooooo excited whenever she walks in the doors.
4) I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but it’s just another example of how they are willing to go the extra mile… one recent Saturday morning, I brought Lucy in for day care and I didn’t realize that the place wasn’t even open. I walked in the front doors and was greeted with the same warm welcome… after some quizzical looks and a «you know we aren’t open until 8, right?»… I realized I had arrived too early. Not surprisingly, they took Lucy in and I apologized and noted that they open at 8am, not 7am on Saturday!
5)Finally, the best reason to bring YOUR dog here is that it’s so much FUN for them. Lucy has a great time and always comes home happily exhausted from a long day of play. It’s great socialization for her and she has grown into a confident and well socialized dog.
Can’t say enough about YDBF. If your dog isn’t coming here, your dog is missing out!