Bow Wow Doggie Daycare

Like many other fur parents, I spent a lot of time researching all the doggie daycares available. Bow Wow (BW) was unlike any other. We had a one-​on-​one interview with Liz and she took the time to get to know us and our dog, Sadie. She spent time answering all of our questions (we are first time fur parents) and most importantly «interviewing» Sadie to make sure she would fit in with the other dogs.
Unlike other places we visited, BW was much more structured and organized. I’ve found other daycares less personal, overcrowded and always incredibly noisy. At BW, Sadie has been able to make friends who are consistently there. All members of the staff have been happy to give us tips and insights into our pup.
After her first day at Bow Wow, Sadie was hooked. After two weeks, she had memorized the days she would be going to BW and still bothers me on those specific mornings to hurry up and get ready faster. It has been an entire year and I can honestly say we wouldn’t trust anyone else with our little girl!

This place takes great care of your dog. I felt that my dog was in great hands when I left her there. But, the lady who runs the place did make me feel disrespected. For a «daycare» they are not accommodating to your schedule. I took my dog there once a week and I was told to have her there by 10am. I work 2 minutes from this location and my starting time for work was 11am… I had to sit in my car for 1 hour because I had to drop my dog off at daycare by 10am. I would run 5 minutes late from time to time due to traffic and personal reasons. The last time I was 5 minutes late they locked the doors and when I called them they made me wait outside for a couple minutes and when she came out she told me my tardiness was ridiculous… And it was a safety violation to leave the dog rooms after 10am. She talked to me like I was a child and then I finally got mad and told her if I am such a problem I will take my dog somewhere else. She said nothing and I walked away. When I went back to pick up my dog I did not receive a thank you for my services… I found that to be very unprofessional. If it is such a safety violation to leave the dog area maybe they should hire someone to work at the front desk. And maybe you should consider that people have different start times at their jobs and personal stuff going on in their lives. I paid you to watch my dog… it is suppose to be convenient for me… not you!!!

Our favorite daycare in the Pittsburgh area! Very caring, attentive staff. Our Ridgeback, Leon, absolutely loved Teri & co., as do our Ridgebacks, Captain & Theo. :)

There is no place I would trust more with my best buddy. They take amazing care of her and love her like their own!

This place and its staff are the absolute BEST. Although I haven’t tried my pup at that many other doggie daycare places in the city, I used to take her to one that is rated 4.5 stars on Unilocal,and I can confidently say that Bow-​Wow Doggie Daycare is leaps and bounds better.
If you are a protective doggie parent, leaving your pup with a room full of other dogs and not being able to see what happens all day while you’re away is a scary thing. Fortunately, the staff at Bow-​Wow take the utmost care to ensure the safety and well-​being of your pet. They go through an interview and trial daycare process before regularly admitting dogs, and they are extremely careful and detail-​oriented about paperwork to make sure every dog’s vaccinations and health records are up to date. Every dog has regular daycare days, so you can be sure that yours will be playing with the same dogs every time he/​she goes to Bow-​Wow. While this may reduce the flexibility of using doggie daycare as an owner (you can’t just drop off on whatever day you feel like it), this policy is a huge part of maintaining the standard of safety that they have here. Plus, it’s a great way for dogs to form lasting friendships, since they will play with the same other dogs during their visits. While some owners might consider the interview process and strict vaccination and daycare schedule policies to be a hassle, it is 100% worth it if you really want a daycare place where you can drop your pup off and totally trust that he/​she is going to be safe, happy, and in good hands.
Every single one of the core staff members — Liz, Casey, and Barbara — is absolutely wonderful and will treat your dog with the utmost care and attention. They are also professionals who really understand dog behavior, health, and training. So another bonus of this place is that you know they will maintain the training and politeness and proper play behavior that your dog has learned – or, if he/​she still needs improvement in one of those realms, you may very likely see it.
Although they are somewhat selective about what dogs can participate in daycare (for safety purposes), as long as your dog is friendly and non-​aggressive it seems that they will usually give them a fair chance. My pup has pretty bad separation anxiety and can be a big wimp when it comes to new environments, so it took her many days of daycare before she would really play with other dogs and enjoy the environment. The staff were super patient with us and gave me tips on how to actively help her thrive better in the environment (e.g. by practicing handling at home, etc.) Now she has started to seem actually *happy* to go there, and that’s truly incredible considering that she’ll whine (at least initially) any other time I leave her.
I can’t say enough nice things about this place. A few other positives that you will be hard-​pressed to find from other daycare places are that your dog will return to you NOT smelling like crap, they take each and every dog out in the middle of the day for a walk so that they can get some fresh air and sun and individual attention, and they post really cute pictures of the dogs playing on Facebook. There’s nothing better than seeing a picture of your pup having a great time while you’re at work!
The style and standards of this daycare may not suit every owner’s needs and financial limitations, but if you really want to find a place you can totally trust and can be sure will maintain or enhance your dog’s general behavior and health, I highly recommend Bow-​Wow Doggie Daycare.

Best doggie daycare in the city. We’ve been taking our dog here for over a year and we couldn’t be happier. The staff is so knowledgeable and really cares about each and every dog. It’s a good feeling to know that our dog is being watched by trained dog handlers, not teenagers who are too busy texting. If we ever have a question, the staff at Bow Wow are the first ones we ask as they are so knowledgeable about training, dog health, dog tips, etc. They go the extra mile to make sure they reinforce the training that we have spend a lot of time developing with our dog. I definitely recommend Bow Wow!

No one is better at anthropomorphizing their pet than I am. No one. I religiously check the ingredients of the food that Gus eats, I wake up at absurd hours in the morning during the summer so his walk isn’t too hot, and he has this crazy dog seat/​throne in the back seat of my car so he can look out the window. You’ve all heard of helicopter parenting, yeah? It’s a mess and screwing up today’s children, but I’m totally guilty of helicopter doggie parenting.
All of which is to say that I’m not going to drop Gus off at some random place while I go to work.
Step 1 (which I think the other reviewer skipped/​missed): call them and make an appointment. Taking a strange dog into a place full of dogs is a little dicey. Typically, new dogs are brought over on Saturday (when there are no other dogs around) so Barbara can get a sense of its temperament. Barbara is great with dogs and has a ton of experience, but I totally had the, «well, if my kid isn’t good enough for them, screw them!» thoughts running through my head. Obviously, Barbara instantly saw the inherent awesomeness of Gus.
Step 2: learn to let go. I don’t have kids, but I imagine this is pretty much the same as dropping them off at daycare. The first few times, they scream and cry when you leave and you’re left feeling like a terrible person for the rest of the day. Then one day, magically, they’re excited to go to daycare (or Bow WoW) and they don’t even look back while they’re led away to the playroom. It’s a bittersweet moment, but one can’t help but feel a little proud. See what I mean about the anthropomorphizing thing?
Bow Wow separates the dogs by size and organizes the day into blocks of play, rest, and exercise so the dogs don’t get overstimulated, which can cause stress. The staff is excellent about communicating with owners about even minor changes in your dog’s behavior and simply giving you updates about how your dog’s socialization and adjustment. I think I spent the first 2 – 3 weeks asking, «Is he playing? Is he making friends?» on a daily basis. The entire staff was very good about humoring me.
Gus loves it there (his radar triggers around 21^st street and he starts to flip out in the car) and I feel safe about leaving him there. And honestly, when it comes to a doggie day care, that’s all that matters.

I’m going to keep this short and sweet. Err not too sweet. I live in Bloomfield near the Childrens Hospital. Took my moo moo pie on a walk down (about 25 minutes in the RAIN) to Bow Wow or whatever just to see what they were about and to kind of get a feel for what type of doggie day care this was and some general information.
Not only when I came in dripping wet from the rain there wasn’t anyone up front to greet me. She brushed me and my dog off when I asked her about more information. She had an attitude with me didn’t really care to go in depth with me about anything. It was kind of «We do this we do that» I ultimately ended up walking out on her mid-​sentence. Complete waste of time. I don’t usually write negative reviews but geeze if you treat animals better than you treat people fine but I at least deserve some respect.
Her overall attitude was «I don’t even know you I don’t even care to know you unless you want to pay for our services.» If that’s the attitude you want to have I’ll pass.