Pork Chop’s Way

I boarded my dog Otis with Pork Chop’s Way for a weekend in October. I (and Otis) interacted with both Elly and Andrew. Both were fantastic. Great communication, personable, and most importantly, Otis really like them both.
First, Elly gave me a tour, answered all of my questions, and got to me know my dog. Next, I got a few updates throughout the weekend, and finally when I picked my pooch up, he was happy and exhausted which is the best data point possible.
I will definitely use Elly again, and I’m certain when I pull up to her house, Otis will excitedly jump out of the car.

Ely R. lost my dog and did nothing to help find the dog once she lost her. We had volunteers offer to help search for our dog. She did nothing to help and said she was too busy to search!
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You never came back to search for Chaucer until the weekend, five days after you lost him and only after my family and I hired independent dog searching company to search for my baby. Kelly Parker did not go thru your «walk,» she stayed up in the fields with her flip flops which was useless. She did not stay until 9 pm, as suggested by your response. If she was DO residency 24 hr post call, I would not trust her with my child, my husband, or my mother. Why did you have her go search for my baby? You are responsible for your business.

I would strongly urge anyone considering using Elle Rivera and Porkchop’s Way to do a thorough investigation of her. I wouldn’t trust her with my dogs after the experience I, and my neighbors, had with her. I reported her to the police, as did others. It’s taken me a while to write this review, because I never thought of Unilocal until a friend suggested it last night, after I mentioned to her what happened. A few years ago, I was walking my leashed, dogs on The Greenway Trail, near where I live. I was nearing the end of the trail when I heard a lot of barking, and a woman yelling angrily. The next thing I knew, a pit bull was running at us, followed by a pack of dogs, all off leash. Behind them was a woman, who was closer to the pack, and a man, who was further away. It looked like the pit bull was going to attack us. I was petrified. I was yelling for the woman to get the dogs. She and the man were obviously unable to control them. I told her she was breaking the law by having the dogs off leash, and I was calling the police, which I proceeded to do. She cussed me out, calling me every crude name imaginable. They managed to get the dogs turned around, and headed back to the road. When I reached the road, which is a very narrow road, with a hill that you can’t see over, I saw dogs running all over in the road. A car came over the hill, and just missed hitting one of the medium sized dogs. I noticed a white van that said Pork Chop’s Way, and an SUV. After this incident, when I told neighbors about it, one of them told me she had been walking with her baby in a jogging stroller on the trail, and a similar thing happened to her with Elle and her pack of dogs. Another neighbor, whose land borders the trail, told me about something that happened to him. A woman in a red car drove onto his property, got out of her car, and was walking around. He asked her what she was doing there. She told him her dog walker, Elle, of Pork Chop’s Way, had lost her dog, and had given her his address as the property where she was given permission to exercise the dogs, and where her dog was lost. He had no idea who Elle, or Pork Chop’s Way was, and had never given her permission to use his land. I looked up her website online, and saw that she claimed a landowner allowed her to use their property to exercise the dogs. If she meant my neighbor, which it seems like she did since she told the woman with the lost dog that he was the one, then she lied. His land bordered The Greenway Trail where Ellie walked the dogs, and his driveway was the first one after the small pulloff area for the trail. The woman gave my neighbor her name and phone number, in case he ever saw her dog, but he never did. I should point out that we have coyotes and foxes in the woods here, both of which will kill a dog. A short time later, we all saw lost dog signs go up on the street, with pictures of a different missing dog, and in the description of what happened, it stated that Elle, of Pork Chop’s Way, lost their dog while dog walking. So that’s two dogs Ellie lost in our neighborhood. A while after this, I saw Elle’s vehicle down the street, at a different entrance to the trail, and called the police to let them know she was in the trail area again with all her dogs. They told me they were aware of her, as she’s been reported by others, but it was hard to catch her, because she moves around from park to park so much. I see in the reviews that another woman has recently lost her dog as well, and was given vague directions on where her dog was walked, and Ellie even changed the city she claimed it was located in. So, do your research before you use Ellie, and ask yourself if you’d trust her with your dog. I wouldn’t.

It’s taken me a long time to post this review because a part of me has wanted to just forget the terrible experiences we had with Pork Chop’s Way. We initially hired Elly to train and board our cattle dog Latte for two weeks while we were getting married in October 2012. When we returned Elly let us know his training for dog reactivity was not yet to her satisfaction so she kept him a couple additional days, which was a nice thing to do. When he came back to us he was a different dog entirely and was able to run on the trail near our house without any real issues. All in all, some minor bites and scratches aside, we were happy.
Unfortunately his dog reactivity training was short lived. Once he got his energy back from not running on the daily trails he became as bad as before with his dog reactivity. Wearing a head halter as Elly’s method called for only worsened his issue as he essentially lost control of his body, therefore adding to his stress and anxiety. We almost thought to give him up at this point, but this one issue aside he was too good of a companion. What eventually worked was a method taught in a short booklet called Feisty Fido that reconditioned his underlying emotional response to dogs. Shortly after I began this method, I also took him to a do reactivity class and the instructors taught the same method and were hugely impressed with my progress with Latte.
Unfortunately, this is not even the real problem we had with Pork Chop’s Way. A day after we got Latte back home from his stay there, he vomited several times and eventually a couple sturdy pieces of green plastic. That was in November 2012. Obviously Latte ate up something while in day care but I didn’t think anything much of it.
In April 2013, Latte suddenly stopped eating, which is unheard of for him. He lives for food. I took him in for an xray at the emergency clinic and they found nothing. For another day and a half I had to watch as he became enormously bloated in his belly and was drooling like crazy. Something was not right, so again, I drove him back to the emergency clinic and again the xray didn’t show any detectable mass but indicated a blockage. My husband and I waited for news and had to go through the stress of hearing hat it might’ve been Cancer and we should be prepared not to wake him back up if it was. We sadly agreed. However, hours later the surgery was done and the doctor said they found a large piece of plastic. Immediately I asked if it was green and they confirmed it was. It turns out that it was the same plastic he consumed at day care only bigger. It had been in his stomach the whole time, digesting, until it got lodged into his duodenum. The clinic sent a photo to confirm.
It really pains me to this day to think of what toxins were being absorbed during those many months and worse, what might still be in there. We just found a hard lump on Latte a few weeks ago and it brought back these bad memories and makes me wonder if it might be caused by those toxins. My husband and I never mentioned this to Elly as we simply didn’t want anything else to do with that terrible experience and we didn’t want to go through the confrontation. Seeing some of the reviews here now makes me regret not speaking up sooner. Total cost of all of the surgery and xrays for the blockage was in excess of $ 4000 if I recall right. If we were like the rest of America, we should’ve sued for it back from Pork Chop’s Way. Not just the cost of surgery, but the time and stress of watching your pet suffer, the late night emergency visits, the time and expense of followup visits including an allergic reaction to antibiotics, and the health hazards of having a large piece of plastic stuck in his digestive tracts for nearly six months and who knows what implications that has had.
But frankly, I hate that I’m wasting my energy reliving the bad feelings writing this. I do this in hopes that it helps someone else out there in finding safer care for their companion.
Update: Elly has well-​crafted responses but places a lot of blame on clients. My dog is usually the last dog to «eat everything in his sight» as her response implies — he’s never eaten a sock, chewed a shoe, etc. at home. Leaving him at a daycare in an unfamiliar stressful environment is a risk I took as the pet owner, and I know now to be more careful in the future. However, as the agency running a dog boarding service, they not only share responsibility but also should be aware of the need to monitor dogs in a stressful environment and adjust arrangements or keep closer watch accordingly.
Finally, there is a huge difference between putting a dog’s head into a head collar and redirecting his attention (and physically redirecting it’s head) to you, versus teaching the dog offer you a behavior on its own because he wants to. In the first method you are distracting the dog, in the second you recondition the dog’s underlying emotional response.

Pork Chop’s Way is the only place my husband and I would ever trust boarding our dog with. Our families live in NJ and Seattle so we are boarding our dog Shadow frequently on weekends. We love Elly and Shadow probably loves her more than he loves us. She treats him with respect and really gets to know all of her dogs that stay with her. She does not crate (unless you ask her to) and this is fantastic because we know that Shadow is getting the accurate exercise a Siberian Husky needs. He also comes back from her well behaved. If you want to make sure that your dog is getting the best care around then take her here because I can ASSURE you that you will not regret it.

I have not used this service, but I was very disturbed to see the way they appeared to be treating some dogs. While I was out walking my dog in North Bethesda, I saw an SUV with this company’s logo, illegally parked with flashers on, with two large dogs inside. The windows were slightly cracked. I waited for several minutes to see if anyone came back, but I had to leave before anyone ever came back, so I have no idea how long the dogs were left there unsupervised.
I would never leave my dog alone in my car any time of the year, for any amount of time. I would be horrified if I found out that someone I had trusted to care for my dog did so. I think people using this company should know that this is the way they treat dogs.

Reviews of dog care are like second hand information, because I can’t really know what our dog experiences once alone with the caretaker.
At best, I can share your impression of our dog after the fact, and our experience with the handlers, but at the end of the day, its a bit of a black box as to details.
That said — dogs are dogs. They are generally happy resiliient and forgiving furballs (which is why we love them, of course!). We can’t REALLY know what goes on while our dogs are out of our care. HOWEVER — I don’t consider my dog’s safe return in a happy state to be 5 star service but rather the very minimum acceptable standard.
Pork Chop’s Way fails for service, professionalism and trustworthiness. While it appears there are those who are satisfied, we were not. When things did not go smoothly, we found this company fell short in how it conducted itself.
From our experience, our dog did not receive the level of conscientious care the owner led us to expect.
Pork Chop’s Way does not walk its talk.
Save yourself the trouble and heartache of finding out personally, and find a better outfit. Do I think anything will happen to your dog? Probably not, as there appear to be other satisfied clients. But consider the unhappy postings here. They’re not angry because someone overcharged them or were rude to them. They’re sharing their negative experience and physical harm suffered by their dog while entrusted to Ms. Rivera. Even more telling — rather than take ownership of these (repeat?) problems, Ms. Rivera is quick to provide rebuttle, excuses and spin.
Do yourself a favor. Do your DOG a favor. Go elsewhere for safe responsible dog care.
The owner denies calling herself a «dog whisperer.»
However, she implies she is, she allows others to describe her as such, and her website is deliberately optimized to show up in searches for that term.
Est quod est
The owner billing herself as a «Behaviorist» because she attended school for a masters in Animal Behavior is like me saying I’m a psychologist because I have a masters in psychology. Neither the owner nor the business are certified or registered with any professional animal behavioral group (i.e. Animal Behavior Society (CAAB or ACAAB)).
For the record — we are posting this because we are not happy with our experience with PCW and hope by sharing others can avoid going down the same path. No, we are not offended — just dissatisfied customers who will take our dog and our money elsewhere.

If I could give a zero I would. I have never met someone so unprofessional. She is so nice and appeasing when everything is going well. As soon as something goes wrong, she is threatening and offensive. After our incidence, we have heard of others, many others; dogs bitting other dogs, losing dogs and even death. How often does this happen??? Often enough that she puts in her contract that she is not responsible for your dog. If she is not responsible, what am I paying her for? She gives you a story in the beginning like she is some kind of dog whisperer. But in reality, she takes on too many dogs at one time and has little control over them that is why there are so many incidents.

I decided to board my dog Otto at Pork Chop’s Way due to the owner’s training and the positive reviews she has received online. My experience with this company, however, was very upsetting – and deeply traumatizing for Otto.
In April 2013, my husband and I needed to board Otto for one night while we attended a wedding in central Virginia. Otto is our first dog and so – nervous dog mama that I am – I spent weeks researching boarders. Prior to the wedding, I brought Otto to the owner’s home (where Pork Chop’s Way is based) and I thought the visit went well.
On the morning of the wedding, we were about to leave Otto in the owner’s care when another boarded dog – a large pit bull – barked at Otto and aggressively knocked him over. My husband and I were alarmed but the owner assured us that she would take extra care of Otto (who is only 30 lbs.) and the owner’s boyfriend mentioned that the dogs were merely establishing a pecking order. We left after that, albeit a little reluctantly.
During our drive down, we kept getting that funny feeling that something wasn’t right. We called the owner and she reassured us that the pit bull had been muzzled and kept in another room, but we couldn’t shake our anxiety. And so, we made the tough decision that my husband would drop me off at the wedding while he drove back to pick up Otto.
I am so grateful that we made that decision. When Otto saw my husband walk through the door, he soiled himself. Then the owner told my husband that Otto had been attacked again by the pit bull, this time drawing blood from Otto’s muzzle. This second attack occurred when the owner left the dogs in her boyfriend’s care.
Even worse, five days later, Otto now shows aggressive tendencies at his training class. Otto has never had an issue with aggression before – our trainer even commented on his change in behavior. When we relayed to her what had happened to Otto, she was shocked and told us that dogs never establish pecking orders by attacking each other or drawing blood.
Otto is a very sweet-​natured dog but a part of that sweetness has been marred by his stay at Pork Chop’s Way. I know other Unilocal reviewers have had great experiences with them – and I don’t contest that – but if you’re looking for a boarder, please be careful and follow your gut. I deeply regret taking Otto to this company.

I am a huge Unilocal researcher/​stalker but have never written a review until now, as I have never felt more strongly about a business and provider as I do about Pork Chops Way and Elly Rivera. From the time we brought our Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy (Neo) home, Elly has been an invaluable provider of guidance in training and raising a puppy the right way. Neo has hiked daily and periodically boarded with Elly for the last two years. Because of her, he is a well behaved, well exercised, 120 lb dog who LOVES his Elly. Her daily hikes are worth their weight in gold– not only will your dog get 10 times the exercise he/​she will at doggie day care (for an equivalent cost), he/​she will learn commands and be socialized with a variety of dogs of all shapes, sizes and temperaments. This is critically important to a dog’s development… did I mention we have a 120 lb dog :) ?
Our Neo loves Elly– and we think she is pretty great too!

Elly Rivera is the best she takes the dogs out for incredible hikes and they come home exhausted and happy. As a bonus being with Elly every day is a training exercise what a bonus. This experience has made my life much easier!” She knows everything about dogs

I also have a super hyper Jack Russell who’s still a puppy. I have spent a lot of time looking for a doggy daycare, but have read so many horrid reviews that put me off trying any out. I went through a 6-​week training program with another dog trainer, and it was an absolute waste of money. So I went searching for another trainer and came across Elly’s website. When I saw she had a doggy day camp in her home, I figured I’d try it out.
Unlike other daycare facilities, there are only a small group of dogs at Porkchop’s way, so you can be sure your dog will get some individual attention and get to play with other dogs without getting too overwhelmed. In addition, there is a doggy door so the dogs have access to the fenced in yard to run around and go to the bathroom. Best of all, Elly is very flexible. My pup was not neutered when I first started taking him for day camp and boarding, and she was the only person that was willing to still take him.
. Elly also emails pictures of my pup to me which makes it a lot easier to be apart from him. My dog is also a super picky eater, and sometimes has to be hand-​fed, but Elly has no problem feeding him. He comes home happy and tired. Best of all, the other trainer labeled my dog as essentially «untrainable» because of his breed, but Elly has reassured me that is not the case.

We adopted a psychotic JRT from the MoCo shelter in 10/​10, and made the first step of our life with her making sure we got her the best training possible. After poring over countless websites, brochures from the vet’s office, and friends’ recommendations, we happened upon Pork Chop’s Way. Elly, the owner, was knowledgeable and generous with her time on the consultation call, and she invited us over to her house for a meet-​and-​greet.
After we arrived and exchanged pleasantries, Elly went right to work. Keeping a close eye on how our pup responded to a variety of stimuli (mainly, how she was reacting to being part of an unfamiliar pack), she explained different behavioral traits about the JRT (much of what we’d researched prior to the adoption), and set out a coursework for the training (which was something that we hadn’t been able to successfully cull through ourselves). After watching our little girl run around the backyard (100% fenced-​in), we decided to go with Elly. She impressed us with her knowledge and passion, and we really loved the idea of cage-​free boarding. It made sense for us to have the person who trained her be the person who would watch over her when we were away.
*Fast forward to 6/​12*
Not only did the training go very, very well, but our pup goes on off-​leash hikes and stays with Elly when we’re out of town .
Training: 5 stars (We can communicate with our JRT effectively now!)
Hiking: 5 stars (The off-​leash hiking is the best way we’ve found for her to get exercise AND socialization.)
Boarding: 5 stars (No worries about your dog making a mess in its crate and having to wait 8 hours until someone comes around to clean up — there are no crates!)