The Madison Dog Resort & Spa

I dropped in this afternoon to inquire about doggie day care for my small dog. While I was slightly concerned that there was nobody up front for several minutes, I brushed it off.
Eventually, a girl came from the back and I explained that I was there to see the facility and learn more about their doggie day care. While the girl was friendly, I was told that I could not see the facility unless I had an appointment. Their «appointments» are coupled with a pet evaluation and require that I provide all my dog’s vaccination information prior to the appointment date. I certainly have no issue providing that information but doing so before seeing if I like the facility and the staff seemed odd to me.
Ultimately, I was turned off by the lack of transparency. I want to see the place on a normal day… not when they are expecting guests. Yesterday, when I dropped in at Best Friends in Chestnut Ridge, they gave me a full tour of the facility which included play rooms with glass windows overlooking the front lobby where everyone can look in.
The Madison’s unwillingness to display what was behind closed doors made my decision very simple.

We took our dog for an assessment to the Madison Dog Resort. She is an 18 month old Cocker mix. The person who took care of us could not have been older than 18 or 19 years old. He took our dog inside and came back within a couple of minutes and told us that they cannot have our dog in daycare because she is aggressive. I explained to him that a couple of months ago she was attacked by another dog at a local doggie park and so she now growls and shows her teeth to other dogs as a warning, but that she has never attacked anyone. He replied that our dog snapped at him, which we were shocked to hear since she has never done that before. The fact that he came at her from behind as she was surrounded by other dogs, as he explained, might have something to do with it, but I frankly don’t believe that she did this. She might lick people to death, but she is certainly not aggressive. In fact, as he was explaining this to us, two other staff members, also very young, passed by and our dog immediately went to them to be petted, wagging her tail, happy as can be. We asked if we could come back at another date for another assessment, and he emphatically said NO. We take our dog regularly to Pet Smart in Secaucus and also NYC and there has never been an issue, so I don’t understand what the problem is. We wanted to try this place because it’s closer to home and what a disappointment it turned out to be. It’s hard to comprehend how a person can assess a dog in two minutes and not give her a chance to warm up to the other dogs and the new surroundings. And it’s also difficult to understand why the place is run by teenagers. Maybe this is the weekend staff, but it would have been nice to talk to an adult. It would have also been nice to get a tour of the facilities. I did not feel comfortable with the notion that my dog was whisked away by a stranger to a place behind closed doors where I can’t see what they’re doing to her. And while the place was clean, there was a rather unpleasant pet odor lingering in the air.

Very accommodating staff who seem to really enjoy watching the dogs. Been to other places where the staff aren’t engaged with the dogs but here they seem to care. Clean, friendly and well taken care of.

When boarding a dog to me the most important things are cleanliness, a friendly and well-​trained staff that loves their charges, and the piece of mind knowing they will be well cared for. The staff at this facility are all dog lovers and I am impressed with their organization and attention to detail. The dogs appear happy and engaged and I like that they can be watched on camera too. The owner is involved in the everyday operations which is so important to me because he really seems passionate about providing a great experience.

I have never had to board my dog before and the Madison was recommended to me. We left our dog there for a week and I am pleased with the experience. I especially like the webcams set up in the facility where I can check on my pooch to make sure everything is ok.

If you are like me then you obviously love your dogs and consider them family. I would have never thought that i would have had to leave my dog Cali at a «doggy daycare.» Unfortunately, I had to leave town for a week and i could not bring her. With no one to watch my dog, and being from Bergen County, I asked my friends and family for a recommendation. They directed me to the Madison dog resort. When i went there, although apprehensive, the owner vic and his staff made me feel so completely comfortable leaving my little girl there. When i picked her up my dog was so happy and beautifully groomed. Leaving my cali girl at this doggy day care was def a more traumatic experience for me than it was for her. If you ever need to leave your animal somewhere I would 100% recommend the Madison. I hope i never need to leave my little girl ever again, but if i do, I will be bringing her there.

i TOTALLY recommend the madison dog resort for anyone looking to do day care or overnight as well as grooming. i bring my dogs their 5 days a week for day care. my dogs start to bark the second i pull onto franklin turnpike, i pull in and the dogs literally drag me up the stairs and run to the door to be let in to the dog area. ive never seen my dogs so excited to be somewhere before. the staff is wonderful, i feel so welcome when i walk in, they no my dogs as well as myself. the madison has saved my life with my dogs being so hyper. i have a golden and a labordoodle with so much energy and they just play all day and the owner of the madison downloaded an app on my iphone that i get to watch my dogs play all day. i read the review before and that’s not the Maidson i know. if you have a hyper dog you have to try out their daycare. LOVE LOVE LOVE THE MADISON!!!

We decided to board our 6 month old Beagle here for one night while we were in town for a funeral. Everything on the surface seemed to be fine. Some of the workers were a bit eccentric but nothing too concerning. However, when we picked up the dog after only 24hrs something was obviously wrong. He was completely out of it and extremely lethargic. We decided to give him the night to recover as we thought he might be extremely fatigued. The next day the dog was still very lethargic and we now noticed that he was not putting any weight on his front left arm. At this point we decided to call the vet. We ended up going to an out of state vet as we were traveling. He had cuts and bruises all the way up his arm and was put on antibiotics and pain meds. I called The Madison and asked if anything happened and they said nothing and everything was fine. I fully understand that dogs can and do get hurt at doggy daycare/​boarding but there was no need to deny anything happened. Clearly something happened and the dog was injured. I would NOT recommend this place to anyone. STAY AWAY