Brighter Days Dog Walking

Very professional outfit; reliable, trustworthy and the walkers seem to have a real connection with and love for dogs. When there’s been staff turnover or when a walker is unavailable, they’ve always made sure that our pup is covered and in good hands.

I used Brighter Days for 2 years before moving out of the area. My pup loved his walkers and I really liked that they left notes with walk times and upbeat bathroom notes: «pee only”/ «#1 + 2!». Honestly, if I weren’t a neat freak with a house full of crazy security/​monitoring that tracks walk times, I’d probably be giving a 4– or 5-​star review.
Our alarm system logs all entrance and exit times and I quickly noticed that a few walks were way under the agreed upon 30 mins — sometimes only around 5 mins. Once in awhile, I’d come home to find a note from random substitute walkers I’d never met before. When called on the short walk times, Brighter Days often offered a free walk, but it makes me wonder how many pooches are getting super short walks without their owners knowing about it. :(After complaining a couple of times about late and messy walks by a couple of different walkers (leashes left on our white linen couch, dog crate left unlatched, human pee on our toilets?!), we were assigned to Jaime. Jaime was awesome and easily the best dog walker I’ve ever had– trustworthy, eerily punctual, and neat. I was home a few times during his walks, and I could barely tell when he was coming in and out because he was so quiet and efficient. Unfortunately, Jaime has since left Brighter Days and I’m not sure if he plans to return.
All in all, I’d recommend Brighter Days, but do monitor the walk times and follow up via email if necessary. Brighter Days did try to make things right whenever I reached out to them, and after some adjustments, I did end up with an awesome walker that I was completely happy with.

We’ve had a wonderful experience with Brighter Days. We have an energetic black lab who began walking with Jordan when he was just two months old. After we moved, he walked with Aysia. He adored both of them; I am so bummed to have moved out of their area now. Both Jordan and Aysia were always incredibly accommodating of schedule changes, even when they were last minute. I completely trusted them with my fur baby and knew he was in good hands. If there was ever an issue, I’d get a text or an email. I highly recommend this excellent company!

Brighter Days is, hands down, the best dog walking service in DC. I’ve been using them for 6 years and I could not be a happier customer. I’ve had a few different walkers through Brighter Days and they’ve all been fantastic – reliable, communicative, trustworthy, and caring. Most recently I’ve worked with Jeremy, who has gone above and beyond in walking my little Shih Tzu mix. He took care of her during a seizure (and notified me immediately) and has been wonderful about accommodating changes in my schedule. And I’ll always remember Preston stopping by for a second time to check on my dog after hearing about a fire in the neighborhood. I also loved working with Abigail and was so pleased with her dog sitting services. In all my years working with Brighter Days, I have not had a single miscommunication or negative experience. I highly recommend hiring this amazing, high-​quality service.

Brighter Days is an amazing dog walking company! My boyfriend and I had a hard time finding a walker in DC because we were so accustomed to our walker we used in NYC. I found Brighter Days through Unilocal and loved their reviews, so I reached out. From the first meeting, to every text update — We are so pleased with Lakesa and the brighter days team. As someone who trusts very few people with my dog — it’s great knowing I can go to work and not be worried or stressed throughout the day. Lakesa also sends pictures with the updates. You can really tell they are dog lovers! If you are looking for a walker you really can’t go wrong!

Great place! Devin took care of our kitty for over a week– it’s always so hard for me to leave her but after Devin came over to meet her I knew she was in good hands– very responsible and a natural connection with animals!

Whit, Preston, and John walked our dog in the five years that we lived in the Adams Morgan/​Mt. Pleasant area. We loved each of the dog walkers and couldn’t have been happier with the service they provided. All three walkers were flexible with our changing schedule, responsive, and trustworthy. Most importantly, our dog liked them and we could trust that she was in good hands during her mid-​day walks. We recently moved out of the area and were sad to say goodbye to Brighter Days. We hope to find dog walkers as great as them in our new neighborhood. I highly recommend Brighter Days.

UPDATE!
Immediately after posting this review, I was contacted by Devin — one of the owners of Brighter Days — who apologized profusely for the lack of communication. It turns out they had attempted to return my email, but I never received it. As I said before, I know things fall through the cracks, but Devin contacted me to rectify the situation. That is a great business practice! I ended up opting for a doggy day care rather than a pet walking service so I cannot speak to the per walking they provide, but the customer service was incredible. He even contacted me later prior to a company meeting asking for suggestions on how to improve future customer service that could be discussed among the staff. I highly recommend Brighter Days based solely on the high level of professionalism and customer service!
It really pains me to write this review… I am brand new to the area and was looking for a pet walking service to take my 5 year old maltipoo out during the day while I’m at work 3 days per week (I’m a nurse and work 12 hour shifts). She does fine being alone for 12 hours plus, but I wanted her to have a little interaction with someone during the day since I’m gone long hours. Upon my arrival to DC, I immediately asked a local for a recommended company to use. I was thrilled when Brighter Days came so highly recommended and was so reputable, not to mention the excellent reviews on Unilocal!I immediately filled out the request online, which is the only way they accept new clients. Once completed, it said someone would be in touch with me soon. After about 3 days of no response, I called the company and left a message with my contact information and the nature of my online request. The recording said that someone would contact me within 24 hours. That was 3 days after. After nearly a week, I have heard nothing back. I am so disappointed because I loved the company’s website and their philosophy on pet care. I literally stopped a stranger on the street who was walking his dog and asked if he had a dog walker that he recommended. I’m hoping to have better luck with that company. I understanding things can fall through the cracks, which I was I made the follow up call, so I find that to be pretty unacceptable business practice to have no follow through. I would completely understand if they weren’t taking new clients or there was a reason they wouldn’t be a good fit, but a returned call would’ve been nice.

Jeremy, Devin, and Lakesa have all walked my dog on various occasions. He weighs about 60 pounds and can be leash-​reactive (i.e., he has a tendency to bark and sometimes even lunge toward other dogs), an issue we’re working on but that seems to stem from his experiences before being rescued from a shelter. Because of this, I was somewhat nervous about having strangers walk him. But at times when his other person and I have been out of town or busy, we’ve needed the help – and Brighter Days has been great. I’ve told them about his issues and what works for him, and they’ve taken good care of him.
More recently, I needed dogsitting over a long weekend. I contacted Brighter Days, but I hadn’t given much advance notice, and they weren’t available. But they offered to send something to their referral list, and Lee was able to step in. Lee took the time to come to my place, meet the dog and join me on a walk, and hear about hhhis habits, where his food was, etc. I came home last night to find a happy dog who’d been well cared for. So while I guess that Lee is more a friend of Brighter Days than a member of the collective, I give Lee five stars as well.
One other note – I love Brighter Days’ cooperative structure. Bopth the materials benefits (health insurance, paid vacation) and the perhaps-​less-​tangible but important extension of democracy to the workplace are models for so many other businesses. I’m glad to support that while ensuring great care for my dog.

we switched from another dog walking company to brighter days after we had too many mishaps (lost keys, forgotten walks, constant walker changes, etc.) and i am so pleased we did. andy was recommended to us by a neighbor, and we (and the dogs) love him. he is prompt, professional, flexible, and the dogs are so happy to see him. i highly recommend brighter days, and especially andy.

My 400^th review was reserved for a 5 star stellar place, and the honor easily goes to Brighter Days Dog Walking! We have called upon Brighter Days a few times to watch over our cats while we were gone on holiday. Their prices are competitively priced for pet-​sitting (and dog walking) services. They’ve always been very responsive, know animals, and let us be gone with ease knowing our pets are in good hands. What’s more, the group works as a collective among the various dogwalkers, which means that there is always a fail-​safe if your regular animal caretaker can’t make it. I also appreciate that the collective focuses on geographically separating the clients for each caretaker, so that they can rely on bicycle as their main form of transport.
Sometimes their website is a little bit wonky, so if you don’t hear a reply back within three days from your request, send another just in case.

I use Unilocal all the time, but rarely take the time to write reviews — John over at Brighter Days Dog Walking is well worth it though. Over the last 4 – 5 years, my wife and I tried several dog walking services — all highly Unilocal reviewed — only to be disappointed time and time again. That was before we found Brighter Days.
John is the consummate professional, easy to get hold of, and receptive to specialized instructions. We often take trips that sometimes last up to two weeks at a time, and find ourselves in need of dog/​cat/​fish/​plant sitting over these periods.
With John, we’ve always come back to healthy and happy pets. As to price, John’s rates actually ended up being much less than other, bigger dog sitting services. Even more than that, the peace of mind that my wife and I have, knowing our beloved pets are in good hands, is priceless.
I highly recommend John & Brighter Days.

Brighter Days is the best! Preston takes such outstanding care of our 2 dogs and cat that I am always at ease when I am away from home — and I am one of those really nervous pet owners! I have been working with them for almost 2 years and do not have one single complaint., they are courteous, highly responsive and flexible. Most importantly, the pets LOVE Preston and I can tell he loves them too. Thanks guys!

I don’t have my own dog, but I occasionally foster dogs for various rescues. Brighter Days is the best dog-​walking service I’ve ever used in DC. They also give their employee-​owners vaca, healthcare and substitutes. And they always inform you in advance if a sub is coming, and follow your directions to the tee. I’d use them again in a heartbeat.

My cat, Carnitas, would like to share a few words with all the Unilocalers out there: purrrr purrr meow meow meow meowowowwoow MEWMEWmew… MEOWW!
What she’s trying to say is, «I don’t really like people and I tend to scare easily. But Devin takes good care of me. We have a give and take relationship: He gives me foodz and Iz takes it. He also… BIRD!!»
Feline ADD. It’s for the birds.

I just started using A Brighter Day. And so far I can only agree with all the other positive reviews. Somebody from the team got back to my right away, came by to meet my dog and then we scheduled our first dog walking «date». My dog loves my walker and she had done all her «business» while on the walk so no nasty surprises when I got home, got fed. He left me a note about the walk so I knew how it went. I don’t need dog walking every day — thanks to my dog’s amazing blatter (-: — so the collective’s flexibility is extremely helpful. I just drop Devin an e-​mail and he quickly confirms via e-​mail back. Devin is easy to work with and I look forward to them continuing to make my life easier as we continue to work together.
A co-​worker uses A Brighter Day as well and she has only good things to say about the walks her golden retriever gets every day.

Wow — the last time I was here, Brighter Days had nothing but well-​deserved high marks. Now I see that Unilocal has filtered nearly all of their good reviews (23 total? really?), instead leaving only four reviews, one of them a one-​star review from someone who has was never a customer?
It’s too bad that their overall grade is so tainted by a single review from someone who never even used their service. My wife and I have used Brighter Days for a long time, I think well into our 3^rd year now. We have nothing but praise for every single person who’s taken care of our dogs. Sara, our present walker, is fantastic. When John who walked our two dogs for the first year left us, we were sad, because he was great, but Sara’s proved to be just as capable. A couple other people, Devin and Orion, have subbed for her now and then, and everyone’s always been 100% reliable, honest, and capable.
Our beasts are difficult too. that is, bad walkers, and one of them likes to destroy stuff at home which Sara discovers sometimes. She never complains, always let us know about problems, and has always gone above and beyond the call of duty with, er, unexpected mess-​cleaning.
So here’s a vote from a very happy customer for Brighter Days. If you’re looking for a good dog walking service in DC I recommend them highly.

Sarah posted a comment to my last review stating that Abigail did not like my «tone.» I therefore quote my email to Abigail IN FULL so that folks can judge for themselves whether my tone was inappropriate:
«Thanks Abigail; I left a voice mail with Brighter Days yesterday saying I’d like to talk to a human before I used their service for the first time, and never got a call back, so I made other arrangements. When will businesses learn that they need to return their phone calls? In any event, is it OK if I keep your info for future reference? thanks, [Name]»
So that was the email to which I got an email back saying that I would not be an acceptable customer to this pet sitting service. I was actually wondering whether the service, on seeing my review, would contact me to say that Abigail’s nastiness was not representative of their group’s treatment of its customers, but I see that I was mistaken.

My husband and I just returned from a weekend away and, yet again, we were thrilled with Preston. We first hired Preston to walk our dogs while we were on our honeymoon. We had a couple of friends staying at our house, but they worked long hours, so Preston would walk our dogs during the work weeks while we were away. He also stayed at our house the last two nights of our trip. Thanks to him (and our awesome friends), my husband and I were able to relax on our honeymoon. Preston communicated with our friends to give them important updates about who did what on each walk, etc. A few weeks later we asked Preston to walk the dogs just for a one-​day job. He had no problem getting there when we needed him and our dogs were happy when we got home that evening.
More recently, we were so happy to learn that Preston was available to stay with our two dogs over the holiday weekend because we’d just taken them on a long road trip and simply could not put them through that again. As always, Preston was very professional and was quick to respond to my emails leading up to the trip. He provided us with email updates in response to our emails over the weekend. When we returned from our trip, our dogs were in great spirits and the house was clean. Preston even washed the sheets and towels he used while staying in our home!
My husband and I have wonderful friends who are usually able to help us when we’re out of town, but when our friends cannot help out or when we don’t feel like burdening them again, we go to Preston (Brighter Days) without hesitation. Hopefully we’ll never have to board our dogs again! I highly recommend Preston and, if the others at Brighter Days are even half as kind to the animals (and owners) as Preston is to our dogs (and us), then you just can’t go wrong with this company. Thanks so much for everything!

The Collective rocks! I had to scramble to find a dog walker as plans for my dog, Skye, while I was going to be out of town for Christmas fell through unexpectedly. Despite the snow storm, which happened the day after my plans fell through, we were able to get it set up in time for me to feel comfortable in letting Dave care for Skye while I was gone. An extra perk was that he took Skye to his house for Christmas Eve and Day because of the bad road conditions. That’s what I call above and beyond!
This was the first time I’ve ever used a dog walking service, and I could not have been more pleased. I would definitely use the Collective again and highly recommend!