A Dog’s Day Out

When I lived in DC I brought my two dogs here and they absolutely loved it! They always came home tired and worn out from all the fun they had playing, not only with their other doggie friends but the staff as well! The establishment is always kept clean (inside and out) which I absolutely love! But the main thing is I love that I could just drop my babies off no worries and know that they were well taken care of whether I was just dropping them off for a day of fun at daycare or if they were staying the night for boarding! Plus the owner Colleen is always there Monday through Friday in the mornings working the front desk which I also liked! ADDO Van Dorn is the best doggie daycare/​boarding/​grooming place my dogs have ever been to and I highly recommend this place!

ADDO has cared for my senior dog with special needs with incredible kindness and accommodation. They really care, and have earned my not easily given trust. I highly recommend them to anyone in need of dog daycare or boarding. Thanks, Colleen! Jack misses you guys, since we moved. Our best and many thanks for the years of wonderful care.

I had been bringing my dog to this daycare for a couple of years, and while the owner was never really friendly, I assumed she was better with dogs than people, my dog seemed ok, went into the day care willingly, but recently then things really start d to go down hill. It began with my dog coming home one day with most of the hair of one ear ripped off. Not down to the skin, rather it looked like it had been cut, poorly, with sheers. I asked the owner, Coleen, who said she had no idea and offered to ‘neaten’ it up the next day. After that, my dog started crying when I left him there, shaking in the car, Colleen assured me that he was fine once he started playing with the other dogs. This was new behavior, and I thought perhaps I was giving off a nervous vibe, but, today when I picked him up today, he was soaking wet. It was 70 degrees and no rain, so I went around back to talk to the two young men that were in the yard watching the dog and when I asked why, they pulled back the white fence from around the industrial air conditioner and said that my dog had been hiding under it all day.
This is not ok, sitting there getting dripped on with all that noise and to let him stay there all day? Why? My dog is not timid, he is well socialized, so why the sudden and negative change is his behavior? Normal behavior is for him to be running around all day and playing with other dogs. I don’t even care at this point, he will never be going back there.
There is another day care on Eisenhower that has cameras so you can observe the dogs and caregivers while your at work. I will be going there. I’m not sure what the problem is with Dogs Day Out, but something seems to be going very wrong.

Like many of the pit bull owners here, I had a very bad experience here today. The owner was extremely flustered when I arrived to get an evaluation for our two dogs. This was not our first trip to this location, we had arrived the day before and were refused an evaluation because of our vaccination records. Despite the initial hiccup we thought we would try again. We got our one dog who was missing the vaccine up to date and headed in for an evaluation for the two dogs.
We have one rottie mix and a dobie/​boxer mix. The rottie is five years old and has been to Wag More Dogs (Shirlington) Woofs (Shirlington) FurGetMeNot (Shirlington) and Board Hound (Shirlington) at each of these locations this rottie passed the evaluation with flying colors. As a matter of fact, they called this dog «A great daycare dog who is a delight to have» How could four other doggie daycares be this wrong? However, ADDO refused my rottie. Why? The owner who I am not sure even has that much experience owning or even liking dogs for this matter determined that she was too aggressive. Why? Because my rottie dog didn’t appreciate the younger dogs getting in her face. I asked if they put them in play groups based upon age, or even activity level. Her answer– NO. I then asked about the ages of the dogs that she had issues with, she wouldn’t tell me, because I told her she’s kind of sensitive to younger dogs. In five years, she has NEVER caused a fight with another dog at daycare, or outside of daycare. But someone who met my dog for less than 10 minutes is entitled to label my dog as aggressive.
After this visit, I will be aggressively providing online reviews any place this business has a presence. Why? I am a lifelong dog owner and lover, and would hate for anyone to leave their dogs in this establishment’s care. The owner claimed that other daycares have higher levels of their tolerance, but that my dog would not be tolerated. I guess they can afford to refuse business because they’ve been so successful thus far.
My other dog, who is a puppy and loves life passed with flying colors. I even offered to give permission to the owner to put my rottie in a timeout if she was behaving badly. She simply didn’t feel comfortable, and she has a business to run, she just doesn’t do it well.
This business doesn’t deserve any of its clients and if you go here you should probably punch yourself in the face for helping it succeed.

Very professional and well run operation. Friendly staff and the owner, Colleen, runs a nice facility. Front desk area is well kept, bathroom (for customers) is always very clean and well stocked, water fountains are kept clean, too. This speaks for the rest of the areas for dogs, indoors and outside.
One of the better things about this doggy-​day care is it does have an outside area for when the weather is nice outside.
There is also a «do-​it-​yourself» washing area with raised bathtubs for a reasonable price AND included for free — shampoo, conditioners, brushes, dry towels, ear cleaning pads, and blow dryer. They will wash your dog for you, too, but my daughter and I like to use their set-​up. It beats having a wet dog running around the house and clogging up your drain with his dog hair.
There are other alternatives for us, but we choose to use this professional doggy-​day-​care. We also kennel our dog here overnight on occasions for extended times, too. Our dog loves it here and is excited to get inside — rarely looking behind to say bye!
Top notch facility and people. We trust them with our dog, who is family to us.

We found A Dog’s Day Out thanks to a friend and have been bringing our dog here for daycare at least once a week for about a year. The staff are all very friendly and kind to the dogs and there is always at least one person in with them keeping an eye on them as they play. We also use their grooming services to get her nails trimmed which they offer at a lower price than our vet and they do a better job.
We very much trust that our dog is in good hands when we drop her off here and we know she loves it because she is always running to door as soon as we get out of the car.
I highly recommend A Dog’s Day Out to anyone looking for daycare or boarding for their dog.

I have been bringing my Pebbles here for daycare and boarding for over a year and could not be happier with the facility or staff. My dog goes crazy as soon as I pull up in the parking lot; she can’t wait to get inside. The place is clean, well-​staffed, and a dog’s paradise. I trust the owner Colleen to look out for the dogs and to make sure that no dog bullies are admitted. This place is very near my workplace and is a God send. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a safe and friendly daycare environment. I also like that you can see the dog rooms so you know exactly what the dog areas look like. I’ve been to other facilities where it’s all a mystery.

I’m looking for a place to board my dog next weekend. She’s an 8 year old pit bull and even though she’s friendly and non-​aggressive, they will not take her because of her breed, regardless of temperament. Any place that banns pit bulls will never have my business or that of my friends. I’ll be taking her down the street to Whole Dogz. We stopped in there right after. It’s less expensive, their facility is much nicer and they offer grooming while she’s there.

We love ADDO. We’ve been taking our 2 Frenchies here for at least a year — maybe longer! Our pups love to run and play, and day care gives them that opportunity at least twice a week while we are at work (they are walked on the other days by The Fairy Dogmom —
— check her out, Katie rocks!).
We also board our dogs here anytime we go out of town. The staff are friendly and attentive to any special needs the pups may have on any given day. There are multiple play areas and an outside area.
It’s disappointing that Pit owners have had bad experiences. I imagine it’s an insurance carrier issue. I can’t imagine Colleen having a personal problem with any specific breed.
Anyway — I HIGHLY recommend this place for day care and boarding.

My review is identical to Kala M. I purchased the Living Social deal only to be turned away when we arrived for the evaluation. No where does it state that they don’t allow «Pitbull» type breeds. We were told that the owner does not allow these breeds any longer due to some prior incidents. I don’t understand how you can ban an entire breed of dog due to a few bad eggs, especially if you’re professionals and require a $ 15 evaluation. Perhaps you should perform your evaluations better. I’ll be taking my dog to Whole Dogz just down the road.

They have breed restrictions — I have a two year old American put bull terrier… And he is a very sweet dog. He had an assessment and did great and they loved him but when we gave them the paperwork for him, they were like even tho is such a sweetheart… we don’t accept pitbulls. Seriously?
But there is an amazing day care less that a ½ mile down the road — whole dogz! They are amazing! I left a review about them as well!

I started taking my dog to this place because of a Living Social deal that I bought several months ago. They’re quite a number of doggy daycares close to where I live and I was trying to find one where I could take my dog a couple times a week while my boyfriend and I are at work. We also wanted to find a place that we could board Brooklyn when we went on vacation. This place does all of these plus offers many more services such as grooming. It is a cage free daycare where all of the employee absolutely love the dogs they work with. There is always someone on site 24 hours a day 7 days a week, 365 days out of the year. You can really tell that they treat the dogs well and make sure that they’re watching over them at all times. We now take Brooklyn there on a regular basis, about twice a week and we’ve left her there overnight one night since we started bringing her to a dog’s day out. I have not tried other doggie daycare in this area but because I’m so happy with this one there really isn’t a need for me to check another place out. I would recommend this particular location of A Dog’s Day Out (I believe they are all franchises) to anyone with a dog who needs to find either a daycare or boarding for their dog or both. Their prices are also very competitive with other day cares, and they even give a discount if you have more than one dog you take there.