Canyon Pet Lodge

Canyon Pet Lodge provided a perfect boarding solution for our senior rescue dog. Because we don’t know about his socialization history, we were more than a little concerned about finding him an acceptable lodging situation while we went on a 15-​night vacation. We first tried another boarding place that was closer to home, but they were extremely cautious about introducing him to other dogs, and did not have the space to keep a dog isolated from other dogs. We were relieved to discover that Canyon Pet lodge would be able to accept our dog, while still providing plenty of human interaction, even if they found that he was not well-​socialized. Fortunately, our dog proved sociable and he had a great time hanging out with other senior dogs.
Pros:
1. The staff seemed super involved and knowledgeable.
2. Dog introductions take place in a controlled environment, but are NOT on-​leash, which was good for my dog, because he acts weird when meeting dogs on-​leash.
3. The staff are generally very responsive to emails, and the email exchanges proved to me that someone was always monitoring my dog around the clock.
4. They dispense medications to the pets at no extra charge, which ended up being a great thing for us, since our dog developed a last-​minute bladder infection.
5. They have a lot of space, and are able to board non-​dog-​friendly dogs.
6. They provide plenty of human interaction.
7. They upload HUNDREDS of new photos to their facebook page every month.
8. The price was very competitive; I feel we received a great value for our money.
Cons (none of these are REALLY cons, actually):
1. I am not 100% sure that our feeding instructions were fully heeded. We gave some explicit, somewhat-​complicated instructions and received quick assurance that they are able to deal with all sorts of feeding regimens. They have you fill out a form with feeding instructions when you drop your pet off, and I felt the form could have had more room for details. When we picked up our dog after only 15 nights, ALL of the kibble was gone (when we had given well more than should have been adequate), and the Sojos (dehydrated raw food), which should have been enough for 5 weeks at least, was almost all gone. I am somewhat suspicious that the kibble was never given to our dog, and he was fed Sojos alone, rather than the half-​and-​half mix that we feed. Still, our dog was in good weight and did not have digestive problems when we picked him up.
2. The facebook photos are a great perk, and my husband and I eagerly checked the facebook page for new uploads at least once a day. While this is a generally good thing, there were no new photos of our dog after the first couple of days, and our eager checking turned to disappointment and, eventually, worry that something had happened to our dog, but that CPL didn’t want to ruin our vacation by contacting us. (This was just silly paranoia on our part, but just be aware that the photo-​taking was not at all evenly distributed across all dogs).

I picked up my dog on Sunday everything seemed fine. The gal at the front desk told me my dogs feet were sore from being on the rocks that was in there outdoor lodging area. Before I brought him home my husband had to lift him and put our black lab, who weighs 82lbs in his kennel. I was told by them to use coconut oil or neosporin for his paws. His pads are black and you can see some of the pink that is under his pads where they have fallen off. My dog won’t walk right now and the front feet are the only ones affected. I called my vet who saw him Thursday July 2^nd and made an appointment for him. I will post what the vet says. I was also told by the rep at the front desk that they see this happens when dogs are not use to spending time on rocks. We take our dog the the river and we have some areas of rocks in our yard and never seen our dog like this before. I will go back to using sumner lodging as it is a part of sumner veterinary hospital.
Update my dogs front paws have to be bandaged up, he is going to have to wear a cone, take antibiotics, and pain medicine. The big pad on one of his paws there is a flap of where the pad is coming off. I will never take him to this facility ever again. They told me to use coconut oil or neosporin, the vet said it wouldn’t work because his paws were so messed up.

I have a 12 year old German Shepherd. My dog has stayed at Canyon Pet Lodge about 5 times in the last 10 years. No problems until now. When I picked her up (Saturday) I was told she had broken out of her crate the first night. She was with them 3 nights. I could tell by her beat up nose that this was true. I asked why she had been crated. She is a rescue and does not do crates. I was told it was a new employee who had made the mistake. The next day I noticed colored drainage from her nose and labored breathing, also the skin between her toes was torn up. The toes I attributed to the breaking out of the crate. It is hard on an old dog to perform such feats.
I took her to the vet on Monday (today). Fever, swollen glands, infected feet, labored breathing… AND a broken tooth! A fresh break according to the vet. Yes, crates are hard to get out of.
I called the manager, who told me to call the owner. I left a message. She called me back in about a half an hour. She had answers for everything. It was clear she had been briefed and done her homework. This time I was NOT told the new employee made a mistake, but that my dog had ALWAYS been crated during her stays and that there were no notes not to crate. I guess no one asked. I did not know that dogs were crated at night. I would have objected.
It was very odd that the owner knew when my dog had had her last dental work done, just under 9 months ago. It bothered me. I called the owner again and asked her how she knew this. Come to find out, before she called me back she called my vet to find out when my dog’s last dental exam was. My vet said she also questioned what my dog had been seen for. That was weird. Clearly a CYA move. Yes, I take care of my dog and her teeth. She tried to tell me my dog could have broken her tooth chewing on something before she came there. I informed her I have an old dog, she doesn’t chew on anything anymore and when she did it was only garden hoses. I have never given her bones.
I am VERY concerned about my dog. When she had her teeth cleaned and pulled less than a year ago I had hoped it would be the last time she would be anesthetized. Right now she is too ill and is on anti-​biotics and pain killers. Tomorrow I will get the results of her blood work. I am worried about my dog.
I would have given a 3 star review, if the owner hadn’t stiff armed me, and worked with me on this issue. But calling and questioning my vet before she even returned my call seemed kind of creepy and disturbing.
If the owner has a change of heart and we can work something out, I will add this to the review. But as for now this is it.
UPDATE 7÷25÷15 The BEST News: My dog has successfully had her tooth removed and is recovering and doing well. The $ 99 was refunded to my credit card for boarding and I wasn’t charged for crate destruction. My vet bill was just under $ 1000.

I left my kitten (6 months old) here for 5 days when I left town. She’s extremely shy & doesn’t like meeting new people, so I was pretty hesitant to leave her but had no other options.
She stayed in her cage pretty much her entire stay but when I called in to check on her (yes, I’m that person) they gave me an update on how she was doing & said they were going to continue working with her to warm up to them. She eventually warmed up the very last day & got some good quality time with one of the workers.
When I picked her up, she seemed just fine. She’s now roaming around the house & is back to her normal, rambunctious self. I’ll definitely use them again if I have to leave town for a long period of time. Prices are decent & they are super nice & easy to work with.

I am a very over protective dog mom, and the thought of leaving my dog with strangers terrifies me. My husband and I had planned a vacation to Jamaica, and needed to find a boarding facility we could trust. After visiting Canyon Pet Lodge, we got good vibes. The staff was friendly, it was clean, and the rates were very reasonable. Also, I loved how the dogs were not caged all day, and got to socialize with the other animals.
Since we booked way ahead of time, we decided to take advantage of the free daycare that’s used to get your dog familiar with the place. No problems there. My dog gets a little separation anxiety, but I really think he enjoyed the place.
A month or so later, a family emergency came up, and we needed to board our dog right away (for about 5 days). Thankfully, they had an opening available and we were able to take our dog in the same day. When we arrived, I gave them instructions for how much food he eats per day (1 cup dry and ½ cup wet per day — broken up into 2 meals). Although I was nervous, I felt that my dog was in good hands.
When we got back home, I picked my dog up and took him home. Once I got home I discovered that my he was thinner, and quite lethargic considering he’s a very hyperactive breed. I thought this could have been a normal part of having been boarded. So I didn’t worry too much. After we settled in, I began putting away the items that were brought back (like his blanket), and noticed that they sent him home with way too much wet food. Immediately, I knew he had been underfed. I immediately drove back to Canyon Pet Lodge to figure out why he was sent back with so much food. It turns out, although the woman at the desk wrote down his feeding instructions correctly, the women who fed him misinterpreted the instructions, and instead of giving him ½ cup of wet food per day, she was giving him less than a tablespoon. I was so upset and felt like I had let my dog down by leaving him there. My husband decided to pay them a visit later that day because he was upset as well after hearing the news. They apologized and offered us 3 free nights for our dogs next stay (our vacation).
I did feel hesitant about sending him back, but in my heart, I knew it really was an honest mistake. I felt that they had built a great establishment and genuinely cared about the animals.
When we brought our dog back the next time, they actually had food instruction cards where they check the box for how much your pet eats and how many times per day. That way there was no room for mistake. I was very impressed with that change!
During our vacation, we were able to log on to Facebook and view pics posted of our dog playing. What a great thing to provide to the owners. My dog always looks happy in the photos.
Thankfully we came home to a happy, healthy, energetic dog. Even though my first experience wasn’t the greatest, I do believe that it was an honest mistake, that was handled properly by the staff. I can without a doubt recommend Canyon Pet Lodge. The staff really care about the well being of your pet. This over protective dog mom recommends them!

We just had our first stay here. We dropped in unannounced to tour the facility and the staff offered to give us a tour before I had a chance to ask for it. The staff was friendly and the facility and animals were clean and looked happy. We dropped off our dog 2 days later for a 3 night stay. The staff quickly took control of my dog and took him off to the kennels. When I picked him up he was happy to see me, clean and healthy. What I like is that I do not have to pay extra to have them play with him or have him outside with other dogs. They have a regular schedule for play times for the dogs. My only real issue is with the paperwork. They wanted us to fill out the paperwork online and submit it and also wanted us to fill out a paper copy. This seems like a waste of time for both. Also we did not get the discount that we qualify for and I did not see this until later. So I will deal with it next visit.

First off let me say that it took a lot for me to leave my pup and a boarding kennel, he’s my boy and I wont let just anybody watch after him.
My lab is extremely well trained but also a very high energy dog so he can be alot to handle even for a season dog handler. I was a tad weary of the ability of the staff to handle a high energy hunting dog like mine.
My worries were put to rest as soon as I came to pick him up. Not only could they handle him, they wanted him back ASAP. He came back to me in the same shape as I left him (no injuries, sicknesses or parasites). I feel that they treated him as if he was their own pup.
The facility is very clean and dog friendly. They don’t keep the pups kenneled up for more than they have to (nights) .
The staff is very friendly and they are definitely «dog people».
Price: very reasonable.
I will be using CPL again in the future and Highly recommend them to anyone in the Puyallup/​Tacoma area.

We have boarded in MANY places for our two golden retriever pups, especially being a military family– we’ve boarded at places in Spokane, North Tacoma, on base JBLM, and now in Puyallup (our current home). Our dogs have been guests at five different dog daycares but none has been as great as Canyon Pet Lodge for dog daycare and boarding. This is why:
1) Exceptionally affordable prices compared to surrounding dog daycares and boarding places (many discounts for military, multiple pets, etc.)
2) They seperate small dogs/​puppies from the big dogs so no one gets run over or hurt.
3)Constant supervision and playtime including nature walks, ball time, or whatever special activity your dog enjoys.
4) You get a report card of how your dog did at daycare when you pick them up.
5) They don’t charge you extra to feed your puppy if you want them feed.
6)The gals that work there frequently get to know the habits and regular activity of your dog quite well. They called me immediately when my puppy was having an allergic reaction to the lyme vaccine so he could get taken care of.
7)They can also pick-​up and drop-​off your dog if needed. They have two vehicles to drive the dogs around.
8)Their grooming prices are very affordable too! The de-​shedding treatment is around $ 30 there, compared to PetSmart where they charge $ 80+.
9)It’s on 5+ outdoor acres during most of the year, except during the rainy season they keep them in the indoor yards. Sometimes they dress up the little dogs with sweaters too!
9) When the dogs get «breaks» they can have lunch or receive an antler to chew on, or a stuffed Kong treat. No extra charge!
NEW OWNERS! New owners just purchased this business around March this year, so they are trying very hard to get the place pulled together. They’ve redone the roofs, put down wood shavings for the pups, and working on sprucing up the place.
Take a chance, and give this place a try. You can get a coupon for 3 daycare days free on their website to try it out. My two pups love it and will probably be going there as long as we are living in Puyallup.

We left our pup at Canyon Pet Lodge (aka: No Place Like Home Pet Resort) for an overnight stay. It was our first experience with them. Too bad we left feeling slighted…
The facility was clean. Their outdoor play area had tarps to provide shade for the dogs and looked well maintained. The staff was friendly when we arrived. Our dog seemed healthy and happy to see us when we arrived for pick up.
The problem I have is that there is NO NOTICE of there being a FEE FOR SUNDAY PICKUP on their WEBSITE. We informed the staff we would be picking our girl up on Sunday. We only knew to expect the fee because we saw the sign taped on the counter-​top notifying us of the charge. «As of May 1^st or 31^st (I can’t recall which it said…), there will be a $ 25 charge for Sunday pickup.» I questioned the fee and the staff confirmed that «yes, there would be a fee.» At this point, I’m stuck and had to continue with the boarding. If I had known, I would have made other arrangements OR I would have sucked it up and been OK with paying it. However, it was sprung on us at a time in our day’s plans where it was too late to change.
My husband picked our pup up on Sunday and spoke to the owner. He asked if we could have the fee waived this one time because we didn’t know about it when we made reservations AND she only stayed one night. The owner declined our request. (I don’t think he mentioned that there was nothing on the website. Maybe that would have changed the outcome. But truly, their fault, not ours.)
When I decided to go with Canyon Pet Lodge it was because I wanted to give it a try. In a couple of months we’ll be on vacation for 2 weeks and are planning on boarding her. Needless to say, I will be looking for other Kennel-​Free facilities.
Canyon Pet Lodge, update your website.