Happy Tails

Brendan is amazing with our two cats. Such a relief to know that he is taking care of them when we are gone. Highly recommended!

Brendan is terrific. He was great with my frenchie Biggie and his sister Zoe. He is very professional and the dogs seem to love him. Brendan is very communicative and always let me know if there was any possible issues with my lil best friend. Feel confident that your dog is in good hands with Brendan. Unfortunately, when i moved a couple miles away Brendan was no longer able to walk my dog. We both miss him!

Our dog, Trixie, used to shake with DELIGHT AND JOY and happiness when she would hear Brendan walking closer with his keys jangling. Brendan is the best!

I have a healthy, happy dog, and Brendan gets a lot of the credit. He walks Ruby The Dog daily during the week and boards her whenever I’m out of town. He is readily available by text/​phone/​email, and is flexible («Hey, I’ll be stuck in the office late, can you hold onto Ruby until this evening?»). He’ll also shoot you a quick text update if he notices anything amiss («You may want to stick with chicken and rice tonight, her stomach seems to be off.» or «I noticed that the main door to your building was unlocked, just wanted you to know.») I never have to worry about my dog, and at this point, Brendan feels like family. Highly recommend.

Just to be clear, Happy Tails is no longer owned by Gabrielle and Cynthia.
I met Brendan recently with his pack of dogs, and he is great with them!
Judge Happy Tails based on your experiences with its current owner.
Just my 2 cents.

Can’t say enough good things about Brendan! He did an outstanding job cat sitting for us, highly recommended!

Brendan is awesome. My little guy (not so little…55 pounds) is pretty quirky and enjoys herding little dogs, and he also has very selective hearing when he doesn’t want to come back. He’s been noticeably better since Brendan started walking him a month ago. He’s less aggressive towards small dogs, he comes when called much better, and he’s always niiiiice and mellow when I get home on the days Brendan walks him. Brendan’s great, friendly, and clearly gets dogs. I recommend him very highly.

I wish I could give 10 stars to Brendan! Brendan has been walking Buddy, our 5 year old golden retriever, for approximately 3 years. Buddy started with Happy Tails when Gabrielle was running the business, so we’ve known Brendan since the very beginning.
Since Buddy started hanging out with Brendan, he has learned so much. We can now trust Buddy off leash which was a huge problem for us in the beginning. Buddy is never gone for less than 3 hours when Brendan comes, Brendan is reliable and just a great guy all around!
Brendan even came to our wedding and was in control of Buddy the whole time! Guests were floored at how well Brendan handled our dog during the ceremony and our dog is VERY energetic and playful!
Not only that, but our neighbor upstairs actually dumped their old dog walker and started sending their bulldog to playgroup with Buddy because they saw how Brendan never shorts the doggies of time and how reliable and great he is with every single dog!
If husband and I ever have to move, saying goodbye to Brendan would be one of the hardest parts! Buddy loves him so much and he is an excellent and very responsible dog walker!!!

Brendan is absolutely amazing with our dog, Nikolai. He’s very in tune with Nikolai’s needs — he’s a senior dog who easily wears out when chasing the younger pooches so Brendan lets him run for a bit but then leashes him to prevent a sore dog the next day. I’ve watched them interact and feel so comfortable leaving Nik with him.
My hubs and I once went to lunch at Park Chalet and ran into Brendan walking some dogs he was boarding. He had no idea we saw him but it was obvious that he cares for his dogs well.
I can’t speak highly enough of Happy Tails and Brendan!
p. s. As previous posters note, many of the negative reviews were for the former owners of Happy Tails (and I concur — they weren’t the most professional dog handlers, but Brendan was a pleasant upgrade!).

Brendan is the next best thing to the dog whisperer. We have a lhasa apso and he’s a picky little thing. He is really skittish about going with strangers and he’s lazy. We as his owners can’t get him to walk so he’s gotten fat. We thought there was no way in this world that we could get him to go. Weren’t we wrong. Now, he can tell when brendan is coming and he starts wagging his tail. Slowly but surely, our dog is getting into shape again. When you work full time its hard to find time to walk the dog so this has been money well spent. Our small dog could be prone to arthritis and joint problems if he doesn’t get walked so this will help him as he gets older.
I highly recommend brendan to anyone who loves their dog and doesnt have time to walk it themselves. Your dog will be in good hands.

After calling numerous boarding places for a dog I was caring for, I finally found one that took my dog in at last minute. It was around 5:35pm and I was desperate to find a place that wasn’t closed already. I finally found Happy Tails Dog Walking on Unilocal,and I quickly called them. They took the dog I was caring for (since he didn’t get along with my dogs) around 6:20pm. I did fret about «outsiders» with dogs I care about, but as soon as I met them in-​person, my feelings were put to ease. They were super nice.
If I ever need a place for my dog at last minute, I would call this one!

Happy Tails is a great dog walking service. Brendan is very reliable and flexible when needed. We have two dogs but recently one of them diagnosed with cancer and he has been very understanding of the situation.
We did use happy tails when the old owners were there and our small dog did come home one day with stitches due to a fight at the park which was odd but no issues since Brendan took over.

We couldn’t be happier with Brendan and his dog walking service. I echo all of the positive reviews below (and, like others, note that the few negative ones are directed towards the previous owners of the business).
But I also want to review his boarding service. We leave our dog with him for days at a time (vacation, quick trip up skiing, etc.), and he does a great job. How do we know? That’s because we have seen him with other dogs that he boards. As an example, last night, we were out at Park Chow, and there was Brendan, sitting on the patio, having dinner with a dog he was boarding. «Oh, I take them with me wherever I go. I wouldn’t leave them at home alone.»
Yeah. He treats your dog as well as you treat your dog. Maybe better. You can’t ask for more than that.

I don’t know what I would do without Brendan. He has literally been the best thing to happen to our family since arriving in San Francisco. I interviewed quite a few dog walkers before entrusting the center of my universe, Maya my chow, to a stranger. I knew Brendan was the one when he said hello to Maya before introducing himself to me. He takes Maya 5 days a week for her daily walk… and by walk I mean three hour excursion. She comes home happy, safe and exhausted… Brendan sends emails when there is something we should be aware of, for instance fox tail season or a dead seal on the beach. He even took Maya for a bath of his on volition when she rolled in something dead and smelly. When I tried to pay him for it, he refused the money, saying she should come home the same way she left and it was his responsibility. Sometimes, when I’m home sick from work, I hear Brendan picking up or dropping Maya off. He TALKS to her… tells her to have a good weekend, calls her sweetheart, gives her treats, and asks if she had a good day. Anyone who loves their dog like I do would practically tear up to hear someone else being so sweet to their baby… when they thought they were alone.
Brendan is amazing.
He is worth all the money in the world and then some, but somehow charges the same as all the other half rate walkers out there. We’re so lucky to have him.

For some reason I feel compelled to interrupt my Unilocal hiatus with a review of Happy Tails. First and foremost, as others have pointed out, Brendan has fully taken over the business from the previous owners. I think this is crucial to mention as the negative reviews of Happy Tails seem primarily concerned with those former owners, and not Brendan.
Our rescue dog has always been a pretty happy pup, but upon moving to a new office about 6 months ago, it became pretty obvious that he was bored with the «come to work and sit around» routine. Enter Happy Tails. I spoke with Brendan and he came to our place to meet Astro (very important in determining that only socialized, non-​aggressive dogs are going on walks with your dog). Astro used to be very timid around unknown men, and so predictably alternately skittered away from and sniffed Brendan. I was fairly sure that his shyness would wear off once he met Brendan a few more times, and Brendan was even more confident on the matter.
It’s now been about 6 months since we started using Happy Tails, and I could not be more happy with the service. Whereas Astro was so scared that he hid in his kennel the first time Brendan came to pick him up, he now practically mauls him with delight when he sees him (even my neighbors have commented on how much he loves Brendan). He gets out 4 times a week to different offleash locations and returns happily exhausted, and it’s absolutely true that a tired dog is a good dog… not only have I noticed that he is generally more happy and more obedient (not to mention more socialized with other dogs), he has lost most of his rescue dog timidity (strange men and parked motorcycles, among other things, are no longer objects of paralyzing fear). Brendan also clearly keeps an eagle eye on him, periodically updating us on his exploits, and letting us know if anything seems amiss (as was the case when he got into the cat food and his tummy paid the price).
I would highly recommend Happy Tails to anyone looking for a reliable, caring, and thorough dogwalker.

Tough review to write.
Gabrielle and Cynthia walked Darwin daily for about 1 year. A few months in there was an incident with my friend’s dog (I recommended Happy Tails to them) where his pup was seriously injured (but thankfully has since, fully recovered). As many walkers will tell you this can happen even with the most cautious of caretakers. However, my friend was very unhappy with their communication during the ordeal. Gabrielle and Cynthia are very shy and this seems to affect their work. They didn’t tell me about the incident, I found out through my friend and then confronted them and discussed the whole thing. Ultimately I decided to continue, as they did do the right thing and took the dog immediately to the vet. I chalked it up to their poor communication skills.
Several months later Gabrielle and Cynthia abruptly decided to stop walking Darwin. I had just one week to scramble and find a new walker. I was super lucky and a great walker that doesn’t typically service my area came through for me (Stacy at Paws a Moment). Months later my conscience nagged and I decided to pull my review from Unilocal,I knew in my gut they had lost my trust. This was further confirmed when I found out from my new walker that Darwin sometimes has a real problem with his recall, I suspect this had something to do with their quitting (again communication issues were a likely source of the problem).
Soon after I pulled my review I received a booklet of photos of Darwin (very nice ones), from Happy Tails. It was a nice gesture, but again reinforced that they knew they screwed up. My advice to those seeking a reliable and safe walker, seek out someone else.
Full Disclosure: Happy Tails is a Unilocal advertiser at the time of this review.

HT has been a godsend for our extremely hyper, but lovable Portuguese Water Dog, Miya!
Gabrielle’s been taking Miya to dog parks for 2 – 3 hours at a time, 5 days a week for over 6 months now, and Miya couldn’t be happier! Everyday, she comes back extremely happy and exhausted from all the running around. And we come home to find a nice note with how Miya’s day went ;)

Gabrielle takes such good care of our cats! We have left town twice with her looking after them and they seemed very happy when we got back. No Complaints at all.
UPDATE:
Gabrielle & Cynthia moved away and Brendan has taken over. Brendan has been if anything, even better than Gabrielle with the kitties.

Cinthya is so patient and pedagogical with my insecure, overly sensitive, bark-​at-​everyone-​wearing-​a-​hat dog. I am sure it is because my pup is so cute and she can’t resist being as nice as she is to him. :) Seriously, we love and look forward to the notes she leaves every day and are so thankful that she takes care of our pup.
UPDATE: Brendan has taken over Happy Tails from Cinthya and Gabrielle. Brendan is amazing, and my pup loves him.

I wanted to give a shout out for Happy Tails Dog Walking to let all the cat owners know that they did a great job tending to our kitties while we gallivanted around New York.
Horror story about the cat sitter before Happy Tails: We were apprehensive about using a cat sitter b/​c the last time the manfriend had one she locked the keys in his apartment, with poor Carlos, all alone hungry and thirsty! That sitter knew that the only way to reach the manfriend in Argentina was through email but instead left very alarming messages on his cell phone voice mail. Messages that he received 2 weeks later while collecting his baggage at SFO. She never called back to let him know that she had convinced one of the neighbors to let her crawl through the tiny bathroom window off the fire escape and apparently tragedy was averted. After a very frantic cab ride from SFO expecting to find a dead cat, he figured out that she had made it through the window.
Needless to say, we were a little sketched out about going down that road again. I found Happy Tails on Unilocal and commend them for doing a good job with the cats (no dumb ass moves like locking the keys in the house!). It’s much nicer to go away knowing that not only is someone feeding your cat, but also playing with them. Very reasonable rates too.