Best Friends Pet Care

I use Best Friends in Tyngsboro a lot due to extensive business travel and long work days. My pup, Wolfie, is very sensitive to how he gets treated and there has been times, prior to us switching to this facility, when he simply refused to go into the day care center after the initial visit. Never the case here — little man always so happy to greet his «camp counselors», I believe they really enjoy having him too.
I get worried for the times he is in a «suite» alone when boarding, he doesn’t get crated ever at home. But given his over the top excitement every time we arrive I’m starting to get less and less concerned. I feel safe leaving Wolfie at Best Friends. Never any unpleasant surprises upon return home.

Left my dog there for 6 days, first day was free since I was a new customer. When I picked up my dog he was smelly and somewhat dirty but what can you expect… he is a dog who likes to play… Overall he seemed happy and they sent two emails with a picture showing me the dog was alive. They also have a webcam you can view remotely to watch your dog if you wish. I though the smartest thing they did was at check out my dog appeared on the t.v. behind the cashier showing pictures of my dog saying he was the best friend of the week… pretty smart move by the company. I’ll leave my dog there again next time we go on vacation.

Hi, I have been taking my golden retriever Dexter almost everyday to doggie day care/​camp for about 6 months. He gets to play all day long with all the other dogs and is exhausted when I pick him up. Dexter is in tremendous shape, both physically and emotionally from having «outside recess» all day, everyday. He socializes with humans and other dogs all day long; Is entertained, challenged, rewarded and cannot wait to come to camp every morning.
The staff is fantastic and you can tell they love animals. Kudos especially to Becky, Tina, and Jason among others.

My dog Chyna seems to love it and also gets a lot of exercise that is much needed do to sometimes having long days. She gets to socialize with other dogs which is much needed, also they seem to clean the day-​camp pretty well (using a pleasure washer daily on the whole area, I don’t know if they use any solution but i haven’t had an issue).
The workers are always happy and seem to have a smile on their face which is a good sign to me due to them handling my daughter (AKA my dog). Sometimes I and my wife feel we get different treatment. I’ve bought the package a few times and still for some reason we don’t get the respect that we will pay. We slowed down bringing our dog there for this simple fact in which including a certain person their confuses dogs and complains to the wrong owner and is persistent in thinking it was them. We forgot her snap collar once and she literally stuck to her guns complaining to us it wasn’t the first time. The workers did back us up which keeps me coming back. The workers as well seem to really care for the animals.
Regarding price wise, I feel the single day rates are reasonable ($ 28). But I don’t feel they provide enough deal on 20 visits or package deal for like yearly rates allowing monthly payments. I feel this would increase their business as well as allow people to be able to pay smaller increments instead of a steep upfront cost barely saving.
Overall when you weigh the pros and cons its incredibly a great overall experience for a well behaved dog!

Okay, so I’m writing this review on behalf of my dog Shelby who is incapable of typing. This was a place for Shelby to go and socialize and run around and play with other dogs, so who cares what I think, right? (Incidentally, I like the place). But what does Shelby think? Well, i don’t know for certain because she doesn’t talk, but I can tell you this: every time we approached the driveway, she’d sit up straight in her seat, start wagging her tail and whining with excitement. After I opened the car door, she’d gallup toward the front entrance, full of excitement. So… I think she liked the place.
I also liked the fact that they have web-​cams set up in the play rooms, so you can watch the dogs play while sitting in your peaceful home.

I meant to write this review earlier… we boarded our 4 cats here in December 2012. One of my cats came home with worms and another picked up a resistant bacterial infection that he still has 18 months later. We have spend thousands on vet bills related to the time we boarded him here.
I don’t think they clean the cat cages adequately between guests. Our cats are indoor only so there is no other place they could have picked up worms or infection. They manifested about two weeks after boarding them here.

The manager Becky is awful. Very fake, up sells everything and doesn’t truly care about the dogs.

Asking if you can «clip out» a mat is different than shaving a ¹⁄₃ of the dog. Her feet were cut, and other scissor work is evident as well. I was asked, and twice I said I would pay extra for a brush out. I respectfully suggest, again, that if you have a bigger issue than you discussed with the owner, call the owner before proceeding. I would have come back to see it, and perhaps if it was as you said, had her cut all over. If what you say was true that would have been evident, would it not?
Additionally, no one called me when she was finished. This is the second time we had a bad experience, this isn’t the first. Both times, the issues were handled in an unprofessional manner. The «manager» called me back on Monday after this happened, and told me that the other manager lied when she said she had to ask the owner before she could issue a refund. The second «manager» said there is no owner, it is a corporate location with only managers.
I gave the business the benefit of the doubt the first time, not the second.

As typically occurs, not knowing anywhere else to go, we took our female Labradoodle, Daisy, there for grooming for about a year. Note that Daisy is your typical go lucky, totally friendly, and incredibly obedient doodle, who is very well trained (by K-​9 Training in Billerica), and who has never displayed any behavioral issues.
The staff were friendly enough (in a typically disingenuous and sales-​like upsell way), and the place appeared clean, but they were consistently doing things wrong and charging us for it (e.g., forgetting to file her nails, or forgetting to pluck the hair from her ears). Each time, we would get disingenuous apologies, and blah, blah, blah, as they are always to busy.
After several visits (which we will forever regret putting her through), Daisy started exhibiting odd behaviors each time we took her there, and then started coming home with ear mites — which only showed up following visits there, and which she couldn’t have picked up elsewhere based on her routine — TWICE — and which the manager there basically got all argumentative about, claiming that it had nothing to do with the Best Friends.
The last time we took her, she started barking uncontrollably, with her tail down between her legs, and tugging her leash like mad and pulling towards the door. She obviously didn’t want to be there, so we left and haven’t ever been back.
We found a new groomer, where we are all happy, and she hasn’t ever exhibited any of the same odd behavior she did at Best Friends.
It is important to trust your dog’s instinct. There is something wrong at that place.

Haven’t used the day camp or boarding here, but I take my dog once a month for a play group meet-​up. The indoor play area is nice — clean with a bunch of toys. The staff is always in the room with the playgroup and I can see how much they care for the dogs — playing, cleaning up any accidents, and making sure everyone is happy and comfortable. If we lived closer, I would feel perfectly comfortable bringing my dog here for daycare — as I mentioned I have seen the staff interact with the dogs and I know she would be in good hands.

In terms of grooming, Best Friends in Tyngsboro is where I take my puppy. For years my family brought our Bichon here for grooming until he passed away a few years ago. I was really glad to bring my new Coton puppy here this Fall to find out that our Bichon’s favorite groomer, David, still grooms there! My new pup has been for a puppy cut (first time grooming) and is heading back for a full haircut soon. Definitely check them out for grooming– their prices are far better than closer to Boston, and there’s so much to do around there while you wait. Plus, my pup loves it!

Took some puppy classes here and was not thrilled with the trainer or outcome. Trainer was ok, but didn’t really take the reigns as much as I would have liked to see with the bigger dogs. I would have liked her to really show us what to do and when we said certain approaches weren’t working, demonstrate how to make it work. Having never owned a dog I have no idea what I’m doing.
Finished the puppy class and on to basic manners — only 2 dogs in the class, class was canceled more times than not over the course of 2 months — we essentially lost valuable training time w/​our puppy because of this and without regular classes, afraid we got nothing out of it. The last straw was the trainer telling us that essentially our dog wasn’t getting it and that we basically should drop out and repeat puppy class! Um, if the class a) had more than 1 other dog and b) wasn’t canceled all the time that would have given our dog more opportunity to learn. So while yes, we could be better with our homework, I feel this was more the fault of Best Friends. Plenty of other odd things happened too that I will not get in to. On to a new trainer at a different facility. I think even Petco classes would be better than this place!