The Barkley Pet Hotel and Day Spa

Pet owners beware before you reserve a spot at the Barkley. First of all they neglect to mention on the food when you reserve your boarding for your pet that they do not accept certain diets. My animals are on a partially raw diet and when I showed up to drop them off they proceeded to tell me that they do not accept my pets diet & that I could go to a nearby pet store to buy a brand they accept. How does that even make sense? You are telling me just because of the type of dog food I feed my dog that you won’t feed it to them? So what if they get sick? Some of my dogs are smaller breeds and it’s not healthy to change their diets so drastically; but the employees at the Barkley did not seem to care one bit. I was leaving to catch a flight so I did not have any time to go buy dog food or find a new place to board my dogs. Additionally I noticed that they charge extra for POTTY time which I thought was not only
hysterical but a complete rip off. Also If you plan on putting your dog in the day camp it’s an extra 22 $ pending evaluation (which makes sense) but they do NOT accept the pitbull breed at all. My pitbull is a certified ‘canine good citizen’ dog & I offered to provide her documentation to prove it yet they didn’t care. In conclusion I will never board my dogs there again. I would highly recommend they re-​evaluate their protocol when potential customers are calling to make reservations because other friends of mine have had the same issue & I’ve encouraged them to speak up about it as well.
Lastly I’d like to mention their prices are higher than most in the area. I’m not cheap by any means especially living In Westlake village I know the value of good quality living but there are groomers much less expensive that do equal if not better work. I’ve also send my dogs to their grooming & received better work from mobile groomers who came to my home for less money. The groomers haven’t always listened to the directions we’ve given them in regards to the pets hair cuts but it’s nothing too big of a deal it’s just something that needs to be noted.
Their slogan is when paws are in good hands… if they were really in good hands you’d take more care in your protocol in dealing with people’s most loved little fury family members.

My dog, Tommy, has been going to The Barkley’s small dog day camp at least once a week for the past 4+ years and loves it! He jumps up and down in the back seat and paws at the window to get out of the car when we pull in the parking lot. He charges into the lobby and insists on giving all of the staff their morning kisses and they always make such a fuss over him that I quickly lose that guilty feeling of not spending more time with him. Best part — he’s tired when we pick him up and the cats get a break from dog play. Day camp has also helped him become more social at the local park. Tommy has stayed at Hollywoof Studios a number of times and for as long as 12 nights at a time. The accommodations are wonderful and the staff is very caring. He must like it because he is always excited to go back for day camp even after a long stay. We’ve also used the grooming services for both Tommy and our Persian, Penny. Tommy is short-​haired and they always have him looking and smelling great when we pick him up. The cost is very competitive with other groomers and it is convenient to have the staff take him out of day camp to grooming since it saves me a trip. (They will also coordinate with the Vet in the adjacent office so if your dog needs shots or an exam, you don’t need to make a separate trip.) Our cat, Penny, has a lot of hair and they do the most AMAZING job cutting and styling! She really looks like a show cat once they work their magic! Most importantly, she is calm when I get her back so I know that she has been treated very well. Overall, I am VERY happy with The Barkley and will continue to use their services.

THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE BARKLEY TRAINING SERVICES.
After reviewing their great sales pitch on their Doggie Camp for 4 – 6 weeks we decided to enroll our dog. After all they said they would train us to make the process «seamless». And they have a LIFETIME GUARANTEE. LOL. It’s more like a guarantee to keep our money and not return our calls!
One «pawsitive» thing though, our dog does respond to sit about 70% of the time and only pees in the house a few times a week. And yes we do take him out all the time and jump up if he looks at the door. UNFORTUNATELY that’s it… Which may sound great if they didn’t charge a whopping 3,575 for this «pawsitively» worthless service.
Now here’s where they fell short.
1. Our dog can NOT be let off his leash. He turns into the Tasmanian devil and jets all over the house. He grabs any thing he can, toys, shoes, paper, pillows, etc and chews them in record time. We say come, sit, pillow (their code word for return to your pillow) and he just runs all over the place. If we are lucky he doesn’t pee also.
2. He can’t sleep in his crate as promised. First it was the small crates fault. We got a larger one. On the sales pitch they said you tell him crate and he runs to it. Reality is he runs from it. We were told that the new one was too small. We got an xl crate and still same results. He barks ALL NIGHT… literally all night. Ear plugs for weeks and we gave up.
3. Walking him is almost impossible. He pulls you no matter how much you pull him back.
4. Digging has become his second hobby he has destroyed our backyard. His training was sold to us a way to correct his bad behavior but the word No means nothing to him.
5. We never were trained by them as advertised. It says we get ALL THE ONE ON ONE TRAINING WE NEED TO MAKE IT SEAMLESS. How about not one training session. We were invited to join a group lesion that had been meeting for weeks and basically sat in and watched. Our 6 week trained dog by the teacher of the class was the worst behaved by far.

Much to my dismay, I feel I must leave a negative review for The Barkley. I am astonished at the lack of professionalism and ultimately lack of care for animals and their owners, this business has. I cannot, and would not recommend for anyone to put the care of their beloved pets, in the hands of these people.
Our dog came here a few times, after he had passed evaluation, but from the beginning it was a problem. During his first evaluation, when he was about 1, we got a call saying he had bit another dog. Immediately concerned, we came right in to pick him up. When we got there we were informed that he had not bit any dog, but had moved forward (as they put it «Charged») towards another dog as they entered the play area. My fiancé and I were stunned! Biting and charging, are some very serious statements, as opposed to our dog running towards another. We were genuinely concerned that another dog might have been hurt by our dog. Not cool.
So with all that cleared we returned a couple times after, without incident. About the third visit we got a call saying that we needed to come pick him up, because he had growled at another dog (FYI Dogs growl sometimes without incident). No problem we came to pick him up, and were informed that they had him segregated for at least 3 hours before they had contacted us. Once again not cool!
We took him once more out of need, not necessarily want, and I got a call immediately saying that he was «Acting Aggressively», and that I should pick him up. That was it, we were done!
I am writing this review because all three of these «Incidents» would have, and could have been corrected by any professional who works with dogs. Correcting behavior is a necessity, when dogs are playing together in a large group, and if you are not capable of facilitating different dogs and their behavior, you should not be trusted with the care of any dog!
Our dog has been to three other dog camps which jave been wonderful, K9’s Only, The Loved Dog, and The Dogfather, all without ANY incident! NOT ONE!
Our dog is what would be considered a «Bully Breed» and his behavior has to be assessed and addressed anywhere he may go. He is not an angel, he is a mastiff and can be stubborn, but has never been dog aggressive, nor been in any kind of fight with another dog. I truly believe that The Barkley facilitating play was dangerous not only for our dog, but others as well. If you can’t maintain correcting behavior, or handle dogs behaviors while playing, you are putting every dog in that room at risk. «Time-​out» or segregating any dog, does not teach them anything, it only shows that you’re incompetent. How ridiculous to charge so much money and not be trustworthy. I would never leave my beloved pet with The Barkley, it’s just not worth the risk.

I love the Barkley. My puppy has been a frequent guest there for day camp, overnight hotel stays and their training academy. Vendy and her team are fantastic with training. I have even participated in group classes and my energetic puppy is quickly learning new skills. The staff is super friendly and helpful and they give the animal guests their full attention. You can tell these people really like animals and care about customer satisfaction.
On the last day of beginner group training, we had a pool party in their outdoor dog pool and it was the first time my puppy ever swam in the water. I am gushing like a proud parent and that is how I feel every time my dog visits The Barkley.

This review is for the Barkley’s Doggie Day Camp and grooming services.
Our cockapoo Curly was one of the first dogs to go to The Barkley’s Doggie Day Camp. After a negative experience at another local dog day care facility (our dog would literally shake from fear with his tail between his legs when I would drop him off after the first several visits), I started taking him to The Barkley. From the time I first brought him in for his initial evaluation, he has always been excited to attend. All I would have to do is say «Barkley» to him and he would get all excited.
The fantastic staff of front office employees all got to know Curly over the years and treated him like he was their own dog. I would watch him on their webcam and see that he was happy, whether he was running around with the other dogs on the small dog side or laying at a caretaker’s feet.
After taking Curly to day camp for awhile, I asked about grooming prices, since I hadn’t really found a groomer that I was totally pleased with. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the costs for grooming were in line with what I had been paying elsewhere. Because of the convenience of the groomer in the same facility, I decided to have groomed there. No matter which groomer took care of him, he always came out looking and smelling great!
The reason I am mentioning the Barkley in the past tense is because we are no longer taking Curly there (his last day was Wednesday) because we just moved to San Diego. We will miss everyone and everything about The Barkley. I only hope we can find a similar «second home» for our little boy in our new city!

I really really don’t like leaving negative reviews, but I just can’t get this uneasy feeling out of my stomach after our puppy’s stay here.
We live in San Diego and were coming into town for one night to visit family. This place came highly recommended and we decided to leave our pup. One night in the «luxury suite,» and one day of doggie daycare.
Before we arrived, we made a reservation over the phone. We were asking lots of questions because this is the first time our puppy will be away from us overnight. They were so hurried to get our credit card info (it was one of the first questions), but were not as quick to answer questions. We asked several times if we needed to bring anything and kept getting no as an answer.
When we arrived, we were told we were supposed to bring vaccination records. Nope, we weren’t told that. They finally let him in after receiving them from the vet, and we left for the night.
When we came back to pick him up, we watched the lady walking him out scolding him for not healing by her side. He was looking at the floor and wouldn’t make eye contact with her. That scared us because he is never like that with people. When we checked him out and walked outside, which was again a hurried rush just like the initial phone call, we noticed he had big cuts on his face and he was bleeding. We brought him back in and were told they didn’t notice the cuts. They said it must have been from playing with the other dogs. Even so, they should have noticed and cleaned him up. At this point blood was all over him. Also, he was so skittish of the woman that walked him out, in a way I had never seen with our dog before. Again, we got a really uneasy feeling that our pup wasn’t treated right in this facility. We just won’t be back.

My dog is a pain in the ass. He hates to be groomed. Other places like Petco have told me they cannot groom him or they’ll return him to me all shaven with the exception of his legs because he’s too difficult. Barkley never turns us away. The price is incredibly reasonable, on the cheap side I would even speculate after moving to the Bay Area where every groomer charges by the hour.
The Barkley charges me 60 bucks every time even when my dog was being so annoying that he’d basically have to stay all day to get the job done. The last time I went, he was done in an hour because some phenomenal woman named Corey groomed him. She wrote him up a report card giving me advice on what to do to make sure he grows accustomed to this experience that actually seems to traumatize him.
Whenever he is returned to me he always looks great! Last time they apologized for his hair being uneven but I have no idea what they were talking about… He looked the best I’ve ever seen him.

We’ve only day-​boarded our dogs here 4 times, but I’m very pleased with the level of care and concern shown by the staff. One of my dogs is very old and in need of lots of special attention and understanding. They seem to do a great job of making him as comfortable as possible and even give him a few extra potty breaks. When your dog is old and fragile, it’s hard to let someone else care for their very specific needs, but I’m definitely comfortable with boarding he and his sister for the day here.

Took my dogs for the daycare for the day and one of them to get groomed. Jett and Busey had a blast and Jennifer groomed Jett exactly how I wanted her to look like. The staff was very gracious and polite. Thank you Barkley.

Our dogs are alive, so 2 stars. There were so many mistakes in our dogs stay to list, but lets just say we won’t be returning.

Pulled back in the parking lot today. My pooch is literally crying like let me in there! These folks feel pro like The Four Seasons across the street. Big business, corporate and missing a star mostly because my dog doesn’t board in a crate/​kennel/​suite ever.

Too expensive. Every thing else is great. Some of the more fancier suites even have televisions! Our 5yr old dog is always happy here. To us, the happiness of our dog means more than saving 10 – 20 bucks. Also very convenient that they have the pet hospital right next door.

ALERT!
DONT GO THERE!
I took my dog for a haircut and bath…6 hrs later I called to see if my dog was ready.OMG.I didnt recognize my baby! The butchered him so badly. i had asked for a certain cut and they basically shaved him off! And the worst part was all they said was «Im sorry»
And ignored me as if i was not even there!
NEVER NEVER NEVER again will i go back there!

The Barkley came highly recommended. We also liked the fact that there is a veterinarian in the same building. Unfortunately, for us, it did not live up to its reputation.
We boarded our Bichon Frise Snowy for 11 days. Snowy is diabetic and needs to be injected with insulin twice a day and the Barkley is one of the few places that provides this service (for $ 1.50 each injection). She also has limited vision.
We were very hopeful and pleased when we saw Snowy get a bedtime story read to her as we watched on the webcam. This was also supposed to include a tummy rub, but the man who read her the book was very kind to her.
The service seemed to be hit and miss, mostly miss. There were times when we watched her on the webcam and saw several pee spots and her feces also. When we checked back two to three hours later, it was still there. This was the case several times. We were concerned over this and called, but got the voicemail several times. When we saw people interact with her, they were nice to her.
Her bed was changed for a different bed and then two beds during her stay.
Two days before we were to pick her up, we got a call that she had been biting and scratching herself raw and bleeding. They seemed to take quick action to ease her situation.
Today, one day after picking her up, we took her to her vet because the scratching, itching and biting were much worse. Over $ 250 worth of treatment and medication. It will take many weeks for the rawness and itching to completely stop and months for her to get back to normal.
I am just not comfortable leaving my Snowy in this place again,

Normally my boyfriends parents watch our pup. Unfortunately, his father just had surgery so we needed to find an alternative place for her to stay. We called and a girl picked up the phone told us that they had a day program gave us their rates. We then asked what we need to bring, she said we needed all her shot information. We asked if that was it and they said yes. Not once did they say she needed to be evaluated in the very first hour of opening.
Flash forward a little later and we take our dog in there to drop her off. We are greeted by a young man at the front desk and said we wanted to drop her off for the day. We said we were first time guest he then tells us our dog needs to be evaluated within the first hour. There was no one there to to it now. It would have been really nice to know that we needed an initial fucking appointment to even drop her off. needless to say we were pretty pissed.
TLDR.; Our day was completely ruined because they neglected to tell us essential information about leaving your dog for the day.

THEY LOST MY PET! I am so upset and tried to wait a day to write this review and Im still so angry! My Siamese cat has been here several time for boarding with no issues. This place is close to my home, nice, clean and I always felt good leaving my precious animal here. Also, my cat goes next door for his checkups, vaccinations etc. So I always TRUSTED these people with my animal. Well, yesterday I dropped him off for a «day stay» because we were having some construction done to our home. When I came to pick him up: GONE! Vanished! Into thin air and no one knew where he was. He was out of his cage and no one could provide me with answers as to how he got out or where he was. SO PISSED! How do you just lose an animal and no one even notices that he was out of his cage!!!
What makes me even MORE mad is that two days before I had my cat stay there for four days because I was out of town and he was put into «kitty city 3». They told me they moved him to «kitty city 10» because the latch was broken on kitty city 3. Ok fine, so then when my husband brought him back 2 days later, they put him back in kitty city 3. MY HUSBAND ASKED if the latch was fixed on #3 because they told us it was broken two days ago when we picked him up. They TOLD US THE LATCH HAD BEEN FIXED!!! Obviously not because my cat got out and now was gone.
Needless to say, I was hysterical, my animal was gone and no one had answers for me. Luckily because my animal heard my voice he popped his head out from the very top of the kitty city and I spotted him. THANK GOD! I crawled to the top of the kitty condos and grabbed him and I left extremely upset. What makes me even more upset is that I have a VERY good suspicion that when my cat stayed there two days prior while I was out of town, I feel this same thing happened (which is why they moved him) and no one told me. That makes me even more mad that no one said anything. How else would they have known that the latch was broken?
I did not want to write this review because up to this point I had a very good experience with The Barkley. But the irresponsibility of the staff is just so disheartening. I LOVE all animals and am a HUGE animal person (almost got myself hit by a car chasing after a chihuahua on Van Nuys Blvd once, thats how much I love animals. The chihuahua was ok). People bring their animals to you to watch out for them and protect them. I understand things happen that are beyond someones control but a cat getting out of their cage and someone not noticing for hours is unacceptable. My cat was frightened, filthy with dust, starving, had to go to the bathroom and so thirsty which means he was out of his cage for a very long time. For no one to not notice is inexcusable. Not every pet owner feels this way but, some people take being a pet parent VERY seriously and to them their pets are just as important as human children. Besides my husband my cat is the MOST important thing to me and I can never trust something so precious to me to such irresponsible people. Its not even the fact that my cat got out, its the fact that no one noticed!!!
The manager that came in to help look for my cat was sympathetic to me being so upset and I do appreciate that. I’m very grateful to have my animal back and that’s all that really matters. However, I will not be back. I cannot tell you how disappointed I am. BY THE WAY: Get kitty city 3 fixed so this never happens again! Your staff needs to come up with a hourly or every 30 minute checking system to go in and check on the animals to make sure they are all in their cages. If you did this, this situation would not have happened.

I’d give them 10 Stars if they had that rating, because we value them so highly! Our little Corgi’s — Oliver and Winston have been going there since we’ve had them. From boarding, day camp and to the Vet Hospital next door. Every single staff person and doctor has been top notch! Always a friendly smile, professional and courteous!!! Dogtor Slaton is our personal doctor there, he is Awesome! As well as the others too!!!
If you have a new pet, or old, I highly recommend a visit, they offer free tours too!

Arf Arf

Excellent day care and boarding facilities and services. Staff is caring, careful, and compassionate of all animals. Excellent vet services and pet hospital attached to the pet hotel and spa, all under the same vet family ownership. This is the only place we take our pets for vet or boarding!
The pet hotel has specialty high end rooms, with raised beds, story reading, and other personalized care, but all levels of boarding are very good. The day camp has video feeds to watch or check your pet remotely on web browsers or mobile phones. There’s a wading pool and a limo pickup if needed!

Loved the facility and staff was friendly. We tried out the small dog day camp for our 18-​lb. 9-​month old pup. He passed the evaluation which was done in the morning. The ability to check out what or how he was doing through the web cam eased my anxiety. He was tired when I picked him up. I believe he had a good time. I highly recommend this place for day camp.
I am going to try their grooming services next then their swimming pool.