Dogtopia was founded by Amy Nichols in 2002. After a breakup, Nichols got a companion dog, a Boston Terrier she named Griffin. She found herself taking the dog everywhere and when she married, she sold her house and decided she wanted to create a business where she could spend more time with dogs and where she could spend her days with Griffin.
Doggie daycare was a fairly new concept in 2002 but Dogtopia grew fast right from the start, with revenue of $750,000 her first year and well over a million the following year.
In June 2015, Dogtopia was acquired by Thomas Franchise Solutions. Dogtopia offers daycare, a doggie spa, grooming, training, retail products, and on-site cameras so clients can see their dogs anytime.
As of January 2019, there are 100 locations in the US and Canada. Forbes predicts that the demand for doggie daycare and walking services will increase tremendously by 2024.
Dogtopia has continued to expand, even through the pandemic of 2020. The company now has 170 locations in the US and Canada.
Headquarters for Dogtopia are located in Phoenix, Arizona.
Dogtopia was founded by Amy Nichols in 2002. After a breakup, Nichols got a companion dog, a Boston Terrier she named Griffin. She found herself taking the dog everywhere and when she married, she sold her house and decided she wanted to create a business where she could spend more time with dogs and where she could spend her days with Griffin.
Doggie daycare was a fairly new concept in 2002 but Dogtopia grew fast right from the start, with revenue of $750,000 her first year and well over a million the following year.
History
In June 2015, Dogtopia was acquired by Thomas Franchise Solutions. Dogtopia offers daycare, a doggie spa, grooming, training, retail products, and on-site cameras so clients can see their dogs anytime.
As of January 2019, there are 100 locations in the US and Canada. Forbes predicts that the demand for doggie daycare and walking services will increase tremendously by 2024.
Dogtopia has continued to expand, even through the pandemic of 2020. The company now has 170 locations in the US and Canada.
Headquarters for Dogtopia are located in Phoenix, Arizona.
We brought our 15-lb Havanese mix, Guppy, to Dogtopia Milwaukee East Side on Thursday May 12th at 10:45 am. We were greeted by the front desk staff and the groomer. The plan was for him to be groomed and then do a half day trial in the “Toy Room”. We were told we could watch Guppy on the webcam starting at 2pm. We had only been to Dogtopia for a meet and greet prior, so Guppy was nervous.
We logged into the webcam and never saw Guppy and I hadn’t heard from anyone. I grew concerned so my husband, Jason, went to pick up him at 4pm. He was told the groomer wasn’t finished so he waited another hour. Jason wasn’t aware the groom started at approx. 10:45am. One of the workers took Jason into a room and told him something happened during the groom, Guppy’s tongue was cut and there was a lot of blood. The groomer then came in and was visibly upset. She let us know what happened. Jason was charged $65.
At 5pm Jason took Guppy home. There was so much blood the car looked like a murder scene. We had to take the car in to get cleaned. Guppy was so full of blood that we couldn’t let him in the house.
We understand accidents happen and we are not mad at the groomer. She did a good job. I just can’t believe nobody called to let us know what happened! Additionally, I cannot believe we were charged! Nobody even called the next day to ask how he was doing. I’ve told many of our friends, neighbors, co-workers what happened, and everyone is in disbelief that we were never notified and that we were charged. I, and everyone I’ve told this story to, would have preferred an immediate call and that the groom was finished a different day.
If this happens again, which accidents do happen, I hope the above action would be followed.
My Daughter works/worked at Dogtopia in Viera, Florida. She is a dilligent worker that has been forced to leave due to the substandard training and extremely dangerous work environment. I can say these things because my 17yr old daughter has an injured arm from an know aggressive Scottish Terrier whose owner paid the “VIP Membership” to daycare. No incident report was taken by the manager onsite. Staff is routinely left to fend for themselves finding themselves alone with 27 dogs in “Toybox” with large breed dogs that are puppies so their size masks their power. While working alone they are told to “bang bowls together or trays” if a dog gets unruly until more staff arrives; problem is the facility is understaffed. The franchise owner is completely absentee and takes no responsibility for the practices or problems at the facility.
My name is Mary Drury
I moved to Ft Collins .Colorado and I need a place for my 3 dogs
I have 2 min schnauzer and one Scottish terrier and also took daughter and son dog there.
We thought it would safe for them .
At first every thing was fine then on 12-13-2021 Jock my Scottish had what they called a seizure they took him to CSU vet training school.
Since then all of the dogs got very sick severe diarrhea and vomiting.
My schnauzer Mac was so bad I almost lost him.
The only thing I could think of is that it to something there that they got into to be that sick .I went in and talked to them an$ she states that no other dogs have been sick .I have since talked with other people who said that there dogs got sick there also. I asked for my money back and she gave it to me.But who should pay for my 5000.00 dollar Vet bill.
My dogs are now under weight and I’m trying to nurse them back to health.
If you read read you can reach me at cragrock8521@ hotmail.com
On August 18, 2021 (Wednesday), I made the terrible decision of kenneling my toy Australian Shepherd dog, Nova, at Dogtopia of Lafayette.
On August 18, 2021 (Wednesday), Nova weighed 10.8 lbs (that was her weight recorded by her primary veterinarian doctor from the day before her drop-off to Dogtopia). After 5 nights at Dogtopia (on Monday, August 23, 2021), Nova was taken to the Animal ER weighing only 4.4 lbs. A weight loss of 6.4 lbs while in Dogtopia’s care. How did the Dogtopia employees not notice that one of their animals lost nearly 60% of their body weight – not until I was on my way to pick her up (on Monday, August 23, 2021)? I dropped off a happy, playful dog at Dogtopia of Lafayette and returned to a dog in critical condition who nearly lost her life.
The initial sight of Nova at the end of 5 nights (on August 23, 2021 – Monday) after her being at Dogtopia of Lafayette: wet fur coat, inability to stand on her legs, a low body temperature, limited ability to breath, extreme weight loss – evaluation of cyanosis (blue mucus membranes), hypothermia, and collapse. In addition, in the 4 days following her stay at Dogtopia (August 23, 2021 – August 26, 2021), Nova suffered from multiple bouts of vomiting, diarrhea, and bloody urine. Dogtopia denied accountability for EVERYTHING stated?
I suspect that the kennel was ill-prepared to care for a little dog and that she picked up a parasite while there, as she was prescribed Fendendazole. Prior to taking Nova to Dogtopia of Lafayette, I verified with them the size of my dog. They said it was not an issue. After multiple days of intensive medical care, my dog returned to a happy, playful, much-loved member of the family.
Based on my experience and their (lack of) response to my experience, I would NOT recommend ANYONE to this business for the care of their pet. I never really got my questions answered about what truly happened to Nova. I, instead, feel lied to and disregarded.
My dog loves going to your site in Yorktown. My issue that since you changed management of that facility — it now smells of dog pee when you enter the reception area. This has been for about 6 months now. Instead of using Clorox to clean the area — they seem to using air fresheners to try to hide the Oder. It used to always smell clean and I was always recommending your company, but now I’d be embarrassed to tell anyone.
I have been taking my pup to the Commerce Township facility.
My Winchester came down with kennel cough so bad that I had to rush him to the emergency vet. I do animal rescue and have 6 other dogs who live in my house. Needless to say they all got it.
My problem is when Winchester got it I called Dogtopia and asked if anyone was sick and was then told there was a case of kennel cough.
Why was I not told this before bringing my pup in? Why was there not a mass email sent out when I told them my pup had it?
Would I have been told if it was something more dangerous like Parvo?
In total I had to take 3 of my 7 dogs to the vet for this ailment.
I do mostly seniors and hospice so this could have been deadly.
I took my healthy 6lb Boston Terrier only 6 months old to your location in Commerce, Mich. On June 27,19 for a 3 night 4 day boarding. My puppy died 2 days later from HGE. She was severely dehydrated, and the stress may have contributed to it. A small puppy requires more rest and a calmer environment. I believe her distress should have been observed. Small puppies require more attention.
We had a 3 month old Boston Terrier come to our vet clinic to stay over the Christmas holiday belonging to a little boy; no one in the clinic even knew he was there so he wasn’t fed or watered, the vet put the puppy on the fourth tier of a five tier stacked cages. A vet walking through one day, the vet who brought the puppy to the cage and told no one in the clinic it was there because he thought one of the employees would steal it, saw the puppy looked depressed and gave him a shot of antibiotic, Penicillin. Being dehydrated and undernourished, the puppy died with no one there or even knowing he was there. The little boy came to get his puppy and everyone went through the clinic frantically looking where he could possibly be when the vet remembered who it was and found him. I have felt horrible at different times at vet clinics over the past 50+ years I’ve worked in them, but none so bad as then. Acute hemorrhagic diarrhea syndrome (AHDS) (also known as hemorrhagic gastroenteritis [HGE], remember when no other dx can be found, often times the medical community comes up with symptoms to explain what you see and not the real underlying causes. This puppy had diarrhea and vomiting and I can see if it had been today they would have called it HGE too. It happened in 1980 though.
I’m so sorry for your loss, and the pain you and your puppy had to go through.
Your puppies distress should absolutely have been noticed and taken to a vet immediately.