[CoffeeGirl]

The Village Paw Spa on Rolling Acres Rd has been mentioned on this forum before. A member wrote about how her dog came home after a two week stay at their facility with swollen and infected paws.

I'm sad to say I worked for the owners for a brief amount of time eairlier this year and I wish I would have read that certain post before becoming employed there. Yes, the owner, Nancy Herrin, has been in the pet grooming/boarding business for 40+ yrs, but she is not running her facility like she makes her customers believe.

First of all, if you choose not to bring your own dog food for your pet, the owners tell you that 2 types of food will be provided (Purina and Nutrina). This is not true. The owner does not buy and provide this food. When a pet has not finished his dry food (dog food that has been paid for and brought in by other customers) at the end of the day, it is dumped into a large container in the kitchen and is used for other dogs. This is very dangerous! Bacteria is spread from one dogs mouth to another. This can cause upset stomach, diarrhea and vomiting.

Second, Customers are told that dogs are fed twice a day. This is not true. The dogs are fed once a day, in the morning. If they finish their food quickly they do not recieve anything else until the next morning. They are given a few treats at the end of the night, but in my opinion this is still unexceptable.

Third, Medication such as Benadrly, Imodium, Ibprophen, Vitamin C and Colloidal Silver (an immune booster) are often administered to a dog and the owner is not notified. If a dog has diarrhea, Nancy will give him Imodium, which is very understandable, but the owner of the dog should be notified of such, which is not the case.

Nancy has often given benadryl to dogs who are "barkers" or who make quite a bit of noise, to calm them down and make them drowsy. To me, this is very wrong.

Dogs are not taken out front to play in the grass. They are taken out behind the kennel where there is no grass or shade. The ground in the back is covered in small rocks.

Nancy and her daughter Tammy, have frequent verbal arguments inside the facility, in front of the dogs and employees. There are very unkind words and raised voices said between one another and cussing on almost every occasion. This makes for a very hostile and uncomfortable enviroment for the dogs

Please take this all into consideration when choosing a boarding facility for your beloved pets. Thank you for reading this.

[babbs455]

Wow I hope this gets around...this is totally unacceptable...i am appauled at this place..you just never know what goes on behind the closed door once you leave your pets/kids somewhere that you think they will be safe and cared for.
Thanks for opening some eyes here..i have often wondered about that place..at least i know where not to go....pass it on...

[Bryan]

Good information for pet owners to know. I had heard parts of this is the past and chose NOT to use them to board my pet. Instead, we used Park Heights Animal Care Center on 441 in Fruitland Park.

You never know what goes on behind the scenes but we did have a billing problem with Park Heights that others should be aware of, and maybe unauthorized treatment for our pet.

We boarded our cat for one week (7 days) and asked that she be given a pedicure during her stay. We took her in on a Saturday morning and picked her up the following Saturday morning at, according to my credit card receipt, 08:45:51, or shortly after they opened at 8:30 AM. Of course they required me to pay the bill before the gave me my cat (normal procedure and I have no problem with that). I paid the bill in full - 7 days boarding for a feline and a pedicure - with my credit card. Approximately one month later I got a bill in the mail that charged me $13.50 for a "Int. Parasite Exam - Centifug" supposedly administered on the DAY I PICKED HER UP (I think NOT)! Additionally, I never asked for not authorized such an exam and, as any reputable facility will do, they checked the records for my cat to make sure she was current on shots and vaccines (she was - through my regular vet). We actually had to supply copies of that paperwork, which is probably a good thing.

To add insult to injury - and to me, this smacks of pure price gouging - they also added $4 to their bill for a "Statement Handling Fee".

Needless to say, I immediately called them over their bogus bill and got a promise to reverse the charges. It has not been long enough yet to see if that actually happened but,. if it didn't, I will be going next to at least the BBB and maybe other agencies. I wonder how many people pay the additional charges without question?

[drdodge]

everybody that reads post on totv should use Bedtime Trails Pet Hotel I always take my cat and dog there and have been for about two years. There have been many posts on how great they are. Why would anybody go any where else. Most people do because they are to cheap to pay what is a fair cost.
drd

[rockyisle]

I wish we could get someone to start a Pet Paradise here. We used their facility in St. Augustine and loved the care our dog received. Everything was visible.. no behind the scenes care and there were web cams everywhere. Also Camp Bow Wow in Naples was a fabulous place.
I was less than impressed with the one on Rolling Acres. My husband and I toured the facility before leaving our dog for the day - and then chose not to because we both had bad vibes.
Our beloved wheaten died last year and we have hesitated bringing another dog into our life here in TV because of the lack of good boarding and day care facilities. If anyone has good recommendations, I'll be the first to add another furkid back into our life.

[red tail]

i never consider opinions of former or present disgruntled employees. for obvious reasons.

[mfp509]

Rockyisle - Bedtime Tails is an excellent place to board a pet. I would never hesitate to recommend them. It's beautiful. Go and check it out (I'll bet there will be another furkid in your life). Check out previous threads on Bedtime Tails and read the high reviews.

[redwitch]

red tail -- I agree that disgruntled employees should be take with a very large grain of salt but should not necessarily be discounted out of hand. In this case, there are several other stories that basically back up the OP's comments. Definitely not a place I would want to leave a beloved pet.

[getdul981]

Originally Posted by redwitch

red tail -- I agree that disgruntled employees should be take with a very large grain of salt but should not necessarily be discounted out of hand.

I usually refer to that as a block of salt. You know like farmers use for their cows.

[Doodlegirl]

which would give pause to any animal lover...and I am grateful whether she is disgruntled, angry, or sad. Ultimately, it is up to me to be the ombudsperson for my animal's welfare and safety. Insider "tips" have
often been the way many criminals are caught.

To my knowledge, no, laws, licensure or oversight are necessary to open a Boarding facility for animals in Florida. (Note: I have not checked on this recently, and in Florida it can be different County to County). Plus, if there
are standards, there have to be people to check...and animals generally fall low on that totem pole.

Sooo, this should be considered, perhaps, a cautionary tale (tail), but one
worth the thought of Border Beware. It raises a huge yellow flag for me
in any search I might make of the facility or any other, and I appreciate the heads up.

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by redwitch

red tail -- I agree that disgruntled employees should be take with a very large grain of salt but should not necessarily be discounted out of hand. In this case, there are several other stories that basically back up the OP's comments. Definitely not a place I would want to leave a beloved pet.

I agree with Red. Definitely not a place I would consider for my Pets. I read the post with "disgruntled employee" in mind. And then I reread the post. Coffee Girl has gone to the trouble of providing a lot of information, examples and details that ring true with me.

[English Ivy]

Originally Posted by CoffeeGirl

The Village Paw Spa on Rolling Acres Rd has been mentioned on this forum before. A member wrote about how her dog came home after a two week stay at their facility with swollen and infected paws.

I'm sad to say I worked for the owners for a brief amount of time eairlier this year and I wish I would have read that certain post before becoming employed there. Yes, the owner, Nancy Herrin, has been in the pet grooming/boarding business for 40+ yrs, but she is not running her facility like she makes her customers believe.

First of all, if you choose not to bring your own dog food for your pet, the owners tell you that 2 types of food will be provided (Purina and Nutrina). This is not true. The owner does not buy and provide this food. When a pet has not finished his dry food (dog food that has been paid for and brought in by other customers) at the end of the day, it is dumped into a large container in the kitchen and is used for other dogs. This is very dangerous! Bacteria is spread from one dogs mouth to another. This can cause upset stomach, diarrhea and vomiting.

Second, Customers are told that dogs are fed twice a day. This is not true. The dogs are fed once a day, in the morning. If they finish their food quickly they do not recieve anything else until the next morning. They are given a few treats at the end of the night, but in my opinion this is still unexceptable.

Third, Medication such as Benadrly, Imodium, Ibprophen, Vitamin C and Colloidal Silver (an immune booster) are often administered to a dog and the owner is not notified. If a dog has diarrhea, Nancy will give him Imodium, which is very understandable, but the owner of the dog should be notified of such, which is not the case.

Nancy has often given benadryl to dogs who are "barkers" or who make quite a bit of noise, to calm them down and make them drowsy. To me, this is very wrong.

Dogs are not taken out front to play in the grass. They are taken out behind the kennel where there is no grass or shade. The ground in the back is covered in small rocks.

Nancy and her daughter Tammy, have frequent verbal arguments inside the facility, in front of the dogs and employees. There are very unkind words and raised voices said between one another and cussing on almost every occasion. This makes for a very hostile and uncomfortable enviroment for the dogs

Please take this all into consideration when choosing a boarding facility for your beloved pets. Thank you for reading this.

Earlier this year there was a post regarding The Village Paw Spa where I posted my observations after touring the facility in early 2007 when we first moved to the area. I stated that I wondered if the dogs were drugged as none of them barked when we came walking through. According to Coffee Girl it would appear I was correct. She may be a former employee, but I believe she's telling us the truth and trying to protect our pets. FYI, here's my original post:



03-18-2011, 07:48 PM
English Ivy
Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 263
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When we first moved to the area we arranged tours/inspections of several boarding facilities, so when the time came for us to be out of town we'd have a good place to leave our dog.

Village Paw Spa creeped me out. As we walked through, the dogs looked at us from their individual pens but did not bark or get excited. It was totally quiet. That's just not normal in a kennel environment when people walk through. Hopefully I am wrong, but it almost seemed as if the dogs were slightly sedated. They just stood there and looked at us.

Needless to say, did not ever consider leaving our dog there.

[/COLOR]

[thistrucksforyou]

Originally Posted by red tail

i never consider opinions of former or present disgruntled employees. for obvious reasons.

[graciegirl]

I am a cat owner. I love dogs too. I didn't know that arguing in front of a dog upset them. It doesn't bother cats.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

I am a cat owner. I love dogs too. I didn't know that arguing in front of a dog upset them. It doesn't bother cats.

Bill