Best Friends Pet Hotel Gaithersburg, Maryland

The staff at Best Friends is always responsive and proactive. I've boarded my border collie with them for 3 years, and they have always immediately alerted me of any trouble, even if it's just a little diarrhea. At other boarding locations, she comes home in a daze and needs a couple days to recover. At Best Friends, she comes home spry and ready to walk and play. That is evidence enough for me that they take great care of my puppy. They also are super flexible and responsive. 5/5 can't recommend enough.

It was our dog's first time staying at Best Friends. The staffs were very friendly and watching our dog through the pet cam, we could see our dog was having a great time and the care giver was awesome. Of course she was happy to come home but we don't see any post stress behavior or anything. She is happy and active as she always was. Great thanks to Best Friends!

Best Friends Hotel is Your Dog’s Worse Enemy. We boarded our dog here and THE ENTIRE ESTABLISHMENT IS A SHAM. #1 The staff looks you in the eyes and lies. Its beyond dishonest. Its plain deceitful. #2 the webcams intentionally do not show the most important areas. #3 The website promises a wonderful stay yet when we picked him up he had lost significant weight and his behavior was dramatically different. He was beyond submissive to the point of cowering. What did they do to him? And what will they do to you dog? And what lie will they tell you to cover up the mistreatment of your dog?? Don’t find out. Do not board here.

My dog loves coming here. They're professional, courteous, and honest. Noelle always communicates center specials and Jackie is the only groomer able to handle my husky. The best facility we've been to!

My adopted dog Benson had a traumatic experience at another facility and failed the interview at 2 DC facilities because he was too timid. I sought out the DC locations because I work downtown and live in Maryland. Upon a recommendation of a friend I decided to try Best Friends in Gaithersburg closer to our home. They worked with him to make him more comfortable. He started there with me having to walk him back and he sat at the edge of the room. Because of their patience and compassionate care, now he engages and he LOVES going to Best Friends! He has overcome his fears of other dogs, fear of being left, and he is so much better because of the staff at Best Friends!

Our dog Camden has been going to Best Friends for about 4 years for daycare and boarding. She loves going there and they love having her there. They are so nice there. Very accommodating if you are going to be a few minutes late for pick up. They even dress them up and take pictures for holiday parties.

I have only the best to say about Best Friends in Gaithersburg. Zaphod loves going, and actually gets upset if we keep him home one day. The staff gives every animal there close attention, as you can see on the cameras in camp. I would 100% recommend this place for grooming, boarding and camp. You will not find a more caring environment for your babies.

My dog is my best friend, my world, and I would never let anything happen to her. I can easily take her here with confidence in her safety, and overall happiness. My dog has severe anxiety, yet whenever she comes into the building, she immediately recognizes the groomer and is absolutely ecstatic. Not only is she actually calm and comfortable here, but she always comes home looking like a super star. I personally know the employees just from bringing my dog here for so many years, and have gotten to personally see how the dogs are treated. They’re given huge kennels with blankets and toys, plenty of water and a scheduled feeding time, and they go on long walks in the locations’ backyards. To not have a place like this would be more than a minor inconvenience. I know my dog, no matter how nervous, will be just as calm here as she would be at home.

Over the past 7 years we have trusted the staff at BF to care for our Beagles. Day camp, boarding and grooming. The are professional, reliable, and friendly. We have never had anything other than positive experiences and will continue to use their services.

Best friends employs the most kind, caring, and responsible people we have ever had the chance of meeting. We treat our fur baby like we would treat our own child, and this is the only place that we take Him. His tail wags the moment we pull into the parking lot until the moment he leaves. If you are looking for a safe and friendly place to bring your fur child, this is the place to go!

Do NOT board your dog at Best Friends Pet Hotel. Not only does the facility stink as soon as you enter it, but our dog developed a severe staph infection immediately after boarding that required intensive treatment for the last three months. We notified BFPH of the wounds on her paws 1 hour after leaving and even sent them photos but, despite the prompt notification, they are claiming that the staph infection wasn't acquired at their facility and that they aren't responsible for our dog's almost 3 months of vet visits and medications. We purchased the insurance they offer to cover any issues but, even with that, they won't accept responsibility for our almost $5,000 worth of expenses. Their reason: our dog has allergies and we didn't go to the vet until four days after boarding (we didn't realize how severe the infection was unfortunately until her paws started bleeding). Their facility is not clean and not worth the risk to your pet.

Both of our dogs have loved playing and staying at Best Friends. The staff are very friendly and treat them so well that they get excited every time we take them in the car (since they think they’re going to day camp or boarding). In addition, Noelle and team have always been very flexible with emergency boarding and grooming requests, which we greatly appreciate!

My dog can hold her pee pretty long but when we picked her up at 12 o'clock, she had to go so badly, she peed at the reception. And also outside again. Meaning they probably never took her out to pee on that day and god knows if they did the day before. When we got home she was also super thirsty. They charged additional $30 and didn't even say for what. No invoice or nothing. Pretty disappointed in this service.

They were very helpful and friendly although I ended up not using the business. I would definitely recommend that you use the business.

Friendly staff, clean facility,feel comfortable to leave Otto there.

This is truly an incredible place. They treat us like family and our dog Ziggy can never get enough play time at this facility. It is clean, safe and the staff is friendly and caring! We couldn’t be happier customers, thank you!!

I'm writing a review because we had a very poor experience at Best Friends in July, and I want to make sure that other pet parents have this information so that they are able to make an informed decision. We have boarded our dogs at Best Friends before without issue. This time when we boarded them, they both came home and immediately started having diarrhea and throwing up all over the house- it was within five minutes of being home and pretty constant for hours. When I called to discuss with the manager, I was told that they were both completely healthy while they were there. This seems very unlikely to me that both dogs would be completely healthy when they leave, and then 15 minutes later, both of them are a mess. These are two extremely healthy, robust labs, that had never had issues like this before. That in and of itself was a mess and I felt terrible that we had subjected my poor babies to whatever caused them to be so sick. Then, to add insult to injury, I spoke to the manager about the massive vet bills that we incurred to get both dogs back to their healthy selves. I submitted the vet bills to the Gaithersburg manager by email, which is what she requested on July 7th. I have followed up numerous times since then, and have gotten no response. So when you board your dogs, you are forced to buy an insurance policy to protect you against exactly what happened to us, but then when it's actually needed, there is complete radio silence on actually reimbursing our money. It is just not how you do business, and we are extremely disappointed. I'm not going to bother commenting on the amount of time that it takes to get someone to get you checked in/out, find your dogs leashes/toys/food, and to actually answer the phone because there have been enough other reviews on these areas that it's clear that there are significant issues there as well. It's so disappointing that what was once a really great place that we felt good about taking our dogs has declined so significantly. After my experience, I can guarantee that we will never return to Best Friends.

MY DOG HAS PNEUMONIA AND WAS SEIZING TWO DAYS AFTER PICK-UP!!! I honestly don’t know where to start. I should’ve known better when I tried to call and have a tour and no one picked up at first, but I kept trying anyways. Went for the tour and everything seemed normal. We decided to go with this place and our dog stayed for 11days. My wife and I would check the cameras daily. For three to four days a poodle constantly barked in my dogs face while the female trainer did nothing to stop it or even put the dog in “time-out” and continued with her business. I recorded it in case my dog decided to defend herself. Upon picking up our dog we realized she had a bad cough as soon as she walked out from the back, we did not receive a call or a message letting us know she was even sick to begin with. I just now left the animal hospital where I had to leave my dog because she was seizing and has pneumonia.

We have been bringing our dog here for years! We have always been very impressed however over the past year the quality of service has declined significantly. -You can not reach them by phone and it takes forever forever to get a return call. -During the peak of COVID they changed their hours and did not publish it on their website. There were several of us who showed up at the posted opening time, waited in line, and were given an attitude and the revised hours, posted on the door was pointed out -Check in and check out have been horrible lately. The woman working the counter most of the times I have been there is rude and not very friendly. -my dog was there twice this summer for 13 days and I could not schedule a grooming. Tried emailing well before my current visit (would have called but you are not able to ever get through) to schedule and never heard back -you used to get written feedback and a summary of every visit, that no longer happens -then there was the final stay for my dog. We picked him up after just over a week. He was dirty, he smelled, he could barely walk, and had visibly lost weight (went from 22 to 18 lbs in a week). When we picked him up he had diarrhea and vomited. My dog ended up being euthanized the night we picked him up. —While I do not think they caused this (it turned out to be a kidney issue) it concerns me that no one noticed the weight loss, the lethargy, the foul odor. He had apparently not been eating as we prepared his food in bags for each day (we did not provide one for the first day) and we got two bags of food back. This has not always been the way this facility was.

I will not be taking my dog back to Best Friends ever again. We have been going to the Rockville location forever, but had to go to the Gaithersburg location this time for boarding as the Rockville one was full. The day I picked my dog up from their care, he smelled VERY badly, to which we were confused since we had given him a bath right before dropping him off. He had diarrhea and multiple accidents in the house the following night. This is an adult, fully-trained dog with no medical issues. Best Friends told me he had no medical issues in their care, however, this leads me to believe he may have sat in his own feces causing the pungent scent upon pickup, but we will never know for sure. Best Friends said it was likely from a switch back to his home food from their food, when I hadn't yet fed him any home food, so this made no sense. Fast forward a few days after a 2-day bout of diarrhea, my dog begins having this loud cough followed by gagging/retching. It sounds like classic kennel cough, but we are taking him to a vet soon to verify. He is having trouble breathing. This also makes no sense as dogs get kennel cough from other dogs, and my dog is dog-aggressive and gets individual play every time he is in Best Friends care (they are very aware of his aggression towards other dogs). Either he was not actually separate from other dogs (endangering other dogs as well as my own) or his living space was dirty. We complained multiple times to management who said they would get back to us, and it's been silence ever since. Either way, I'm never taking my dog back to either location again and I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone.

Everytime I try calling I dont get a call back. My girl used to go to day camp here but the chaperone was always on the phone and never gave dogs attention. Today I tried to bring her for a nail trim since no one answers calls. The lady staff was rude and laughed when I asked if they had time to do a nail trim. I told her I tried calling and her response was “well it would be nice if I could sit in the front all day but I can’t today. I’m the only one here” as if that’s something For the customers to hear. You can let people no there is no time available today. Terrible customer service all around. I’m sure never coming back after this one. The only good thing about this place was Julia the groomer. Update: I was contacted by management about this review. I appreciate that they reached out and actively sought to resolve the issue. My dog went in for grooming today and was clean, nails trimmed and in great spirits. That means a lot as a parent to have your fur baby cared for.

Always a fantastic job and my pups come back smelling great!

Best Friends is the place to take your dog for grooming! They really take good care of your pet and listen to you carefully and do what you expect. They have the best groomers! Great friendly staff and their best groomer is Laurie! My pet always gives a hard time to get groomed, but Laurie does such a great job with him! I have been with them for the last 4 years and the service is consistent!

Love this place! The ease of reserving boarding online is great when I'm in the middle of planning a trip.

Our Coonhoun loves this place. He can't wait to race in the door.

I took my Himalayan Persian to Best Friends for the first time yesterday to get her groomed and they did a Great job. They were friendly and the Salon/Hotel was very clean. I take my cat to the groomer every 3-4 weeks and by far she got the best Lions Cut yesterday. I will go there from now on. Please take your pet there because Best Friends was empty yesterday. We need to support these businesses and we can do that by dropping off our pet for the day and still being safe when we do so.

I can’t possibly heap enough praise on the staff of this location. They are very caring toward the dogs in their care. My previous dog never wanted to leave when it was time for pickup! They handled a very difficult situation with my dog with grace and compassion. One heads up is that because they spend time with each customer making sure the pets will be cared for well, the check-in check-out process can be a little slow, so allow some time in your schedule.

We have boarded Our precious Family member, a Jack Russell terrier, at Best Friends for over eight years. Noelle and her staff have Provided outstanding care for our furry loved one. The small dog daycare has made our dog most comfortable, and decreased his stress level. We greatly appreciate the care given by Best Friends, and have recommended Best Friends to all of our dog parent friends. Sincerely, Satisfied Dog Parent

I was very nervous to leave my fur baby, Hank, anywhere. The ladies at Best Friends Pet Hotel eased my concerns, and Hank couldn't wait to run into the hotel and make new friends. They were (also) so considerate and attentive, I received a picture reassuring me that Hank was having a fun, safe time. I will definitely recommend Best Friends Pet Hotel, and Hank will be visiting for a fun stay, again soon.

I am new to the area and found Best Friends after doing a google search and they had pretty good reviews. I am so so happy I found them!! The staff was extremely friendly and it was very easy to make an appointment. The groomer did a fantastic job and drop off and pickup was seamless. Price was decent too, very pleased and would recommend to anyone! Will certainly be back :)