City Dogs Washington, DC, Virginia

First day in daycare they returned my dog shaking and bleeding. I had to take her to an animal hospital. Fixing the injury that City Dogs caused required over $500, full body anesthesia, and a few hours of my time. City Dogs did not offer any medical attention to our dog when the injury happened. Totally neglected her.

Very abusive. The things I heard in there make me wonder how they are behind closed doors. They mistreat the dogs, do NOT bring your dog here. There are so many other better daycares. I saw a dog get kicked.

Gigi at City Dogs is the *best* groomer!! Not only did she give my pup an amazing cut, she was thoughtful and caring in her approach. She took the extra time to make sure Ziba was comfortable throughout the whole process, and she would take as many breaks as necessary to make sure she didn't get scared (this was only Ziba's second-ever groom). Can't say enough good things - and even after several weeks, the cut still looks fresh and has been easy to maintain. :-)

Bou has gone to City Dogs almost every day for the past month and loves it. All of the employees greet him by name as soon as he walks in and they clearly enjoy being around dogs. Bou likes the dogs and people there so much that every time we go by on a walk, he tries to go in. It's also very reasonably priced. Will definitely keep sending him there.

This was our first experience using a doggy day care and we were very impressed with the staff here. Definitely recommend.

Bring your place it's a great place...

18th street location The staff is very rude, not responsive when you ask questions. One time I dropped my dog for day care and I could hear him crying and crying as I came back to pick him up. I think they might have locked him up in a cage or something.

Lucy loves City Dogs! She is always happy after a day at CD! And, we love getting the daily report cards. The staff is attentive and caring.

I send my very active Boston terrier here once a week at a minimum. The staff is always very friendly and remembers my pup. She gets so excited when she arrives and comes home very tired. I would (and have) recommend city dog to any of my friends and family because of their great service, hours, staff and facilities.

After getting our dog from City Dogs Rescue in 2017, City Dogs Daycare has been an absolutely amazing in taking such great care of Gavin on days when we need some quiet at home while teleworking or when we sometimes go away for a weekend. We've had nothing but great experiences with City Dogs and their owner and staff are super friendly and responsive. As a locally-owned small business, they contribute a great deal to the neighborhood. I would highly recommend them!

City Dogs Daycare is such a great place for our dog Hazel. We love the convenience of dropping her off and knowing she's safe while we go to work (even back at home). Joel, Dillon, Elmer, Laura, and everyone on staff are so friendly and professional. I've been happy to support City Dogs as a local business for many years, but they deserve major kudos maintaining an amazing service during COVID-19.

My dog loves Pernell and the staff so much, they were very accommodating and professional. He loves so I love them...

My Vizsla loved spending time visiting. Friendly staff!

Love love love. City Dogs is a godsend for my puppy. Staff take great care of my fur daughter, it’s super convenient, and every “report card” makes my heart melt.

The staff write false assessments to deceive owners and allow dogs unhappy and traumatized by their experience to continue to suffer under their care. Shameful.

I was considering waiting until I’d used up my first set of passes to write a review but hell, my dog is so excited when she she gets to 18th street that she has lunged toward daycare at 10 pm when we incidentally passed it, and she enthusiastically greets the staff in the mornings, and she comes home in good spirits but promptly passes out. She is so tired I am currently eating cheesy potatoes inches from her head and she looked up and fell back asleep. Y’all are the best.

I can’t speak for their grooming services, but I see the employees on dog walks everyday. The walks last at most 15 mins. They walk out the door, turn right on Swann, right on 19th, right on T st, then right on 18th to return to City Dogs. They advertise that they provide midday walks for an additional fee during daycare. That short little outing is not what most would consider a walk. That is what we in the business call a potty break. Occasionally, depending on the employee, the dogs may not even get to potty, as I’ve seen dogs attempting to use the bathroom and being drug by an employee that was not even paying attention. Today I witnessed one of their employees struggling with a dog in a harness that wasn’t put on properly. The dog slipped out of it and ran into 18th st around 1:30pm, a very busy time of day for traffic. The employee yelled but did not chase. Thankfully someone from Lauriol Plaza grabbed the dog by the collar. Only then did the employee run across 18th to get the dog.

The groomer was delayed doing other work and decided to rush and trim my dog completely to a point that I did not know her. I can literally see her bones. This is a terrible place and should be shut down

My experience with city dogs is by far the worst. I have used there service since moving to DC because of the convenience of the 8pm pickup or drop off. The bad experience come from the pricing of there service. The staff is not knowledgeable of their prices and I have had to many inconsistencies with them on that subject. They expect you to swipe your card because of their error. My last straw came this past weekend when I was quoted a 8 day boarding package pricing for my dog when I called their office.Upon returning I was faced with a $400 dollar bill when quoted $250. Instead of acknowledging their mistake because it was confirmed that it was a misquote the owner Dave instead blamed me the customer about the incident, saying maybe I miss spoke or I should have look online (weird right). He even went as far to pull old receipts like all of this to prove what exactly. After all of that he decided to remove $80 dollars from the bill but I told him his service was horrible not once was he willing to admit his staff was incompetent and that him being an owner he should have just acknowledged that quoted price and been done with it. I didn’t mind paying and had the money to pay it but it was his altitude and his inability to even apologize for his actions and their service. All of that made me at that point decide not pay the full $400 amount and I told them I will not be using their service ever again. Research other options around the area before you choose on either of their locations. The time frames might be convenient but once you notice how they value your money you will understand my point.

H St location. This review is not based on their daycare services. I have taken my dog here for daycare several times. Although he always comes home with sopping wet fur and smelling like urine, I’ll continue to take him there because it’s the best option available to me in terms of location and price at this time. I don’t fault them for anything pertaining to daycare in this review. In fact, I added a star to what otherwise would have been a 1 star review because I appreciate the availability of an inexpensive daycare option near my house. The reason for my low rating is based on my dog's grooming experiences there. When my dog was 6.5 months old, I took him for his first grooming, merely for a cleanup around the mouth/eyes/belly. I talked to the front desk person beforehand and we agreed that he should not get his nails cut because he had recently had that done while he was at daycare just a week before. When I picked him up from his haircut, he was whimpering for the entire walk home, but I thought that maybe he was just tired or something. When we got home, he went to lay down on a blanket and I started working on school work. He was still whimpering every now and then, but I couldn't understand why. I thought maybe he was just tired. An hour later I checked on him and realized that there were several large spots of blood on the blanket and a toy, and that he was licking his paw. I finally took a closer look at him, and discovered that several of the nails on his right paw had been cut so short that they were still bleeding, an hour after I brought him home. On his belly was a large cut from a poorly handled razor. And on his testicles was terrible razor burn (which I know is not necessarily the groomer's fault). For clarification, my dog is only 8lbs, and is generally very friendly, easygoing, docile, easy to control, and non-reactive. When I bathe him, he sits nicely until I'm done. He never bites or growls. I've even been told by daycare staff that, behaviorally speaking, he is a joy because he is so friendly, cuddly, and compliant. There is no reason that he should have been hard to shave resulting in a large cut on his stomach. Furthermore, there is no reason that his nails should have been cut at all. I WAS NEVER NOTIFIED THAT HE HAD BEEN INJURED. Upon discovering his injuries, I immediately called City Dogs and informed them of what happened. They asked if they could call me back later after they called the groomer about it. About 15-20 minutes later, they called me back and asked if I could bring my dog in so that they could stop the bleeding for. By that point, it had mostly stopped, and there was nothing they could do that I or my vet couldn't, so there was no real point in me returning, which I told the woman. She said, "Okay, bye." I received NO apology. I wasn't asking for any kind of compensation; I was merely expecting an acknowledgement that they regretted harming my dog and that they would be more careful in the future. Instead, I got a brusque dismissal. I will never have him groomed there again because I don't trust the groomer to not injure him, and I further don't trust the staff to notify me if/when my dog gets hurt so that I can immediately provide first aid care for him. As a small dog, I'm horrified to imagine what would have happened if he had experienced greater blood loss without them notifying me of the injury. Oh, dear. When I first tried to upload the photos, they wouldn't show up, and now there are duplicates. Oh well.

A place we cant live without! Our dogs are so happy here!

My partner and I started taking our dog to City Dogs as soon as we moved to DC in September 2018 and have had nothing but great experiences. The staff are knowledgeable w/dogs and you can tell they really care about them. Our dog isn't always super friendly but he loves going here and we feel assured that he's in good hands while we're away.

I take my dog to city dog’s daycare 3 days a week. She’s been going for the past 2 years and we love it there, they all know her name and know who I’m going to pick up before I ask for my dog. The staff is truly nice and you can tell they like dogs.

Awesome place for dogs. Staff lovers of dogs.

This is an extremely dangerous place for any dog, as the staff is grossly negligent and there is a culture of hiding dog injuries and lying to owners. Fellow dog owners, I beg of you, do NOT make the mistake of trusting the staff at City Dogs with your beloved pup. We sent our dog to City Dogs daycare for a couple of months, until he was attacked by another dog. As dog owners, we understand that sometimes dogs do bite. What we didn't expect was the shocking response from this supposed "doggy daycare" company. We discovered through video footage (that City Dogs first claimed did not exist, then refused to let us watch, and finally let us watch but refused to let us document) that our dog was attacked because of an extremely dangerous environment created by a City Dogs staff member. You don't need to be an animal behaviorist (or know anything about dogs, for that matter) that you shouldn't force a pack of 10 dogs on top of each other in a tiny corner so that they are literally crying and climbing over each other. We were truly in disbelief. Even more unbelievable is how City Dogs responded to the incident. My dog had a SERIOUS dog bite that was gushing blood all over the floor, I later found out. Nonetheless, they waited TWO HOURS to call me, trying to see if they could cover it up. When they did call me, they refused to give me any details, saying only that he had a “minor puncture wound.” They refused to send me photos or explain what happened in any detail. They claimed they weren’t able to get an appointment at our vet (which is literally down the street from the City Dogs location), which I was surprised by. I told them I would call the vet, who confirmed that City Dogs never tried to bring the dog in but they would take him right away. I tried to get in touch with City Dogs to tell them to rush my dog over but no one was picking up the phone. I tried calling them for THREE HOURS in addition to sending four frantic emails. No one responded to me. The owner called me three hours later, sounding bored and annoyed at the inconvenience. I told him to rush the dog over. The vet informed me that he still wasn’t brought in for another HOUR AND A HALF — he was bleeding through this entire five hour incident and easily could have lost a life-threatening amount of blood. My vet was appalled by the negligence, as were we. When I asked why I wasn’t called sooner or why no one would pick up my calls or answer my emails, the owner Jesse literally said to me “What are we supposed to do, drop everything just because a dog was bitten?” Are you kidding me? YES. In fact, I found out from a staff member was that the reason I wasn’t getting through the phone was because the owner Jesse told them not to speak to me until they had gotten the story straight. I was horrified to hear this. In the days that followed, we heard conflicting stories from the staff and the owners, continuous lies, and defensive legal posturing. Never ONCE did they apologize or act remorseful or consoling. I later found out from friends, family, and coworkers that this is actually a very very common occurrence at City Dogs. Many of my coworkers suspect abuse at the facilities. Please, I know you love your dogs — do NOT endanger their lives by trusting this dangerous company with their care! P.S. I later befriended a sympathetic staff member who told me the truth about City Dogs: they often lie to dog owners about what happened to their pets, and lie about their services on their website. Specifically, they do NOT use “Tagg GPS collars” on their dog walks. They do NOT give dogs “several outings on [their] artificial turf patio” — this patio doesn’t even exist in their 18th street location! Dogs are cooped up inside all day, sometimes forced to literally be on top of each other as we saw with our own eyes on tape, often lying in their own filth because “indoor bathroom incidences” are NOT “sanitized immediately” as they falsely claim online.

I left my standard poodle there for two weeks. He caught pneumonia from another dog. They didn’t notify me till the day before I came back. My dog had to be rushed to the ICU and nearly died. He had lost 6 lbs and wouldn’t eat and could barely breathe. City Dogs claimed they didn’t notice he was sick till the night before I was supposed to pick him up. It cost me more than $2500 in hospital bills. The City Dogs owner knocked $100 off the stay, the day manager said he felt so bad he took an additional $50 off and told me not to tell the owner. They didn’t refund the rest of the bill or offer to pay for my hospital bills. There’s no way I would ever let my dog in that building again. You can’t trust them to watch your dog overnight. They are incompetent, they don’t tell you if your dog gets sick and they value making a few bucks off your dog more than doing what is right with the customers.

Could not possibly own a dog without the support of City Dogs! My four-legged child simply loves it. He is engaged and safe all day; gets lots of socialization with other dogs and humans, and comes home tired. He perks up every time I mention "City Dogs".

Great place to leave your pup. Mostly everyone is super nice and the dog always comes back happy.

I have to admit that I've never used their services. When I was researching options for my dog I was really interested in this place based on the convenient location and reasonable reviews. However, I was disturbed when I dropped by to check it out. The employees downstairs didn't seem in learning about my dog. I asked to see the space where the dogs were. They said there was a class about to happen in the large dog space so all the dogs were in the small dog space upstairs. She led me upstairs, and I was appalled. There were 20ish dogs in that space with one staff member present. He was busy on his cell phone, but when he noticed we were there he hopped up and appeared to pretend he was interested in the dogs. Many of the dogs looked scared and uncomfortable and we're not receiving any comfort. I asked about whether they had cameras so you can see how your dog's are doing, and they don't. They explained this had something to do with legality, but it makes me uncomfortable and seems a red flag to me. I will never leave my dog here. It's not worth the cheap price.

My dog was groomed fine, but when I picked her up she was limping severely. They told me she had a bump on her leg, and at first I thought it was from our vet visit from earlier in the day where they drew blood. But that was the other leg, and she was absolutely fine when we walked into the groomer. Her injury seems to be a pull or strain of some kind and it is quite painful. I won't be bringing her back there.