Just returned home with my dog following her week long stay at Bestland Boarding. Very pleased with…read morehow Jeremy handled our energetic, playful dog. I knew that leaving her for a week, I needed an environment that would give her the freedom to run and explore, Bestland delivered on that, whilst also giving individualized attention and pack time for socialization. Bestland is a 1hr drive from my home in Marietta, GA , but worth taking the time to make the drive for the piece of mind this facility gave me.

I want to start this review by stating that I didn't want to write this review. I don't believe in…read morebashing businesses, especially ones getting their footing. However, the repeated contact from the owner regarding my personal feedback has lead me to post this as a warning to other pet owners. Bestland Dog Boarding is a new and budding family business on a beautiful farm with ample space for pets to run and play. At first glance and contact, we felt like we hit the jackpot! My husband and I have two dogs, who have been boarded in many different settings. Some key takeaways from Bestland are as follows: 1. They do not check for paperwork or appointments. I booked my dogs a boarding appointment 5 different ways. I texted. Called. Went in person for the meet and greet, and had it written down. Husband called and texted. It was still treated as a surprise when we showed up and I was told to not bring them as a last minute boarding situation in the future. Owner also appeared to not remember me or discussions we had even when prompted or reminded. It was strange. (I spent over an hour and a half there so I was a bit confused) 2. I brought vet records, despite the owner telling me that he is not requiring vaccines. His reasoning is that older dogs that have been vaccinated still have immunity. This is America - have your views and run your business as you please - but this is not somewhere I want my pets. I was informed Bordatella is "just a cough"- meanwhile one of my pups contracted it twice, despite being vaccinated (not at this location however), which lead to a 2,000 dollar vet bill as it developed into pneumonia. Not here to debate science - have your opinion, but I will direct my business elsewhere. 3. Back to the paperwork. No record of me being there, nothing was signed, only paperwork was what I brought. Owner claims that this has never happened before. Okay, whatever. I didn't even register that I hadn't signed anything until picking them up. I was informed that if any emergency were to happen, that the dogs would be treated at Bestland as they are "medically savvy". Then a video would be sent to me, for next steps. Seeing as I was on vacation with no emergency contact for my pups... yikes. Definitely should have been more alert on this on my side, but a slip up like this on the business side could be catastrophic. 4. My dogs were returned with exactly half their individually portioned food bags left in the bag. I know dogs don't eat well while boarded. However, I've always had someone mention that. Also, exactly half the amount had me concerned that they were only fed once per day, and judging by the experience I'd had with the memory aspect of things, I wasn't sure it had been followed. (It was written down and explained twice) When I brought my concern to the owners attention, I was told, "Both of your dogs are well fed and fleshy and did not raise concerns of them not eating but 50% of their food in a course of 3 days". 5. My husband expressed concern over our spayed females being around intact males, as 1. We don't want them being attacked and 2. One of our dogs does not like being followed and will stand up for herself. For the sake of all involved, we asked they remain separated. We were told they would be. That evening a social media video was posted making light of a smaller dog humping another. Our dogs were visible with that dog. The dog was much smaller than our dogs, however, we were told something that wasn't true and they were blatantly making fun of it on social media. We see all of this as we're hundreds of miles away and unable to do anything. 6. They are cage free, however the owner was telling me as I picked up my dogs that he was considering buying a few larger cages for small dogs in the event they overbook. I don't know what he wanted me to say to that. Overall, this could be a very promising, fruitful business if the owner can 1. Work on their PR strategies and 2. Tighten up the administrative bootstraps. I offered the owner my feedback after several attempts by him to get me to leave a good review: he accepted my offer and I have been receiving messages since defending the actions. I am attaching some of the messages below so you can see the behavior I'm referring to, and that I truly wanted to keep the feedback between us. However, even this morning, I am still receiving messages and links to forms that I was never told/given/checked to have been signed. I have the additional texts as well but didn't want to clog up the feed.

Thank you for helping me with some boarding questions and advise also a recommendation…read more Thank you

Highly professional trainer-owned facility. Safe and spacious play environments and very clean…read morekennel. Would recommend to anyone.

Jade is amazing. She is very good at what she does. My dog comes back smelling and looking…read morewonderful!

Jade was wonderful, friendly and Bella was very happy that she didn't have to ride in the car for…read moreher bath. Best decision