Michelle took care of my 1 year old rescue Evie and she was amazing. She took Evie out with a group…read moreand they went hiking and exploring for many hours. Evie always came home so happy and exhausted. I recently moved out of Berkeley and was so sad to lose her services, so if you are looking for a dog walker in the Berkeley area Michelle is your best bet!!

Michelle has walked Ozzy for two years now, and it's changed his life. Ozzy used to be downright…read moreparanoid. Every other dog, every passing car, every stranger with a hand out represented a threat to be warned off with a growl or a snarl. Michelle taught him that so long as he was a member of her pack he had nothing to fear. Gradually, little by little - Michelle is patient and very consistent - Ozzy relaxed and began to enjoy life. He can't wait for Michelle to come in the afternoon and give him yet another chance to be a good dog. And when Michelle isn't here, he looks to me or my wife as interim leaders, so he's a good citizen for us too. Besides her talent for animal attitude adjustment, Michelle is extremely reliable, punctual, and a pleasure to deal with.

We were so glad that we got connected with Tom! We needed dog boarding for our four year old dog,…read morePiper, while we are on vacation and we felt that our Piper got his own vacation. Tom sent us updates about how Piper is doing, and we can see how happy he was based on the photos. Piper got to hang out and play with other dogs and went on multiple hikes/walks throughout the week. We cannot recommend this place more!

I did not board my dog. But I got wonderful information from Tom on a variety of things canine. I…read morewrote him because he worked with a partner in the Berkeley Hills who boarded my first German Shepherd. I have a 2 week trip planned in April 2024 and Tom will be my first choice for boarding if I can't find someone to house and dog sit for that length of time. He is just a really nice, informed, knowledgeable guy.

Grace is by far the best dog walker I've ever had! She's super patient, attentive, playful and…read moreloving towards my dog Charlie. Grace has been Charlie's dog walker for almost 9 months now and I couldn't be happier. I love the pictures that she sends me of Charlie on their walks! I feel very safe and comfortable with Charlie under Grace's care. Something to note - Grace has a first aid kit with her during her dog walks just in case anything happens! Grace is just the best! I would highly recommend her if you need a dependable/long term dog walker!

Grace is everything you want in a dog walker and more!! She is reliable, trustworthy, friendly,…read moreflexible, knowledgeable and most importantly my pup loves her! My dog is new to dog walking and can be quite nervous, but thanks to Grace she is becoming more confident, comfortable and trained every day. Grace provides detailed updates (with a photo) for my dog's daily walks which allows me to feel connected to my dog and also better understand her patterns. Grace truly cares for my dog likes it's her own and goes above and beyond to be a phenomenal caregiver to my dog (and me!). Highly recommend Madra Dog Walks.

I met Kristina while walking my Oggie Doggie around the lake. She was hanging out by the boat…read morerental with the Ladies of the Lake just before they were about to get their row on. I used to row the lake with the boat club so I already had a soft spot for that aspect but I actually appreciated her asking about my dog and giving me her card for future reference. I had only adopted by a dog in January from Rocket Dog and had as-of-yet, not left him with anyone day or night. He had been loyally by my side for many months in my disability and unemployment. My family does an annual trip to Reno in July so as the date approached, I tore up my house looking for the card she gave me. Once I located it, I both text her and called her. She had just had a tooth pulled so she wasn't feeling 100%, the date I needed boarding was over a month away so I said let's touch base when she was feeling better. A couple of weeks go by and as I was thinking to myself, I should call, text, or email her again. No sooner had I had that thought, had I opened up my email to find correspondence from her saying just that! I have read a couple of negative reviews on here about her personality. I like to do that when I am getting to know a business to see what others have had issues with. Even after reading those, I still stand confident that for my older dog, who is half-blind due to coming out of a hoarding situation, she is a good fit for us. We initially did a meet and greet for about an hour with the dog, my 10-year-old daughter, and myself in her backyard to see how Oggie did with her other dogs, both resident dogs, and boarded dogs. He did great and neither Oggie nor my daughter wanted to leave. The next step was a day boarding so he could rest assured that his new adoptive mommy, me, was not passing him off permanently but temporarily and I would return after 8 hours and take him home. The final step in our Reno trip coming up on Saturday for a few days will be to take Oggie there the night before we leave and pick him up the morning after we return home. I am confident that Oggie and Kristina will do well together. If not, I will update this review to reflect such... To be continued...

We had a _terrible_ experience with Kristina, and I would advise anyone considering working with…read moreher to read this review in full first. She made several decisions that made us deeply uncomfortable, both in terms of how she related to our dog, other dogs and how she treated her financial agreements with us (i.e. not honoring her word and charging us for services not received). Shortly after moving to Oakland, we had to go away on short notice and had to establish a new boarding relationship. We contacted Kristina about a week before leaving. We agreed to one day of doggie daycare that we did not otherwise need to determine if this was a good fit. This was explicitly a "test". She required us to put down a deposit to hold the boarding spot. When I dropped my dog off, she began making derogatory comments about a very elderly dog she was boarding in a confiding way, as though it would be obvious to me that the dog was a problem (it wasn't). She said the dog was very old and needed to be put down, that the owners hadn't been up front with her about the dog's problems. I was amazed she would tell a new client that another client's dog should be put down. Mystified, I asked what the dog's problems were. She said that the dog was sometimes disoriented and bumped into walls, that it sometimes vocalized and cried for its owners (as it was doing then ) and it made her feel terrible to hear this. She said she would not work with this dog again. To me, nothing about the dog's behavior seemed problematic or out of the ordinary for an elderly dog while boarding and it was only stressful to me to hear a prospective dog boarding business owner talking about dogs this way. She also said she was possibly going camping for 2 of the 4 days we would be boarding our dog, but her roommate would be around to watch the dogs. This was also alarming, but we felt we had no time to find another arrangement, so we agreed. When we picked up our dog at the end of the day, we learned that our dog had been cowering under the furniture most of the day. We'd never seen our dog behave this way, though he has boarded with half a dozen other people. He usually sits in guests' laps the whole time they are visiting. We were alarmed, but Kristina asked us to bring our dog back a second day because she'd been out of the house much of the day and hadn't been available to make our dog comfortable. She could not remember our dog's name and referred to him as a "she" (he is male). We were reluctant not only because of the red flags already described, but because we did not need daycare, only boarding, and each additional "test" day of daycare was costly. It was concerning that we'd paid for a test day when Kristina was mostly out of the house. We felt she could have planned better. We were supposed to bring our dog at 7AM the second day. We ran late. Kristina called us at 7:01 or 7:02 AM and asked where we were and told us she needed us to arrive at the time scheduled. It was stressful for us that there was so little wiggle room. Kristina indicated that she was going to a doctor's appointment that morning and needed to leave promptly at 7AM. Yet the only point of this second unneeded day of daycare was to see if our dog would be more comfortable with her if she was home, instead of out of the house. Our dog was returning again to a frightening environment with nobody there to calm him. After drop off, my partner and I realized we were uncomfortable leaving our dog with Kristina. I contacted her and said I preferred not to go forward with the boarding arrangement based on the test daycare experience and would she be willing to refund for boarding. She texted, "of course." That afternoon, 8 hours later, with no further communication to the contrary, my partner picked up our dog. Kristina refused the refund because she said we hadn't given sufficient notice, even though our whole relationship had happened within such short notice that we could not possibly have given more notice, and even though she'd agreed to a refund based on the test days. She said her policy was to keep all the money, but that she would make an exception and give us a credit for daycare. We didn't trust her anymore, and so my partner argued for an hour before she agreed to refund 50%. She agreed only after my partner asked for a written policy, which stated she would keep 50%, not 100%, as she had been verbally claiming. Seeing the discrepancy, she said she's not much of a businessperson and can't keep track of her own policy. In the end, we paid Kristina ~$200 for 2 days of test daycare to determine that this was a person we did not trust with our dog. We happily made the 8-hour round-trip drive _twice_, on work nights, to drop off and pick up our dog from a family member rather than going forward with the boarding arrangement.

Hands down, Christi is the best dog walker in the East Bay. She is a first a dog lover, who is…read moreconscientious, organized, and thoughtful. Her pack walks exhaust the dogs while being safe and exciting for them. Her dog sitting sets my mind at ease as she knows dogs, her level head and knowledge ensure peace of mind while we are away.

this is also a long overdue review, I have used BARK AROUND THE BLOCK for many years. and…read more her staff are excellent. my dog; Rommel, a French bulldog he absolutely loves walking with her. She socializes the dogs with the group walks offered in the afternoons or morning walk. during the ongoing months The scheduling and communication is excellent ! My dog has improved greatly in all aspects of his socialization as well as his obedienc. Believe it or not for his breed he is so chill now. He loves his group walks! The trails are varied which is fabulous and keeps it interesting for the dogs. I have been extremely pleased with the excellent level of service provided by Bark Around the Block She is deserving of the Best Dog Walker of Alameda for the consecutive years, it has been awarded to her Company!

Cat is AMAZING!!!!!!! One of the most thoughtful and skilled pros I have come across period (and I…read moream fellow Dog Walker/Sitter Pro). She is so pure of heart and so authentic and honest and trustworthy. She also has soooo much talent when it comes to managing Big Big Doggos with hearts of Gold. I am grateful to have her in my network of dog pro friends. Her quality of service is absolutely unmatched. She has so much patience----she even goes thru an intricate multiple step greeting/pick up process with each dog to slow them down and work on their over stimulation/joy at pick up etc. I am tickled to observe her flourish and grow with every passing year. If you are lucky enough to call Cat/RedWood Trails your dog walker you are in Great hands.

Saw Cat at Point Isabel with a group of dogs. Cat was in-charge and all the dogs in her group…read morefollowed Cat. Cat knows her stuff... My Rotty got along with all of Cat's dogs...

Aaron has been helping my family with Stella for a while now. First, when Stella was a young puppy…read moreAaron's dog pack walks were the only thing that would tire her out all day. It was such a key service during a time I was quite busy at work. Then I moved overseas & my mother had Stella for 1 year & without Aaron , I don't think my mom could've handled taking care of Stella. As a result of Aaron's services, it made the entire situation so much easier as Stella would be so tired at the end of the day. Thank you Aaron

Aaron has been walking our dog Turlock for a few years now. He was referred to us by a neighbor…read morewhose dog has been with Aaron for even longer. Aaron is the most reliable dog walker we've ever had, and he is so very good with all types of dog personalities. Our dog needs structure first, then his love and adoration is sealed. He has found his alpha in Aaron! He loves Aaron so much and looks forward to his pack walks with his buddies, eagerly sitting at the door in his harness waiting for Aaron to pick him up. He comes home happy and tired - which is perfect for a lab! We wholeheartedly recommend Aaron Uplinger at Dog About Town for your furry friend. Feel free to reach out if you have any specific questions - happy to talk all things Dog About Town.

If you're looking for a dog walker in Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley, etc ... LOOK NO FURTHER!!!…read moreThis is the last review you need to read because Michelle is AMAZING and I'm positive we wouldn't have made it through the first six months of life with our 60 lb. rescue pitbull without her! As I'm sure you've discovered, the majority of dog walkers in the East Bay offer off-leash, group walks through the spectacular scenery of luscious Tilden blah blah awesome, great, I'm sure they're lovely. But what if my dog doesn't like other dogs!?! And needs to be walked on-leash, on her own!?! I had no idea finding someone to fit that criteria would be so difficult and we were at wits end when I came across Oaktown Dog. Thank GOODNESS. Not only does Michelle offer solo walks for super reasonable prices, she's also flexible on days/times of the week (some weeks she walks our girl twice, others she walks her every day) and most importantly she truly cares about our pup. When she first started walking our pittie, she asked to come to a session with our trainer so she could reenforce what we were teaching our girl on their walks! Didn't ask to be paid, just showed up! When it's hot out, she takes our girl to a secret beach so she can play off-leash in the ocean without having to worry about other dogs. When it's cool, she has secret fetch spots. And after COVID hit and we hadn't seen her in 6 weeks, our girl FLIPPED OUT WITH EXCITEMENT the first time Michelle showed up to walk her again. So seriously, stop reading reviews. Get in touch with Michelle. You and your dog(s) will LOVE her. Oh, and she does house-sitting too. Pretty sure our dog was sad when we got back because that meant Michelle was leaving.

It's such a relief to have found a walker who is dependable and genuinely affectionate with our…read moredog. Even though we aren't going into the office anymore due to COVID, it's been a big help having Oaktown Dog come by twice a week on days when we have lots of meetings.