She took care of my dog during a 2 week vacation & did an outstanding job. She came to my house 3…read moretimes a day to feed & walk her and even groomed her. I was impressed by her reliability and how well she bonded with my dog. She sent an email during each visit so I knew she was there and even included some photos that I enjoyed seeing.

From the owner: I am fully background checked, license & insured. While…read moreboarding kennels are convenient, in-home pet sitting has several advantages over boarding kennels. It offers more personalized care, reduces stress, eliminates the risk of disease transmission, adds an extra layer of security, and makes life easier for pet owners. In-home pet sitting is a convenient option to consider if you want to ensure that your pet receives the best care while you are away. My services are at the clients home and not mine

If you have a special needs dog, there is not another daycare on the Southside like it. I have a…read morevery anxious dog. They go through a meet and greet process every single time he comes. No other day care in the area (we have been to most) cares about the special need dogs. The just deem your dog non compat (because they don't have the training, supplies, or staffing) and send you away. If you want the best, you want this location Dogtopia! A Quality, caring staff for your precious fur babies.

Pit bulls are allowed at these facilities, are not kept separate from other animals, and one…read moreattacked and injured my much smaller dog. Staff at first claimed my dog mounted the pit bull, which I have never seen him do to any dog or anything, then later corrected themselves and said he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time... at pick up they started telling me "when this usually happens..." indicating it's a repeated occurrence at this facility. Absolutely unacceptable.

I recently moved to Richmond and needed someone to watch my cat over Christmas week. They responded…read moreto my request immediately. The pricing is extremely reasonable. We set up the "meet and greet" and multiple employees came over to see where the food, water, litter, etc is and to meet my cat. Everyone wore masks to comply with covid precautions. Over the week they were extremely professional and took great care of my cat. They stayed with him for 30 minutes per day and played with him in addition to cleaning the litter and preparing his food. They even cleaned up a little leak I had after it rained really hard one day. After each visit I got a detailed email with all they did and multiple cat photos. I'm always so worried about my cat when I go away and they made me feel so much better. I'm so so happy with this service and will 100% be using them again!

New to Richmond and in need of a great pet sitter, I 'm so happy to have found Kate. We had a…read more"Meet & Greet" with my two felines (who have special needs), and I could tell she was relaxed and confident with pets. She carried out all my instructions and provided me with updates. Very satisfied!! Grace

We absolutely LOVE this doggie daycare. We've been taking our boxer (Ike) for over 3 years (he is…read more4 years old) and use them 2x every week, and the boarding services when we go out of town (usually a long weekend, occasionally a week.) Oh, and you don't have to make a reservation beforehand (unless it's a holiday weekend, as they'll run out of space.) The staff are helpful, friendly, and greet Ike by name when we drop him off. He is ecstatic to go in the morning, and comes home TIRED!!! (So, really, two days of him being tired for the price of one. LOL) It's a bit of a drive for us, as we work in the opposite direction - but after trying a pet resort closer to our home/work, and having a horrible experience, we decided Four Paws on Courthouse Rd. was worth the drive. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!! Neal and Beth W.

first time there. Staff: wonderful. Because of Bailey, who never gave up, we were able to find…read morethe vaccination record and I did not miss my week at the beach. Every time I called, I was given a report on my miniature schnauzer. Dog: don't know because I wasn't there, but when I picked him up, he strutted out with a proud and happy demeanor. Clearly he enjoyed himself. Never thought it would be this easy. Flexibility: Great, I got sick and they kept him one more day without any problem. Love this place. In fact, it was so good that I am taking him there tomorrow for day care.

I can't say enough good things about the folks at Barksley. I have a very large Malamute/Husky mix…read morewho is very opinionated and only likes some people. He is hard to manage and I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to find care for him. Lindsey and Olivia have become his very best friends, and I trust them completely to take the best care of him. I recommended Barksley to my Veterinary office as well as my friends. I highly recommend that you check them out! (photos of my happy boy with his Barksley besties)

You know the cliche trope of "when you're looking for love you don't find it but when you're not…read morelooking it finds you"? Well, that's how I feel about Barksley. I don't like asking friends to pet sit for my 4 cats when I'm out of town since they won't let me pay them, and I feel that I'm burdening them. Another pet sitter we tried was good but not always available when we needed. I had given up on finding a perfect fit for us, since most of the time I searched online for pet sitters, they were dog-centric. Then one day someone from Barksley left a flyer in my mailbox. It seemed like the exact service I was needing. They offer variable length visits (30,45,60 minutes), are available on holidays, evenings, and weekends, and love cats as much as dogs! They scheduled a meet and greet before the first visit where I showed them how to care for our babies step by step, and they took notes. They seemed like they actually liked our cats instead of it being just a chore. They were friendly and I felt comfortable with them in my home. They have a great website where you can log in to request visits, pay invoices, leave notes and messages for sitters. It's so great to have it all in one place and electronic. They went above and beyond during their service for us. -They brought in packages (including a really big one). -They cleaned the dishes after each meal!! Which I really appreciate, since the babies like to eat on clean plates each time and it's healthier for them, and some sitters historically haven't cared to bother doing that and instead just put new food down onto crusty old food -They provide a VERY DETAILED update after each visit, right down to how many poops and pees were in the litter box. And there's never too many details when you're away from and missing your beloved pets!! And they include lots of pictures -I promise we didn't creepily spy on them through ring cameras, but a couple times when we got notifications and looked on the video, we felt the people of Barksley really did ENJOY the time with our cats, like they were happy to be there. -one of the cats vomited (as cats do) on the couch at one point, and Emma cleaned it up!! Never had a sitter do that before. So impressed! Overall the team did such a great job taking care of our clowder that we will use them for as long as they service our area. I'm glad to have finally found the perfect sitters for us!

Marla is the BEST. She has been caring for our kitties for years now, and it is such a blessing…read moreknowing that when we go on vacation we can rest easy knowing that Marla is taking wonderful care of our babies. She sends texts everyday with pictures of the kitties and even feeds the strays that come by our back patio. Truely a caring person!

Marla lost my dog on the first day in a heavily wooded area by taking her to a property she didn't…read moreown and left her unattended off leash next to Pocahontas state park. 10 days later and I still don't have her back. My calls and texts went unanswered for 8+ hours. A volunteer tracker offered assistance before I even knew my dog was missing and Marla didn't take her help until I spoke with the tracker the next day. On day 3, she finally started handing out flyers that I made. She's been playing victim throughout the whole experience because I didn't want her in my house anymore to care for my other pets, threw a fit that her number wasn't on the flyers, and that I didn't invite her to participate in professional tracking with scent sniffing dogs (she did pay for it though). So if you care about your pets, run, don't walk, from Marla.

My dog loves this place! He's starts crying when we get close. He can't wait to get out and go…read moreplay with the other doggies. The owners are wonderful, kind and very caring people. They want the best for your pet and treat them as if they were theirs.

Absolutely LOVE this place!! They take amazing care of our dog and he's always so excited when we…read morepull up so I know he loves it as much as we do!! They made special notes in his file, like how he gets anxious in thunderstorms, so they could take special care with his unique personality. When our trip was unexpectedly extended an extra day, they were more than accommodating. They truly went above and beyond to make sure he had everything he needed for the extra day. When our pup was too stubborn to get in the car, they gave me a hand and helped lift him safely into the back of my Jeep for the ride home. Couldn't speak more highly of this amazing place!!

We were nervous about leaving our two cats for 8 days. They are very attached to us and haven't…read morebeen around other people very much. Martha, the professional and compassionate owner of Premiere Petsitting, assigned cat-lover Kerensa as our main sitter. As soon as she came for the meet and greet, our worries dissipated. She was friendly and warm - we knew our kitties would be in good hands. She, along with another lovely sitter, Lillian, sent us twice daily updates with photos. It was such a relief not to worry how our kitties were doing - the reports we received put our minds at ease during our trip. Martha utilizes a mobile app for her business that makes it easy to check on your schedule, messages, and invoices. I would not hesitate to recommend Premiere Petsitting to anyone. We will definitely use Martha and her excellent team again in the future!

Terrible communication from this pet sitting company upon trying to book them. Very frustrating…read more.. They advertise themselves as a full-service sitting company however they don't offer basics like medication and fluids. I do not recommend them.

Wanted to use them for puppy boot camp. First had to pay $100 for an evaluation. When we went to…read morebring him home the receptionist said he barked so much in the crate they had to move him to another room. We were not given any comments on how the evaluation went and were out $100 for no information. The owner said that since we lived so close he would try to move us up to a closer entry. This was last fall. Later we got a call saying he could start in January 2026. Another issue is that we decided to board both of our dogs for a weekend in September. When we brought them home both drank 2 bowls full of water each. I guess they don't water on the weekends? Just not a good experience all the way around. We found another place that took our pup within a week for boot camp and it worked out perfectly.

In essence, over several months, we had the worst training experience one could have. No…read morecommunication and no results. If I could give a rating of zero stars, I would. Below is the letter we sent to K9 & Co. when they would not refund our fees for "boot camp". If you love your dog, do not take it to K9. April 24, 2021 Mark Finch and K9 & Co. Retreat, We started coming to K9 & Co. with the intention of giving our new 8-month-old dog, Gypsi, a head start in obedience training as our elder patients are moving in with us. We wanted to do as much as we could to help our dog acclimate to new people quickly and avoid danger to them (e.g., jumping up on them, etc). We brought her in for day school and were told she "wasn't ready for that" but would benefit daycare in the meantime to socialize her. We dropped her off for daycare/day school from December 2020 through April 2021, two/three days per week.  Never did she get into day school save ONE time on March 5th, 2021. No report was given to us regarding what she worked on (if anything) on this date. Additionally, we called and scheduled a home visit for February 3rd, 2021. We received a phone call on February 3rd (the day of the appointment) stating, you "forgot we were scheduled"; so we scheduled another date on March 15th, 2021, again received a call cancelling the appointment. We got NO follow-up regarding rescheduling the home visit, and it was never discussed again. After slowly integrating Gypsi's routine into your day care several times per week and after formal evaluation on December 6th, 2020, you recommended "a tailor boot camp to help Gypsi". On March 15th, 2021, we dropped her off for boot camp and were told "we don't have time to follow up with you on a 'daily basis' or keep you informed daily on her progress and to remember no news from us (K9 & Co.) is good news".  However, your website states, "You work with the owners every step of the way"... I can say that none of our expectations were met. The cost of the "Boot camp" is fairly expensive, and after 2 days shy of 4 weeks, Gypsi had learned nothing. I'm not even sure she received any training at all. I suspect she was let out of her crate several times per day and fed, but no active instruction occurred. In fact, she had new abrasions and scabs on her elbows indicating excessive crating, requiring medical care as well as a urinary tract infection diagnosed by our veterinarian. We called many times to be updated on Gypsi's progress only to hear, "We are not sure what Mark has done. You'd have to talk to him." Your website indicates, "We take pride in working with our pet owners every step of the way in their pet's training process." This is false. We have never heard from or seen Mark Finch, and the only communication we received was after WE called your establishment and asked how Gypsi was doing, only to be told that essentially you did not know and that "No news is good news". I emailed a couple times to get some report on how she was doing only to get NO info other than "she's fine and adjusting..." We called a few times only to get the same short answers with NO details on how things were going and what was being worked on with her. We emailed asking for a date for her to come home along with some stipulations we have, with NO response... AND NEITHER ONE OF US HAVE EVER HAD ANY CONVERSATION WITH MARK FINCH (the elusive dog trainer)... On April 14th, 2021, I contacted Chase Bank to stop payment for $2500 to K9 & Company Retreat for services not rendered.

Karen went above and beyond when taking care of my cats while I was on a weekend trip. She even…read morecleaned their bowls and plates. She sent pictures to keep me updated. I felt really comfortable with her and so did my kitties (and usually one of them is not so happy with people he doesn't know, but he loved Karen!) I'm so glad I've found her!

Karen really gives you the sense that not only does she love her job (who wouldn't love being able…read moreto play with dogs all day) but she genuinely cares about the dogs she walks and cares for. She helped my wife and I out with a very difficult situation where I was out every weekday for two months before we moved out of the Richmond area. It was very evident that our dog's attitude and demeanor improved whenever Karen walked her. Taking a photo of our dog each day was a big plus especially since I was away during the week. It brought me a lot of happiness to know my girl was content without me there. It's a shame we no longer live in the area but I can't recommend Karen enough to RVA folks who live within her service area.