I left my two dogs at Ruffin' It over Labor Day weekend. There were both good and bad aspects of my dogs' stay at the facility.
Good: Registration/scheduling process was easy over the phone, and the person I spoke with was very knowledgeable and thorough. I emailed a question a couple days later and received an instant response. The building was very clean and organized. All the employees I encountered appeared extremely professional and friendly. Ruffin' It texted me two out of the three days with pictures of my dogs. I've noticed some other facilities have 24/7 webcams set up so you can check on your dogs at any time -- it would be awesome if they could find a way to do that here.
Minor Gripes: The pictures the first day looked somewhat like they were part of a hostage negotiation. :-/ I may be exaggerating a little on that part -- I'll post the pictures here and you can be the judge. I'd prefer to see my dogs doing something (playing, eating, exploring, anything really) rather than just receiving a close-up picture of their faces. Pictures the second day were a little better in that regard. (They appeared to be pictures of the dogs being let outside to go to the bathroom.)
I also would have loved to receive some kind of report on my dogs' activities. Did they eat their food? Are they barking a lot, or staying calm and relaxed? How are they interacting with other dogs? I got a short report about the last item on the first day, then had to prompt for additional info the second day. Received nothing on the third day. I know this wasn't promised but would be great information to have.
My dogs can be a little temperamental around other dogs, but I wanted to try them out in daycare in the hopes that some socialization would help. From the text I received on the first day, it appears they weren't ready for a full-day of daycare, and I believe Ruffin' It did not charge me for daycare. However, an itemized receipt would have been a great tool so that I could easily see exactly what I was paying for on the spot. I determined I wasn't charged for daycare by looking at the prices on their website and comparing them to the total amount I was charged.
Bad: Here's my biggest concern -- my dogs normally eat Honest Kitchen (dehydrated food that you have to add water to) mixed with some Wellness kibble. I had emailed before their stay asking if this would be something Ruffin' It could prepare each day. I got a reply saying it would be no problem. I carefully bagged up the dehydrated food and kibble in separate baggies for each day (12 bags in total), labeled the baggies, and included simple two-step instructions for how to prepare the food. Basically mix the dehydrated food with 2/3 cup water (measuring cup and spoon provided by me) and then pour the kibble on top.
When I arrived home I noticed that Ruffin' It had sent two full bags (1 for each dog) of the dehydrated food home with me. I had included the exact number of bags needed for their 3-day stay, so this meant that one of the days, Ruffin' It did not serve my dogs the dehydrated food. No explanation was given so it was obviously an oversight on their part, but it made me upset to learn that my dogs only got half of their dinner one night.
All in all, Ruffin' It did a satisfactory job. I got my dogs back in one piece, healthy and happy. But this place has the potential to be a lot better than this. Not feeding the dogs their entire meal is inexcusable in my opinion, and the ability to more closely follow my dogs' activities would be greatly appreciated. I'm an infrequent user of dog boarding services, but I'm undecided about whether I'll return to Ruffin' It the next time I have a need for some help. read more