Doggie Daytrippers

they lost my dog, then told me about it 3+ hrs. later. period.

After having many weeks of walks, I received an invoice for services that I had already paid for with cash week after week. Apparently my dogwalker had mistaken the money for tips. He was a nice guy, but from what I’ve gathered from the website, he’s no longer with them. When I reached out to the business manager and owner to correct the mistake, I was told it had been an honest mistake that would be fixed. But I continued to get bills.
I called and I emailed. No response. I decided to discontinue their services, because I believe the way you treat your human customers is equally important to how you treat your four-​legged ones. Five months later, in October, I received yet another bill and was ignored again when I asked for the charges to be dropped.
Recently, I sent an email requesting my house key back. Mid-​week I called to follow up. My emails and calls weren’t returned despite having called during business hours (website, email and voicemail all list different business hours). Finally, after another call, I sent an email stating that I intended to leave a Unilocal review describing my negative experiences if I didn’t hear back from them. This evoked an immediate and condescending response.
The owner claimed that my issue (receiving several invoices that can be considered legal documents) didn’t warrant my reaction of leaving the company. Aside from how belittling her response was (it’s not her place as a business owner to tell her clients that their complaints aren’t serious), it missed my point entirely. Leaving $ 50 a week for two field trips which would cost $ 46 and having the walker pocket it all was worth leaving the company. Having an owner who does not respond to my emails and calls about the 3 – 4 invoices which I received, and ignoring all of my concerns, is also reason enough to leave. The invoice wasn’t the issue.
She explained that it took her so long to get back to me because her current clients are more important. She didn’t explain why I was treated so poorly back when I was still one of her clients.
As an additional note in her email response to me, she expressed her surprise that I would use Unilocal at all. She said, «Well anybody whether they are real or not or competition or disgruntled employee can make up an email address and post whatever they want. Unilocal does not verify any reviews. So I find that anybody who relies on Unilocal as a guide to picking a service to be simple minded and uneducated. Through my limited interactions with you I never found you to be either. So I have to say am surprised you are someone who would use Unilocal.Never mind actually believe Unilocal or even bother to post on Unilocal.» As someone who regularly depends on Unilocal to guide my business choices… I’m offended!
reaches over 20 million U.S. people monthly.
She also told me, as per the contract I signed, that keys are destroyed after a certain amount of time. I never received a copy, nor recall agreeing to this, but she assured me that she’d look for the key when she returned to the office in 4 days, and if she found it, I could come to the office and get it. After the experience I’ve had, and having read the reviews from people who have had even worse experiences, I think it’d be safer just to change my locks.

Your service depends on which dog walker you happen to get (which you will not get to meet before they enter your house, you only meet the manager who sets up your case) but don’t expect anything but a headache if you ever need to move up the chain and contact the owner, Karin. She is awful.
I used this service for about 2 years when I lived in one part of the city and had a great experience. My dog loved going out with them and I always felt respected and well taken care of. I never had to contact a manager or the owner for any issues.
When I moved to a new part of the city, I had a very different experience. I had taken about 4 years off from them because my work schedule had changed and I hadn’t needed them. When I signed back up again I met a new manager who was great and very accommodating. But soon my overall sense became that this operation had grown too big too fast.
I would have to write for hours to include all the details of the poor customer I experienced. The new dog walker we had was clearly not getting the instructions I had left with the manager, even after I talked to the manager about the same issues multiple times. And these issues were not just «not knowing» things, it was just plain sloppiness as well. I kept giving them more chances because I had had such a good experience with them in my old place. Then the front door to our condo building was left open. I cannot say 100% that is was the dog walker who did this but I am pretty darn sure because of the timing — when my husband got home etc. We live on a very busy street and the outside of the house, which leads to three separate condo units was left wide open. This had never happened before we got this dog walker.
I called the manager to explain why I didn’t feel comfortable using the service any more. He was very understanding and reasonable. He said he would have my keys dropped off. When my keys weren’t dropped off I was informed by the owner that it is against their policy to drop keys off, that I would have to drive into downtown Boston M-​F 9 – 5 to retrieve them. Even though she has multiple clients in my area on a daily basis! I had to beg and plead and send multiple emails to get her to reluctantly agree to have someone drop off my keys (I was 8 months pregnant and without a car at the time). She was not at all concerned that her staff could have compromised the security of all the owners in my building.
In the end we agreed that during a specific window of time on a specific day someone would drop off our keys. The dog walker who had been taking our dogs out showed up two hours before that window of time and entered my home without knocking or ringing the bell. I am a woman, I was alone and in the bathroom when I heard a male voice in my living room! I was scared half to death! It was my first time meeting this young man — he was eating a dunkin donuts sandwich and dropping crumbs all over my floor. I am so glad I got my keys back!!!
Don’t risk going with this company.

Your Previous Reviews
11÷9÷2012 Edit «
Horrible company… they are irresponsible and should no longer be in business. They killed my friends dog and are not taking any ownership to there wrong doing. For the sake of your dog do NOT use this company. They are unaware of their breeds and have no idea how to handle them. If I could they would get NO stars from me…

As I am new to the area, after dealing with a wide group of dog daycares/​walkers, etc. I decided to go with Doggie Day Trippers. The employees are amazing. They actually take a genuine interest in the safety and welfare of my elderly Beagle. Most importantly, they leave a note letting me know how the day went with my dog which means a lot to me.
I completely disagree about the posts regarding Karen. I have spoken to her on many occasions and not only is she willing to fix any issues I may have with a walker, she is honest, and not fake. Frankly, I find that refreshing. Additionally, I have met many of the walkers and they are equally professional and my dog loves them.
As someone who has used dog daycare/​walkers and sitters all over the country due to my husbands constant job moves, I must say I am highly impressed and will continue to use their service (s).

Unbelievable. Dog walkers dropped dogs off at the wrong house. To make matter worse they had no idea where they left them. I was hoping a dog service would know the difference between a Yorkie and tricolor cavalier king Charles and a black and tan king Charles. Stay clear of them. Cheap but I guess you get what you pay for.

Do yourself a favor– use another service! It’s been 5 years now since my bad experience and I cringe when I still hear horror stories about DDT from friends in the South End.
My dog was injured in their care while I was out of town. The employee/​pet sitter called me and downplayed the situation. She said my dog was limping — maybe stepped on glass. Upon my return, my dog had a dislocated hip and needed major surgery due to time lapsed (4 days) and scar tissue that had started forming. It breaks my heart that my dog was left in pain for 4 days! Could she not see what I saw immediately… the dog’s leg was dangling and she couldn’t put pressure on it? Had it been handled immediately, the DR said he could have popped it back into the socket.
The owner, Karen, showed no remorse and tried to play it off as ‘dogs can get injured’. Well yeah, they can, but they count on us to be their voice and do what’s right when an injury happens. She didn’t even call to ask how my dog was doing after surgery. Although she said she would pay the bill, she then failed to return my calls and I could tell where that was going so I contacted her insurance company directly. They sided with me and reimbursed my expenses.
My sweet dog’s hip was never the same.

Do yourself a favor and run from this place. I went in looking for booties for my dog and I was alone in the front for fifteen minutes… I could hear the employees talking in the back but I guess they didn’t care. When someone did come to the front they didn’t even acknowledge me… will not be going back.

They lost our dog. He was gone for 24 hours wandering the streets of Dorchester. We found him, injured, severely dehydrated and in shock. They took no responsibility for their lack of responsibility. True story.

We’ve been using Doggie DayTrippers for a little over a year now. Overall, we’re very happy with the service, and we’ve recommended it to friends.
As a brand-​new dog owner, I was a little anxious about letting my furry best friend traipse around the big, wide world without me chaperoning her every move (I am a future overbearing mother). But, Karen and her staff put me at ease. We had a long initial interview where we talked about my dog’s history, her personality, and her training. Because my dog is part beagle, I was very concerned about her going off-​leash. So, Karen recommended the program where the dogs go out for around five hours a day, and play in fenced-​in dog parks and take long group walks. That sounded perfect, and fit into our budget well. Currently, the dog goes out with DDT three days a week from about 9:30 — 2:30. I’m a little jealous that the dog gets to go run around and play and walk through pretty places like the Esplanade while I am cooped up in an office in the financial district… but I digress. Also, I need to point out that nobody gives me a treat just for sitting down, but I digress again.
We’ve had three walkers over the last year and a half (only very occasional substitutions), and they’ve all been great. They leave us nice notes telling us when they picked her up, when they took her home, which dogs she played with, where they went, and most importantly, at what time she, um, dropped the kiddies off at the pool. It turns out that we know some of the owners of the other dogs in her group, so our dog’s posse kind of matches up with our human posse. Karen’s even gone out of her way to tell me that my dog and this other dog are best friends, and that I should call the other dog’s humans to set up a playdate. It’s clear that she’s very invested in her work, and that she genuinely pays attention to the dogs under DDT’s care.
It’s important to remember that dogs are animals, not robots, and that things won’t always run perfectly. One of the walkers left a hamburger on his car dashboard, and my dog ate it while he was dropping off another dog. This is not the end of the world, and in fact, I congratulate my dog on taking advantage of such a clear shot at people food (I do feel bad for the walker who had to skip lunch that day, though). My dog also got scratched by another dog once, and once stepped on some broken glass that was at one of the dog parks. Neither of these incidents are DDT’s fault, but they handled them in a professional manner. They called me immediately, let me know what had happened, and offered to take my dog to my own vet in West Roxbury (each time, I asked them to take my dog home early and crate her with food and water — they did this without a problem). The staff has also handled last-​minute scheduling requests and changes pretty well — they’re responsive, and I’ve always gotten a reply email within one day.

We’ve had some really good experiences with doggie day trippers and have used them now for a couple of years — mostly limited to pet sitting and the occasional ½ day field trip. There have been a few times when my husband and I have had to leave town on a short notice and doggie daytrippers was able to watch our dog for us without a problem. Our dog doesn’t always play nice with other dogs so it’s not always easy to have a friend watch him.
The boarding is a little on the expensive side, but the peace of mind it gives us is totally worth it, as is the customized pick/​up drop off time at our house. We’ve used a couple of other pet boarding services through other companies that are cheaper but also less professional than the doggie daytrippers. Overall, I think it’s a dependable service– I would recommend it for the pet sitting.

Like so many other before me I thought to ignore the bad reviews and give Doggie Day Trippers a try. I am sorry to say that the reviews are true. If you love your dog I would not use Doggie Day Trippers. I feel it is not neccessary to elaborate on my experience with them, but rather to say seek a different service that can be trusted with your loving pets.

On my first day of service (my pug going to the small dog daycare for a full day), the following occurred: Tony (the driver guy) forgot the dog’s harness at the house, had one of the other dogs briefly escape, dropped ALL the customers’ keys down the sewer while chasing said dog, and called me ten times without once calling the secondary number. I was in class at the time and was distraught at the number of missed calls and voicemails I had (with no info, just «call us back»). When I called back, instead of assuring me that my dog was fine, he told the story from the beginning, seeming not to understand that I was freaked out by the possibility of my dog being lost or injured in some way. He did not bring our dog back until 8pm, even though he was aware that someone was home at 6:30 and said it would be around 7 or 7:15 that he’d be arriving.
This experience was bad enough for me to cancel future services. I e-​mailed the owner, Karen, to cancel my service and to let her know what had happened that day. Although I wrote a courteous e-​mail, her response was defensive, condescending, and even snide. Her parting remark was, «I am sorry our unfortunate dropping of keys in order to ensure the well being of a dog has left you with frustration and a desire to cancel service.» As far as I’m concerned, that’s an un-​apology. Given the range of mistakes the company made (losing a set of keys, not calling the backup number, bringing the dog back late, and overall poor communication), I would expect a more significant and genuine apology. Perhaps Karen did not feel it was necessary because my business had already been lost, but I still found her e-​mail to be inappropriate in its tone.
Although I only have a single day’s experience with this company, I would still not recommend them to anyone. I simply wouldn’t trust them to take good care of my dog, even if keys and transportation were taken out of the equation. Frankly, I wish I had checked the Unilocal reviews first because I probably would have chosen a different company based on the feedback here.
UPDATE: The owner, Karen, e-​mailed me the day after I posted this review. The entire text of her e-​mail is:
«Amber,
Your Unilocal post is full of lies. Which is what is called libel. As a courtesy and to save you a lawsuit I am sending this note to you.
Please remove your lies or you will be hearing from my lawyer.
Best Regards,
Karen»
If you were on the fence before about dealing with this company, I would strongly advise, solely based on my experience, to avoid Doggie Daytrippers at ALL costs.

Let my story speak for itself…
I had been using Doggie Daytrippers for a while, and had no reason to suspect anything was amiss. Until… the beginning of last year, I bought an RFID sniftag, which is a gadget that tracks your dog’s exercise level. Soon I began scratching my head — the activity monitor showed activity for me and some of the fill-​in walkers, but for my dog’s regular walker, Kim, it was a flatline. What was going on? I wondered if the device wasn’t functioning right… I wondered if the walker was for some reason taking off the dog’s collar, I wondered if she was short-​changing me by only taking the dog out to pee and not giving her a walk. Finally, I stopped wondering, and set up a webcam at my door.
What it showed me was pretty horrifying. The girl walked in the door, looked around to see if anyone was around, moved the leash around to make it look like it had been used, left a note saying «the dog peed» and left, WITHOUT EVEN TAKING THE DOG DOWNSTAIRS TO PEE. This happened three days in a row. This girl had been my dog’s regular walker for almost a year at this point — I was both horrified at what my dog had been enduring all this time, and mad that I had been paying for nothing for almost a year.
I contacted the owner of the service, and she was apologetic. She said she would credit me for Kim’s walking (which at that point added up to $ 1,800 worth of non-​walks), and fired Kim. So far so good. Two months later, the credit dried up, and my credit card was charged again. I terminated the service, asking for my keys back. My keys were never returned. I subsequently decided to take her to small claims court to try to get the rest of my money back. I was in court today, but am doubtful about the outcome, as I can’t prove 100% that Kim never walked my dog.
Lessons learned:
1) Check the Better Business Bureau (
) before hiring a service.
2) Contact other customers about their experiences before blindly trusting that the service level is up to par.
3) Better safe than sorry — check up on your service providers in some way, be it video, in person, or other means.
4) Use all available avenues to try to recover your funds — BBB and Credit Card company disputes are your first lines of defense.
[Update]
Nothing endears me more to a business than being publicly called a liar by the business owner. That’s what I call customer service.

Update 10÷20÷10: As evidenced clearly in both Karen’s aggressive replies to reviews, and in the personal experiences of ex-​DD customers, this business owner is not above harassing, threatening and accusing those who relate their poor experiences with her. If she spent half as much energy in running her business, maybe she wouldn’t have so many bad reviews to contend with. Ask yourselves, are there really that many people «out to get» Doggie Daytrippers and ruin Karen’s life that all of these horrible reviews (check the filtered ones for real horror stories) are fabricated? Or is this a business that is fatally flawed? And are you willing to bet your dog’s safety and wellbeing on the answer to that question?
7÷1÷10: So, a month and a half later, I STILL DON’T HAVE MY KEYS.
I have called, I have emailed. I have been told «Oh we send keys certified mail.» Really? Where are they? Because I haven’t received any certified mail, and either myself or my housemates are pretty much home at any given time of the day.
When I called to express my extreme displeasure with this state of affairs, I was told «Oh, don’t worry, the key aren’t marked.» Oh really? Well thanks! That makes me feel so much better. Because nobody is going to be able to figure out that the keys in an addressed envelope probably belong to the house it’s addressed to. That’s just too clever.
I am absolutely infuriated by this whole mess, and now I get to pay a locksmith to change my locks. I’m seriously considering taking them to small claims court to recoup the cost of having it done, just because I am so incredibly pissed off.
Bottom line: Doggie Daytrippers is, without a doubt, the WORST business I have ever dealt with. Do NOT use them if you value the safety of your pets or your property.
Oh, by the way: Despite the charming claims above, I’m not a rival business, not a fake reviewer, and not a liar. I am an honest-​to-​God person who is extremely unhappy, angry and disappointed in the TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE experience I’ve had with this company.
FYI: Since I have been privately messaged by someone who joined Unilocal apparently for the express purpose of telling me I suck for «blaming the company and not the post office», I feel compelled to add that DD promised to call me back with a tracking number/​receipt for the supposed certified mail they sent. They never did. I think that effectively addresses that issue. And by that way, if the private messager is a DD employee, as I suspect he may be, that’s pretty fucking low.

As promised, I am updating my review after a few weeks of service from Doggy Daytrippers. After the bumpy first day, which turned out to be an honest misunderstanding, service has been great. Our walker, Michelle, has shown up every day, left us notes regarding her time spent with our puppy, and we haven’t had any other problems.
I’d also like to point out that I’ve gotten several messages from people who could potentially be dog-​walking competitors, which makes me somewhat skeptical of many of the negatives reviews that may have encouraged me to share my own initial negative review.
At this point, I’d feel comfortable recommending Doggy Daytrippers to other dog owners, and would only encourage them to meet with someone from the service, clearly confirm all of the important details, and enjoy having a reliable walker come take care of your dog when you can’t be there.

I was debating whether or not to give one star or two and I ended up with the one star rating. I’d give two stars because as most people say, the walkers are great… well, with the exception of the one walker who decided not to show up one day, leaving my dog unwalked for 9 hours… and I received no phone call to let me know she’d quit. Most of the time, my dog had been walked Danilo or Jim, and I had the chance to meet both of them at different times when I happened to be home early from work. My dog really loved them and they were great with her.
The one star rating (or zero if I could have given it) would go to the owner and the way she runs her business. When I first met her, she was great — very responsive and accommodating to the needs of me and my dog. She changed my service from walks to hikes to playgroups without a problem as I wasn’t sure what worked for my newly adopted pup. And I admit, I was high maintenance for a while, but again, my dog and I were getting acclimated to each other and the new service.
After a few months in, I decided I wanted to cancel (they were either showing up at the wrong time (9am as opposed to 1pm) and my dog would be bouncing off the walls when I got home OR not cleaning her off after she’d roll in the mud… leading to a very dirty apartment on multiple occassions).
What I didn’t realize when I canceled was that I would lose the $ 267 that I’d been pre-​charged. Yes, they pre-​bill your credit card for services one month in advance. And if you actually read the VERY lengthy paperwork they give you when you sign up, there’s one line item that talks about no refunds. In my desperation to find a service that would keep her out most of the day, I signed everything without reading the fine print — yes, my bad.
Upon finding out I’d be losing this money, I tried multiple times to contact Karen, the owner of the company, as her assistant/​client manager did not have access to financial info and wasn’t at liberty to refund money. The only phone number they provide is that of the client manager; Karen doesn’t have a direct line or cell phone so you’re at a loss if you need to talk to her. Her assistant left her multiple messages and emails (and of course I sent emails as well), but no response. After a full week of no contact, I got an email saying she didn’t feel like speaking to me, and therefore intentionally didn’t call me, b/​c she didn’t want me yelling at her? Um hello, I’m a professional, and a sane person. I don’t yell when trying to get my issues resolved. Her behavior was totally unprofssional and uncalled for, not to mention childish.
Early on, I had been recommending DDT to the folks in the dog park, but no more. I cannot in good faith recommend this company. You may not have problems anytime soon, but good luck getting them resolved when you do! I have found a much better service that has been beyond great.
UPDATE: Karen, in response to your comment… yes, as I mentioned in my review if you read it, the services overall were good… loved the walkers. It was YOU I had a problem with. Perhaps you should post the relevant emails, not the one where I state I’m happy w/​the new time frame. Incidentally, if Cameron had been picked up when she was supposed to, I wouldn’t have had to send an email commenting that her «new time» was good. Her «new time» was the time she was SUPPOSED to be picked up in the first place. As I said, I’m a professional and conduct business accordingly and give credit where credit is due.

Update as a response to Karen’s comment (3 years later, I might add).
My dog had been going on field trips/​walks with Doggie Daytrippers for about 2 years when this happened. If my dog was a ‘bolter’ she would have ‘bolted’ before that, wouldn’t you think? She never once bolted on me, so Karen’s claim that my dog bolted on me and I didn’t tell the walker is an outright lie.
And PLEASE. Doggie Daytrippers DID NOT track down my dog. A good samaritan stranger called me at 12:30 in the morning saying he found my dog racing down some main street (heading towards our old apartment, I’m guessing) and he caught up with her, saw her tags and called me to come pick her up. Doggie Daytrippers DID NOT return my dog to us safely. Some of Karen’s staff may have put in a lot of hard work and hours with me and my friends that afternoon, yes, which I clearly acknowledge in my initial review, but unfortunately they had ZERO part in returning my dog to me.

We’ve been using the Doggie Daytrippers team for a few months now and I don’t know what we’d do without them. It’s hard to find true animal lovers who also have the business savvy (ie. attention to details, good communication, and professionalism) to keep my type-​A tendencies satisfied. Karen is a great combination of the two and I’m impressed with what I’ve seen so far.
The walkers are wonderful, there’s no question about it. Amy is Lulu’s most frequent walker and not only are her notes detailed when necessary, but she also isn’t afraid to give us a call if something doesn’t seem quite right with our girl. I so appreciate that kind of communication and it’s a big relief to know we’ll be notified if something is «off.»
Like any company constantly dealing with last minute changes and requests, they have made some mistakes, but being proactive about fixing things and keeping us in the loop has made up for it.
The best thing about Doggie Daytrippers? Lulu is the most tuckered out I’ve ever seen her when she comes home for her «city hikes.» Like, ragdoll-​esque, can’t even peel herself off the floor, tuckered out. And, I love that my neighbors see her getting picked and report back to me that she has a huge smile on her face on her way out the door. If she’s happy, I’m happy.

These dog lovers will take your doggy out for an afternoon field trip! To the woods, the beach, any great natural outdoor area, where your doggy can run off leash.
I haven’t tried that yet, but they walk Buster every week, and he loves it. He gets a solo walk for $ 18 for 45 min. The walker (same one each week) leaves a note on how Buster’s walk went. I also like how they bill you monthly and send an email receipt.
Karen, the lady who will interview you and your dog, in the beginning is sweet.
A quality, hip, and outdoorsy vibe to this place and great website.
Buster says paws up to this place!