Bark Avenue Mercer Island

Not a great experience. Completely hacked the «haircut» for our puppy. He looks awful. And on top of it, it was Super Expensive. And they didn’t even give him a full haircut. Not coming back.

My dog, Chloe, always has a blast when I bring her here. Ian (the owner) is great with dogs, and I can always rest assured that Chloe will be well-​taken care of while I’m at work. The prices are reasonable and I couldn’t ask for a better place for my four-​legged child to play during the day.

We had a great experience with Lois, the dog groomer this morning. Our 4-​month-​old puppy’s first experience went well – they took a lot of time and effort to give her a reassuring first visit, and when I arrived to pick her up she was lounging on the floor in the grooming area while Lois worked on another dog. Lois also took time to give us ideas on how to train our pup to be comfortable with the clippers in the future (not used today), as well as ways to help keep her head still for between-​grooming eyebrow clips at home.

I had a horrible experience at bark avenue and everybody else I’ve talked to has had just as bad, if not worse. First of all, the staff was totally rude. Second of all, I got a call from Bark avenue after my dog had been groomed, telling me my dog had no «manners» and wouldn’t be welcomed again. Apparently my less than 4 pound puppy was «wiggling» and «wouldn’t stay still for the hair cut». Isn’t it your job to groom dogs? He’s a puppy… I’m not surprised he’s not perfectly still for vibrating razor blades. Thus, why I sent him to professional groomers who’s job is to deal with such things.
Not only were they totally rude, but they gave him the worst buzz cut hack job I’ve ever seen. I have a maltipoo and asked them to shorten his hair, while keeping it fluffy and not make him look «rat like». He barely has any hair left… He looks like a Sphinx cat. I can see his skin and the buzz is so uneven. There’s bald spots all over his body and he looks so, so horrible.
Also, it was clear that the man working there didn’t care about the well being or happiness of my dog. He just threw him on the counter when I came to pick him up and was clearly annoyed and disgruntled to even be dealing with the dogs in the first place. Part of the job is enjoying the dogs and caring for them.
Lastly, they charged me EIGHTY dollars for a cut on a tiny, tiny dog. Like I said, he barely weighs 4 pounds. They said there were extra costs because he was «wiggly»…
Overall, so incredibly disappointed and will never EVER be returning. I wouldn’t recommend bark avenue to anyone and am surprised their still in business.

I really don’t know what happened this time around… the woman doing the grooming yelled at the dogs in the grooming room to «shut up!» a few times before the owner brought my dog back to her. Then he was unceremoniously dropped on the grooming table, all nails clipped hard and fast with the scissors despite me saying he has really long quicks in dark nails (he was quicked immediately and bleeding on the table), and when I knocked on the window to ask why the heck they weren’t using the dremel like I specifically came in there for, the groomer grabbed the dremel and just did a really fast buzz across all of his nails (not even enough to smooth out the edges of the cuts, I had to file his nails when I got home). My poor dog was shaking in terror through the whole process, and when he came back out to me he was bleeding on the floor still… I had to point it out to the owner (who was just staring and silently waiting for me to pay) and then he took him back to put more powder on his bleeding toe.
When I asked what happened to the amazing groomer I’d seen in the past, he said the woman in the back had been doing their grooming for three years; unless she’s gained about 60 pounds and grown a foot taller since the last time I saw her, this was definitely a different person than the one I met the first time I brought my dog in… that first woman was really friendly and gave my dog a gentle face massage before quietly just using the dremel on his feet. This one yelled and treated him like he was an inconvenient assembly line piece.
This was a horrible experience all around; I don’t plan on coming back.

You can see the owner of this place commented that my review should be unbiased and objective, and that there is a conflict of interest… not sure what he/​she is talking about.
I had nothing to lose and nothing to gain from what I wrote soooo no conflict there.
Unilocal is for OPINIONS. Opinions are not facts. My opinion is biased, because that’s what an opinion is. My experience was subjective, because that’s what experiences are, by definition.
I wrote exactly what I experienced. Nothing else. For no reason other than that I think it’s helpful for people to read it.

they groom our dogs and always do a great job. occasionally the dogs go here for doggy day care and they have lots of fun!

My dog was almost killed at this place by other bigger dogs. He had multiple bites and exposed muscle that required more than 1 hour surgery under full anesthesia. Do not trust this place. They have too many dogs, mixing big and small dogs and not enough supervision. We were even charged the full boarding fee the day that this occurred and we were never contacted to know how our dog was doing afterwards. Of course, not even a mention of reparation. DO NOT trust this place. We are lucky that our dog survived but it was a very traumatic experience for everyone.

When i retired, the dog grooming responsibilities turned over to me. Although we were happy with the previous groomer, (Der Pet Hous in Bellevue,) the double drive was just crazy, so I tried Bark Avenue here on the island. We have been 100% happy for the last 6 years. Conor, our miniature poodle, has always been groomed exactly to my specifications. I like a natural puppy look, no fro-​fro poodle cuts for me. They have it in the computer, and pay attention, a very professional operation.
The current groomer Lois, is delightful. and has alerted me to possible ear problems etc.
During a major renovation to our home nearly 4 years ago, I took Conor to Bark Avenue for day care to avoid the noise and chaos at home. Conor is quite shy, and they handled that beautifully. Thank you Ian. It made that stressful time easier.
And thank you for supporting the community, currently partnering with MI Parks and Rec in the letterboxing program. Bravo.

NIGHTMARE EXPERIENCE!!! After a grooming, my sweet cavapoo had his coat butchered, a cut on his ear and his nails were so jagged they cut a hole through our cushions. Stay far away from BARK AVENUE!!!

Fabulous experience! After several visits my mixed breed 20 mo. old dog has found a new daytime doggy daycare and pack to hang out with. The staff are excellent and my dog is happy and busy all day!

I usually do not post horrible reviews however I am not sure how this place is still in business. We took our shiba inu here for grooming since her normal groomer was booked. It was absolutely the worst experience in 6 years that we have had to encounter. The manager there has horrible customer service skills and doesn’t know how to treat her customers. We took Sander our 6 year-​old baby here for a normal grooming. They did a horrible job. The worst part of our experience is the manager hard gluing bows to her hair. We tried washing the bows out because they were so painful for her. The glue would not come out without cutting her hair. It was painful watching her suffer. We contacted their office to talk to them about the bows and was informed that all groomers did this. In 6 years no one has EVER super glued bows to Sander’s hair. We also verified with two other groomers on the island, as well as PetSmart, who all stated they have never heard of anyone doing this and no should. After calling a couple of places to see if they good get them out, everyone was booked for the next few days. Therefore we were force to call them back to tell them to take the bows out. The guy who answered the phone stated the manager was gone for the next couple of days and would have her to call me. I received an unprofessional call from the manager who stated that she was going out of town and was the only one in the business who had the solution to take the glue out of our dog’s hair. They were not concerned about our complaints. Sander was force to wait several days until the manager was back in town. Please DO NOT take your dog here. I would not recommend them to anyone.

I took my dog here for the first time as I had few options on short notice. The service was friendly and attentive, however the grooming took 2.5 hours when I was quoted 1.5 hours. One of my dog’s nails was cut too short so he was bleeding afterward and also had a spot on his bottom that was nicked. I will not be coming back here, especially for the high price of the grooming.

We just starting taking our 5 month old puppy her about a month ago and we can already notice the difference in her behavior around other dogs. She was a very timid puppy but she is gaining confidence and is able to be around dogs of all shapes and sizes without feeling intimidated. I feel safe leaving her all day while I’m at work knowing she is playing and safe.

My dog runs from the car into Bark Avenue to play with her friends. The staff is very friendly and helpful. Tried another doggy day care in the area and didn’t feel like there was as much room for the dogs to play and didn’t feel like they were as well supervised. Plus my dog gets a nice walk everyday. Everybody is happy!

I have never been treated so poorly by a business before. When my dog was cut on the neck by the groomer (this is a dog who every other groomer his entire life has said how well behaved he is) it became infected. When I went back a few days later asking for a refund of the grooming fees to at least help cover the vet bill the owner of this place started cussing and yelling at me! Every other word was profanity. I was shocked, especially since I was neither using bad language or raising my voice. I’m younger and live in one of the appartments downtown. I’m sure that if I was one of the folks with a house on the water on the Island he would have appoligized and returned my money, or at least not yelled and cussed.
Puppy Bubbles is the place to take your dog on the Island. They are fantastic. Not this guy. Unless your super ritch and then he will bend over backwards to give you good service.

Today was another true 5-​Star experience!
The appointment was perfect, his cut was perfect, the people were extremely open, friendly and professional, they called to report he was ready to go exactly on time and I have a very happy dog-​pal dozing at my feet.
With a history of seven dogs in our family over the last 40 years, we have had all kinds of grooming and daycare experiences.
I can only think that the negative reviews written below simply reflect the common attitude of «New Mercer Islanders». When they move here, along with feeling more entitled than others, they also believe that their dog’s poop is as odor-​free as their own. Bark Avenue is a great business with great people and happy wagging clients.
We’ll be happy customers for a long time to come, and we’re amazed by what we’ve read in earlier reviews.
The Millers

Just a warning to fellow dog owners: have been taking my 1 year-​old Aussie Henry to Bark Avenue for a couple of months now. Today we picked him up and they had put a shock collar on him to keep him from «whining.» Turns out he had to go to the bathroom and no one ever took him out. Poor guy thought he’d done something wrong. I am absolutely IRATE that we never received a phone call of any kind to report unusual behavior (barking or whining is EXTREMELY unusual for Henry) or to ask us to pick him up. I’ve also been suspicious of the care they provide, as Henry drinks two and a half bowls of water when he gets home, which he doesn’t even do after a full day at the park. Leads me to believe they don’t give them any water. Their contract literally states «If the pet becomes aggressive or uncontrollable BAMI will endeavor to contact Client.» Did we receive ANY phone call to the THREE numbers we provided? Absolutely not. We would have picked him up immediately if we had been notified there was a problem. I am dismayed and disappointed, but most of all I hurt for Henry. He was just reacting the way he has been trained to behave when he needs to go out. He’s a very well –behaved puppy and I can only hope that this was the first time and not one in a series of instances when they’ve used this inhumane treatment without our consent or any notification of any kind. BEWARE OF BARK AVENUE!!!

Such a wonderful daycare and grooming salon :) A wonderful staff! Very nice group that takes personal service very seriously! Great shop and very convenient on Mercer Island! Check it out!!!