Stone Mountain Pet Lodge Indoor/Outdoor Dog Park

Thanks for taking care of Hershey and Charlie. You guys are always awesome!!

I go to Stone Mountain Pet Lodge every month for dog food and treats and toys and it's amazing!! The store is very nice and clean. The staff is always smiling and eager to assist.

We definitely got our money’s worth from 8am to 6:30pm. We always love Stone Mountain. Allie always does the best job. She is helpful and courteous.

The staffs at Stone Mountain Pet Lodge are very friendly and always have a smile for me.

I love knowing that I'm leaving the boys in good hands when they stay at Stone Mountain Pet Lodge. Thank you!

Duncan has been coming here for 5 years. He love it here every minute of it.

You guys have a great facility. We love how you guys take account of all items brought so not lost. You guys are very detailed when checking in and we feel secure that everything was in order.

You guys are great! Thank you for taking such good care of Gucci and Martini.

Everything was great at Stone Mountain Pet Lodge. The groomers were nice and the pricing was straight forward. We had a great time!

We love Andy! He is so caring and good with Rudy. He is the best!! I have referred others to Andy.

I've always had a very positive experience here at the Stone Mountain Pet Lodge. I love the service you guys have for the pet taxi, it is so convenient and pleasant.

We love dropping Stanley off here! We had a not so great experience at another kennel in Blaine, but we love it here!

Love the day care! & the dogs loves Andy the groomer. Keep up the good work Mesa loves it here!

This is a GREAT place for my dog to stay. She will be coming back. I like the staff and the fact that they care about the animals they are taking care of. I know my baby is in good hands, so I have no doubts when I leave her there. Keep up the good work!

I recognize Kiwi3 by their comments, and am not surprised by their remarks. I disagree with Kiwi's conclusions and many of Kiwi3's facts. While Kiwi3 wishes to remain anonymous, I see that they have named me.

Stone Mountain Pet Lodge's goal is to offer the best in pet care and at a reasonable price. We have a premium facility, a great staff that really love their jobs, and a great and developing program. This is our 6th year of having a lot of fun and a lot of hard work taking care of your pets and we appreciate your support.

To anyone that is interested, please accept my invitation to Tour Stone Mountain Pet Lodge any time that we are open, without an appointment. Then you can see for yourself and decide if you are comfortable trusting your pet to our care.

Dave
Owner of Stone Mountain Pet Lodge

I used to work here. Although they may be better than other kenels in the area, they are not an honest company. It is run by a family (a father, his sons, daughter, son-in-law, and daughter-in-law). For the most part, the father was the one causing the company to be dishonest. His sons and daughter were nice and seemed to care more about the employees and the animals. The majority of other employees were also nice and truly did care for animals. I will list the biggest concerns I had when working there:

#1-On non-busy days the "15 min" walks people payed extra for their dogs were probably only 10 minutes actual walking time, as Dave counted getting the dog on the leash and out of the kennel as part of the 15 min. During busy days (holidays) walks were maybe 5-7 minutes tops as the walk route was shortened by about 1/3. Also, during the holidays, if your dog was scheduled for two 15 minutes walks they were almost always combined into one walk, which was only probably 20 minutes long. On slower days, the two walks might only be 30min or an hour apart in order to get the walks "done for the day." The times for play times were also the same amount of time, depending on how busy the day was.

#2-Unless you specifically stated you wanted your dog walked in his/her own collar/harness with his/her own leash, then they got walked on a leash that just cinched around their neck. As dogs are usually stressed to be away from home, they pull a lot and choke. Also, I had seen a couple times other coworkers not put the ball close enough to the cinch part and dogs got loose.

#3-One night when getting ready to spray-clean the kennels the manager on duty told me I could just skip the sanitizing part and just spray with water and that they do sometimes when there's not enough time to sanitize. I did use the sanitizer because if it was my dog staying in there next I would want it clean.

#4-One day I noticed a gap between fence poles that was large enough for a small dog to slip through. This was there so the fence could glide open for snow removal. This was the area between the indoor doggy daycare room and the two outdoor play yards. I mentioned it to a coworker that day who said they had mentioned it to Dave before and he said there is no way to fix it because the fence needs to glide there and it's really not that big of a gap. A couple weeks later a little dog had slipped out the crack and was heading toward Radisson Rd when a guy that was unloading a semi-truck out front grabbed him and brought him back. After this, a pole was wedged in the ground to block off the gap.

#5-Another thing that bothered me was when we had to clean up the doggy day care area. We would have to start cleaning while the dogs were still there. Which isn't safe for a few reasons, first it's hard to watch all the dogs and make sure they are playing safe when you are busy cleaning. Also, we had to clean with a mop and a bucket of bleach water which the dogs would walk in the wet water and sometimes would drink from the bucket! We also had to vacuum, and some dogs were terrified of the vacuum and it made me feel mean doing it while they were right there.

#6-The peanut butter kongs were also not sanitized well.

#7-Last one, if your dog is hyper or rambunctious in doggy day care and "working-up the other dogs too much" he/she will be put in a kennel by themselves for the majority of the day. There were some dogs that would come in and each time I would guess they spent 75% of their time in a kennel by themselves because they were too hyper. If the dog got too aggressive I would understand this. When the owner of a dog who had been in a kennel most of the day to come pick them up an associate at the front desk would tell doggy day care he is being picked up and then he would be brought into the room so the owner wouldn't know. They announced every dog's pick-up but when the message would come to doggy day care of a dog who was in a kennel being pick-up my other coworkers would say "Hurry! Hurry!" to go get them. If the owner asked how the dog behaved that day or if the dog didn't make it back into doggy day care in time then they would be lied to: "Oh, he just went back there a few minutes ago because he was over-stimulated" or "He was kenneled a few times for some quiet, calm-down time." I would try to avoid these pick-ups so I didn't have to lie to the customers.

So, those are the main things I can think of. As far as the cats, they don't have "daycare" or walks or playtimes and I didn't see really anything of huge concern with them, besides some of them were stressed and some cried all day. I never saw any abuse or neglect of any animals, just some instances were coworkers weren't knowledgable on certain things. For example, during the winter when it was very cold. I would see small dogs being taken for walks who you could tell their feet were very cold by the way they were walked and some didn't want to move at all because they were just too cold. I would tell them that the managers had said it was ok to do indoor play time instead of walks if the dogs seems too cold.

The grooming salon. When owners watched their dogs being groomed the groomers were much more gentle and would talk sweet to them. When they weren't, some groomers, not all but some, would be very harsh. Pushing their heads different ways, jerking them if they tried to get away and being rough and doing things very fast and not taking the time. If a dog didn't like the blowdryer then they would be put into a kennel with a dryer pointing right into the kennel so they couldn't get away. Maybe other dog groomers do this too, I don't know, I just know some dogs whined and cried the whole time they were in there and I felt very sad for them. So, I would recommend to not bring your dogs there for kenneling, doggy day care, or grooming.

Their retail store is nice though and they have a lot of quality food, treats, toys, and other items. That is the only business there that I would say is worth your money. I really did write this in hopes of helping someone keep their pet safe and happy and to get what you are promised for your money.

Seems very expensive for a very small window of oppurtunity to go there. And no bathrooms-not acceptable! There are other parks that open at dawn and close @ 10:00pm. Will just have to dress a little warmer for my pooches. thanks for trying though.

Hi, I've already contacted the DogParkUSA folks, but I wanted to let everyone here know that our current hours (updated Feb. 4, 2011) are:
Mon-Fri: Closed
Saturday: Noon - 4 PM
Sunday: 1 PM - 5 PM

Our hours have been changed due to increased doggy day care and training activity (which share some of the same dog park spaces).

By the way, we do welcome your feedback! There is a better chance of changing policy if you let us know directly:
http://www.stonemountainpetlodge.com/general_feedback/

Thanks,

-Matt
Stone Mountain Pet Lodge

The cost vs. hours open is not worth it. My dogs need exercise every day. Going here every weekend with limited hours of availability $10 each time adds up fast. In a month I could easily spend $100 and that's too expensive. Whenever I go, I feel I have to stay for several hours for it to be worth the cost.

I was just there and it was AMAZING! There were so many dogs since it was so cold out (love Minnesota) and my baby had SUCH a good time! Great staff, beautiful facility. It's a huge heated room so my pup can stay warm and burn off all her energy while I don't have to stand in the cold and freeeeeeze. Keep up the good work guys!

Is it worth it to run your dog tired here during below zero temps? How big is the area? Ours loves the snow, but can't take it anymore and won't wear booties.. so..

They make you pay to use there dog park, and there is noone ever there like a traditional park like the one in fridley that is free.