Oh boy. Where to begin...
I will preface this entire review by saying that I have two young male dogs -- A two year old Vizsla and a 15mo German Shorthaired Pointer. Incredibly athletic, energetic and sometimes spastic breeds. They need much love, attention and exercise but that's what you pay the "pros" to do while you're away, right? Right? Riiiiight.
My husband and I met with Laurie in her kitchen a few weeks before our scheduled vacation to Hilton Head, SC. During this meeting, Laurie said her "business" was licensed and insured, we discussed pricing, etc. Laurie runs her "business" out of her lovely home which includes a separate large attached room for the dogs to sleep in (it's climate controlled, a bonus) and a fairly large yard with an in-ground pool. Words cannot express how thrilled I was to see all of this. I pictured my dogs romping around and not stuck in some disgustingly small kennel. The day before our departure, I dropped off the pups and gave Laurie the $600 in cash. She seemed thrilled to have cash for Vegas. Her words, not mine. All was right in the world...until...dun dun dunnnnn:
Day two of my HH excursion. Some family and I are riding bikes around the island. Wind blowing on my newly hydrated hair and skin (well, helllllo humidity), sun shining, birds chirping, gators chomping, etc. The phone rings and it's a seriously passive aggressive Laurie. Seems my GSP had ripped up a piece of foam matting, ruined a pool thermometer, chewed some plants, etc and there will be some extra charges. Now, I leave both of my dogs out while I work 9-10 hour days. There's a doggie door and they have run of the house. Nothing has been destroyed. Ever. I always leave out plenty of chew and tug toys for them. Perhaps she wasn't exercising them/paying enough attention to them (Riley, the GSP, IS still technically a hyper puppy), perhaps it was the new environment. Whatever it was, Laurie wasn't discrete, or even the LEAST bit professional, when telling me about it. She then suggested taking them to a traditional kennel. Wait, didn't I just pay you a considerable amount of cash to take care of my dogs? Day 2 and you're ready to board them in a tiny cage? That doesn't sound very professional to me, nor does it indicate that you have any idea how to run a business. Oops, forgot my nasty quotes. "Business". I asked about her being "licensed and insured" and she went into some annoying spiel about how she's only insured for daycare and not for boarding. Lovely. Would've been nice to know while we were discussing such matters in the aforementioned meeting at the round table. In all honesty, I understand extra charges. What really bothered me was jumping to take my dogs to a kennel. I deferred her to my husband for the rest of the conversation. She actually said to him, "I guess I'll have to pay more attention to them." Hmmm...yeah. That IS what I am paying you to do.
Alas, Laurie did not get her wish because the kennel next to her did not have our dogs' shot records. She was stuck with them and called us a few more times throughout our vacation to say the same types of things. I specifically told her that my Vizsla probably would not eat at first and to just pick up the food after thirty minutes. He would eventually eat. Welp, Laurie decided to buy wet food (which my dogs never, ever eat) to put in his dry food and then charge me for it. Looks like he successfully manipulated her. I would expect someone who runs their own Pet Care "business" to know basic aspects of dog behavior. I called Laurie when my flight arrived to try to pick the dogs up earlier to relieve ALL parties involved. She did that weird thing that people do when they don't answer and then call right back. (This was not just a one-time occurrence with her.) She told me that she would need to follow her business hours and went on to say how she needed a break, too, from the day. All of the phone correspondence from her was unprofessional. She acted as though I had plagued her with two horrible beasts and that she was barely hanging on. It was extremely annoying and uncomfortable. She even commented on how my dogs were drinking "too much water." Yeah, it's over 100 degrees in Southern AZ and they're outside. As a parting gift, she reminded me how they were not welcome back. Honestly. It put a bit of a damper on vacation, which we never get to take. When I finally did arrive to pick the dogs up, she made sure to tell me again how she wished she could have taken them to a kennel. It really rubbed me the wrong way. Lots of Love? More like lots of drama. An extreme disappointment from a woman who chooses to do this as her profession. Just because you like small/calm/older dogs does not mean you should run a business. That's like someone saying, "I like kids, that must mean I'm qualified to be a teacher."
In my opinion, Lots of Love Pet Care should perhaps stick to toy breeds and/or older dogs. If you have an active dog, this may not be the place for you and the furbabies. The one star is given only because she was reasonable about the extra charges.
