A quick summary of my experience: in April of 2007, I stumbled upon Wagtime while purchasing some toys for my beagle, Wyatt. After speaking with Lisa and Ofer Kahl (her business partner), I felt like it was a good place to bring my dog. I read some online client reviews, and, while there were only a few, all indicated good things about Wagtime. Lisa and Ofer are nice people and you can sense they love the dogs, so I felt like it would be safe.
Wyatt did well there since April and I was never aware of any problems. As you can read in “my story” to the right, later problems became apparent. To complicate things, Lisa and Ofer refused to acknowledge any problem with dogs chewing collars off of other dogs. In fact, they both passed it off as normal. Fortunately, I was able to speak to a few employees who agreed that it should not have happened.
I decided to report my experience to the District agency that would regulate this type of business or even the Humane Society, as my dog could have seriously been injured. While people at these places will listen and understand the problem, there is nothing that can be done about it. I learned that DC has very archaic animal laws that allow for businesses such as Wagtime to get away with a lot and no repercussions for their negligence.
This forum is about fostering change. Together, in numbers, we can speak to our Councilmembers, their staff and other officials in the District to let them know that our beloved animals deserve to go to a place that has to follow certain guidelines and cannot allow dogs to face injuries or abuse by other dogs.
Councilmember Jack Evans (202)724-8058
Councilmember Jim Graham (202)724-8181
Councilmember Carol Schwarz (202)724-8105
Councilmember Mary Cheh (202)724-8062
Councilmember Vincent Gray (202)724-8032
Peggy Keller, Washington DC Department of Health (202)535-2188
Mail:
Council of the District of Columbia
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20004
Please feel free to e-mail me any questions, similar experiences, or ideas that you may have to bring about change. If you'd like to join my e-mail list for bi-weekly updates on progress, please let me know.
2 comments:
We've been sending our 18 month old to Wagtime for almost a year and love it. Lisa and Ofer are exceptionally affectionate with all of the residents and we feel completely comfortable with her staying there. We like the relaxed atmosphere, including letting well-behaved dogs up front (for example when she isn't supposed to be eating when other dogs are). All of the employees are excellent and the only time we've ever only seen one working is after 9pm at night when most of the dogs left are overnight.
We tried another one of the centers recommended in the article (Dogs by Day) and the manager didn't know our dog was a puppy OR a golden retriever. It was also disconcerting that you never have contact there with the people actually handling the dogs.
We're not trying to take away from the concerns of another pet owner, but did want to make sure readers knew that there are customers who are exceptionally happy with their service.
I was there at 10:00 am last week on a weekday and the only employee there was the daughter of an employee.
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