Cons
Understaffed. The owner, Dan, advertises that the dogs are never left alone, but they often are. I was often left completely alone with 60-80 dogs separated in 4 different play areas. It was impossible to watch them all at once. There were a lot of fights and injuries. Thank god an emergency vet is down the street from that place because I had to take several dogs there. On one of my last days working there, a dog bit another dogs ear off when the owner left a brand new employee alone in the high energy/big dog play area. I took the dog to the emergency vet myself because Dan wasn’t there. My clothes, face, and car were covered in blood. All the employees had to fight to get Dan to kick that dog out. The worst incident I experienced was on Christmas Eve when he left me completely alone at the facility with 80 + dogs. An aggressive dog that should not have been allowed at a cage free daycare mauled another dog. It was a massive 100+ pound pit bull mix. It took me so long to get it off of the other dog by myself. Dan requires everyone to carry pepper spray in case of a fight, but the pepper spray cans he provided did not work. I had leave the play area and search around the facility for a can that wasn’t jammed. It took two cans off pepper spray to get the pit bull to let go of the other dog. During this process other dogs in the room started to pack around me and bite my legs. I had multiple scratches and punctures, and two of them left scars. He didn’t report my injuries or report the dog bite and quarantine the dog that bit me. He told me this was just part of the job. I foolishly believed him at the time. That was the most terrifying thing I have ever been through in my entire life. By leaving me alone there, Dan put the safety and lives of the dogs and myself at risk. If that pit bull had let go of the other dog and attacked me I would have been helpless. Thankfully the dog survived, but it was severely injured and the owners were devastated.
Dan, the owner, is abusive.
1) He has anger management issues. If he’s in a “mood” any little thing will set him off. He would literally scream at me and the other women that worked there for making tiny mistakes. I was always under so much stress and pressure. He made me cry several times and once had to leave work early because he gave me a panic attack. To excuse this behavior, he’d tell me stories about how he was abused as a child. I didn’t want to hear about my boss’s personal life. It was so unprofessional and made me uncomfortable. He was just trying to get me to feel bad for him so I would tolerate the abuse. He also told me I was his favorite employee, and that’s why he got extra disappointed whenever I messed up. He was so manipulative. If I was his favorite employee, why did he pay me at least two dollars less than anyone else?
2) Dan sexually harassed me and the other women that worked there. It happened daily. It was very subtle at first and I just told myself he was just a creepy old man who didn’t know any better. But it kept getting worse and I know he knew I was uncomfortable. He’d tell me graphic stories about his sex life. It was disgusting. He’d make comments about my body literally every single day. He’d ask me about my love life. He’d ask me inappropriate questions about my sexual orientation. He made comments about customers bodies, told me what he’d like to do with them, and asked me if I found them attractive. If he said something about my body or asked an inappropriate question, I would change the subject or walk away, but he would keep going on. I stopped wearing makeup and wore baggy clothes to deter these comments but it didn’t work. It all started after he paid for my dogs vet bills. I was afraid to stand up to him because I owed him money. He knew this. I was afraid to quit because I fell in love with the dogs there and I was afraid no one would believe me if I told them what was going on. He’s involved in a lot of progressive activism, and he seems like a really good guy to people who aren’t close to him. He would never say anything inappropriate to me in front of other employees or customers. Then I found out it was happening to other women that worked there and at least one other woman that used to work there, so I decided it was time to leave. At first I told him I had to quit because I was going back to school, but things kept escalating so I ended up standing up for myself. I told him he said things that made me uncomfortable and he replied “ oh what, you think I’m hitting on you?” I told him that’s not what I would call it, and then he told me I was fired because I was stressing him out. So he sexually harassed me for over a year, then when I finally stood up for myself he fired me.