The only unfortunate thing about this review is that it is written by a former client of mine who in her own self interest has abruptly decided that she needed to change her former glowing review of our store to one that suits her current purpose.  I know full well who this is. Arianna Harr is the owner of two dogs and lives in Battery Park.  Her Papillon, Zoe was trained by my former Director of Training, Alex Brooks, and my former Assistant Dog Trainer, Brian Mestre.  While at our store, Zoe contracted the doggie flu which is an airborne virus.  Even our rigorous cleaning procedures cannot curtail such a thing from happening.  I have personally spoken to Arianna twice.  Once to discuss the business and thank her for her glowing review (the one that she has now replaced with this one) and the other to discuss the pickup of her second dog, a Great Pyrenees.  I had never discussed her dog being sick with her, nor did she contact me about it.  In fact, during the time when Zoe was sick we had been informed by other client's of ours that their dogs were sick as well.  It was only from Alex and Brian whom she dealt directly with that I came to know that Zoe was sick.  Around the same time, in August 2007, unknown to me, she approached my former Asst. Dog Trainer, Brian to ask him if he could pet sit her dogs.  In spite of a signed Non-Compete agreement, Brian seized the opportunity to take the job and essentially stole a client from The Paw Stop.  Brian continued to operate and even build his business with current and former Paw Stop clients, in secrecy, while still working as my Assistant Dog Trainer, until I discovered him walking another former client’s dog by accident while running up the West Side Highway on a random Monday afternoon.  I was then forced to terminate Brian and bring litigation against him after he refused to cease his business which was in violation of my trust in him and for breaching our non-compete agreement.   Arianna whose dogs were at the time and are now still being walked and trained by Brian was apparently infuriated by this action and called my attorney to directly threaten him, me and the store.  She has now taken it upon herself to try and defame me, The Paw Stop, and anyone I am associated with as her mission.  For what reason, I do not know and may only presume it is possibly because of a fondness of Brian, or that she is financing his legal battle with me and the store, or just a plain self indulgent and unfounded personal hatred of me.  Whatever it is, you may now you may judge her review at face value.   

As an aside, we feel terrible when a dog is sick or hurt at our facility.  My love for dogs is what got me into this business in the first place.  Unfortunately, it is inevitable that viruses like the doggie flu spread in our kennel.  However, the doggie flu, otherwise known as kennel cough (a misnomer) does not originate in a kennel.  It takes an already sick or shedding (stage at which the virus remains undectable) dog to bring it in.  Then just like kids at school, it spreads like wildfire.  Of course, these things are going to happen.  It is impossible to avoid them in this business.   We are thankful to our reasonable and rational clients who understand this and appreciate that all of our sick/injured dog procedures and policies are carefully put together by me and my experienced associates with the input and oversight of a veterinarian.  I have 10 years experience in the pet care industry and have now cared for tens of thousands of dogs.  The staff and the veterinarians we are associated with all have the professional experience necessary to make informed, qualified, and compassionate decisions regarding the care of the pets that are entrusted to us.  Additionally, I have had a long established open door policy and we handle all client concerns in a sincere and professional manner.  All instances of contagious viruses that are discovered at the store are communicated to our clients via our staff, email, our website, and store announcements, a history of which may be reviewed on our website blog and announcements section. 

In a final repsonse to Arianna and all those who look at this world and judge others based on misconceptions, irrational beliefs, or strictly on their own personal welfare, we ask that you please stay away from our store.  We only want to be visited by those who judge us on the facts and your own experiences, and not on the whims of some finatic person with a vendetta. 

Many times customers who have never owned or boarded a dog before do not fully understand the expectations for care when they drop their dogs off at a facility like ours. We are diligent in our efforts to keep our place clean and the dogs healthy and safe. The fact is that Pet Parents have their dogs stay with us because they want them to be well cared for and have fun. We watch them carefully and try to care for them as you would yourself. Dogs do play here all day and interact with other dogs. The natural stress of being away from you in a strange environment plus the exercise will make them tired and even a little grungy. They often do not stop playing until they get home which is why you will see them sleep for such a long period of time when they do. We are very sorry that your dog got sick.  That certainly was not the intention. If we could have prevented it, we would have taken any and all necessary steps in order to do so.  The fact is that even our rigorous cleaning procedures, our state of the art plumbing and air filtration systems does not prevent dogs from bringing these types of viruses and bacteria into our facility.  Therefore, like kids at school, when they interact and play, they pass these things between one another.  We are sure that your vet has informed you of how contagious Giardia and viruses like it are as well as how sometimes it is very difficult to detect.  At the time you boarded your dog, there was no other known active cases here. If there were, then we would have informed our clients, isolated the dogs, sent the dog’s home, and immediately broke down the playrooms for additional cleaning.  We understand that it can be upsetting for a new dog owner to have to go through what you did and we never want to see one of the dogs we care for sick or hurt.  We hope that he is making a speedy recovery.  

I am more than willing to talk to any customers that have an issue or concern with anything related to your dog and our store.  I would be pleased to talk with you directly rather than have to respond in this medium.  Please feel free to contact me at the store or via email. 

• RAW FOOD GOES BACK TO THE BASICS.  IT IS A MORE “NATURAL” ANIMAL DIET. THIS IS WHAT THEIR DIGESTIVE SYSTEMS WERE DESIGNED TO EAT. 
• LESS INGREDIENTS MAKE IT A BETTER CHOICE FOR DOGS PRONE TO ALLERGIES
• THERE IS NOT ANY TYPE OF HEAT PROCESSING IN RAW FOODS.  THIS INSURES THAT THE VITAMINS, ANTIOXIDANTS, AND OTHER GOOD STUFF NATURALLY FOUND IN FOOD IS IN THERE.