City Dogs Boarding & Playcare

will ross

2024-02

I think (and our two dogs -- adult black lab + mini golden doodle puppy think) place is fine, and manager Kevin knowledgeable and highly-accommodating (for us, airline schedule). We knew going-in that CD is large, with plenty of dogs, is noisy (bark! bark!), smells like dog, and all with plenty of run-around playtime (in designated groups). Their approach is not just to stick their dog-guests into crates (even pristine ones), and then only take them out briefly three times a day. So...if that's what your dog is used to, then this probably is not the place for you (or the dog). Truth be told, our older one likes things a little quieter than the highly-energetic pup, so i asked that she be "excused" from too much free time romping. Both came-back after six days in good shape, with bath final afternoon (recommended). Would use again.

Ali Toloczko

2023-12

Having super early hours at the hospital, this is one of the few playcare places that is open before 7 am which is fantastic. I really appreciate the flexibility of pick up/drop off and my dog always seems super excited when we pull up. My two little small notes are that my dog always comes home smelling like dog pee/the facility smells like dog pee. I totally understand that there is a lot of dogs they are taking care of and they try to clean everything as best as possible, but I would just adjust expectations. The other small note, is that there are no cameras/updates during the day so it's hard to know if my dog has been playing outside all day or has been trapped in a kennel or what not. This is still my first spot I go to for playcare, just has some potential for minor improvements.

Elizabeth Neyrus

2023-10

I have been using city dogs for years and I always liked it because it has always been easy to drop my dog off for boarding, however, I left him there for one day this weekend and he came back after just being groomed smelling like feces. It was one day. I can’t imagine what they do to him if this is the condition he is in when he’s returned. I had to come home and give him a bath today after he was just groomed because of this place so unfortunately now we will not be using city dogs again. If you can’t even keep your facility clean and not smelling disgusting then I can’t imagine that my dog is taken care of very well.

Shelby Starr

2023-11

Caring, attentive staff. Learned our dogs names on the first visit and remembered them months later. When the dogs need boarding, I feel relieved knowing how well they are cared for here...even the antisocial dog behaves herself here. The grooming is priced well and they do a great job. Recommend 10/10

Mellisa Gadd

2023-10

Being new to the area and relying solely on reviews, I chose city dogs to board my five year old boxer for 2 nights while I was out of town for work. I toured the facility on September 5 and Kevin was gracious enough to show me around. He explained that while beds were not allowed to be brought in that, blanket and toys were not a problem. Despite being met with noise and the strong smell of urine, when I walked in the door, I proceeded with the tour of the facility. While not overly impressive, Kevin seemed genuine, and assured me that my pup would be well taken care of. I dropped her off there early afternoon on Friday and told them that I would like her to join the swim group if one was offered during her stay. I texted the facility on Saturday to see how she was doing and I received the report of she was doing really well, and that she was making new friends in playgroup, not knowing any better I have a little excepted this news, and felt good about my dog being at city dogs. Upon picking her up Sunday afternoon, I was met with a dog that looked totally defeated, head down, not making iContact, no tail wagging upon seeing their human. This is a five year old boxer and that is not a reaction to being picked up from boarding. I was also told that she was not allowed to join the swim group because she had been vomiting the entire time she had been there, mind you I had not received one text message or a phone call concerning this vomiting. I wanted to question the individual who initially brought me the wrong dog when I gave them my dogs name, this tells me a couple of things this facility didn’t even know my dog was in there, let alone know who she was, and who she belong to. It would've only increased my anger and delayed my getting her out of there.I decided not to say anything at the time, because nothing I was going to say it was going to be kind. I took her bag with her blanket and toys in it, put her in the truck and went home. Upon getting home and unpacking her bag I noticed that every ounce of dry food was still in the bag, the only thing that was missing was the can of food . Also, I know she never received her blanket or her toys during her stay, how do I know this? Because Haley folded inside the blanket with the toys was a note from me to the staff along with a cash tip, and all of it was still in the bag. So I am, who are you, if you love your dog, do not take them to City Dogs of Roanoke. Take them anywhere else because I promise you what you’re promised from the staff at that facility and the treatment that your pup will receive are two very different things.

Nick L

2023-10

City Dogs is amazing. I relied on them for weekly Day care and any boarding needs for my 5 years in Roanoke. Can not recommend higher. The people there love the animals and it shows every day. Ripley misses the crew and I thank you all for your hard work, love and attention to her and all the other animals under your care.

Shannon Peters

2023-05

The staff and community at City Dogs are just simply amazing. My current dogs don’t do well in social settings, but through my time with animal rescue and fostering, city dogs was always there to support and love my pups. They have literally saved dozens of dogs from euthanasia with their generous boarding for rescues. Plus, have you seen the photos and whatnot they do for the pups?! I just wish my current brood of pups would ‘play nice’ with others so they could spend time there.

kelly shook

2023-05

The staff here is amazing and so friendly. They always greet us and our dog politely. They give him love and he is always excited to see them. Our dog will start getting excited when we get close to City Dogs. He loves it. The really helped him with socializing and building confidence. I would recommend this place to any dog owner.

Ashley Frost

2024-03

My pup-pup really enjoyed his time here. The staff seemed friendly and gave him lots of attention.

WENDY cummings

2023-11

My son's Shepherd spent a week boarded here while we had a hospitail stay. She seemed to be happy, well cared for and she even got a bath while she was there! Thank you City Dogs!

Aimee Dickenson

2023-05

We left our 3 dogs with City dogs while on vacation for 8 days/7 nights. We asked them to keep them together as they are all bonded.When we picked them up, the facility smelled like a shelter. The smell was so offensive I had to breathe through my mouth. When the dogs came out the young lady explained our German shepherd had developed “an eye issue.” She thought maybe he had scratched it.The dogs were filthy and smelled like the facility. I mentioned how badly they smelled (they had been groomed prior to the boarding) and she sprayed dry shampoo on them. This just made their coats sticky.We left hurriedly because of the smell. When we got our dogs home, we notice our German shepherd was depressed acting. He had lost a considerable amount of weight and his hips and ribs could be seen. His eye was puffy with discharge. All of our dogs developed this.We took them to the vet the next day. They all had pink eye. Our shepherd had lost 5 lbs while at City Dogs.The following week, we took our shepherd back to the vet, because he was still acting “off”. Depressed, lethargic, coughing and sneezing. One night he sneezed bloody mucus discharge out of his nose. We took him back to the vet. It was a strain of kennel cough—even though he had been vaccinated, like the flu, there are other strains.Not only did we pay $680 for our dogs to be boarded, we ended up paying for vet bills, medications, additional grooming, and expensive raw food to get our shepherd’s weight back.The only highlight was the young lady that greeted us and got the dogs for us. She was lovely.Do better City Dogs! We will never use you again.

Jennifer A. Vincent

2023-05

I’ve just read all there reviews and for the life of me can’t understand the one from mojo mamah this person contacted me in the middle of the nite I do not know them at all showing a video that wasn’t clear and the sound was distorted. It was very creepy and disturbing for me to read I’ve taken my high energy Aussie that has separation anxiety to city dogs on and off for almost 2 yrs now. Trust me my dog is so hard to handle and they do a great job! When picking her up she’s so excited that she’s unmanageable so a young man that works there picks her up and puts her collar on for me! I have boarded her several times with them! I see the reviews about urine smell!! If I was in a place that had 50 plus dogs that play and roll around constantly. I have personally witnessed them moping up after 50 dogs. Many dogs won’t eat while boarded it’s a strange environment. This is a great establishment for your dog! Nothing is perfect all the dogs there have different personalities I feel they do a great job! I couldn’t dealing with that many dogs at once! Kennel cough bus like the flu for dogs and vaccines don’t always work.

Sara Wright

2023-05

We've been bringing our dogs to City Dogs for playcare and boarding since 2015 and love it! Our two dogs go about once a week and beg to go more often. The staff are always so good with them and sometimes have funny stories for us at pick up. They get so much play in and come home worn out for a few days. With them both being high energy, it has been a necessity since boredom can sometimes lead to bad behaviors. I highly recommend you check them out!

Cailin Austin

2023-05

We have been taking our rescue dog, Bristol, to City Dogs for about 2 months now and she loves it! We didn’t know much about her history when we adopted her but found out quickly that she has bad separation anxiety and needed an outlet for her energy during the day.City Dogs has been the perfect fit for her. She starts wagging her tail as soon as we pull up and the employees are always so sweet to her and know her by name when I drop her off! They have definitely been an essential part of socializing her and making her comfortable and confident in her “new life.” She’s so sleepy when she comes home and sometimes even the next day. We usually only need two or three days of playcare a week to help manage her energy levels! It has been such a big help with transitioning her into our home. Thank you, city dogs! :)

Cynthia Nelson

2022-05

We have a great pyrenees 20 months old. I was really nervous to take him and board him. He's never been away from us, I've never board a dog, ever.Well, Alexander had a great time! After three days we picked him up. 😊 I peeked into the windows, he was so excited to see the staff call for him, he didn't know he was going home, he was just happy and wagging his tail and smiling to greet them. I was relieved, seeing him happy to go toward someone else after 3 days, it really relieved my anxiousness. They were so good about setting up this appointment and talking with me and make me feel comfortable about taking him there and they had really good reviews, this is another one!I went ahead and had him bathed and had his nails done and he was fine with that, also he loved being able to run around and play with the other dogs there. Thank you guys for doing an amazing job 💙

Gail Ward

2023-10

LOCAL FAV..HIGHLY RECOMMEND!Update to 3yr old review:We still love City Dogs! Our only regret is we cannot afford to take Curry there more often. We have another playcare a block from our home, but we drive into town because Curry loves it there.Granted, he's just a good old hound dog, but he gets so excited when we drive up, can't wait to go in, comes home relaxed and well taken care of. I don't expect every new employee to know his name. He isn't groomed...he's safe and he's happy. Some of these complaints are ridiculous..please hire a private sitter. Don't hurt someone's business over petty people issues. These people LOVE DOGS. Isn't that what matters?I write reviews, so I read them, too. When there is a rare complaint, this place responds and encourages owners to speak up if they have any concerns.So..the business is run great, the Staff really cares, and the place looks good to me.The real test: Will your dog love it like ours does?Try it!! You won't be disappointed.

Jenna Khivka Pratt

2023-05

Gogo comes home from daycare happy and tired. She's always excited to go back so I know she enjoys it.She lost several pounds and met her lean weight goal after only a few weeks of going twice a week.At Christmas they did optional Christmas pictures.Staff friendly, kind and responsive also

Jelena Jelic

2022-05

I left my dog to be boarded for the first time ever at City Dogs & I could not be happier. The owner knows I was so worried & paranoid, but she has been keeping me posted every day and has sent me pictures of my dog daily to let me know how he is doing. They have really helped me feel better about leaving him there. They also made sure to give him a bath after he had accidents in his room! I was welcomed as soon as I got there and they made sure to greet my dog in such a loving manner. I would never take my dog elsewhere! You can tell they genuinely care about dogs!!!

James Nguyen

2023-06

Nice service. People working there were pleasant to work with. Smell at the front dog was almost unbearable, but that's to be expected. Wish boarding places would do more ventilation in the front lobby.

Samantha Dixon

2021-05

I love City Dogs and Boarding/Playcare. I have been taking my husky Jade there for the past year. I recently started boarding her sometimes due to my crazy schedule as a first responder. They have always gotten back to me about dates and have worked with me on short notice. She is always so excited to go there and doesn't even look back to say bye. The staff is great and they know all the dogs by name. Jade loves to play with the other dogs and is exhausted when she gets home. Highly recommend!

Brittney Panella

2020-05

I needed a very last minute boarding for my dog and they were more than willing to accommodate quickly and made me feel very comfortable leaving my dog for a few days. They even sent me an update on him (without me asking! :) ) since they knew how nervous I was to leave him. Excellent customer service and most importantly my dog returned to me fed, happy, and with no injuries! I will definitely use City Dogs again for future boarding needs and daycare.

Lori M. Lamey

2022-05

You cannot put a price on peace of mind but let me tell you, I gladly payed for 5 days of it, inexpensively in my opinion! This place is what you are looking for if you love your dog like family but have to leave them for whatever reason. We just moved to Roanoke from Rochester, New York 3 weeks ago, we know nobody here to watch our gentle giant, Martha. We had an out-of-town funeral, it would have been impossible to take her and she doesn't get around easily anymore. We were not at our best when we dropped her off, having received very sad news, we were still adjusting. Stephanie is a very sympathetic and caring young lady, she put our minds at ease. She sent us pictures and updates regularly. Even upon pick up, we were so exhausted mentally and physically and once again, she put up with our fogged minds so patiently. I highly recommend this facility to anyone in need of quality care for their furry family members. ❤

Hannah Brownmiller

2022-05

I was super excited to take my 5 month old pup here. Given it was the first time I ever boarded him, I was of course nervous to leave him. I heard nothing but great reviews from friends and family, so my mind was put at ease. However, I was less than thrilled with our experience. When I picked our dog up, I could hear a man (presumably a worker) yelling at dogs in the back. I get that you have to discipline the dogs, but the way this man was yelling at the dogs made me very uncomfortable. He sounded like he was being a lot meaner than necessary. Our pup was definitely tired when he came home, indicating that he had a good time. He also seemed somewhat timid, which I tried to convince myself was just tiredness, but after hearing that man yell in the back of the building…I couldn’t help but think that maybe he was scared, also. The employees also had no information for me when I picked our dog up as to how our dog did during his stay. His food bag came home just about as full as it was when we dropped him off, and he ate 2 huge bowls of food as soon as he got home, making it seem that he was starving. I get that he might’ve not wanted to eat in an unfamiliar place, but that is not like him. Staff didn’t mention anything about any feeding issues, making me wonder how often he was actually fed (we left specific feeding instructions with the staff upon drop off). I was super excited to try City Dogs, but pretty disappointed in the experience that we had :(

Suzanne Caldwell

2023-05

We have been taking both our dogs to City Dogs since 2017, they love it there, we love how attentive the staff is. Quick to respond to messages.The owner goes above and beyond to help her customers.

Jennifer Vincent

2023-05

They are responsive to messages we’ve only been twice at this point but will definitely be going back! I was at my wits end with my aussie pup and her energy. City Dogs was suggested by a few friends we tried it and the results are great my puppy is like a new dog. She got her energy out plus is getting socialized with dogs of her hair size and breed she seems happy and well cared forThe staff so far has been good to us and smiling when we enterKeep in mind they have many dogs there so mix ups happen they are humanWith all the different breeds and ages they do a great job in my opinion

Stephanie Farrell

2021-05

I cannot recommend City Dogs enough! We have two hounds (Chief and Hank!) who both come home happy and exhausted every time they go to city dogs, whether it’s for boarding or daycare. Chief is young and extremely high energy, while Hank is an old couch potato. City Dogs accommodates both of our boys needs. They’re always so excited to load up in the car and go to City Dogs! The staff is also super friendly! They know our boys by name when we drop them off which makes me feel like the staff really cares about our pups. My coworkers have started going to City Dogs because of how much I rave about them! Overall so happy with this place!

JoJoZ Mojo

2023-05

I was threatned at this establishment for asking for ID. I have the whole situation on camera. Manager continues to allow angry employee to work for her and owner is trying to block and sweep everything under the rug so the city of roanoke doesn't know she is continuing to allow angry people work with people's dogs. If she would sweep a safety concern like this under the rug how could anyone really trust their dogs with violent capable employees? Take your dog somewhere where they care about the community and safety. This business owner continues to lie but check other reviews here and you will see people's dogs have been under fed and came home timid and not the same dog. She continues to keep angry employee's and just head to Facebook and search for the videos out about this business. These reviews here and others came long before me. The evidence of ppl telling you is over a year strong.

Sarah Lawhorn

2020-05

We left our German Shepherd here while we went to the beach for 6 days. Setting things up went fairly smoothly, but when we went to drop him off it felt very unwelcoming. We were barely greeted, and felt shrugged off. They barely asked us any information and the woman who helped us wasn’t the friendliest. Upon pick up, we couldn’t barely get two words out of the woman who “helped” us get our dog back. She did not acknowledge our business, say thank you, let us know how he did during his stay, nothing. I can tell you this business seemed to lack serious basic customer service skills. Each person we were in contact with did not seem to have a clue about what was going on, and I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt. We asked for our dog to be bathed, and have his nails trimmed, when we picked him up he had huge mattes of fur on his butt, and his nails were barely trimmed if at all. While I am appreciative of the fact they seemed to have kept him alive and breathing he hasn’t seemed the same since we brought him home. Please carefully consider this place before allowing your animal(s) to stay here. I don’t know anything about this type of business but I did not feel like an appreciated customer.

Erin Contour

2018-05

I truly appreciate this business, they work hard to provide a safe, clean and interesting environment for the dogs and they care for the dogs very carefully. They've hand fed our picky German Shepherd on multiple occasions... and they treat our little 11 lb Boston Terrier like the princess she is. We enjoy their Facebook page where they regularly post videos of the dogs playing. We do miss our fur kids when we travel and it's nice to see them playing happily. The play yards are indoors so heat and cold don't keep the dogs from playing... the dogs are at free play most of the day which we also appreciate greatly. They now have a groomer so if you travel for a longer period and want your doggies all sparkling when you pick them up, there is that option (or whenever). We have also found that they are very careful with the dogs health and spread of disease. I was standing behind a lady who had not realized her dog had an itchy skin condition that was contagious. The business had noticed it and isolated the dog, notifying the owner. They keep up to date on everything and last we looked had luxury suites being built, should that be up your alley. We recommend them highly. We've tried other boarding facilities in Roanoke and this one is the best we've tried and we don't intend to try any others.

Aaron Martin

2023-11

Friendly staff who knows my dog well. They’re reasonably priced and very concerned for your pet’s well-being.