Camp 4 Paws

We have been taking our 8 year-​old yellow lab here about once a week for about a year and couldn’t be happier. She is always so excited to go in and play and is tuckered out (in a good way) when she comes home. Our experience with the staff has been excellent. They clearly care about the pets entrusted to them for care. We love this place and recommend it highly!

If you love your pet, DO NOT TAKE THEM TO THIS PLACE. HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE PLACE.
The main staff person who manages the front desk is rude, insincere, and lazy.
The manager has poor communication skills and doesn’t seem to have any management or customer service training.
Whoever owns this business clearly doesn’t care about the beloved pets that they are supposed to care for and this is evident in the poor staffing choices they’ve made. A dog to them is a dollar bill on four legs.
Here’s the long story:
My two-​year old German Shepherd, Lulu, had a rough start to life. As a three-​month-​old puppy, she was purchased by a family that didn’t see beyond her cuteness to realize that a pet is entirely dependent on their human owner. When I rescued her, she was underweight, she had fleas, giardia, fly bites, and a dislocated tail. She had good reason to be distrustful of humans.
Even though she was an abused puppy, she is still so loving. Lulu loves to play catch, she loves belly rubs, and she is as loyal as a dog can be. She makes gray days sunny.
But you have to be patient and gentle, first, so that she feels safe enough to be herself.
The staff at Camp 4 Paws made it abundantly clear that they don’t give a shit about getting to know and love my dog, or anyone else’s.
After only three hours of play care, the woman at the front desk told me that «it just isn’t working out. She doesn’t seem happy. This isn’t the right place for her.»
My response: Oh, okay, what do suggest I do to help Lulu be less afraid of new people and new dogs?
Staff person: Uh, I don’t know, uh, she’s not happy, uh, she doesn’t play with the other dogs, uh, it’s just not working out.
Like any normal person, I expected Camp 4 Paws employees to be helpful. I expected her to tell me about what services they offer that might help my dog. I expected them to be able to at least refer me to a dog trainer or behaviorist. When I told them so in person, all the woman at the front desk said was, «Sorry I hurt your feelings.» Both her tone and her body language indicated her insincerity. The issue was not my feelings, but my unmet expectations as a customer paying hard-​earned money for their services.
When I spoke to the manager, he actually stopped looking at me and began a conversation with another patron WHILE I WAS STILL TALKING. Oh but were they happy to charge my card.
It’s true. This place is loud, the workers are rude, and my dog suffered unnecessarily for having been there.
DO NOT ENTRUST THEM WITH YOUR PET. I can’t say it enough.

I brought my dog to Camp 4 Paws a few weeks ago to trial a 4 hour stay, in preparation for a whole weekend stay. I wish I could give this place NEGATIVE stars because I care way too much about the well-​being of my dog to ever take him here again.
I had called in advance to run through some questions regarding booking an appointment for boarding and need for vaccinations, etc. It was recommended to be to bring my dog in for a few hours prior to him staying the weekend. Sounded fine, and I brought him in to Camp 4 Paws. The staff at the front said we should review some of the details about the boarding while in the lobby of Camp 4 Paws, because it would be very loud once we were back by the kennels. They took my dog towards the back while the staff and I chatted about the boarding accommodations. Then, we walked back towards the kennels where it was so loud with barking to have a conversation. My dog was caged in a kennel and was terrified with all the small dogs in a cage barking uncontrollably. The staff explained they would have him get use to the outside area himself before introducing some of the regulars. The outside area was small and disappointing. My dog has more room to run in our apartment.
I picked my dog up after 4 hours and he seemed okay, but happy to leave. About 5 days later, my dog developed a terrible, gagging cough. I contacted my vet immediately, as my dog had been vaccinated against kennel cough up to standards. They explained that my dog likely still had contracted kennel cough from Camp 4 Paws since the vaccine doesn’t protect against all strains. I called Camp 4 Paws to discuss, since my poor dog was coughing consistently and he had not been around any other dogs since his short stay. I questioned their screening practices, since obviously an ill animal was allowed to board there and infect other dogs. I asked for a refund of the day care expense, which wasn’t much but I felt like it was a complete waste of time, money, not to mention the stress on my sick pet. I cancelled our weekend boarding reservation. Staff was extremely unhelpful and did not discuss their process to ensure that ill dogs were not allowed to board or attend day care.
Do your dog a favor, do not bring your pet here. The experience will leave you feeling stressed and worried, and potentially your dog may become ill.

i got the recommendation to bring our puppy, lincoln here from a woman we met on a walk in the neighborhood. this doggy day camp has made our entire family happy! lincoln loves coming here, we all love the staff… allison and matt are great. i am a first time puppy mom and they relieve any fear and almost always have a few comments when i pick lincoln up about what he did that day. we love being able to drop him off, know he will be taken care of and exhausted!!! thank you for loving our puppy well.

In a bind for last minute travel, I decided to board my dog at Camp 4 paws again. I had an opportunity to speak with the manager about my previous complaint. My only wish is that we had spoken sooner. I am confident that my dog will be well cared while staying there.

My dog LOVES coming here. Whenever I pull into the parking lot she knows exactly where we are and starts going crazy. Then she always comes home exhausted after a long day of playing with other pups. Great convenient central Austin location. The staff is very friendly… I’ve never had any issue with customer service. I do wish that C4P had a later pick up time (6:30pm compared to others around 8pm), but that’s not a deciding factor for me.

Please, please, please… if you love your pet and don’t want complications when you pick he/​she up, please take your time when selecting a boarding facility! The vet next door owns this place and became very annoyed when I called to discuss my pet’s condition. She said she doesn’t have time to discuss as other animals are waiting for her attention! My pet boarded one day and was healthy upon arrival and died 1 week later!!! Ended up in the emergency room the night after picking up! Eyes were closed and they didn’t realize when I asked why were his eyes shut. Please do your homework and find a place that really cares about your pet… still grieving over my beloved…

Love love love Camp4Paws and so do my dogs! After reading the reviews I feel it is my duty to let everyone know how wonderful this place is. I asked for a tour and was shown all over the place, each indoor pen had very happy looking dogs playing their little hearts out; I especially love the new turf grass that was installed. It seems they always have room for my pups and give them great baths with wonderful smelling shampoo that will last for weeks. When I round to corner onto Burnet my guys start to go crazy with excitement. Don’t just book this place for yourself… book it for your dog!

Though the staff has always been pleasant, I got the sense my dog didn’t like coming here after the first visit, but have it about five more chances. My dog literally starts shaking and tries to get away when we approach the building. The other day, my husband, who isn’t as much of a dog lover as I am, picked her up and said «wow, she hates it there — we shouldn’t send her back». It also appeared they didn’t give her any water because she ran straight to her water bowl and drank more than we’ve ever seen, upon returning home.
Really unfortunate because it’s a great location and again, I really like the staff. However, I’ll drive a bit further or pay a bit more to take her elsewhere from now on.

After bringing our pups here for the past four years, we decided to stop boarding them there because of their horrible customer service and that the fact that we now have a much better option for doggie daycare and boarding.
We travel pretty frequently and we usually take a big trip in December. We’re going to be gone for almost three weeks this December, so last week I emailed them to make a reservation. I asked them if they have any discounts or specials available, since we’ve been customers there for over four years and we have two pugs that board together in the same kennel (they love cuddling!). They responded that, no, there are no discounts available and that they cannot make my reservation unless I call with a credit card to hold the reservation. Oookay.
So, I call them this week to talk about the reservation. I mentioned how I emailed to make a reservation but that I didn’t feel comfortable with having to give them my credit card information. We have never had to do that before (not that I recall), and we have always boarded our pups with them. In response to that, she just said, «Well, I just can’t make the reservation for you then.» I let it hang for a bit, expecting something like, «I’m sorry, it’s just our policy,» or maybe, «It’s just what we do, but let me check in with my supervisor to see what we can do about that.» All I got was dead air.
So, because the holidays are coming up fast and things are filling up, I went ahead and gave her my credit card info. However, as soon as I hung up, I called another dog boarding place recommended by a friend and made an interview appointment/​grounds inspection for the next day so we could make a reservation with them instead for December. As soon as we were all cleared with the new place and made reservations with them, I emailed Camp 4 Paws to cancel and explained to them why we were no longer going to use their business. No apologies for substandard customer service, no attempts to retain our business, only a «Thanks for canceling so far ahead of time!»
It’s pretty clear to me that they didn’t give a shit about keeping us as customers. I’m bummed now that I spoke so highly of them. We have found a new place that bent over backwards to get us in for the holidays. They also have webcams, discounts for multiple dogs, and other awesome things. So long, Camp 4 Paws!

I dont actually have any dogs that go to Camp 4 Paws but I work directly behind the establishment and have my work windows open the majority of the day, when weather allows it. Throughout the day all you hear is constant screaming coming from the «dog yard», constantly hearing «shut-​up», «stop barking», «hush» and «STOP», at times the yelling becomes into constant bickering at those poor dogs, at times it also gets so intense that we have to close our windows. Just wanted to warn those who admit there dogs here that they might not be treated the best when outside? I am a dog owner and from the way I hear the women yelling at the dogs would never have me use their services.

This is a really great place, at least for dogs. They put them in play groups based on energy level, and seem to get to know peoples pet’s well and show genuine care and affection.

I’ve used Camp4Paws for both long-​term dog daycare as well as multi-​day boarding. My dog loves this place, and is never reluctant to return. The staff knows me and my dog, and are attentive to our needs and my questions.
The only area for improvement I see is in extending their drop-​off and pick-​up hours: during weekdays you cannot pick up or drop off between 12:00 and 2:00, and weekend hours are limited.

Our little man Truman loves this place. We have never used the boarding service but have used the day care on many occasions. He always comes home worn out to the point that he usually passes out on the car ride home.

I have mixed feelings here — my 4 year old Boxer, Soho, loved Camp 4 Paws! She could tell when we pulled into the parking lot there and would literally sit in my lap in the drivers seat because she was so excited to get out and go play! She was always tired at the end of the day, and always eager to go back.
However, after reading some of these other reviews, I realized I was never given a tour of the facilities, and the company was opposed to webcams or viewings of any kind — I now wonder if that’s because of the crammed spaces they had the dogs in?
I live in Dallas now, so we won’t be returning for that reason, but I encourage all pet moms and dads to ask for a tour first — I wish I had!

I love it here. My dogs have a great time, and are spoiled by the staff. Of course everyone wants to think that their dogs are special, but they are always so excited to see Houla and Lucas, and greet them like old friends. It feels like they think they are special too.
Houla (our first) was a parvo puppy, and due to the 6 months of quarantine, she was afraid of other dogs, strangers, people, just a lot of things. We started taking her to «Puppy School» as soon as she was allowed, just to give her a chance to learn to be a dog. The first few times I literally had to push her butt through the door, but then she started pulling me to the door and leaving me without a glance back. She LOVES it. I say if my dog is that happy, the proof is in the pudding. I also have found out that she is quite the pet slut, and gets loved on all day by the people, when she is not playing bite. She has never been hurt, and is always exhausted when she comes home. Lucas is new to our family, but the staff gives us info and updates, and he is having a great time too. We love and trust Camp 4 Paws!

We picked up our dog, Dingo, @ Camp 4 Paws this afternoon following his first overnight stay there Saturday night, and it will definitely be his last.

We dropped Dingo off yesterday morning with 4 bags of food that he should have been given during his visit, so you can imagine how surprised we were when they sent 3 bags of food home with us. So they basically fed our 5 month old puppy only once in a 31 hour period! Unfortunately we didn’t notice then until we got home, and when we called them to inquire about this, they tried to feed us some b.s. about Dingo not being hungry yesterday or being nervous about being in a new place. I’m not buying either of those excuses as Dingo ALWAYS has an appetite, and he has been here twice before for doggy daycare.
VERY disappointing to know that this kind of puppy neglect is going on at such a popular place. Even though it’s in an extremely convenient location, we will definitely not be going back to Camp 4 Paws no matter how far out of our way we have to go!

Too small and way too many dogs all penned up together in small doggy jail. If you’ve rated 5 stars, go back and ask for the tour in the middle of the day and you will see how crowded it is.
They have an outrageous fee on cancellation under 48hr. Perhaps understandable on weekends or holidays, but a Tuesday night? Esp when you see how crowded it is.

I was not very impressed by Camp 4 Paws. As another reviewer mentioned, as many as 15 dogs are put into an indoor pen together. If your dog isn’t fond of lots of rowdy dogs in very close proximity, this probably isn’t the right place (as it wasn’t for us). Unfortunately, the staff was also unfriendly.
On the other hand, if you have a super-​social dog that loves to play and wrestle with other dogs, this might be a fun place.

Dear Mom,
I don’t really like this camp very much. It’s too small and there are a LOT of other dogs here. I know I always tell you when I’m at home that I want to go out and play with the other dogs, but that doesn’t mean I want to be crammed into tiny pens with them all day without you. The people here put me into a 12′ x 12′ pen with up to 16 other dogs during the day, and the only time I get any privacy is when I sleep or eat in my 4′ x 4′ pen. I gotta be honest, Mom, I ate really slowly while I was here, ’cause I didn’t want to go back in the clinker with all the other dogs. Maybe if I were a small dog it would be OK, but a big dog like me needs some more space to run around.
I do kind of like the fact that I’m inside all day during the summertime except for when they walk me so I can do my business. It gets awfully hot outside during the summer. And the camp counselors here are pretty nice to me, so that’s cool.
I also itch a lot when I’m here. I think they may have given me a flea bath without telling you, because my fur sure smells weird now.
Come get me soon, Mom. Please?
Love,
Mindy