DoGone Fun!

I’ve been using DoGone Fun for doggie day care for several months. I first decided on DoGone Fun because I needed a daycare for my baby beagle puppy before he was old enough to be neutered or get the city license. DoGone Fun was willing to take him when he was just a few months old, and I never worried about him being too overwhelmed or roughed up.
Milo is always excited to go and play with the dogs and staff. He stays in the small dog area, and his first few days, he stayed in a smaller area they have designated for puppies and very small dogs. I love getting back the report cards that tell me what he’s doing and who he is playing with. I love that I can turn on the video feeds and watch him play and run around. He always comes home so tired, and I know he has a blast!
I haven’t had much interaction with the other sections of DoGone Fun, but I wanted to take a minute to talk about the Groomers. Milo is very low maintenance, and we have not had him groomed professionally. However, I had a question about grooming care, and the groomers at DoGone Fun were more than willing to discuss options with me even though I didn’t use their services. They could have tried to convince me to get some service I didn’t need, but they were very respectful of my time and money.

Once again DGF has come to our rescue. They really care about their dog and people customers. DGF goes out of their way to accommodate Willow with her special needs, not only in her ongoing grooming with Dan, but now in day care. And thanks to all the staff members that help me get Willow in and out of the car. Best of all, everyone helps us in a kind and gracious manner.
One main reason I moved to the South Loop is because my friend Shirley told me what a great resource this is. DGF has been able to come up with a solution for each issue (often health-​related) that arises for us (in training, grooming, and day care).They have actually EXCEEDED my expectations.

Honestly, I cannot say enough good things about DoGone Fun. I truly love it and appreciate that this great daycare is located so close to my house.
I started taking my dog to daycare a few months ago and more recently started boarding him for business trips.
I’m a nervous first-​time dog momma and my dog shared a little bit of my anxiety around other dogs. I’ve been hesitant for many years to take him to boarding because I wasn’t sure he’d fit in well — I didn’t really socialize him enough when he was younger.
This year I decided to take him in for an assessment test because I wanted him to get more interaction with other dogs. He was timid, but did well!
Since then, he’s gone in about twice a week and comes back happy and tail wagging.
Why do I love this place so much?
— The staff truly cares — They seem genuinely enthusiastic when I drop him off in the morning and seem to really love playing with the dogs. Everyone I’ve interacted with has been nothing short of really nice + helpful.
They always greet my dog and give him extra cuddles (because he loves attention). On a few occasions they have noticed my dog shivering (he’s a small chihuahua that gets cold easily) and put a sweater on him so he could warm up and run around with his pals comfortably. This really speaks volumes to me about what kind of place this is.
They also put dog’s health above making money. When the dog flu was going on DogGone shut down for awhile to help stop the spread and do a really deep clean.
Unfortunately, I boarded my dog at another place in Chicago right when the virus spread was being announced. My dog caught it while I was gone and it was a really tough situation to come home to. Although that not-​named other boarding place «said» they had procedures in place to stop the spread, I noticed they broke their own rules and transported my sick dog with a bunch of other dogs back to my home. This was also the second time this place gave my dog kennel cough /​the dog flu. NEVER AGAIN! That’s why I switched to DoGone.
— They are accommodating to your schedule — there are some places in the city which force you to book daycare in advance. If you’re like me, your schedule can change at the drop of a hat.
I’m able to drop him off Monday-​Saturday pretty much anytime for as long as needed. They also have a after-​hours schedule where you pay $ 5 an hour for late pick-​up. Super convenient as I have business events that go until 7−8pm.
They are also are pretty accommodating with last-​minute bookings for boarding. Just give them a call and they will try fit you in!
— They have webcams — I haven’t heard of too many places that offer this but I truly appreciate being able to tune in every once in awhile to see what my pooch is doing.
— They are clean — Every day when I walk home from work I see them power cleaning their outdoor play lots and outdoor gym sets.
So in short, I love this place. They love my dog. I’m truly appreciative that I have a business that I trust with my dog.

Just took my dog Asti in for her (free) assessment. Interview to go over info about Asti & what we want out of the services and then time w/​other dogs on the play lot. Very impressed with this place. So happy to have found them for doggy daycare. Asti is shy & timid however it didn’t take her long to feel relaxed. Every staff person that interacted with us, whether the girl on the lot with her, manager or person walking by us, we’re so genuinely happy to see her. They answered all my questions (& I had a lot as Asti is my first dog & our first time trying doggy daycare!) and took their time to show me around the facility. It was so clean and organized! I found most of their reviews were great on Unilocal.You can’t make everyone happy! Then my vet stated that she also takes her dogs here which made me feel even better. Asti had a great first day. Came home happy & exhausted. Great place, location (with free & easy parking) & friendly staff. Nervous mama no more! We can’t wait to go back. Thanks DoGone Fun! :)

This place is awesome, our pup is so crazy happy to go for a visit he freaks out at the sight of the dedicated leash we use when taking him for a stay… It is called Dog Gone Fun, but our dog who talks, calls it Fu$@? Good Time

I don’t hand out 5 stars very often but this place definitely deserves it. I have a 15-​year old (Sam) and a 5-​year (Bobby) cocker spaniels, both are sweet dogs but they each present their own set of challenges. Both of my dogs have been going to DoGone Fun for almost a year now (mostly for 5+ days at a time) and this place has taken care of both of my dogs as if they were their own.
This place has excelled from the screening process, to the facility tour, knowledgeable staff, quality of care (both of my dogs come back relaxed and well exercised) and accurately reporting how my dogs did during their stay. This place also prefers having the dogs running around (aptly supervised) in the play lots as much as possible instead of being locked in the kennels. Unlike other places I’ve tried, DoGone is always open and honest about what really happened during my dogs’ stay — including who got an appropriately given time out for misbehaving. They also have live video streaming of the play areas where you can check on your pets remotely.
DoGone Fun also handled the canine influenza virus epidemic EXTREMELY well — giving me a courtesy call to let me know that they do not advise boarding my dogs during the height of the epidemic and sacrificing revenue to protect their clients. DGF definitely showed that they not only provide a service to their client, but they also are a proactive and vigilant community member!
And don’t forget the grooming services. Shout out to Jackie who has done everything she can to make grooming as comfortable as possible for my 15 year old blind dog.
I can’t be any happier and proud to support this business. GREAT JOB DGF!!!

This is seriously such an amazing place and so glad it’s so close to us. Really helps out a ton and our pup who has tons of energy despite hours and hours being outside walking and running around will come home completely pooped after a day at daycare hence the picture. Highly recommend this place and everyone there truly loves the dogs and send them home with lil report cards. And it doesn’t beat the fact that you can check up on your lil ones on your phone whenever you have a break at work

Well its been a year and half since my initial review and just wanted to do a little update. We still love it here and have even added the dog walking services. We have also boarded one of our dogs here a few times since the last review and everything was great.

DoGone Fun is a dog owner’s dream!
My wife and I recently got a new puppy (Pearson). Before Pearson arrived, My wife and I bought a few books and did a ton of online reading about housebreaking, beginner and intermediate training, and other good habits that puppy owners can have. Our thought was that by doing all of our homework, we would never need a resource for training.
We were wrong. While Pearson is a very good puppy, he has a ton of puppy energy and no matter how much we played with him and trained him during the day, he still had a ton of puppy energy every night.
We contacted DoGone Fun and started personal training with Judit. She is wonderful and Pearson loves her. We have only had a few training sessions, but see a ton of improvement with our pup and look forward to seeing Judit a few times a month for the next year or so!
Additionally, we have been bringing Pearson for doggy day care once a week. He has a lot of fun and we love the service. We are very lucky to know DoGone Fun!

They do the fundamentals of dog sitting and boarding well, but what really makes Dog Gone Fun stand out is the personal touch. Web cam to watch the puppies play. Report card for the dogs after the day. Holiday card with pictures of your dog at the end of the year. Great place.

We had our puppy in day care here for about a year. We were constantly being called with problems with him. The actual problem was the staff and their disinterest in having to do anything more than the minimum. The facility is loud and disorganized in their setup of dog groups. We recently enrolled him in day care at the pooch hotel and they have proven that the problem did not lie within our dog.

Very disappointed with the customer service!!! I called to obtain some information bc I will be going away for a week for the holidays in December and need to make arrangements for my dog. Spoke to some guy named Chris and he was very short and seemed aggravated at my questions. I asked if there was someone else that I can speak to and he replied, no I am the only one that can help you. Unreal!!!
I contacted Chicago Pet Care Inc, on Fullerton Ave. and Debbie was more than happy to answer ALL of my questions. Thank you Debbie!!!

Twix was a my very first dog and pet from the Saint Louis rescue. Everything was new to me — including moving to Chicago and being in a difficult job. DoGone fun has it all — great day care, great classes (small classes; knowledgable instructors; nice pet-​mates), great boarding, and great boutique with reasonably priced items including frozen femur bones which my dog loves.
I love the webcam that allows you to check in on your pup while in daycare, and I love that when he boards, he gets full days of play, which he loves. I could never imagine putting him in a kennel where he is just in a kennel the majority of the day — he’s too active for that.
When I signed him up for puppy pre-​school, I thought for sure he’d be a lost cause and unable to learn the things because I had already taken him for a coupe of personal training sessions elsewhere which were WAY more expensive and useless. He caught on very well in that class, we LOVED Anna, and he really matured nicely with the other pups in that class. The following classes including agility with Keith and Tricks with Judit were really great to continue his obedience and to give him some opportunities to work and get some treats. He has come around very nicely and I get complemented quite a bit in my high rise building at how well behaved he is for such a young dog and for being a beagle (mix). He’s not perfect, but the training has been effective and fun for us both.
The people who own and run this place really have a lot of pride in how it’s run and dogs rule, is the sense that you get. After reading some of the horror stories posted by others at other places, it is worth the price to have the piece of mind to bring my dog here.
It’s awesome for me that it’s also just 4 blocks away.

I just recently moved to Chicago from Atlanta and was a little worried about finding a nice doggy day care big enough for my hyper little guy close to my apartment in the city. We decided to walk in and check it out while getting our cars washed next door and fell in love immediately. They were really helpful with us finding a VET close by. The assessment appointment was very professional and FREE! The staff is helpful and friendly. The doggy daycare hours are great. Every now and then I go to the website and check him out on their live streaming web cam.
I paid for 3 days up front so I can test this place out. During one of them 3 days, I came to pick up my dog and they were all outside playing… all the little dogs were wearing little jackets ! I was SOLD! I was relieved that the staff understands that these dogs are like family to us so they treat them as such.

I don’t take my dog to camp here, but I do buy her food and treats here. They have a great retail selection of quality products that are very reasonably priced. Christopher at the front desk is super knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. (So is Charlie but he’s not there as often.)

Our dog has stayed for overnight boarding with them several times in the past, but for some reason this time they decided our dog wasn’t welcome anymore.
After we dropped her off towards the evening, they said another dog snapped at her to tell her to back off and our responded by snapping back. They immediately took her in the back and put her in a crate. The next day we received an email saying they would not let our dog play with the others and that she would only have some one-​on-​one time with the staff for the remainder of her stay and that she was no longer welcome at their facility.
Two weeks later we took her to another facility for 3 nights of overnight boarding and she did perfectly fine. The staff loved her and said she did perfect with all the dogs and got to play the entire time.
So basically because another dog was being aggressive, they punished ours and told us not to come back.
On top of that we had a bath, nail trim, and shed management scheduled during her stay. All they ended up doing was the bath. I was told that they probably skipped the nail trim because they couldn’t handle her or something. For the shed management they said they probably wasn’t anything to get out.
We bathe her and trim her nails all the time without any issues. Yet they still charged us the full price for the bath/​nails and then charged us for the shed management as well. She got a bath at the new place we went and they said she was perfect and sat fine for the bath and nails.
I don’t know why they didn’t want her there, but that’s fine because we found a great place that is more than happy to take her and let her enjoy playing with all the other dogs. She’s not the aggressive one!

There are no words for how THRILLED I am with our pet sitting services from DoGone Fun! We needed a last minute dog walker/​pet-​sitter to care for our puppy Ziggy and cat Zoey. With only a day’s notice they were happy to find a way to work with us.
Our dog was adopted from a shelter and is VERY afraid of new people. She typically gets scared and pees everywhere. Given this information they sent an experienced Vet Tech to work with her and really create a relationship Ziggy would be comfortable with. They left notes daily and texted us daily to let us know how things were going. Our pet sitter Nina went FAR above and beyond when she came into our apartment and noticed that Ziggy had somehow gotten into the garbage while she was gone. She picked up the entire apartment, wiped down the counter and made sure we came home to a sparkling clean apartment.
She explained how she used some relaxation techniques with Ziggy after their walks so they could bond and so Ziggy would be less stressed to see her the next time. She had Ziggy so relaxed and comfortable on their walks that she was chasing rabits and having fun (when she’s scared she wont do any of those things.).
I’ll never use another Dog Sitter, I’m 100% sold on DoGone Fun! and couldn’t be more passionate about recommending them to anyone in the South Loop looking for quality pet care.

«Ain’t no fun at DoGone Fun!» I took my 5 month old puppy to DoGone Fun one morning for daycare and received a call at work, within an hour of dropping him off, from one of the staff members telling me that my dog was bitten in the face by another dog and could possibly need stitches! I left work as soon as I got the call to meet a member of their staff at the vet with my dog to find my dog with a cone around his head and a nasty bite on the side of his face. When I asked her what happened she started by saying my dog initiated it by barking at the other dog. HUH?! Sooo dogs can’t bark at each other? And if my dog was barking at the other dog why wouldn’t you separate them before anything escalated? To top it off, I eventually found out (after talking to the owner) that the dog that bit my puppy was a 6 year old dog! Why would they place a 5 month old puppy to play with a 6 year old dog?! According to them they place the dogs together based on activity level, well clearly the activity level of these two was NOT a match.
Of course DoGone Fun refused to pay or help with any medical bills due to the waiver they have you sign releasing all liability. However, when there is negligence on the end of the facility that waiver can be thrown out. They also refuse to provide me with any information so that I can file a dog bite police report. So it will not go on the record of this other dog biting another dog. As far as I know, the owners of the other dog may not even know what happened.
I also received a lecture about how my puppy probably had behavior issues because he was taken from his mother too early (I adopted him when he was 4 months) and a bunch of other crap. But remind you, he passed their temperament test. Wonder how thorough that is if another dog there bites.
Anyway, I am consulting an attorney about this issue and will continue to «bite back» for my dog in whatever way I can. If all else fails, I have a voice and will let anyone who will listen know about my experience with DoGone Fun. I’ve actually spoken to a few neighbors who have also had bad experiences here. I can only imagine how many more there are who just didn’t take the time to go online to tell their story.
The only good thing about this place is one of their trainers, Judit. But I would recommend seeing if she does private in-​house training or something because I definitely DO NOT RECOMMEND taking your dog to DoGone Fun for any services.

My pup started going to day care here and loves it! She only goes around once a week but she always pulls me there and is happy as a clam to get in and see the doggies and her human friends. The staff knows her name and also says hi to her, which makes me feel great about leaving her there. If you check in before noon, you’ll get a cute report card at the end of the day.
Previously, we attended Agility here as well. Although Ella clearly doesn’t have a future in agility, the instructor was patient and caring and (even though she pooped on the floor during her last run) she got a graduation certificate. Other dog owners have told me their price ($ 199 for 6 weeks) is a little steep and the instructor listed as teaching the class, Judy, never came. It was instead taught by Kevin.
As for grooming, I took my shy pup her for a bath, nail trim, and first ever paw pad hair trim. They were very nice and answered all my questions. At the end, my puppy seemed quite comfortable with her groomer Melissa, and she came out and talked with me afterwards. Her appointment was scheduled to be two hours, and they called 10 minutes early to tell me she was done. However, the grooming people don’t return calls or emails, so make sure to keep calling until you get someone.
Bonus points for their involvement in the community too — they donate space for events to non-​profit groups in the South Loop.

I love dog gone fun and so do my dogs. It is clean, well run, and very organized. I like that they separate the small and large dogs and we can usually get a grooming appointment with a reasonable amount of lead time. They also do a good job of screening the dogs and I rarely see aggressive breeds or dogs getting into fights. I like that they won’t take a dog just because the owner is willing to pay.
I can’t give 5 stars though because you can end up felling a little overcharged. The boarding is expensive and so is grooming. I’m ok with it only because the dogs seem so happy. However, our vacation budget rule of thumb is whatever the plane tickets cost is about what boarding will cost.