Wags 2 Whiskers

If you care at all about the well being of your pup — do NOT take them here for doggie daycare!
I realllllly wanted to like this place. I used to have an awesome daycare girl that would take my pug out to her farm to frolic around all day with her dogs but when she moved, I was stuck looking for another option. This place was conveniently located a couple of blocks from my condo so I figured I’d give it a shot. Things seemed fine for the first couple of weeks although in hindsight I probably should have picked up on the clues. After starting to take her here, my normally super social pug began acting a bit standoffish when I’d take her to the dog park on my own — scattering away when any other dogs came up to play with her. A couple more weeks in and I finally got my answer why. The owner dropped her off after a day of «playtime» and to my shock she had huge bloody chunk missing from her ear! I’m still trying to decide what’s worse from this situation.
1.) The fact that she didn’t say ANYTHING to me when she dropped her off
2.) The fact that once confronted she says she must have gone out of the room for «just a second» and didn’t see anything happen
3.) or the kicker — the fact that she made it seem like she was doing me a HUGE favor by refunding me for the remaining couple of visits I had prepaid for. Continually telling me, «you know you signed a waiver so I don’t have to refund you anything» ! Really?!!
It looks like this isn’t the first time a dog had a pretty serious attack here (see Dee T’s post below). So unless you’re willing to take your chances that your dog will come back in one piece, I’d steer clear!

So I was really nervous to come here after reading all the bad reviews that I decided not to go. My pup needed his glands expelled desparately, however, as well as some mats shaved and a basic groom.
I was walking Link and I saw a sign for Wags grooming. I didn’t realize it was the same place so I went in to compare services.
I nearly flipped when I saw my name in the appointment book and chalked it up to the universe to stay.
I was SO impressed with the service! To those reviews prior to mine, I think they got a new groomer. Her name is Joan and she said she starter there 2 weeks ago.
Joan had two dogs that were boarded and very sweet. She was vigilant of their actions while still giving attention and support to her current groom.
She took a quick break to talk with me about my present grooming goals with Link as well as my long term desire for his look. We discussed his constant problem with under ear mats and decided it would be best to keep him shaved short without sacrificing the pretty feathered ears of the Cavalier. We discussed all different areas of his body and how to achieve a certain look while keeping him hygeinic and healthy.
Link came out about an hour and half later than estimated which actually impressed me. She called me up to explain she was running late because she had to take more time with the above mentioned nervous groom. I appreciated the fact that she didn’t risk traumatizing the dogs by simply rushing through the cut.
When I did pick up Link I couldn’t believe how handsome he looked. His feathering was gorgeous and he was as soft as a puppy.
The other positive is that he didn’t seem freaked out. He was of course happy to see me, but he didn’t have that look of terror followed by super nuzzling that I sadly experienced once in the past after a bad groom.

The best haircut my dog has ever had! Couldn’t keep our hands off her for a month because she was so cute! The groomer at Wags is the best.

I took my parent’s Shitzu Silky Terrier, Soffie, to Wags and she was really scared the first day but the staff were really awesome and when one of their ‘regulars’, which evidently picks a daily victim to bark at *all day long*, picked Soffie to rag on, they pulled her from the little dog room and put her in the living room with couches and people and soothed and played with her.
She ended up really liking going there and everyday when I picked her up she was happy and exhausted from playing all day and they took her out to go potty regularly. The thing I liked the most was that I was encouraged to drop by *anytime* to check on her and see how she was doing. They also indulged me when I called the first two days to check to see if she ate any lunch.
The only snafu was one day when she didn’t get fed lunch because she had run out of food, which I brought in and had asked each day if she needed fresh of, but they were super apologetic and assured me that she would not go without again.
Oh and the owner was very clearly a huuuuuuge animal lover. That, to me, is über important if they are watching my family members. If I am not mistaken, they even sponsor dog adoptions. I would totally take our dog back to them and do so without trepidation.

I have been taking my Pomeranian and Big Black Dog to Jean and her caring staff for about 4 years. Love them. They have stayed for as long as ten days always content happy and healthy, Both are groomed here on a regular basis and Jen does an AMAZING job!
I also am very impressed with how kind Jean is to abused animals, she is always fostering one or two and also does a great job raising awareness in the community of animal abuse.
Referring to anther review in here by Matt R, I can tell you that at some point they did accept you constructive criticism, now when your pups leave they do a thorough check of puppy cleanliness, even using little wet wipes to clean them down!
Highly recommend!

You can never have enough 5 star reviews for a local business, so here’s one more for Wags2Whiskers.
It’s always upsetting when we have to drop our dog off at Wags, because we know that it either means we are going to be sitting behind a desk all day or crammed into an airplane seat going somewhere while our dog has a grand old time.
We used to live downtown and started by using Wags for grooming. Since they did such a great job with that, we thought we’d dry boarding our dog with them while we moved. (Puppies don’t like boxes and lots of coming and going.) He loved it! Now we use Wags for all our puppy care needs — grooming, day care, and boarding.
It’s obvious that the staff care about each of the dogs that stays with them. They call dogs by name. We’ve never seen them yell at the dogs (unlike the Downtown Dog Lounge). They encourage you to call and check in on your dogs. And they are always willing to accomodate special requests.
All in all, Wags is awesome!
Jean runs a great shop and we are happy to be regular customers!

We have been taking our red heeler to Wags for 3 years. Our dog was adopted from an abusive situation and has social problems with other dogs and people. The staff at Wags knows exactly how to handle her. In fact, they say they really enjoy our dog and no one ever says that!
The owner Jean is great to talk to about training tips and is open to any questions. She’s very present in her business and up to date, which I really appreciate. Our dog does weekly day care and sometimes an overnight. It’s like a mini vacaton for her. She plays all day, gets walk with humans she loves and then sleeps at home. It’s perfect.

I’ve been bringing my dog Boo here for grooming since I’ve moved to Seattle. You can definitely tell that they are caring and great with pets by the reaction Boo has whenever he gets there. He usually does not like strangers and would be scare in most places other than our home. But whenever we head towards Wags he knows exactly where he is going and his tail start wagging once we see Jean or the staff as they come out to get him. I can say that they must have made him feel comfortable there. I would recommend this place for anyone looking for attentive doggie care.

I took my dog in for a full service groom: The nails and fur trimming was good.
Unfortunately two negatives:
1. When I picked my dog up her chest was covered in a brown sludge (not feces thankfully!) When I pointed this out to the guy on duty he didn’t care and wouldn’t even look at what I was pointing out giving me a dazed look. He did ask the owner to call me (read on.)
2. They had not brushed out her tail after applying the coat conditioner. I pointed this out to the guy on duty as well but was met with the same lack of ability to do anything.
The owner did call me the next day and dismissed the fact that she was dirty and couldn’t understand how it happened (I wish I had taken photos!) The how doesn’t really matter so much now to me as the fact that it DID happen. They did offer a free brush out for the tail being matted following the coat conditioner application. Although I was not able to take them up on the free brush out it was the right thing to do and I was pleased for that.
All in all, I probably will not go back as I simply do not want the risk of having this hassle again.

Having just moved here from a more rural setting, it was a little intimidating checking out indoor day care facilities for the pooch. We decided to take our dog in to the two places nearest us (Wags & Downtown Dog Lounge) and let him decide for himself… the overwhelming winner was Wags. The people are friendly; the smells, although present, were not as oppressive as at DDL; and the dogs looked like they were having fun. Maybe we caught DDL on a bad day, but it looked like the dogs were just running around in a big circle and any «play time» was promptly ended with a spray bottle.
My only complaint is having to pay for the «test» to make sure your dog is socialized. I think that if you don’t pass, pay up — but if your pooch is clearly a good dog there should be no fee to prove it.

We have a German Shepherd, Athena. Athena is a little rough around the edges having been rescued from an extremely traumatic situation. She’s scary, not dangerous (around 5 – 6 years old and has never bitten), just scary. It takes her a long time to warm up to a stranger.
I had been around to many different doggie daycare joints, most of which clearly didn’t even want to evaluate her after I talked through her issues. One place almost accepted her and then she started barking at one of the employees on the way out and they said «Nope».
Enter Wags (the doggie daycare formerly know as Wags 2 Whiskers). I talked to Jean, the owner, and she swapped stories with me about some difficult dogs she has fostered or adopted. She’s got dogs 10 times worse than Athena and without any hesitation said, «Just bring her down, I’m sure she’ll be fine.»
I was nervous walking Athena in for the first time. When Jean came out Athena went berserk but Jean knew just what to do. She assumed a non-​threatening body position and let Athena come to her. After just a minute or two, Athena was fine with Jean, willingly heading back to the dog area.
I waited anxiously thinking my phone was going to ring at any time to tell me to come pick up Athena because they wouldn’t accept her. 4 hours later I went back only to be told «She did great! You can bring her back any time!»
It was the beginning of a beautiful thing. I now have a place where I can confidently leave my baby, safe in the knowledge that they know how to handle her. I’ve talked to several people in there and they all adore Athena. She’s such a sweet (even kind of a dummy) dog when you get past the rough exterior and they were able to get through with no problem.
It’s a little odd getting there because you have to turn down an alley (In between 1^st and Western, just off of Bell) but everyone parks right in front of the door, blocking the alley only for a few moments*.
Jean loves dogs and it shows. She’s knowledgeable and very friendly. I dropped Athena off for daycare one day and then started playing cards after work. I felt like a deadbeat because I forgot to go pick her up. No problem! They just gave her some food and she was good to go the next day. (I had to pay for an overnight stay of course, wiping out my poker winnings from the night before)
She’s continually making improvements to the place. It’s become much nicer over the 1+ year we’ve been going here but that’s a distant second to Jean and her Staff in criteria for why I like this place. Your dog will have fun and you can relax knowing he/​she is in good hands.
*Except us on the first time we dropped Athena off for an extended stay. When I got out to take Athena inside, my wife got out of the passenger side to come around and drive. Well… the door shut and our Pomeranian jumped up on the door handle, pressing the lock button. We were stuck with our car idling in the alley for over an hour until my wife could get a ride home to get a spare key. One guy threatened to have us towed but he didn’t follow through.