The Doggie Cottage - Scarborough

Great boarding facility for a weekend away. Our dog came home very tired and happy. The staff is friendly too.
4 8 years ago (01-06-2018)

I love the doggie Cottage they take great care of your dogs and the dogs owners especially great people great experiences
5 8 years ago (08-05-2018)

My dogs absolutely love the Doggie Cottage! Every day they jump up and down at the door ready to go! They come home exhausted every night and can't wait to go the next day!
5 10 years ago (16-09-2016)

I wish I could give Doggie Cottage a -5 for sheer lack of professionalism. We have been bringing our sweet and affectionate boxer mix, Hattie, to Doggie Cottage off and on since she was born a year and a half ago. Despite several recommendations from friends to STAY AWAY from this establishment, the simple convenience of its location to our house made it easy and accessible. We overlooked the fact that this particular facility didn’t perform a behavioral interview process, an initial temperament test, or introduction to other canine clients; red flags that we should have taken seriously. On Monday, July 25, 2016, I received a call at work that there was “an incident” with our dog and that I needed to call them immediately. I was extremely annoyed that they called right before they closed from 12-3 for “doggie nap-time.” (Also known as the staff’s 3 hour lunch/Facebook break.) Despite many attempts to get through to them by phone, I finally got a response by Facebook messenger. The initial story was that a few dogs got into a scuffle and that Hattie joined in. When Phil LaFlamme, general manager, who was mowing the lawn at the time, approached the herd to break up the scuffle, our dog nipped his hand. (What do you expect?!?! Again, a sign that staff does not have formal training.) We were told that Hattie could not return to the Doggie Cottage. At first I was annoyed. We’d been bringing Hattie there for almost two years, spending hundreds of dollars while overlooking the facilities flaws. As I continued to investigate into what actually happened, I got different variations of the story from various staff members. My last phone call was to the general manger himself. To put it kindly, let’s just say Phil isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. He fabricated the story to say Hattie bit him so hard, he needed to have 3 stitches. At first I thought what on earth happened today that this poor guy had to go to a primary care setting to get a tetanus immunization and his laceration sutured!? Then when I asked if he actually got it sutured, he responded to say “oh no, I don’t like doctors.” Word of advice, before you put your foot in your mouth, find out if the dog owner is a health care provider! Also, as a health care provider, I can tell you we can’t stand when patients think that their Web MD search/self-diagnosis is more valuable than our medical education. To top it off, I asked to see the video. Of course Phil refused, saying that he didn’t want me to be traumatized. I think the only thing I would have been traumatized by is how my dog was actually treated that day. They pride themselves in being a “free-range” facility, but in my opinion, they take more dogs than their staff of 2-3 teenage girls can handle, give little supervision, and have no other training than being able to upload photos to their Facebook page all day. Word of advice, go elsewhere, there’s too many red flags and shadiness happening at Doggie Cottage!!!
1 10 years ago (30-07-2016)