Firstly, please read the review from February 2024 — I truly could not have said it better. Sadly, and painfully, absolutely nothing has changed.
I was employed at The Petropolitan for just over a year. I stayed far longer than I should have because I cared deeply about the dogs and the team beside me. What I witnessed still weighs heavily on me, and I write this with genuine remorse for the dogs who cannot speak for themselves.
The Petropolitan does an incredible job of creating a façade. From the outside, everything looks polished, attentive, and loving. Behind the scenes, the reality is far more troubling.
Concerns regarding dog welfare and honesty with clients:
- There is both a day care and boarding facility. The day care has four rooms divided by energy and needs. Dogs deemed “too much work” or incompatible are frequently crated for hours at a time.
- There is an entire room filled with crates where dogs often receive little to no interaction, largely due to chronic understaffing. There are sometimes only 2 staff members on shift to manage 60+ dogs.
- Staff members, many of whom are overwhelmed, forget or deprioritize returning dogs to play, sometimes leaving them crated for excessive periods.
- Dogs who visibly do not enjoy the environment are still kept as clients. This is not communicated honestly.
- Report cards are fabricated to reflect a “great day,” regardless of the dog’s actual emotional state.
- Dogs showing clear signs of stress — constant barking, distress behaviours, and ongoing stress-related gastrointestinal issues — are described to owners as “happy” and “settled.” This is seen far too frequently in boarding.
“Personal Care” services are deeply misleading:
- Clients pay extra for one-on-one care, yet these dogs are often crated for nearly the entire day.
- On many days, personal care dogs receive two brief five-minute walks and, if fortunate, 10–15 minutes in a playroom, much of which is spent staging photos.
- The interaction is often reduced to photo-taking for report cards, not meaningful engagement.
- There were days I managed the entire boarding department alone, leaving personal care dogs isolated in separate rooms for the duration of what was supposed to be enrichment time. This genuinely broke my heart.
Boarding conditions and misrepresentation:
- The so-called “large” accommodations are extremely small, tightly packed into small two rooms.
- I worked primarily in boarding and effectively ran the department without the title, support, or pay.
- Dogs who hated their stay, visibly and consistently, were still described to owners as having “a great time.”
Additional concern: chronic overbooking and accommodation misrepresentation.
- Boarding is consistently overbooked, with far more dogs accepted than there are appropriate accommodations available.
- Dogs booked and paid for “large accommodations” are regularly placed instead in 'large' crates, including crates located in hallways and in the overflow room.
- Dogs booked into “luxury suites” are not guaranteed those suites. Placement operates on a first-come, first-served basis.
- When luxury suites are full, dogs who have paid for them are crated until a suite becomes available, sometimes for extended periods.
- This practice is not communicated honestly to clients at booking, drop-off, or in report cards.
- From a welfare perspective, this adds unnecessary stress to dogs already coping with a boarding environment.
- From a client perspective, it is fundamentally misleading — pet parents believe they are paying for guaranteed space and comfort when, in reality, accommodations are conditional and often unavailable.
- Pet parents deserve full transparency about where their dogs will actually be housed, especially when premium services are being paid for. - The lack of honesty surrounding overbooking and accommodations is deeply concerning and, in my experience, systemic rather than occasional.
- Management avoided difficult but necessary conversations with clients unless pushed repeatedly.
Operational dishonesty:
- “Seasonal gourmet treats” are advertised, yet ingredients are never available. Staff are instructed to make something random and invent ingredient lists.
- Report cards are the primary concern of management, often prioritized over actual care and interaction.
- I felt immense pressure to produce an excellent report card rather than spend a reasonable, loving amount of time with a dog.
Workplace culture and leadership failures:
- Supervisors and co workers were genuinely wonderful, hardworking, and compassionate, they carry this place, and they are severely underpaid and unappreciated.
- The manager is deeply toxic, instilling fear of job loss for anyone who disagrees or suggests improvements.
- In an entire year, I never once saw her work hands-on with the animals. She once asked me how boarding operations functioned.
- Peer reviews about her were overwhelmingly negative, yet there were no repercussions.
- Management routinely went behind staff members’ backs, firing people without notice, creating a culture of anxiety and silence.
Unequal treatment, discrimination, and emotional harm:
- I believe there is discrimination toward international workers such as myself. Approved vacation was later weaponized against me.
- I experienced an Ambiguous loss and had asked for family time way in advance, which was then denied later, despite explaining its obvious importance to me and my family.
- I was held to an unusual and unfairly high standard, bullied over sick notes after a single day off, and pressured to disclose deeply personal information.
- A staff member caught the manager googling how to “punish me.” When raised, I was gaslit and told it was justified.
- Despite showing up consistently and being praised by supervisors for professionalism, I was never genuinely appreciated.
My departure:
- When I was suddenly removed from the schedule and replaced quietly with new hires, I recognized the plan to terminate me without notice.
- Knowing my supervisors would never approve, the decision was hidden from them.
- I resigned first — and the letter of recommendation I received only confirmed that management, not performance, is the problem.
- I later realized I had been used through December, denied time with family who spent thousands to visit me, only to be pushed out afterward.
Final thoughts:
- The core issue here is leadership. The owner and manager either cannot or will not acknowledge their failures. Employee reviews all echo the same concerns — this is not coincidence.
- If you are a pet parent, proceed with caution.
- If you are an animal care worker, protect your mental health. There are better places — places that truly care for animals and the people who look after them. This is not one of them.