Best Friends / Local Pet Care

[Chernaboggles]

Does anyone have any recent experience with pet day care at WDW (or near it)? We're staying off-property and our Labrador will be traveling with us. Mostly we'll look after him ourselves, but it would be nice to have the option to do full days at the parks.

Disney's Best Friends setup looks promising but there seems to be a real lack of recent reviews anywhere, which makes me wonder.

 

[luv]

I had a great experience there. They had all these young girls who seemed to really like animals a lot working there. They had me put my cat in the little box myself.

My cat was very nervous and didn't like being there. She wouldn't eat, but they kept changing her food and giving her new cans of the food I had left. She was still nervous when I picked her up, but she was safe, fed and none the worse for wear.

There are pet-friendly hotel rooms in Orlando. Disney doesn't have any, but Uni does. Uni even has room service for the pet, lol. If you want to keep your pet with you, that might be an option...but might not be a good one if your pup is left alone and barks.

Me, I'd rather board the cat with a vet, if it isn't possible to leave it at home. But Best Friends was good and I'd recommend them in a pinch.

 

[Chernaboggles]

Great info, thanks!

We're renting a townhouse very close to WDW, we've already cleared him with the owner. It's a month-long stay, that's why we're bringing him along. He'll be fine at the house if we go for for part of the day or take a rest in the middle. If we're going to be out all day, though, we try to put him somewhere he can run and play with other dogs, like daycare or camp. ( We're sort of ridiculous, I know. )

I've got an inquiry in with Best Friends about how their Day Camp program works, but I wanted to see if anyone had impressions of the facility and staff in general.

 

[MissingDisney]

Best Friends is crazy expensive and play time costs even more. There are many other better options with more playtime and less cost in the area. I would keep looking. Best Friends is a chain, and not Disney-for-dogs in any way.

 

[Chernaboggles]

Thank you! I'll keep doing research so we have options. If anyone is local and has suggestions, I'd be super grateful.

 

[OswaldTheRabbit]

Thank you! I'll keep doing research so we have options. If anyone is local and has suggestions, I'd be super grateful.

Another thought is perhaps a dog walker. It would get you a nice chunk of time at the parks and is usually really cheap compared to a kennel.

 

[Chernaboggles]

We'll definitely look into it. I'd rather he be in a place he can run around and play with other dogs (we have a great daycare here where the social dogs are allowed to play outside most of the day). I heard back from Best Friends and to do get him into a daytime play environment with them would be $60 a day, which is crazy.

 

[luv]

You could always board the dog at home instead of in Orlando.

I think I paid $60+ a day for my cat to have her "deluxe condo" (two small boxes instead of one.

 

[Chernaboggles]

You could always board the dog at home instead of in Orlando.

I think I paid $60+ a day for my cat to have her "deluxe condo" (two small boxes instead of one.

He's not being boarded at all. Dog daycare is like kid daycare - you drop the dog off in the morning, he has supervised play with other dogs all day, you pick him up at night. It's popular with people who work long hours but want their dogs to get exercise and social time. Usually costs about $25 a day. We use it at home when we take day trips to the city.

 

[lilclerk]

He's not being boarded at all. Dog daycare is like kid daycare - you drop the dog off in the morning, he has supervised play with other dogs all day, you pick him up at night. It's popular with people who work long hours but want their dogs to get exercise and social time. Usually costs about $25 a day. We use it at home when we take day trips to the city.

Have you tried asking the people you're renting the town house through if they know of any local doggie daycares?

 

[Chernaboggles]

Putting this here in case anyone is ever searching the forums to info on this topic, this is was Best Friends' response to my inquiry.

Yes, we offer daycare everyday. We open at 7 AM each morning and close an hour after the latest Disney Park closes. In order to attend group play, your dog must be spayed or neutered and at least 5 months old.

You asked about Day Camp. Camp is open to our local dogs only as we would expect to see the dog at least twice a week every week and it is a year commitment. Day Care is open to anyone and simply means by the time we close your dog would go home with you. You would need to reserve a suite for your dog and we can add play as long as your dog is spayed/neutered and is at least 5 months old.

The Indoor Suite is 4' x 8' and your dog is completely indoors except for two walks per day. It would be $34 per day for a full day (anything over 6 hours) or $20 for a half day (anything under 6 hours).

The Indoor/Outdoor Suite is 4' x 12' and your dog has the availability to be either inside or outside at their leisure. It would be $38 for a full day or $22 for a half day.

We can add Playgroup or Play and Stay to either suite for an additional charge.

Playgroup is 30 minutes of play with the other dogs and would be $15 per session.

Play and Stay is a 4 hour block of play with the other dogs and would be an additional $22 per day.

Please give us a call (407) 209-3126 and we'll be happy to answer any questions you have.

 

[Chernaboggles]

Have you tried asking the people you're renting the town house through if they know of any local doggie daycares?

I did, but unfortunately the owners don't live locally any more, it's looked after by a management company. I've got a list of vets with good reviews, I'm going to try calling them, maybe I can find one that way. Worst comes to worst I'll just visit a bunch of places when I get there, but planning ahead gives me something to do other than count the minutes until we're out of the snow.

 

[MrsCoker]

We have boarded our year and a half old yellow lab at Best Friends four or five times. We love it! We are local and have made BF our "boarder of choice".
We typically choose the indoor kennel with two walks for $39.00 per day. Occasionally we will splurge and pay the $22.00 for a four hour play group session (thirty minute playgroups are $15.00, so it just makes sense to us to pay the few extra bucks for some good exercise and socialization for our active pup!).

Every time we have boarded our dog we have received an email from BF with a picture of her looking VERY happy! She has always been returned to us clean and healthy. In fact, one time while she was there she had a bit of a tummy ache and they called us to let us know and ask if it was okay for them to give her some meds to settle her stomach.

I would absolutely recommend BF to anyone!