The place is brand spanking new - just opened in the Fall of 2010. Here's a picture of the front entrance:
Our guest, Gus, is a 2 year old, 15 pound long-haired dachshund:
Overall, our experience was excellent! The staff was great, and the facility was clean and well-maintained. We booked Gus in a Vacation Villa, which runs around $53 a night. Now that might seem like a lot, but I am glad we spent the extra money, and it's in line with another place we used in Minnesota that was top-notch.
The outside area consists of a water fountain play area:
The off-leash play area outside is half artificial turf, and half real grass, with a patch of gravel to one side.
Gus would go on either the real grass or the gravel, but not the artificial grass.
The walking path is nice, but would be better if it were a little longer. It was more productive for us to take Gus for a walk outside the front of the pet place along Bonnet Creek Parkway.
They have several benches for the humans to sit on while watching their dogs. Here's a picture of me and Gus on on such bench....he's the one on the right here (in case there was any doubt):
And there are plenty of water bowls to make sure our little furry family members stay hydrated:
We called the first night to see how he was doing, and they told us he was shy around them (normal), and had not gone to the bathroom since we left him at 3:00 pm.
When we called the next morning, he still had not gone, so that's when we decided we just needed to go over and visit him. As soon as we got him and took him outside, he peed. A lot. If you've seen the first Austin Powers movie, after he's initially un-frozen, you get the idea!
And at night, it was so much fun to see the holiday lights they had outside:
The last thing is regarding the playgroups. Gus hasn't spent a lot of time in doggie playgroups, but he does like to play with other dogs his size. Unfortunately, they don't have separate play groups for small dogs and large dogs - it's all one playgroup. After watching the play group for a few minutes, it was clear it was just too many big dogs for us to feel comfortable leaving Gus there in one. Many places have separate groups based on size, so that surprised us. A playgroup was included in the price, but since we opted out, he got an extra daily walk.
We were very excited to get an e-mail from Gus while we were at the parks on Sunday - picture included!
We also got a hand-written report from the staff at the end of his stay telling us how he did, what he liked and didn't like, etc. It was cute!
We'll definitely use them again - as a matter of fact, we just booked his stay for our trip later this year. And since we will be staying at the POR, it will be super convenient to visit.
