animal technician

customer service representative

assistant manager

camp counselor

center manager

Best Friends Pet Care INC

What is the best part of working at the company?
Passion for Pets: Employees get to spend their days surrounded by dogs, which is perfect for animal lovers. The joy and energy that dogs bring can make every day enjoyable.

Caring Environment: The company prides itself on providing a safe and loving environment for pets. This means employees are part of a team that genuinely cares about the well-being of the animals.

Professional Growth: There are opportunities for professional development and training in pet care, grooming, and even pet behavior. This can be a great way to build a career in the pet care industry.


What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Meeting the expectations of pet owners can be challenging. Ensuring that every pet is well cared for and that owners are satisfied with the service can add pressure.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The staff is passionate about pets and dedicated to providing excellent care. This shared passion creates a strong sense of camaraderie and teamwork.

Management is generally supportive and focused on continuous improvement, which helps in maintaining a positive work culture.



What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Dogs arrive and are checked in. They get settled and have some time to socialize with their buddies.
Morning Playtime (8:00 AM - 11:00 AM): This is a high-energy period where dogs engage in group play sessions indoor activities might include fetch, agility exercises, and free play.

After a busy morning, dogs have some downtime to rest and recharge. This might include nap time in a quiet area.
Afternoon more structured activities and individualized attention. This could involve training sessions, grooming, or enrichment activities like puzzle toys.

Pick-Up (5:00 PM - 6:30 PM): Dogs are picked up by their owners, often tired and happy from a full day of activities

There were red flags at every turn. No one informed the manager of my scheduled interview, so she was very surprised and unprepared when I arrived. I was told I would hear from her within a few days confirming whether I would or would not be offered the job. About a week later, I called to confirm that I did not get the job so I would not have to wait for the call any longer. To my surprise, I was offered the job, and told they were late calling me because of how busy and disorganized they were during the holidays. I was very confused and pretty frustrated; if they were desperate for help they would presumably ask for it as soon as possible, and I would have been able to start working a week earlier. I optimistically accepted, and worked 3 shifts, during which various employees and even my trainer warned and ranted to me about inconsistent and inaccurate paychecks, lazy and inefficient coworkers, the poor condition of the building and tools, and poor scheduling (which I was already dealing with on day 2). Most of my training consisted of watching an out-dated safety video on youtube that no one adhered to on-site, and day camp associates having me shadow them as they ran the dogs from kennels to camp. This is how they trained a MANAGER. The animals are well-taken care of, so as a business this establishment is okay. As a place to work, the pay is absolutely not worth the discipline I would have had to exert to make the back of house barely functional. A business asking for help should at least try to make a good impression on needed help- not drive them out in the first week.

I grew up in this company, started as a CSR and advanced all the way to a Center Manager. I loved this company so much. It is entirely faced paced in the busy season and hours are plentiful then, but so much so that we were understaffed. In a facility that held 300~ dogs there was never enough people. In management, "home office" was always giving extra tasks, hard to deal with everything plus little meaningless projects. Marketing strategies had a great turn out, social media was always good, training used to be great. 

The things that made a horrible environment:
- Doesn't matter how much you work, you never get proper recognition. The appreciation level is so low and only for the ones that are on the favorites list for the upper management.
- Employee turnover rate is high. SO high!
- Lots of new people coming and going in the upper management who continually tell you that they are opening the lines of communication and tell you everything, but it is untrue. Lots of shadiness, lots of deceit.
- Work/Life balance is HORRIBLE. During holiday season you can work a 65 hour week and on salary you're only paid for 40.
-Pay is low considering the experience.
- Employee discounts are 20% off of services including vet services. Considerably low comparably to other facilities.
-I personally risked my life during a natural disaster, wading through flood waters to get to the facility, only person there, and got NO recognition. 

Great job to start out as a stepping stone, but no hope for a trustworthy and hopeful future.

Best Friends is a great place to work if you love animals. Although, it's not exactly just playing with dogs all day. Depending on your department, you will have several duties to accomplish. 

First and foremost, you should recognize when an animal is sick or injured. The health an safety of animals in the facility's care should be priority number one.

Camp Counselors must be vigilant in watching the group play to ensure a safe environment for the dogs. This means understanding body language, and knowing how to safely break up a fight - if one were to occur. You will have anywhere from as little as 5 dogs to as many as over 30 dogs in camp with you depending on the day. 

Animal Care Technicians are in charge of feeding the animals, cleaning and sanitizing the facility, and making sure every pet in the facility is healthy (are they eating? are the using the bathroom? are there any dogs in need of medical attention?). You are to make the Customer Service Reps aware of any issues, so they can inform the owners and see if any changes should be made to their care or if they should be taken to the vet.

The worst part of the job is that the hours fluctuate wildly from season to season. Over the summer, you will have as many hours as you want. In the fall and winter, your hours will drop dramatically.

The most rewarding part of the job is being able to spend so much time with various dogs and breeds, and having them be as excited to see you as you are to see them.

I liked the workplace, it was nice and I liked the vast majority of my coworkers. It was a fun and energetic environment and a wonderful experience!

That being said, though… management is terrible and employees are constantly leaving due to unlivable wages.

I felt I was unfairly reprimanded twice, once being an incident involving passing off pet potty walk lists when I’m supposed to be a group counselor the same day. I’m only given three hours to clean huge sections of kennels and complete multi page walk lists, and multiple of my coworkers have passed their lists off as well. Not just me.

The second time is because I unintentionally sent a single dog to the wrong room, because we were saddled with 30+ dogs in play group when influenza restrictions were removed. That’s the first time I’ve ever done that in by 2 year career there. I wasn’t even given a warning, I was immediately terminated.

I suffered through all of this having started at $12.50 an hour, and they expect you to train in multiple roles to get up to $15. The theme parks nearby pay their employees a starting wage of $18 an hour. This is unacceptable, going full time here is a fool’s errand.

As much as I loved this job, the trouble I went through to stay there was not worth it. I don’t recommend it.

I worked at this company for one week before leaving mid-shift due to a highly unprofessional and disorganized environment. Communication was poor, with management frequently forgetting my availability and enforcing inconsistent expectations. I was informed via a text—sent to my trainer, not me—that I couldn’t sit while supervising dogs, despite seeing other employees do the same. Employees were expected to stay at least 20 minutes past their scheduled shifts for additional tasks, and workplace conversations often revolved around personal gossip rather than work. Training was inconsistent, with different employees providing contradictory instructions, and I was expected to handle aggressive situations without any formal guidance. There was also a double standard regarding phone use—taking pictures of the dogs was a priority, but any other phone activity was discouraged. On my last day, I was suddenly told that my usual parking spot was an issue, even though it had never been mentioned before. The final frustration was being told I couldn’t stand with my hands in my pockets—despite freezing temperatures—because it “looked like I didn’t care.” Overall, the lack of professionalism, poor management, and unclear expectations made this a frustrating and disappointing work experience.

I've been working for Best Friends for about 3 years now. I love the environment here. Everyone wants everyone to succeed. The best part of it all is playing and meeting all different dogs and cats, talking and meeting different clients, building strong work relationships with employees and management. When management comes to visit, they always ask how everything is going and care a lot about what you have to say. It's like a family environment to me. I did go to school full time for 2 years and the flexibility is great! They also cross train you if you would like to different tasks so you're not just doing one thing. I've never had any issues with my managers. You can tell everyone here genuinely cares about the pets here, when my dogs board - I always get emails with pictures from them and my co-workers keep my up to date with everything, just like if my dogs were their own. Working upfront - you get to see every dogs excitement coming in through the doors just to say hello and so ready to go play either with us or their friends.

My experience working here was disappointing. Communication from management was often inconsistent, and I frequently felt that expectations and commitments changed without clear explanation. There was often a disconnect between what employees were told and what ultimately occurred, which made it difficult to trust leadership. Further more a big concern was the lies management would tell and carelessness of the company.
I was also concerned by what I observed regarding facility maintenance. Building issues often remained unresolved for extended periods of time, which created ongoing challenges for both staff and animals. In my opinion, more attention should have been given to maintenance and operational improvements.
Additionally, I did not always feel that the level of care provided to the dogs met the standards I expected. This was one of the most concerning aspects of my experience. Overall, I believe there is significant room for improvement in management communication, facility upkeep, and animal care practices.


Employee-owned company. The management here seriously exists to support employees, and most coworkers are AMAZING people. Starting positions work directly with dogs, so it’s a great opportunity for those looking for animal handling experience. Although pay starts low, cross-training/advancement is usually easily fulfilled if requested and there are great benefits for BOTH full-time AND part-time positions. Great for schedule flexibility, but also easy to get hours. Work is moderately-high energy and there’s NEVER a dull moment; entertaining, with different experiences each shift, however, general concept of what is done in each shift is the same, so it’s easy to catch on. Roles require energy and physical-soundness- must be willing to do a little dirty work. Overall: Honestly the best place I’ve ever worked.<3

Personally, I enjoyed the fast-paced environment with all of the animals and guests coming into the establishment. There was constantly work to be done, whether it was filing veterinarian paper work or helping retrieve pets and even cleaning or making new signs to greet guests with. I learned many valuable lessons in this job, including the importance of pet care and knowing how to communicate with many times parents that were not very understanding of our policies. Since it was always consistently busy during the summer, time-off was hard to come by, but my manager was very understanding and helped out in coming to an agreement in any way possible. She was very professional when it came to handling parents and helping them understand, if there were any issues. I have no complaints about this company! Enjoyed being able to play and interact with pets of all kinds!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Animal technician 416 salaries reported	$15.90 per hour
Customer service representative 273 salaries reported	$16.15 per hour
Assistant manager 67 salaries reported	$21.25 per hour
Camp counselor 75 salaries reported	$14.87 per hour
Center manager 59 salaries reported	$62,653 per year

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