dog daycare attendant

room attendant

front desk agent

coach

pet groomer

Dogtopia

The learning criteria BEFORE EMPLOYMENT is interesting and insightful but Dogtopia is not as advertised or explained transparent during the interview process. First in over a year at my last job I had a handful of scuffles but at Dogtopia I usually had 5 in the first hour daily. They play staff favorites but with a high turnover rate Dogtopia treats coaches like disposable employee by removing access to 2 of 3  apps on your personal phone in minutes. At first sight some staff not welcoming or friendly. I was corrected 3 times by 3 different employees on how to change a simple mop bucket. Dogtopia is weird because for a dog place they have a list of banned words to use such as Paw-anything as in Pawtastic or Fur-anything but on there daily reports I pointed out that they forgot their own rules and use 'best furry friends forever.' As a new employee unfamiliar to the approximately 300 clients they had , 3 rooms with over 100 dogs total that change day by day. Dogtopia made it so you should know their name like the dogs can tell you. They have a dry erase board that doesn't always have every dog enrolled, some are listed with poor description. For example I had 4 identical chocolate labs so the process can take a while or you can use there company phone except some dogs aren't even in the system and some with no pictures so it becomes a pointing game with the staff though a small window in the door or the wall windows because it gets so loud from barking and they have coaches use poor cheap radios that are hard to hear. Dogtopia at my location had 3 coaches per room, you can not leave the room if  a dog out so it was not logical to have 3 employees do the real work while having 2-3 managers and 3 others that just bring water and mop buckets once a couple hours and take the dogs to the room or owner. So my location had 5 employees outside the rooms basically doing very light work or nothing and  will only help in the room if you press a scuffle button. Its creepy how they just watch you through the camera and windows. Its very stressful working there because you only have a bubble machine that i had 1 dog enjoy for a few minutes while most don't even bat a eye with those things or chalk, so you can draw on the floor except that is a choak hazard as they to try to eat it but also puts you face down to the floor taking away from supervision and gathers a group that caused multiple scuffles. The majority of dogs are not happy to be at Dogtopia and I experienced so many stressed dogs. Dogtopia will have you take every collar off for nap and create them but next shift has to put them on and release them efficiently but that is the most stressful hour because most fights happen so you have to put the dogs back into the crate while some are leaving or coming, while cleaning up after they potty as fast as possible because its not a big room with not a lot of space and it gets messy fast, but you also have to record information and its by yourself. Dogs crowd the door and you have to then create any dogs that cause a issue if another dog is leaving or entering. It is very hard to build relationships with the dogs because you can't spend much time with 1 dog. Dogs can't lay on backs and are "encouraged" to stand all day pacing around or they get put in a crate for a break was depressing especally when you were supposed to not pet anywhere but the collar area. Dogtopia made me extremely depressed and stressed , I watched them do absolutely nothing while I was struggling and concerns went unaddressed and so they last day they had me do more tasks with no break till closing hour then fired me. I had to take off my dirty shirt in front of the  2 managers because they wanted it back, you are only given 2 shirts and have to earn a third shirt in time. It's disgusting how Dogtopia operates. Coaches at Dogtopia correct dogs more then do anything positive. Dogs that are Boarding will most likely never leave the room during their boarding duration until they go home which could be a few days to month(s). They are kept in a  create with no water or any staff from 9pm to 6am in complete darkness. Those dogs get the upmost stressed and start to act up and chew things. It's no topia it's DogNOPEia.

TL;DR: You'll get NO training, deal with daily dog fights and CONSTANT barking, be berated for not knowing procedures you were never made aware of, NEVER go outside, and have to deal with a constant stream of urine and feces INDOORS wothout proper ventilation. Management will change your hours worked without consent, refuse to pay you for training, and ghost you - THEY DO NOT TELL YOU THAT YOU ARE NOT "OFFICIALLY HIRED" UNTIL AFTER "TRAINING", so they just never put you on the schedule and never contact you again. 

I "worked" here for three whole days, in which I was supposed to be "trained." I have well over a decade of professional dog experience, so managing the dogs was never a problem. However, management provides zero training and the people who were supposed to be training me couldn't even answer basic questions about which cleaning product was supposed to be used on what parts of the room. Some employees make things up or outright lie, are snarky and aggressive, or are generally completely unhelpful. On the third and final day of my "training" the poor girl "training" me was only on her fourth day working there, and it was her first day in a room alone!

On my first day, the manager told me to check in with her before I left for the day so that I could finish up some paperwork and she could get me signed up for the app that they use to communicate. After my "trainer" told me to clean the room and left me to it by myself without any direction, I cleaned and went to find the manager...but she had already left for the day. Receptionist said she'd have the manager contact me first thing on Monday, she never did. Instead, I got a snarky email late that afternoon about how I supposedly left without "finishing the tasks that had been delegated to" me and that if I felt I wasn't a good fit to let her know. I responded with an email letting her know that she had been mistaken - I had done what was asked to the best of my ability, by myself, with zero direction, and that she should check the cameras for proof. 

Except they shut the cameras off during "lunch time" because they don't want the dog owners to ever see their dogs being dragged and forced into broken crates.

My second training day, the person "training" me literally did not speak to me unless I asked her a question, in which case I got short, often one word answers. 

There are WAY too many dogs packed into spaces way too small to safely accommodate them - 40+ dogs in a room with one person is not acceptable, especially when those dogs lack training and socialization, and are constantly over threshold. There was at least one "scuffle" EVERY SINGLE DAY I was there. Management doesn't care about it at all, even when it results in injury, and so the already undertrained staff is taught not to care about it, either. 

Dogs almost NEVER go outside. Out of THREE DAYS, only ONE group went outside because they were having a "pool party" and it was for a whopping 10 minutes, just so they could get photos for social media. Otherwise, the dogs spend 100% of their time indoors, where they urinate and defecate, and that's an awesome way to ruin a house trained dog. Add to that the fact that there's a LOT of very young puppies who will NEVER house train because of the fact that they are never allowed outside, and you've got a real problem on your hands. Also, the ventilation system is broken and they can't afford to fix it, so the entire building stinks. 

Management also changed my hours worked without my consent or notification, refused to pay me for the 4 hours of online training I did, and ignored messages about making sure that I get paid for my first training day (which I never clocked in for, because the manager left and never set me up with the app.) Lied about pay, too! No benefits, no support, total joke.

DO NOT WORK HERE, no matter how much you love dogs. The owners know nothing about dogs and only bought into the franchise to cash in on all the pandemic dogs, and it shows! 



Easy interview. Casual atmosphere. Working with the dogs can be FuN and rewarding. BUT…training minimal, understaffed, high turnover & disorganized. Not enough support to do your job properly, unhappy & disgruntled employees. If you’ve Never worked in an environment where you’re dealing with MANY dogs at one time- (20-50 dogs) then you need thorough training- which they fall short on. You need to understand & observe dog behavior. There’s only one attendant for that many dogs whereas there should be, at least, two attendants working the room. The Dogs are friendly, for the most part; they don’t take in vicious dogs but they still need to be closely monitored because they WiLL rough play, bully each other, annoy each other and break out into Fights. You will have dogs that can get aggressive with others because of their breed or for reasons that you’re unaware of until it happens and then you need to know how to handle that situation safely and effectively. They train you thru videos. You sit for about a week watching videos. Videos isn’t enough and the dangers of physical harm to yourself and the dogs are high. They don’t have enough staff because they have high turnover and they have high turnover because the pay is so low for the workload which is very physically demanding. Managing the dogs and the cleaning, lifting heavy mop buckets, big dogs is a lot. And the few employees that they do manage to retain are sadly overworked, unhappy & disgruntled because they’re under appreciated. They kill their employees with the workload & the pay is insulting. They promise a $1 raise after 3mons, meanwhile their starting pay is just awful for what you’re required to do & for the heavy responsibility of caring for the dogs so that $1 is hardly an incentive. Again grossly underpaid. They give you only a 15minute break- which you don’t even have the time to take. They’re extremely disorganized where you never have enough supplies on hand to do your job properly, effectively or inefficiently. If you’ve never bathed dogs? Too bad they throw you right in which is dangerous for you and for the dogs if you don’t know how to physically and safely handle them. You truly don’t get time to play or socialize with the dogs because with so many you need to be aware at all times that I felt more like a warden guard and they inmates. I was left with the impression that all they cared about was making money off the dogs and paying their employees a small fraction of that. The dogs deserve better care and better trained employees. The employees deserve better compensation pay, management support and respect. This was an overall terrible experience and one of the Worst jobs and places I’ve Ever worked ….   IF you have experience working on dog daycare then you’d probably acclimate better but you’d also have to be ok with the low pay, support & workload. Just go work for a veterinary office as a kennel tech- you’ll be paid better & work in a more professional environment or go to a dog daycare that has better management and competitive pay. DOGTOPIA does have “corporate heads” but the business standards & ethics are poor that I’m surprised it’s run by corporate- it’s sad and embarrassing that this franchise has corporate officials because they obviously don’t know what they’re doing or care. I quit within a month.  I miss the dogs, but not their fights & not the job & definitely not management. I feel sorry for the employees and the dogs. Overall, horrible experience. Never Again. 

This job can be incredible, but it can also be incredibly taxing and difficult. I was Front Desk for over a year and ended up being promoted to Lead PPC for about a month before I put my notice in. I loved it, even the dogs being annoying or cleaning up after them or even after I had been bit a couple times. It was all worth it for me because of all the relationships and good times I had made with the dogs, parents, and my co-workers. As front desk you get to learn how to use all the computer systems and processes which I LOVED. I really liked taking the dogs back and forth into the playrooms, and the grooming room which lets you interact with them and say your hellos and goodbyes, without all the clean up. You get to do spa services (baths, nail trims, teeth brushing, ear cleanings, and brush outs) which are fun if the dog cooperates! 

The day in and day out was structured with a checklist you had to complete every day. There was a cleaning schedule and certain things for every AM and every PM shift. The hardest part of the average job is when the dogs are misbehaving and if a fight does happen. You're supposed to call them scuffles and they are difficult to deal with, sometimes they are pretty bad and dogs have to be dismissed by the manager. There's also some pet parents that can be difficult, I have been yelled at and cursed at in person, over the phone, and over messages. Vaccines are a bigger problem for some people than you think. 

I loved this job for a really long time and most of my coworkers were amazing. There are some people who get the job to play with dogs all day then realize how much they have to clean, how many responsibilities they have, and that dogs aren't just well trained all the time and end up either slacking or quitting. If you want a job to just play with dogs this is not the one, it can still be very fun and sweet but you have a lot more to do. 

My main complaint with my Dogtopia location is that it's owned by Red Barn Dog Ops LLC. If you go to an independently owned location then you will most likely not have the same issues I did. We did not have every/enough of supplies we needed or update things in a very timely manner. I had a situation that I am very unhappy with how corporate handled it and how a few people spoke to me about it, which is the main reason for my departure. 

LONG STORY SHORT this job can be amazing, as long as all the employees and corporate are trying their hardest. I am not fond of Red Barn, but I know the Dogtopia franchise can be an amazing place to work. Just make sure you have very firm values and that everyone in your store is putting in the correct amount of effort. It's not as fun when one person has to do the work of 4. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
the people and the dogs. if you’re lucky, you’ll get a really great team, that have your back. 

the dogs are always something that made me smile, i had my favorite dogs, and dogs that really bonded with me. i miss them. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
it’s a really fast paced environment. you should get proper training, depending on your location. (some are better managed than others) 

it’s very physically taxing, you’re on your feet 99% of the shift. i’ve been injured on the clock by dogs either fighting or just unaware of their own strength. you’ll be knocked on your bum more than once, i know i did. you’re in charge of the room as the dog playroom attendant, and it puts quite a bit of stress on your shoulders to keep all the pups safe for 5 hours straight. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
it should be a positive environment. (at my location, we were told we should like going to work, and i did. thanks to my coworkers and my managers) we were very friendly and had a pretty good relationship between everyone. it’s very reliant on trust. if you’re in a room, you need to trust that your coworkers will come help you if something goes awry. i found if there was someone at the location i didn’t trust, i was more likely to be insecure in my room management, and make mistakes. this happened at least a few times, even after id been doing it for a year already. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
get there at 6:45am, clock in, do the morning huddle (hear the dogs i’ll have, any problems with said dogs, and the cleaning chores today) set up my room, once i get some dogs i tend to really just focus on them. around 9:30-10:30 is where the dogs start calming down, as less pups are showing up. this is when i begin to clean, as much as i can. your break is determined by how busy front of house is. it could be at 8am, or 11:30am. it all depends. (although most locations have a pattern and it will be at the same time each day) at around 11:30am, i start picking up play equipment and wiping it down. then at 12, i crate all the dogs and clean the whole room. then i do an afternoon huddle (tell managers how the dogs behaved, and issues i noticed, and any dogs on their best behavior) then i change my clothes, and i leave around 12:30-12:40. 

same for evening shift, just 1:45pm-7:30pm. 

just fyi, they will probably want to cross train you, and you will eventually do other things at the location. this means being in a playroom for half a shift and rovering for the other half, or playroom & receptionist. i found myself doing all of them many times in the same shift.

Pros 
• Get to pet, love on, and play with cute dogs
• Nice coworkers 
• Get to listen to music while at work
• They give people with not much experience in an environment with many dogs all at once a chance.

Cons
• Too much stress, anxiety, and responsibility due to the high amount of dogs all packed in one room with only one coach (it can be 20+ dogs all in one room.)
• They allow back dogs with behavior issues who are already known to cause problems (within the first 3 weeks of employment there I had to deal with 2 bad experiences.)
• High number of dogs packed in one room with only one coach + Dogs with behavior issues = a very likely dangerous situation for coach and other dogs.
• Although everyday there is a meeting with all the managers and coaches it feels like it’s pointless and just a waste of your time because when bad/dangerous situations with aggressive dogs are mentioned they seem to not care much, (they say they won’t allow those dogs back but it takes them a while for them to actually not take them back, which just means even more responsibility and stress for you, the coach.) Sometimes they will also just respond with “oh yeah he/she does that”, even if you mention something about a certain dog biting you or biting other dogs, a warning before having to handle that specific dog would be nice but don’t expect that much as they will expect for you to already know even if you’re new.
• They’re solution to aggressive dogs is placing them inside a crate, when the right thing and better/safer thing for everyone would be to just simply remove those naughty/aggressive dogs.
• They will get mad at you if you make a mistake, as in if you tense or freeze up during a scuffle, they will start yelling at you and blaming you even when you try your best, and even if it’s not your fault  due to the high number of dogs in the room + aggression of some dogs, and on top of that even if you’re new ( I’m not sure if this is true for all locations or all employees but I experienced that.)
• Another con is the pay is wayyy too low for the amount of work, stress, and responsibility (basically they expect too much from you/ take advantage of you, and expect you to be highly committed to the job but they don’t pay you fairly.)

So yeah, in general this is not such a great place to work at all by any means, but if you’re willing to overlook past all that just to work with doggies then this is the job for you.

A typical day at work can vary depending on the volume of dogs at the daycare. Mostly, my job as a floater is spent cleaning up the grooming areas (vacuuming, mopping, taking out trash, and wiping down trays), keeping up with laundry, keeping up with dishes, and running dogs to and from the pet parents and playrooms. Floaters are basically janitors that also make sure the dogs are where they are supposed to be.
I've learned a lot about dog behavior and biology (even some dog grooming) through the canine coach modules and working with the dogs everyday.
The management has its pros and cons. Some of the managers are easy to work with, they are understanding of life problems, care about your school performance, and give praise when it is due. However, our store is understaffed, employees are worked far past their limits, some of the management only sees the flaws and never has anything good to say about your work. The staff is underpaid, and are, at times, treated like they are disposable. Some of the management is very picky and will not take no for an answer, despite their way not being the appropriate way. They also create a sense of urgency when it is unnecessary, causing a usually easily handled situation to become stressful.
Despite the management and occasionally stressful environment, the culture is almost family-like. You have the family members that you don't particularly like, the ones you tolerate, and ones that you can talk to and joke with easily. The break room/kitchen is a central point of the job site that everyone can take time to cool off, have a snack, and vent/blow some steam off in before heading off to their next task.
The hardest part of the job is definitely keeping up with the pace of everyone else. Its something you must get used to. As a floater, you are expected to put the dogs first and the cleaning second. which means being able to pause a task and come back later to it is a must. This will happen multiple times a day as pet parents come rolling in.
The most enjoyable part of the day is being able to pet and play with the dogs. As a floater, your time with the dogs is limited. So whether its stepping into a room to help clean, or running them to and from the rooms, you should make the most of your time spent with them. 

The dogs for the most part are fantastic! If you love working with dogs and have a passion for them this is the field to work in!

However, when it comes to this industry at the end of the day it comes down to the culture and the willingness to learn and listen. Dogtopia suffers from lack of aknowledgement of problems both in the rooms and outside of the rooms. The canine coach shifts are typically only a few hours, but often times in a room of 20-40 dogs, 5-7 of them on a busy day will be known to have agression issues and still be allowed into open play. The canine coaches are given less than 2 hours of video training on dog behavior and language before having 2-3 “shadow shifts” if thats what you can call a couple of days of being in a room with a secondary coach. Management is unwilling to listen to any insight that does not align with what they believe, even in cases where the solution would’ve have solved or improved the situation. Breaks are 15 minutes at most in the “middle” (meaning more often than not an hour into your 5 hour shift, or 4 1/2 hours into your 5 hour shift) where more often than not you are discussing the rooms with management the entire time.

The camera situation and being “on stage” all the time seems to be the priority over safety in may cases as well, and this can be felt heavily with certain dogs that the owners will tell you to your face “pay more” and therefor we are to accommodate whatever they want. This means that certain dogs get to play fight club at daycare all day long often times, not being allowed to even be put in time out for fear of offending a high dollar customer on camera.  When we start essentially letting people PAY to get out of the rules everyone else has to follow it is a recipe for disaster.

Dogtopia’s open play model is a better model than is typically offered at places similar however, the way that their employees are expected to facilitate the play is dangerous, sloppy, and will end up hurting bot only the dogs, but the people involved.

If you are on the fence about working here, I would say give some time for them to figure out what their priorities are. The buisiness feels money hungry and shirks responsibility to feed that lust for the next dollar. At the current rate, it just seems dangerous to go into that space often times with very little training, and with the person thats supposed to save you if something goes wrong having similar, if not less training.

Working with the dogs and becoming their friends is the most rewarding part of this job, and most of the staff is friendly and accommodating, but the management is awful. The manager never listens to employees concerns and is more interested in making money than having a safe environment for the dogs. There are often far too many dogs in one room to be able to do anything, leaving playroom attendants overwhelmed and unable to maintain a calm fun environment. We are suppose to use a three strike rule with our dogs, if they reach the third strike they will be dismissed, but this rule is NEVER enforced, often letting dogs stay that are NOT okay for open play, making scuffles and stressful rooms happen more often than not.
 
I've only been working here for a few months and I've seen far too many people quit. It's frustrating to keep re-training people only to have them quit a couple weeks in. Nobody really seems to know what they are doing or how to properly understand dog behavior and training. Training videos I was required to watch MONTHS after I had already been there were far more helpful than what any of my trainers taught me. Why we don't require new hires to watch these videos first thing I have no clue. But even with the training videos it's difficult to keep the dogs under control when there are almost always over 20 dogs in one room, including dogs that should have been dismissed a long time ago. I understand that we can't be dismissing dogs left and right and can work with them to make open play more suitable for them, but some dogs are obviously not okay in open play, but are allowed to stay anyway. 

I really do want to love this job, I've become friends with so many of the dogs and want them to have fun, but it's made impossible with stressful work environments and a manager who does not seem to care about the dogs or the employees,  especially the employees. Also rules are often changed, such as time dogs are crated for naptime has been changed at least three or four times since I started, and no one is ever told, they just make the change and let us catch up. It's becoming too much and I would not recommend working here to any of my friends. Maybe if the employees got paid more or got better benefits, it wound't be quite so bad, but I still think even with that I would rather work elsewhere.

As one coworker succinctly put it to me: "it's a tough job for **** pay". The work is demanding, high-stress, and physically taxing. And the pay is not remotely worth the work or the expectations. You are regularly expected to be dealing with 30-40 dogs on your own, all while maintaining an image of being in control for any pet parents who happen to be watching. You can never even so much as give the impression of struggling with the dogs or expressing frustration, even if your behavior is genuinely innocuous.

Extra effort is rarely rewarded while any flaws real or otherwise are harshly criticized, and they do not hesitate to hand out warnings under a three-strike system. They advertise as being flexible with their scheduling and willingness to adjust based on your personal circumstances- such as medical issues or sudden happenings- but that's only so far as it's convenient for them. The moment things get difficult your mental, emotional, and even physical well being take a back seat to their needs. Which sums up working for this company as a whole: you are only valued so far as you are convenient for them. Advancement is inconsistent and entirely based on the whims of your manager, so if they decide to not make time for it or it's their opinion you're not qualified? Tough luck.

Literally the only "benefit" you get for working for them that isn't the bare minimum- sick time, breaks, etc- is your dog(s) being able to stay for free. Don't have dogs? Don't get benefits. Meanwhile the managers are more than willing to hone in on the flaws of specific people while completely missing the repeated shortcomings of longtime employees, even when said employees are directly undermining their authority. Oh and don't you dare have any complaints; they'll be happy to use security footage to check your conversations and anything you said while on company property.

The job has a high turn over for a reason, and the company is aware they aren't paying nearly enough for the work they're demanding. They still won't pay and are in fact cutting corners while raising costs. If you want to work with dogs, work somewhere less predatory.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Dog daycare attendant 189 salaries reported	$14.83 per hour
Room attendant 273 salaries reported	$12.37 per hour
Front desk agent 88 salaries reported	$15.38 per hour
Coach 93 salaries reported	$14.12 per hour
Pet groomer 34 salaries reported	$28.02 per hour

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