Dog Taxi Review
 

Posting this for a friend:

This review is regarding Dog Taxi Vancouver, which was negligent in the care of our Yorkshire Terrier, Bentley. He was entrusted in their care from September 18th to 23rd, 2012 while we were on a business trip. When we first met Angela Posada on September 18th at 11.30am to drop off Bentley, he was a healthy, 10 lbs dog who had up-to-date vaccinations and Burnaby City Dog license. When we picked up Bentley on September 23rd at 2.30pm, Bentley was lethargic, listless and had to be carried home (he was unable to walk). Angela did inform us at pick-up that Bentley was "not himself" since the morning and to watch out for any vomiting. We were not provided any further information.

Upon arrival at home, Bentley threw up a few more times and did not have any appetite during dinner. We thought it was normal (he had grass or something that would flush right out of his system) and that he was probably exhausted after 8.5 days straight of play/day care.

However, at 4am on September 24th, Bentley suffered from many episodes of bloody diarrhea in addition to the repeated vomiting. We immediately brought Bentley into the Central Animal Emergency Clinic where he was admitted as a serious case by Dr. Sekhon. His blood tests indicated that he was suffered from Hemorrhagic Gastro Enteritis (HGE). This is a serious condition, especially for smaller pets. At 8am, Bentley was transferred to the Central City Animal Hospital under the care of Dr. Dhaliwal who confirmed Dr. Sekhon's diagnosis. Bentley was on intravenous fluids (IVs) and received medical treatment from September 24th to 26th. Bentley was under observation for the rest of the week.

We hold Dog Taxi Vancouver directly responsible for negligence of Bentley's care during the time period he was at the Dog Taxi Vancouver facility. In the many phone calls we made to Dog Taxi Vancouver since Bentley was admitted to the Central Animal Emergency Clinic, we've received a variety of excuses for his poor condition; but no accountability or clear explanation as to how a healthy 10lb dog can be reduced to a sick 8lb dog in a matter of 8.5 days on the Dog Taxi Vancouver property under the care and supervision of its owners and caretakers.

Some of the excuses:
1. Dog Taxi Vancouver: Bentley is not used to dog boarding the day care system; that is why he was stressed.
Our Response: Bentley goes to a day care 3 times a week (We Care Doggie Day Care in Burnaby) which he absolutely adores. Also, when we called from our business trip (once every two days), we got a report from Angela and Jorge Posanda that Bentley is doing well, is happy and healthy.
2. Dog Taxi Vancouver: We have no insurance (from Jorge Posanda).
Our Response: On the Dog Taxi Vancouver website, it says that Dog Taxi Vancouver is insured by "ING insurance company or Loyd Thompson insurance of Canada". Now this seems dubious as how can a company be insured by two insurance companies but still not be accountable?
3. Dog Taxi Vancouver: It is normal for dogs to lose weight when they are stressed.
Our Response: How is losing 20% of a dog's body weight in one week healthy? And if you have dog taxi services to vet offices, why couldn't you take our dog to a vet when he was vomiting? Also, we provided Dog Taxi Vancouver with the name/contact information of a local relative and our vet in the event of an emergency. Why weren't they called or informed?

We sent Dog Taxi Vancouver 5 invoices that made up Bentley's treatment bills totaling to $1,246.34 incurred at the Central Animal Emergency Clinic and the Central City Animal Hospital on Oct 1st, 2012 by registered mail. They received these (signed for them) on Oct 3rd but did not assist with the vet bills. In fact, none of the owners (John Samson, Jorge Posada, Angela Posada) even called to see if Bentley was still alive!

I looked up HGE online, and it says that the causes for the disease is unknown (stress seems to be a potential factor). This makes it hard to actually place the blame on Dog Taxi. I mean what if the dog was already incubating the disease when it was checked in, or as they said, stress from dog boarding prompted Bentley to display symptoms?

Regardless, your friend is out of luck.. lesson learned to not go with a boarding service that from online at least, has bad reviews.

^Have to agree, there's nothing that would indicate Dog Taxi is at fault, and most certainly nothing that would stand up to a legal challenge.

It sounds like Bentley made it through alright, but your friend needs to just suck it up.

before boarding my dog for a period of 2 weeks i spent the month prior dropping her off at first for an afternoon and then a whole day and then over night.

many dogs that are not used to boarding won't eat for many days or not at all and the stress factor is often overlooked.

i feel terrible for the dog but as mentioned its pretty hard to say it's specifically dog taxi vancouvers fault.

Thanks for the responses. My friend gets that she's not gonna get her $$ back - she just wants to spread the word to be careful. And it was pretty shitty of Dog Taxi not to even contact the vet if they noticed the dog was listless, not eating, vomiting... They even took down vet's info and did nothing when something actually happened. That's why she's claiming negligence on their part. And Bentley has been going to daycare services etc. for awhile - so it definitely wasn't his first time being away.

Thanks again - lesson learned. Don't board dog with any company that has a questionable track record.

Your friend is one of those people who runs to the clinic every time she breaks a nail, isn't she?

A dog being listless or "out of sorts" is reason to watch the dog more closely, but not necessarily reason to immediately call the vet and get him to drop everything. If the dog was fine right up until the morning they picked him up, what else are they supposed to have done?

Daycare is one thing - boarding for a week is quite different for a dog, as others have noted here.

Your friend might want to be careful going around publicly slagging a company without some ACTUAL evidence of wrongdoing. Her EMOTIONAL opinion does not constitute evidence.

Maybe that's the problem. Dog's being bounced around here and there, eating and drinking all kinds of different products, coupled with stress that could be the cause of it all.