Alta Dog Walking and Pet Services

I moved to Alexandria, VA in June 2015, and it has been such a blessing finding Alta Pet Services. We have two dogs; 2 year old female lab, and a 9 year old male jack Russell, and both dogs love it here. We have boarded both dogs on numerous occasions, and it has always been such a seamless process. Al and his family are awesome, and always happy to help. We had both are dogs stay with Al and his family labor day weekend, Christmas weekend, and we have an upcoming reservation next month.
I highly recommend Alta Pet Services; especially if you are looking for crate-​free boarding. It’s like taking your dogs to a family friend for a weekend, knowing they will be well looked after.

I don’t think I’ve ever bothered to review a business on Unilocal before but after Al (Albert) Moniz, the owner of this business, repeated lied and committed fraud when he was supposed to be walking my dog, I felt I had no choice but to post something to warn other Unilocalers — DO NOT USE ALTA DOG WALKING.
I found Al, and Alta dog walking, through Unilocal.I was going to be in Falls Church, VA for work for a couple months and had rented an apartment that allowed my 10 year old dog to stay with me. After calling several dog walkers and price shopping, I found that Al’s prices were notably cheaper than his competition. I assumed that I was just getting a good deal — what I didn’t realize is that Al didn’t actually walk my dog at all.
That’s correct — he NEVER actually walked my dog at all. I was paying Al $ 16.00 for a 30 minute dog walk, 5 days a week, for almost 4 weeks. Al would show up, write a note, move the leash, give my dog a treat, pick his nose in the mirror (literally I have the pictures to prove it), and then leave. He never even bothered to take my dog out of the apartment. It wasn’t until the 3^rd or 4^th week of using Al that I got suspicious. My dog is extremely consistent. I could bring her outside any hour of any day and she will normally give me a #1 and a #2. But Al’s daily note would say that my dog went out, #1’d a couple times, and then came back in — I found it strange that my very consistent dog never went #2 for Al.
The even more unusual thing was that everyday when I got home, my dog urgently had to go to the bathroom and did all of her business the instant we got outside. I finally contacted my building’s management and had them pull up the key log (my building uses a fancy transponder/​electronic key thing for the exterior building door and the individual apartments). The key log clearly showed weeks of the key that I had given to Al swiping 1x to enter into the building and 1x to enter into the apartment. In case you were wondering, there is absolutely no way to enter the apartment, without swiping the key and have it log in the system. The key log should have registered 2 entries every day Alta was walking hope (1 when they arrived to let her out and 1 when they had finished the walk).
I wanted to remove all uncertainty prior to accusing someone of lying and fraud so I took my «investigation» 1 step further. I setup a motion sensitive trail camera in my apartment (hunters use these to track where and when deer move in the wood — but essentially, it’s like a nanny-​cam with a time stamp). I didn’t bother to hide the camera (because I knew I could legally photograph someone in my own apartment) and I placed it squarely on my desk facing the only door to my apartment. I even put a note in front of the camera that said, «This is a camera — You are being recorded.»
For a several days, I let the camera run. I found out that my dog likes to have a snack from bowl after I leave in the morning (good dog), that she likes to sleep on my couch for a couple hours (bad dog), and that Al showed up later than we agreed to, and then never took my dog for a single walk.
I cannot stress that point enough — I was paying this man for a daily walk because of my long work day and commute, I didn’t want my dog to suffer — and this {insert your preferred expletive} NEVER WALKED MY DOG. He showed up, left me a note (saying how my dog went #1, met some neighbor dogs today, was full of energy, etc), moved the leash to make it look like he had walked her, and then left. The longest he ever spent in my place was 3 minutes and 38 seconds. And again — he lied and NEVER WALKED MY DOG. I was invoiced for dog walks, paid for dog walks, read notes from Al about the dog walks, but my poor dog never got a single dog walk!
After obtaining both of my keys back from Al (and arranging for a new dog walker), I confronted him with this irrefutable evidence (if anyone doesn’t believe me, contact me I will gladly share the key log, photos, invoices for the services he never actually rendered and notes that Al had left vividly describing the fictitious walks. At first Al made a whole bunch of excuses and lies about how the building front door lock must not be working, etc, etc, etc… finally said that he really didn’t have any excuses. Bottom line: Do Not Ever Use Al Moniz or Alta Dog Walking.

I used Alta for boarding my two dogs for an eight day period. Al was very accommodating. I came out to visit the establishment to make sure it was as it seemed on the website. Its a large house on a large piece of property. Its a great set up for boarding animals. We’ll definately use Alta again.

I’ve been boarding my dog with Alta for almost a year. She always comes back happy and healthy. Plus, she seems to really like it at «camp». I’ve have nothing but great things to say about Alta!

Al really helped me out and took great care of my dog for about six days. I was able to get my dog to him on very short notice and he took wonderful care of my dog. He was even kind to send pictures of my dog while he was playing with the other dogs, in order to keep my girlfriend at ease. I will definitely be bringing my dog back here more often.

We were so happy to have found Alta! Our high energy Aussies have boarded with Al and his crew numerous times and come back happy and exhausted each time. We travel frequently so have left them for up to a week at a time with no issues at all. Al is super responsive and even sends photos of the dogs having fun with their new friends. The location is very convenient and our dogs get so excited when we drop them off. I would not hesitate to recommend him!

Al and his family are wonderful people. I’ve left my two miniature schnauzers with Alta on several occasions and this is the first place my dogs actually enjoy staying. I’ve done short 2-​day stays and long 7-​day stays. The pups come back healthy and happy! Job well done Alta!
SeanD

I am really happy I found this place. I leave my dog with Al M-​Th of most weeks since I travel for work quite regularly. I would rather not board him so often, but I think my dog actually really loves it, judging by how excited he is when he arrives. They take great care of him, and he gets a lot of exercise and social time with other dogs. I completely trust the care, and will keep going back as long as I am traveling. Thanks!

Six months ago, when our regular dog sitter moved out of town, I researched pet sitters in the area to find a place where our dogs would be taken care of and treated well. We found Al through our search and have been very happy with the service he provides. We can call at the drop of a hat and Al will take Dude and Cody for a couple of hours or days or weeks with a simple phone call or text message to Al. The dogs are never apprehensive of being left at Al’s and we truly feel that Al and his family really love and enjoy having our boys stay with them. We like that the environment is cage-​free which has an «at home» feel and their property is huge. The dogs are walked 3 – 4 times per day and also have an hour or two to run around in a large fenced in area every day. The dogs usually come home looking like they had fun playing outside. We are thankful that we found Alta Dog Walking as we have been traveling frequently over the past year and it is comforting that we do not have to constantly search for a pet sitter to stay at our house with the dogs. The boys stayed for 2 weeks over Thanksgiving and will be staying again with Al over the Christmas holidays. Thank you Al & family for providing a home away from home for Dude and Cody.

Al has been great and super friendly and easy to deal with. Every time I drop my dog off there he has a great time. He gets to spend a lot of time outdoors and playing with other dogs. The «at home» feel rather than the «kennel caged» feel is nice to have when you have to leave your pup behind. The environment is great and all the other dogs that are there when we drop off seem to be super happy as well. I would recommend this to anyone! Your animal will be in good hands! A+

I have been using Alta Dog Walking for a little over 6 months now and Al is absolutely wonderful. My pup has lots of energy and I love that she is able to play outdoors when I bring her for daycare and she is not caged when I have to board her. I travel frequently and work long hours, therefore never having to worry about my pup is such a relief. Al’s home is truly her second home and she loves going there each and every time. I am so grateful that I found Alta Dog Walking, Al and his staff are professionals, and more importantly my pup gives them 5 «paws».

Worry free care, happy doggies.
We’ve been using Alta for their on-​site boarding for several years. Our dogs happily exit the car when we arrive at Alta’s site. Al also picks up the dogs at our home for transit. Alta has a large site with a great deal of outdoor space. Our sense is that the facility has more or an at-​home sense than a kennel-​driven boarding center. Al and Lolita are excellent at dealing with challenges and communicate readily with us as needed. We’re very fortunate to have found such good canine care.