Sam’s Doggy Dude Ranch

This is such an awesome place to bring your dog. I’m so glad I found it! There is a large outdoor area for the dogs to run & play and a warm area when it’s cold. Each dog has their own dog house to sleep in at night that is insulated & well protected. My dog loved splashing around in the large tub. Susie is very kind & caring. She sent me videos of my dog having a good time. That put me at ease right away. She took us on an outing on the ranch the next day with her Atv which both my dog & Iloved! The dogs are able to run & get tons of exercise. Susie is extremely accommodating. We will definitely be back when we visit, I wish I lived closer we travel alot & I would love to have a place to leave my dog that was like this one!!!

Our dogs loved it!!! Huge areas to run and great kennels that they could stay together and have plenty of room. Susie and her staff are fantastic and I felt so comfortable knowing my dogs were safe and having a blast. I highly recommend this place. You can’t beat the price! Also, so fantastic to pick your dogs up and have them bathed. Super bonus!

This place is incredible! Our beautiful Miss Kali LOVED it here and had such a wonderful time. From drop off to pick up and everything in between, Susie and her staff made us feel comfortable leaving our baby to romp and play and wear herself out!
When we arrived, we got to do a test outing with Kali to see how she would do running beside the ATV and with the horses. We were nervous that she would get run over or kicked by a horse, but Susie was careful and Kali learned quickly from the other dogs what she was supposed to do, so by the end we were not worried at all! Susie then showed us the huge fenced-​in play area and the sleeping areas — little fenced-​in areas for feeding so the dogs don’t fight over food and enclosed houses for them to sleep in safely. We were impressed.
On Kali’s first full day, Susie texted us pictures and a video of her running and playing and swimming — we were already satisfied! When we picked her up, Kali was excited to see us but then ran back over to the staff member who helped us and gave her tons of love — it was obvious that she had gotten to know this woman, had gotten plenty of love from her, and loved her back! Once we started driving home, Kali zonked out — she had played so hard!
Do expect your dog to be a bit dirty when you pick her up — to us, only a sign that she had a good time! And we actually expected cuts and scrapes but she didn’t really have any. I have no doubt that she was kept safe, happy, and healthy the entire time.
Oh and the price! $ 35 for every 24 hours?! WAY cheaper than where we take her at home for so much more.
The worst part? We don’t live in the Santa Barbara area so we can’t take her there every time we go out of town!
Thank you Susie and staff!

This review is long over due and just finally calmed down to write this. My first impression, great concept as far as dog kennels go, out in a farm. Had high hopes for this to be a great place, given the friendly owner named Susie who took me out for an ATV ride. What a disappointment! After giving him a bath I found four deep long nasty cuts along the chest area, punctured wounds behind both ears and alongside the belly area and cuts and bruising on all four paws. My dog was literally inactive for two days and just slept. He has been in other pet hotels before and this was the first time he’s ever had any cuts and bruising. He’s friendly and calm when it comes to playing with the bigger dogs so to come home with all this bruising leads me to think that there was no supervision and the dogs are left to roam around by themselves. It scares me to think how much more my dog would have had to endure if I had left him here for more than a day! NEVER AGAIN!

Amazing place. They love our dog and she loves them. After each stay, she comes home fit, healthy, and happy. The best place we have ever left a dog.

I am from Sacramento but went to a wedding at El Capitan Canyon. El capitan referred me to Sam’s and I am so happy that I found this place. Susie was great and I could tell that Baxter had an absolute blast on the ranch as he slept the entire 6.5 hours back to Sacramento and was still tired the next day. I wish we had a Sam’s Doggy Dude Ranch here in Sacramento! I even had a blast with Susie riding her ATV to the top of the hill which had incredible views of the ocean. The dude ranch offered a large play yard for the pups as well as an indoor sleeping area with dog beds and heating lamps. If I am ever in that area again and need a place for Baxter to stay, I will for sure be calling Susie at Sam’s Doggy Dude Ranch. She is so sweet and even emailed me to make sure that Baxter and I made it home safely. Thanks again for everything!
Sincerely,
Lindsey

Sam’s Doggie Dude Ranch is a very special and unique place to board your beloved pooch. I drove two and a half hours each way from LA because I knew this is where my sweet and loving german shepherd would be the happiest. I was at complete ease the moment I left Roxy with Stacey. After we spoke for several minutes, I could tell she was professional and very experienced with dogs. Roxy is an amazing dog but can be a handful given her size and GSD breed qualities. Roxy is very sensitive to the energy of humans and I could tell she immediately felt comfortable with Stacey, who embodied a pack leader energy without any need to be aggressive in anyway (which I have seen many times at other places). When I picked her up a week later, she had clearly become very attached to Stacey which showed me that she had been providing the loving care that she needed, but also commanded respect and obedience from Roxy which is really important as well.
In addition to the great treatment, there are several perks of SDDR that make it better by far than any other place of boarded Roxy. Susie, the owner, is also a dog expert and knows the importance of making sure that the dogs get an ample amount of exercise, and this is definitely the case for Roxy. On the first day of her stay, Susie sent me a video of Roxy running along the ATV on the ranch with a couple other dogs, tongue hanging from her mouth with ocean views in the background. She was in heaven (I was kinda jealous of how much fun she was having!) The exercise is so important, especially when your dog can get a little anxious being apart from you, so I was blown away! Another amazing thing about SDDR is that they don’t overbook, like some other places I’ve been. This assured me that Roxy would be getting tons of attention and monitoring. They also have 24 access to outdoors– grass and fresh air and are not crammed into small crates.
I think that SDDR is an enriching experience for your dog, I felt like I was sending her to a retreat!
SDDR has serious personal touch. Susie and Stacey were professional, but warm and friendly. I felt that they really cared for Roxy and wanted me to be at ease during her stay. This place is as good as it gets, and I will definitely be bringing Roxy back! Many thanks to Susie and Stacey!

This is THE place to safely leave your canine kids!!! Susie is AMAZING! A free environment that is the happiest place on earth if you are a doggie! Love, compassion and care is what Susie and her team offer to your loved one!
I took my 18 yr old Chihuahua there, he stayed for 3 days… didn’t want to leave he was so happy! She really spent time with him, fed him his VERY intricate diet, loved on him and he was in tip top shape! The other pups that live there are very friendly, not aggressive towards timid little dogs and it’s a very safe place for your «children».
I highly recommend SDDR ! Thanks Susie, you are a blessing to me and my little man!

I have read the negative reviews for this place and I can see how those things could have happened. However, MY personal experience was nothing short of amazing. It is long overdue but better late than never, me thinks.
I had left my dog at this ranch once for over a week (I think it was 10 days if I recall correctly). When we got there, the owner gave us a quick tour of the property, including the ATV ride. I knew to expect this as I read it somewhere online before coming. There were dogs everywhere, some barking, some mellow. They all seemed to be happy to be there and as long as they’re not aggressive, I don’t care what they act like.
I had no idea what to expect when we got on the ATV. I was very panicked and near certain Presley was going to get run over. He looked so lost/​confused and kept trying to get closer to me. However, he figured it out quickly and ran along the ATV with the rest of the pack, smiling ear to ear.
We didn’t spend much time with intros and I’m completely fine with that. I didn’t come here looking for good conversation. Admittedly, I was quite nervous leaving my baby in a strange place for so long. I’m a completely over-​bearing, over-​protective, paranoid doggy mother so I worry whenever he’s out of my sight. I have boarded him many times before (although I try to take him everywhere I go) but he has never been away from me for more than a weekend. We are very bonded and whenever I leave him for any lengthy period of time (whether it is at a facility or with family), he loses his mind upon my return. He misses me a lot.
This stay was the ONE exception. When I came back to pick him up, Presley barely even acknowledged my presence. He didn’t seem to care that I was there and just kept running around with his buddies. I have NEVER seen him act like this. I knew immediately that this was a special place and he must have had the time of his life there. if I lived closer, this would be the place I would take any of my dogs and tell all my friends to take theirs. Seriously!

I love this place! It was recommended to me by a friend that takes her dog here too and I can see why!
Upon arrival, Susie was great with sending me all the paper work i’ll need and instructions on how to get there. I called her once I entered the ranch and her and her wonderful husband greeted me at the gate. I followed them down to the kennel and got the tour. There were quite a few dogs there but everyone got along great. Its a great large fenced in kennel with high walls. Which was great because my dog loves to jump fences! The barn was packed with cozy beds for the dogs to sleep on. There was even a male dog that wasn’t fixed and she kept him in a secure pen just in case. Love to see they go the extra mile.
After I got the tour we all jumped on the ATV and took a tour of the ranch while to dogs got to run next to us! My dog LOVED it! Was at the front of the pack and so happy to be running with all the other pups. She fit right in right away. After the beautiful tour of their property and the pups getting a good run I knew my dog was in good hands. They truly have a love for dogs and even their horses and other animals.
Even while I was away Susie texted me a photo of my dog running with the pack and I could tell she was having a blast while I was away. It truly eased my mind! If you ever need a place to board your dog, please go here! Its extremely affordable and your dog will come home happy and exhausted form all the running and playing!
Can’t wait to come back!

Sam’s Doggy Dude Ranch is a great-​looking place with some flaws. If you take a look at their web site, you can see that it’s an open-​kennel design so your dog will get plenty of exercise and company. So far so good. The owners will also take the dogs out on ranch outings where they run alongside an ATV. A little bit scary. When we toured the place, our dog who was pretty small at the time, got his head basically run over by the ATV. I saw his head go under the wheel and I thought it was all over, but amazingly enough he just Unilocaled and ran off – no damage. Even so, we decided not to authorize ranch outings during his week-​long stay.
The owners are friendly and accommodating – even if a bit forgetful – they had forgotten that they had nearly run over my dog. Oh well. Anyway, we dropped him off and came back a week later and he was fine, except for a number of nasty cuts and what looked like puncture wounds. I don’t know if they had a particularly aggressive dog there or what, but he had a 2-​inch cut on his side and several other deep punctures. I was expecting some cuts and scrapes because it is an unsupervised open kennel, and we did sign a waiver of rights that mentioned the possibility of cuts and scrapes, but I wasn’t really expecting quite such big wounds.
When we picked him up, there was a very nasty border collie who growled and bared his teeth at me. Not pleasant – maybe he was the problem. The owner told me that he was the on-​site vet tech’s ranch dog. I like the fact that there’s an on-​site vet tech, but I don’t like the fact that she had such a nasty, unsocialized dog.
Because of the ranch dog and the wounds, I don’t think we’ll take our dog back here. It’s a shame – it’s a really nice location and a great setup. Maybe they need to be a bit more particular about what dogs they accept. I think that would help.