Dogtopia of Highlands Ranch

I took my dog here for the first time yesterday and he was left out in the heat almost the entire day. I was watching him on the camera and in the afternoon heat, all of the dogs were huddled together, lying in the shade, flaccid and tired. Um, I’m sorry but that is not what I am paying $ 30 a day for. I had to call and ask for the dogs to be taken inside. When I came to pick him up and expressed my frustrations, I was told that the person who was supervising today was in training and the reason why the dogs were left outside is because their space is under construction. That is not my problem, and it is not my dog’s problem. This place is horrible and my dog won’t be back.

I tried to love Dogtopia.
I have a VERY energetic young lab. My trainer recommended 2 – 3 doggy day care visits a week to help him exhaust some of his nigh-​limitless energy. I set an appointment (a week out) to have Hobbes evaluated and to submit his vaccination paperwork. I bring him in. They’re not expecting him. Ooookay? Mistake on their part right off the bat. Dogtopia puts me off for another week because they’re renovating. Fine. No big deal.
I set another appointment; they keep this one. His paperwork checks out and he’s reasonably well-​behaved (for a hyper lab pup) during the evaluation so they give us the go ahead — except he can’t be accommodated that day due to space issues. Again, not a big deal. The soonest they can get him in is the following week.
I bring Hobbes for his appointment and let him romp around for a few hours. When I go to pick him up, some members of the staff explain to me that his energy level is off-​putting for them and for some of the dogs. One gal recommends that I take him for a strenuous walk before bringing him in to work out some of his craziness. I was hoping to walk him after his visits so we could get some exhausted, distraction-​less training time in, but if that’s what it takes to have a day care resource, so be it.
Over Labor Day weekend and before his next visit, I board Hobbes elsewhere while I’m out of town. I would have used Dogtopia, but they were full. The boarding stress causes blood in Hobbes’ stool.
After a strenuous walk I bring him to Dogtopia the following day — while there, he poops blood. It freaks the staff out to the point that they insist I come pick him up immediately — citing concerns about an intestinal disease. A quick call to my vet suggests that it is simply boarding stress and that a day-​long fast followed by a 2-​day pumpkin diet will most likely straighten things out. I tell the staff what my vet told me. They still insist that I pick him up and that I need to fix the issue before bringing him back. They also tell me that his ‘nervous running around’ (I was hoping for him to run around at doggy day care?) is concerning and that if his next visit goes poorly they won’t take him anymore. UGH. Fine. After the pumpkin diet Hobbes is right as rain.
I bring him back today. Apparently there was a miscommunication because they didn’t have an appointment set. Furthermore, Hobbes was no longer on the schedule for any day in the future. The lady who I was working with asked me to step outside with her and her boss and fired me as a client. I pleaded with them because Hobbes desperately needs an outlet and surely they’ve dealt with energetic dogs before. No. Denied. Stool issues fixed? Doesn’t matter. I suggested hiring a Dogtopia-​sanctioned trainer to train him to play nice with other dogs while in day care. No. Not enough.
The only pittance they could offer me was to ‘bring him back when these issues are worked out.’ What?
TL;DR — Dogtopia looked for EVERY reason to NOT help me and Hobbes. All the while making me jump through hoop after hoop to even get him in there in the first place. It’s like they couldn’t wait to say, ‘no.’

We have boarded our yellow lab with Dogtopia many times over the last two years while my wife and I traveled for vacations/​holidays. The first handful of times we were very pleased as the experience seemed to be comfortable for our dog as well as our own piece of mind.
Unfortunately our opinion has steadily declined based on her last few visits. We wonder how strict Dogtopia really is with the health of dogs staying as well as the care they receive during the stay.
Once our dog came home with Giardia, which literally made a mess of our house when we stepped out for a few hours. Then the next visit she came home with Kennel Cough, which kept us up all night wondering if she was ok. Both times resulted in ER vet bills of $ 150+.
Lastly, in our most recent experience we picked her up after a 12 day stay and upon arrival we realized she was beyond dirty and gross. I asked about her bath and was told, «although it is corporate policy to bath dogs that have stayed longer than X days before sending them home, we don’t do that here. You have to request the bath.» In the past the bath was forced on us, which we loved because she was clean when we picked her up, this time we had to take her home and bath her after a 10 hour flight from Europe… Not ideal
You can definitely trust that they’ll take care of your pets if you’re in a bind but I would suggest looking into a few other places before boarding your companions here for an extended amount of time.
We’ll be finding a new place.

Staff:
–Super friendly and outgoing
–Caring
–Professional
–Many of the staff are original
Facility:
–Clean and inviting
–I do wish the current owner would utilize all the open land that the facility sits on, if possible. i.e. expand the facility size
Cost:
–Average in the industry
–I really don’t recall a price increase over the years
–The packages are not cheap, but worth the savings in the long run
Safety and health:
–Dogtopia is very careful and particular about its customers having current up to date vaccinations, etc.
–The staff always alerts the customer to any type of canine illnesses that might be running rampant in the doggy area. The staff continuously is cleaning and sanitizing the facility to try and eliminate the spread of disease amongst the dogs
Hours and parking:
–Great!
Webcam:
–Could be better last time I checked. The company they use is supposedly a company that is used by a lot of dog daycares nationwide. I wish the owner would add more cameras to the play areas.

Took my dog here for a temper test. When someone came out to corral my dog for the test I noticed an immediate change in her demeanor and a generally unaccommodating disposition. She whispered something to the girl behind the counter, I’m usually suspicious of people who would whisper in front of a client.
The tester took my dog into a small room, in a weird place, by herself and trotted a few dogs in to meet her. Seems like a pretty stressful situation for a dog in a strange place with a stranger.
The girl came over the radio and asked for dogs of different temperaments to meet my pup, I overheard her ask for several dogs ranging from mellow to high energy and she even asked for a second high energy dog. A few minutes later she came out and told me, much to my shock, that my dog was not a good candidate for their facility. I’ll mention that my dog has been in day care for over a year prior to my relocation with never an ill mention. She was a house favorite at my facility back home and the handlers always commented on how much the loved her.
I maybe would have been fine with this, I don’t want my pup anywhere near people that have an obvious predisposition to disliking her breed. But the thing that probably bothered me most is that the tester, who I had just heard on the radio ask for high energy dogs looked me in the eye and told me she only tested my dog with mellow animals and she snarled at them. Now, after three years, ample trips to the dog park, days and days at the doggy daycare, I’ve never experienced such behavior. I’ve never seen my dog do anything that anyone could misconstrue as a snarl.
Anyway, after then event, I e-​mailed the person I had been communicating with that I was very unhappy with the testers demeanor and obvious foregone conclusion to deny my dog. All I received was a response regurgitating the same bald-​faced lies that the tester told me.
I gave them a star for taking the time to respond to my complaint. Even if it was more of the same garbage. At least they didn’t ignore me. All told, if you have any sort of pit-​mix I suggest staying away. I felt it was obvious they didn’t want her kind there.

My dog loves this place! Though she is shy & timid by nature, she starts whining and can’t wait to get out of the car as soon as we drive into the parking lot. We boarded her there during the week of Thanksgiving. She was given a bath and her doggie t-​shirt was laundered when we picked her up to go home.

Avoid this place at all costs. We were on our way to the airport and limited on time. When we walked through the door the girl casually mentions they had case of kennel cough and giardia. I asked her why they did not call people with reservations and inform them ahead of time. She very nonchalantly ask acted like it did not matter. When we arrived home our dog had kennel cough and giardia. This place is dirty and obviously disease infected. I wished I canceled my trip and left a day later. Our dog suffered because of this place and it cost us hundreds of dollars in Vet bills. They should be shut down.

I have long had great respect for this business until this week. My dog was involved in an incident with a dog-​walker that was recommended by Dogtopia. The dog-​walker was caught lying about the incident by my neighbor, but Dogtopia’s owner chose to believe the dog-​walking company over me. It’s a shame, because I have been using Dogtopia’s services for several years now with no problems at all. However, I cannot in good conscience write a positive review for a business that does not believe its clients and that recommends bad services to its clients. I am hopeful that Dogtopia’s owner stops recommending bad dog-​walking businesses in the future.

This place is great. Very clean and well managed. The staff is super friendly and I always feel comfortable dropping off my dog. I would highly recommend for the extended stay or day care option. Not cheap but certainly worth the money. Moose seems to love it as well which is a big plus.

I think this dog daycare is ok. I prefer Doggie Pause because they work w/​your dog on commands and other skills and the staff have a background w/​animals. They also have toys for your dogs to play with. When I came to Dogtopia, I had left Doggie Pause because I wanted a facility that had a web cam and it was a bit of a far drive for us from Highlands Ranch. Dogtopia was close to us and had a web cam. However the resolution of their web cam is horrible. You would never be able to tell which dog is yours. There is a technical support phone number for the web cam service on their website and we left them several voicemails and no one ever called us back!!! My dog came back SO dirty. Dogtopia does not provide any dog toys! What? They only have a gravel yard, a small cot and a plastic slide/​jungle gym. They have your dog nap in crates w/​no blankets, so your dogs just lay on the hard plastic which has been proven to be bad on their hips. The only positive thing I can say is that the staff is very friendly and they offer a good deal for your first time. They had 35 small dogs/​puppies when I dropped my 14 week puppy. That is just too many dogs when you are first introducing your pup to a daycare. DO NOT risk this. It is worth a bit of a drive to ensure that your puppy gets the best care. Especially in the critical first 6 months of their life!

Self wash was okay. Not the normal self wash you get in this area. The use normal bathroom tubs. Not very clean and the staff is okay. Was not impressed at all. For 15.00 go elsewhere and get value for your money. To be honest felt very awkward when paying and no one acknowledged my dog:(

This place is ok. It’s more expensive than most other places and you get the same environment. I didn’t find their staff overly friendly as welcoming as I did other places. I bought a 5 pack and will likely not go back after I use it up. My main reason is that I periodically watch the webcam and while I know the dogs get a break between 12 – 2, I almost always witness the dogs still in crates at 2:15 and 2:30! I understand it takes some time and logistics to organize the release of a lot of animals but I pay for my time there and if my dog isn’t there a full 8 hours, then I want the most for my $. Especially when I see 3 or 4 people standing around on camera. In addition, if they have too many dogs, even AFTER nap time, they put many of them in crates while the other play and then they alternate. To me, a better business model would simply be to take less dogs — the owners would get more for their $. This just says to me that it’s all about volume. VCA is where he’s going next. The people are lovely, and there’s a vet on-​site. The facility might appear the same, but it’s cheaper and although I like to support local businesses, the welfare of my dog and getting the most for my $ are more important.

Dogtopia is great awesome! My 1 year old yellow lab loves going to Dogtopia every time. She doesn’t even look back to say goodbye. I have taken her to Dogtopia about five times so far and every time she does well. During her boarding I check on her through the Online Doggy video app which I believe is a great feature to have at a boarding/​daycare facility. When I was first looking around for a boarding/​daycare facility, Dogtopia won me over because they were very clean, they always have staff watching over the dogs, they have video cameras recording everything, they have overnight staff, they have dogs sleep in crates, they are very accommodating in regards to the hours we can drop off or pick up our dog, their facility holds a limited number of dogs, and their facility is conveniently located right off C-​470. I understand that some folks may think it’s pricey but I’ve done my research and this place is very well managed with the well being of your pet as their number one goal. For me price is a small price to pay to have my lab well taken care of while I’m gone since she is so important to me. I’ve never had a problem with Dogtopia and plan to continue taking my lab there for all my future daycare/​boarding needs.

So far, so good. I am tough on doggie daycare places. Our 14 week old puppy Roscoe is having a great time. He goes several times a week for puppy daycare. When my husband drives up to drop Roscoe off, someone comes out and scoops him up. It’s great! They’ve sent him home with a folder and pictures — so cute. Plus, they have adorable doggie jackets for them to wear if they are cold. It’s a little pricey compared to some other places I’ve taken our other puppy and they have to be spayed /​neutered after 7 months of age — so it won’t help us after he’s 7 month old. We are trying our best to wait until both pups (currently 3 and 7 months old) are a year old before fixing them, since we were warned against stunting their growth by doing it too early. Once they are fixed, this may still be a great option for us, since it’s on they way to work for my husband. They are just right off C470, near a car dealership. Great experience so far :)

I hated this place. My dog was forced to walk around all day. We left him there only 5 days and he came back very tramatized and half dead. Took him a good week to get back to his full self. His paws were red and raw. We asked them to give him a bath on the day we picked him up and they did such a bad job. His hair were all tangled up, he looked like he was hosed down in the backyard or something. It was horrible. Needless to say we never went back there again!!! We now take our dog to VCA Mountain View on County Line just about a block away. It is so much better there and the vet there are so wonderful as well. On top of that, it’s much cheaper too!

We’ve been fans of Dogtopia for many moons now and our dog really does love it there. And we know that for a fact because we had an animal communicator ask her about it. Seriously. Plus she doesn’t even look back when they start walking her off to the Romper Room. She is ready to get in there and rumble with the other pups.
Dogtopia itself is a great facility, clean, well-​managed and conveniently located (for south suburb dwellers) off of C-​470. And folks that work there are super nice and very much dog people. When we arrive, they greet our dog with great enthusiasm and affection, as if their whole day has just been made that much better because our dog has arrived. Definitely makes me feel good about leaving her there with them. And the webcams are a great way for me to check in on her when I need a little puppy break in my day.
If you’re on the south end of town and in need of doggy daycare, think about giving Dogtopia a try. I don’t think you or your dog will be disappointed.

Our dog loves this place! I’ve researched and toured other doggie daycares close to work and home, and Dogtopia is by far the best. They provide daycare and boarding. The facility is big, clean, has a warm and inviting atmosphere, and not overcrowded! The hours are convenient and I like that they have a webcam for the parents to watch their babies play. Their rates are a little more than most other places, but it’s well worth it.
Parents need to keep in mind that a dog daycare is just like a human baby daycare. They are in a confined space with other dogs and may be exposed to viruses. Just like kids in school, germs get passed on easily. It’s one of the cons of going to daycare, but one that i’m willing to take. After a full day playing, my dog comes home, eats dinner, goes poop, and then sleeps the ENTIRE night. And he’s more subdued the next day.
Did discover that one of the cleaners they used irritates my dog’s paws. If I didn’t love this place so much, I’d taken my dog elsewhere. But again, I really like their facility and staff. It was not their fault and no other dogs had the issue, and even though the owner was willing to reschedule their cleaning days, I had a better solution — pawzdogboots! If you ever need booties that will stay on your dog’s feet, go to any dog/​cat boutique and ask if they carry pawzdogboots to check them out. Or go to
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What can you say about a place when whilst driving there, your dog starts spazzing out and whining a few blocks away? You pull up and she is scratching to get out of the car… one of the employees walks out the door to get your dog and your dog is out of the car and past you before you can turn around and realize what is happening? Best doggy daycare ever. Ok, so I have only been to this one, but my dog speaks for herself with her actions. The owners/​employees are fabulous and always know my dog’s name… and she has an odd name so that is impressive.
I would recommend this place to all dog owner’s! Especially if you are looking for a tired dog.

The only person who likes this place more than me is my dog. She immediate runs to the staff everytime we bring her in. She is absolutely exhausted after a day at dogtopia. Can’t say enough about the people there. Love the option of checking in on the webcam during the day…