mermaid
Camarillo,#2General Comment
Tue, November 23, 2010
I can not believe what many people have written regarding Laurie and Pickersgill and our vet Samuel Thomas who have given the best care and advice during more than 20 years. We got our cat and our dog at Pet Royalty and they have been very important to the excellent service they give us and out pets. I have many friends who have also purchased their dogs at All Pet Royalty and all have been healthy as was my Pomeranian. I can not believe that people can be so vengeous towards people that have worked very hard to become a Vet who cares about our pets and a Pet Store owner and the excellent services that they have given to our community. I can not believe how Petco is going to be better and it is a shame that the whomever decided to have two citizens that worked hard to now have to start back after so many years with the competition with the big companies. I don't see Petco being better. Blessings and Love to Laurie and and Dr. Samuel Thomas.
sneakypeekaboo
camarillo,#3UPDATE Employee
Mon, October 19, 2009
First of all to address the volunteer program, they want to be there. No one makes them come in. We have kids that come in on their 12th birthday to volunteer. Sometimes we get busy and the extra help is great!
Now addressing doggie daycare, i have worked in there many many days. There is only one person in daycare at a time. We have many things to do in the day: clean out overnight kennels, set them back up for the next night, clean the kitties, clean bunnies and other small animals, do laundry, give vitamins to the puppies and deworm them, constantly clean pee and poo in daycare, help at the front if it gets busy, mop, sweep, answer phone calls, do any other projects that are assigned, and help customers. Its a lot of work. We also have lunch breaks that take 30 mins and then we come back and clean and relieve the person at the register for their lunch break. We can't help the fact that we can't be in there every minute of everyday. Its hard to be around barking dogs for over an hour without having to walk out and do something else, and it also gets boring.
In regards to the finicial situation i am not sure exactly what happened. I do know that a lot of it was out of their control. They successfully ran that business for over 20 years and the economy is killing everyone these days..you can't deny that. And the comments that we all made when things were tough regarding the distributors was what we knew. We didn't lie...trust me. We all work very hard at that store, some of us too much.
In regards to Dancer and Brownie the CPA dogs at the front, Dancer has now found a home with one of our volunteers. He was walked 4 to 5 times a day! As do all daycare and CPA dogs do. CPA volunteers also come in during the day and walk the adoption dogs! They take them to charter oak park and run them for hours! Brownie at the front was not "choking to death" he is a very anxious little dog, he barks at ALL other dogs and tries to get closer to them at any cost. We try to train him as best we can but we can only do so much.
We do not sell "sick" puppies. Just as babies they are born with issues that are undetected or their immune system isnt as strong as the next. Just like KIDS they get colds! Do you blame the preschool teacher that your kid gets sick at school? no! Its a part of life, germs are everywhere. We bleach and disinfect everything! And we clean that puppy pen everyday! No matter what! We take the puppies to Dr. Thomas once a week and he tells us if they need antibiotics or not. And we are religious about giving them their meds. Nothing is more important to us than the animals. They come first! This is why i have worked there for over 4 and 1/2 years! It can't be as horrible as you make it out to be. So please take your opinion somewhere else! Thanks!
Resident
Oxnard,#4Consumer Comment
Sun, July 26, 2009
I had heard about the problems that are being described in the various reports about All Pet Headquarters/ Pet Royalty however, I wanted to share what I experienced. I used to buy my dog food from APH solely until their shelves went bare. The husband was always so helpful with diet and nutrition and spent almost 30 minutes talking to me every time I went there. My dog developed a food allergy and he would take the time to counsel me on food and we would try different regimes like my vet suggested. I really appreciated his knowledge to the subject. The wife, Laurie, would see me at least twice a month when I would pick up the food and come just to see the puppies in the pen. I would always go and pick them up and often took them to private pens to play with them. I knew that I wanted another dog, but really wanted to rescue one. I had not found the one to rescue yet, so playing with these pups "scratched my itch" so to speak. The pen attendants were kids who said they were doing community service for 4H. They all seemed very happy to be playing with all the dogs. I never saw any sick or injured animals during my visits. Although children handled the pups, Laurie was always just outside the pen to oversee the operation. I finally decided I was ready for another dog, and could not find the breed I wanted at any rescue. My husband and I looked at rescues, shelters, pounds, online, virtually everywhere for this dog. Finally after a year of searching, I just happened to stop in APH/ PR and the dog I had been searching for was there. I played with him, talked to Laurie about him, and decided to sleep on it. The next day my husband and I went to go see him and he was asleep on his back in one of the child volunteers lap. We woke him and decided he was the one. I do think that her dogs are overpriced, but every week there is a new batch and they sell fast. Also, mall pet stores run by teenagers with no vet on site sell dogs for a lot more, so in perspective, I felt okay purchasing him. We signed papers that said if we had any questions we could call any time and were given a personal phone number for the owners. Also, a paid staff member gave us a 30minute puppy talk about care, health, training and more. She even said don't walk your puppy in public places until he has all of his shots as ge-ar-de-a (sp?) is going around and without shot he is prone to that and others. They said they would call and check on us in a day or so, and they did. They called once a week for a month and we discused the puppy, health and training. I appreciated that and was surprised by the service. We got his final shots at their vet next door. We arrived early and there were already 20+ people there. Being an excited pup owner, I began talking to the people and most of them got their pups from APH/ PR and had more than one (one lady even had 5). People seemed pleased. The vet was professional, funny and fast. I decided not to use him as my personal vet because we did not click, but I did trust him. After the shot I walked my pup into APH/ PR and back towards the puppy pen. I stood outside the outer pen and looked in. My husband wanted to take a closer look at another dog as our friends were looking for one and when we opened the outer pen to get close to the puppy pen, we were shouted at. "These puppies have not had all their shots and your dog has been exposed to the outside and these dogs can get sick". (or something close to that). I was actually offended because I was shouted at by the child, but Laurie was there to back up what they had said. Needless to say we left the store and did not go back for a while because of embarrassment. I did finally go back into the store, and Laurie says hi and remembers me and my dog. She is coordial but not overly friendly like she is before your purchase. My dog is in great health and was checked by an outside vet and given a clean bill of health. To this day the only bad experience I had was being yelled at to keep my dog away from the puppies so that they did not get sick. Nothing worth complaining about. I hear that others had bad experiences, but that can be had anywhere, even from shelters or rescues. I do agree that their place needs sprucing up, and a little attitude adjustment, but like I said, I go there still once a month for a nail clipping and have not seen anything but dedicated owners who rescue some animals and sell others. We all have stories and opinions and I am thankful mine is positive.
Resident
Oxnard,#5Consumer Comment
Sun, July 26, 2009
I had heard about the problems that are being described in the various reports about All Pet Headquarters/ Pet Royalty however, I wanted to share what I experienced. I used to buy my dog food from APH solely until their shelves went bare. The husband was always so helpful with diet and nutrition and spent almost 30 minutes talking to me every time I went there. My dog developed a food allergy and he would take the time to counsel me on food and we would try different regimes like my vet suggested. I really appreciated his knowledge to the subject. The wife, Laurie, would see me at least twice a month when I would pick up the food and come just to see the puppies in the pen. I would always go and pick them up and often took them to private pens to play with them. I knew that I wanted another dog, but really wanted to rescue one. I had not found the one to rescue yet, so playing with these pups "scratched my itch" so to speak. The pen attendants were kids who said they were doing community service for 4H. They all seemed very happy to be playing with all the dogs. I never saw any sick or injured animals during my visits. Although children handled the pups, Laurie was always just outside the pen to oversee the operation. I finally decided I was ready for another dog, and could not find the breed I wanted at any rescue. My husband and I looked at rescues, shelters, pounds, online, virtually everywhere for this dog. Finally after a year of searching, I just happened to stop in APH/ PR and the dog I had been searching for was there. I played with him, talked to Laurie about him, and decided to sleep on it. The next day my husband and I went to go see him and he was asleep on his back in one of the child volunteers lap. We woke him and decided he was the one. I do think that her dogs are overpriced, but every week there is a new batch and they sell fast. Also, mall pet stores run by teenagers with no vet on site sell dogs for a lot more, so in perspective, I felt okay purchasing him. We signed papers that said if we had any questions we could call any time and were given a personal phone number for the owners. Also, a paid staff member gave us a 30minute puppy talk about care, health, training and more. She even said don't walk your puppy in public places until he has all of his shots as ge-ar-de-a (sp?) is going around and without shot he is prone to that and others. They said they would call and check on us in a day or so, and they did. They called once a week for a month and we discused the puppy, health and training. I appreciated that and was surprised by the service. We got his final shots at their vet next door. We arrived early and there were already 20+ people there. Being an excited pup owner, I began talking to the people and most of them got their pups from APH/ PR and had more than one (one lady even had 5). People seemed pleased. The vet was professional, funny and fast. I decided not to use him as my personal vet because we did not click, but I did trust him. After the shot I walked my pup into APH/ PR and back towards the puppy pen. I stood outside the outer pen and looked in. My husband wanted to take a closer look at another dog as our friends were looking for one and when we opened the outer pen to get close to the puppy pen, we were shouted at. "These puppies have not had all their shots and your dog has been exposed to the outside and these dogs can get sick". (or something close to that). I was actually offended because I was shouted at by the child, but Laurie was there to back up what they had said. Needless to say we left the store and did not go back for a while because of embarrassment. I did finally go back into the store, and Laurie says hi and remembers me and my dog. She is coordial but not overly friendly like she is before your purchase. My dog is in great health and was checked by an outside vet and given a clean bill of health. To this day the only bad experience I had was being yelled at to keep my dog away from the puppies so that they did not get sick. Nothing worth complaining about. I hear that others had bad experiences, but that can be had anywhere, even from shelters or rescues. I do agree that their place needs sprucing up, and a little attitude adjustment, but like I said, I go there still once a month for a nail clipping and have not seen anything but dedicated owners who rescue some animals and sell others. We all have stories and opinions and I am thankful mine is positive.