Complaint Review: Pet Paradise Resorts - Jacksonville Florida

 I can't thank everyone enough for your outpouring of support for Sophie. I have had many requests from from my friends to post what happened to Sophie in order to use the power of social media (share, share, etc.) to spread the word of what happened to Sophie and the organization responsible for her injuries. While I find this company to be extremely irresponsible, I do believe there are many similar organizations out there that do indeed pride themselves on caring for their customers canines and are indeed good organizations. I have provided the details below. Note: the photos are graphic. This one's for you Sophie. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As a certified professional dog trainer for many of you, it is my duty and responsibility and it would be remiss of me NOT to share an incident with Pet Paradise (Charlotte Airport Location/Boyer Street) facility. I had boarded Sophie at Pet Paradise from Dec 24 - Dec 28th. After returning from Christmas vacation visiting my family, I noticed Sophie wasn't so energetic to see me, she wagged her tail a bit and simply sat at my feet unlike the previous boarding when I picked her up...Her behavior was so normal and excited during this previous visit to see me (see video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ganZa3AVcwM) contrary to this recent visit. On the way home in the car she seemed very distraught and tired. Her eyes looked sad (rather than happy) with her ears pinned back and she would look at me as if she was trying to tell me something. On Sunday evening, Monday, and into Tuesday, she did not eat with the exception of Tuesday, she ate some food but left half of her food in the bowl which was unusual. On Wednesday, as I was petting and rubbing her, I felt some matted hair. As I inspected through her coat, I found puncture wounds...several. I put it off initially as dogs will occasionally bite in boarding facilities. Later, as I inspected her body more and more, I found more and more puncture wounds. Now, the alarm is going off in my head. Although, it was obvious to me that these were indeed puncture wounds, I decided to take her to my vet for an evaluation due to excessive numbers of puncture wounds. My vet called me after they shaved portions of her coat and different parts of her body and asked me if she was attacked by a pack of chihuahuas. I responded with, "I do not know." Interestingly enough, Sophie is not kept with the medium and large dogs but with the small dogs at Pet Paradise. I was putting two and two together now. I asked him how many puncture wounds he could see and he said, "hundreds." I gasped! When I picked her up, I was devastated and heartbroken to see Sophie in this state. The bites you will see in the photos are obvious in the shaven areas. There are many more under her coat. She was suffering from the pain. Bless her heart. Immediately after I picked Sophie up from my vet, I took her to Pet Paradise to show them her sustained injuries. The less than compassionate and arrogant manager (Casey) within seconds claimed Sophie must have had an allergic reaction. Obviously, she jumped to a conclusion with no expertise in this area and was protecting her organization and would not admit any guilt. I must say here that all of the employees did not react like Casey. Several were very compassionate seeing Sophie's state and the pain and suffering she must be going through. The manager then took a couple of photos and I asked her to get the owners on the phone. I spoke with Mr. Goldsmith breifly and I have never heard back from him. A second expert opinion confirmed puncture wounds from another veterinarian hospital. I consider my expertise in confirming puncture wounds as I worked several years at a veterinarian hospital, volunteered at two no-kill animal shelters, and now a certified professional dog trainer. I also had several business professionals including two with 30 plus years and 8 plus years experience respectively in the business confirm as well. ALL of us did not accept the Pet Paradise notion of an allergic reaction. This was preposterous and obvious that the wounds were punctures from dog bites. "This incident of excessive puncture wounds from bites can only have occurred if Sophie was left unattended to be targeted and bitten so many, many times – unless and even worse, Sophie was observed by someone who did not intervene in what occurred at the Pet Paradise. This kennel demonstrates incompetence in caring for a dog in their care. It boggles anyone's mind what can account for so many bites, and then it blows the mind to realize that Pet Paradise covered up and accepted no responsibility for what happened. Lying about the bath is reprehensible and suggests absolutely NO trustworthiness, but it really turned out to be just the merest tip of an iceberg. Something went badly wrong over the Christmas holiday, and when people don’t own up, instead cover up, it is a good bet that there will be more bad things to come. Sophie’s basically been horribly betrayed by those Sophie (and myself) trusted. Regrettably, her trust in me will have been shaken, too. Sophie will now need me strongly at her side. Well managed facilities ought not be subject to being bitten – that would be a sign of incompetence and lack of vigilance, management, and care. A person supervising groups of dogs should be dependable in managing introductions, assessing potential problems and taking appropriate precautions to prevent them. Otherwise, the dogs don’t belong put together and the person in charge shouldn't be. Sophie probably can’t weather another person’s irresponsible mistake such as in this case with Pet Paradise." Pet Paradise’s leadership from the top at corporate down to the management level has failed miserably along with the lack of a formal training programs for their staff in caring properly for customers dogs. It is obvious that I can no longer recommend this company for any of their services. As for Sophie, she had a pain shot and I have been providing her pain medication and antibiotics to fight off any infection. She is getting back to normalcy. I am simply saddened and heartbroken by this and alarmed by the non-admission of guilt by the Pet Paradise company. I wish I was there to protect Sophie. I will no longer board Sophie anywhere. Feel free to share with ALL of your friends especially those in the Charlotte area as well as any friends located at or near their other 19 Pet Paradise locations in the USA. God bless you all. Rob & Sophie (the Border Collie). Photos upon request at (((Redacted)))