Be careful who you work for
This might be long but I just have to get this anger and resentment off my chest. I worked at a doggy daycare for a little over a year and absolutely loved it. It had its downsides, of course, but I always overlooked the issues because of how much I loved the dogs. The main problem with it was the management (3 co-managers), who I will refer to as A, B, and C.
When I first started working there, one of my coworkers, who I’ll call D, already was an issue. She had worked there pretty much from when the building opened for business, so about 3 years before I joined. I thought she was nice, but a month after I started working there, she brought her dogs in for boarding. These dogs were so skinny, (both German shepherd mixes), I thought she had just rescued them.
I Asked one of my other coworkers about this and they said she has had one of them for a few years and adopted the other one the previous year. Obviously, I was concerned. I brought up my concerns to the managers and they said they would look into it. While the dogs were there, they would constantly have accidents in their kennels and always had diarrhea. It got to the point where we would be cleaning their kennels every few hours. I looked at their feeding schedule and it said they would only be fed 1 cup a day, each. HUGE red flag because they are medium sized dogs.
The new year comes around marking around 5 months since I started working there and D has her baby, leading to her boarding her two dogs again for over a week. They show up, still skinnier than they should be, but not any worse. Still the same issues (constant accidents, diarrhea), still being fed 1 cup a day each. Again, I speak with my managers. They said they would handle it. They ended up switching their feeding schedule to 2 1/2 cups a day each, with pumpkins mixed in. We also started having to limit their water intake because they would gulp down a bucket of water (most likely trying to fill their stomachs). D actually asked us to do this, claiming they just drink too much water and that she didn’t want to deal with all that pee.
D picks them up, and they don’t board for another few months. Next time they come in, they look like they put some weight on but are still have constant accidents. Ok, at least they aren’t skin and bones anymore I guess. The final time she brought them in while I worked there, I said enough was enough.
December rolls around marking a year and a few months since I started working there. D bring her dogs in for boarding. They are INCREDIBLY emaciated. Like the type you see that were just rescued from a bad home. So I start talking with my coworkers and ask them what the hell could possibly be going on. We all have the same worry: that she is clearly neglecting (literally starving) these dogs.
A few of them ended up defending her, which is crazy to me, and scoffed/laughed at me for saying I would quit. The first night they started their boarding, I texted my most trusted manager and say something along the lines of “C, have you seen D’s dogs? This is terrible.” C responds “I know, I cried when I saw them this morning. We are going to have a talk with D.” In my mind I’m like “This is like the 3rd or 4th time you’ve said this and clearly nothing has been done.” But I keep my mouth shut because they would have to be stupid to NOT do something about this, it’s a doggy daycare for God’s sake.
I talk with two of my most trusted coworkers, E and F about this, who have worked there longer than me. They say there is no way in hell that the managers are actually going to do something about it. This is when E tells me that he has had similar issues with D before I started working there.
A few notable ones include: D leaving one of the dogs in their own diarrhea and leaving for the night because she didn’t want to clean it (one of our other coworkers ended up staying late to clean it because who does that to a dog), manager A having to deworm D’s dogs (or was it just one of them?), and all three managers being upset with E because they claimed he was badmouthing and lying about D being a bad pet owner and dog handler.
So now I finally realize that these three have zero right to run a doggy daycare if they allow this to happen to one of their employees dogs. The three of us write a letter to the managers that basically says “Fire D or the three of us quit”. This was intended to be an empty threat to get them to ACTUALLY do something because I really did care for all the dogs there and really didn’t want to leave.
I get a message from manager C saying “I set a time for noon on Monday to discuss all of your concerns”. Yay, okay. The meeting comes along and it definitely did not go the way I expected. I have it all on video, if anyone wants to listen, but the meeting basically was a shitshow. They defended D, saying she has mental health problems (i am clinically diagnosed with depression and high anxiety myself) and that she has no support system to help her. I was told I had no empathy because I was badmouthing D and that I need to be more empathetic to people with mental health issues.
So, the entire meeting they just defended her neglecting her dogs. Needless to say, I quit on the spot and two others followed soon after me. I ended up contacting the local police and animal shelter about D and showed proof of her dog’s health, but I was told “there really isn’t much we can do”. Now here is where it gets really good. I quit in January this year and just two days ago I received a message from my old coworker that still works there saying that D was forced to quit for yelling at people and abusing dogs.
Unfortunately, I am even more worried for her dogs because now she doesn’t have a job. I am also worried for her child because animal neglect and abuse could lead into child neglect and abuse. Anyway, if anyone wants to listen to the meeting or know other issues this place has, I definitely have more stories.
TL;DR: Evil doggy daycare managers allowed employee to neglect her own dogs. I quit and they fired said employee a couple months after for abusing dogs.