Playful Pack

Reviews

• VD

  Vergil Decker

  4 days ago
  5.0
  Love this place. Excellent for both my dogs. I have a large breed and a medium breed. With the military discount it costs me $100 a day for both pups. Great staff. Reliable for availability and dependable for taking care of them when we need boarding. We used to do Rover but it’s just as expensive or more and a total roll of the dice. Highly recommend for our area.
• DD

  Danny

  Sep 1, 2026
  1.0
  I contacted Playful Pack Fairfax Station because I had been unable to get a response from management regarding a serious unresolved issue involving my dog at Playful Pack's NoMa location. The underlying complaint involved an HVAC failure at NoMa, where I arrived to find the facility extremely hot while dogs were still being kept inside. I had not been notified during the day, and when my dog was brought out, he immediately drank an extraordinary amount of water--more than I had ever seen him drink at one time. I eventually spoke with Rachel, the Fairfax Station manager. To her credit, Rachel listened to my concerns, located the written complain I had previously submitted, confirmed she had received it, and told me she would escalate the matter to her regional director. I appreciated her willingness to actually look into what had happened. Shortly afterward, I received a call from Tyler Parker, who identified himself as one of the owners of Playful Pack. Mr. Parker acknowledged that Playful Pack has experienced "fluctuating ongoing HVAC issues that weren't able to be repaired" at the NoMa, Washington, DC facility. I asked him to address the questions I had submitted in writing regarding the conditions and care of my dog. His response was that Playful Pack was "not gonna sit here and document and reply to my email." When I told him I would have an attorney send a formal letter if the company would not respond, he replied, "That's great. Sounds good. I'll look forward for that letter." When I continued asking why he would not answer my questions, Mr. Parker then told me I seemed "like a psychotic" based on my email and phone conversation and disconnected my call. I am posting this review at Fairfax Station because my attempt to resolve this matter through Fairfax management is what ultimately resulted in that call from ownership. Unfortunately, the response I subsequently received from one of the owners was astonishing unprofessional. Pet owners should be able to raise concerns about the care and safety of their animals, ask reasonable questions, and expect ownership to respond without resorting to personal insults and hanging up. Whatever concerns I had about Playful Pack's facilities were ultimately eclipsed by the conduct of its ownership. Calling a customer "psychotic" for demanding answers about my dog's welfare, then hanging up, is disgraceful and speaks for itself.
• SB

  Sam Bowman

  Jul 11, 2026
  1.0
  I recently moved to the area and needed a place to board my black lab for a few days while I received my household goods and set up my home. At first, my dog was happy to go but by the fifth day, she would make like she wanted to leave as we walked in each morning. On day five, I asked for them to bathe her and trim her nails. The girl at the desk said they would try to grind her nails down but if she was resistant, they would not force it. She then confirmed what time I was going to pick her up so that they could have an hour for her to have a bath and dry before pickup. I picked her up that day just after the agreed on time and found that they tried to grind her nails unsuccessfully and she did not have a bath at all. When I stated that I had confirmed a bath, I was told that the note was not on the system. Since I could have used another day to work on my house, I decided to bring her in the next day. I booked her for the next couple of days and the lady at the desk said she would put a note in for a bath for the next day. She confirmed the time I would pick her up so they could have an hour to wash and dry her. I dropped her off the next day. Same behavior from my dog trying to leave. Same discussion with a new person about making sure she has a bath an hour before pickup. Agreed to a pick up time. I picked her up just after the agreed on time. No bath. Another apology, another "I don't see the note for a bath for her." The morning of the 7th day, I brought her in. This time, there was a gentlemen there wearing a large trash bag (I'm assuming he was the one who gives baths). I asked him to verify that my dog had a bath scheduled. No note, again, so he put it in. We agreed on a time and I left for the day. I came back - again, just a little after the agreed on time - and saw my dog in the window. When she came out she was wet and I asked the lady of she had a bath (fully knowing the answer was no but wanting to hear the explanation for why my dog was wet). Something about unruly behavior, she barks a lot, and getting caught in the crossfire of a spray of water. Then something about "well the AM staff didn't tell me and I can't control that if they don't." I explained that I paid for extra daycare days so she could get a bath and that I'm very disappointed that this is the third time that I've asked for a bath, got confirmation that they're would be one, and not getting one. She offered to bathe my dog and I would have to come back in an hour. My dog wanted nothing to do with her and pulled away when she attempted to take her. This place was good in a pinch but no thanks. Communication isn't great, and I do not agree with how they try to modify behavior.
• KB

  Kat Benjamin

  Jun 15, 2026
  2.0
  In full disclosure, my dog is incredibly high-energy and play-driven and was likely not a good fit for the Playful Pack environment. However, the PP staff did not communicate with us well about our dog’s behavior. We utilized PP for approximately 6 months. Initially we liked it quite a bit and our pup was always excited to be there. However, after the first few weeks, every time we picked her up, if the manager was there, she would provide negative feedback about our dog’s behavior that day. However, when we’d get the report card in the evening, it would talk about how good of a girl she’d been, etc. My husband and I actually joked that the manager hated our dog because she was the only one whoever said anything negative about her. More recently, we noticed on the webcam that our dog was being crated for extended periods of time. One day after she’d been in the crate for over an hour, I contacted the office to determine what was going on. They said she’d shown aggression and was having a time out. They said they had just been about to call me, but I worry that wasn’t true and they would have kept her crated all day if I had not checked in. A few days later, we picked her up from a session and was told she’d had a good day. However, 3 days later the manager called to “follow up” on the incident that occurred in daycare…our first time hearing about it. The manager informed us that our dog gets over-excited when dogs are entering and leaving the room, so she would be crated during these transitions. We stated that was fine, but reiterated that we did not want her crated for multiple hours a day. We asked that if our dog had an issue that led to extended crate time, that we be contacted. A few days after that conversation, we took our dog to PP again for the day. After the most recent conversation with the manager, I was checking on my dog frequently via webcam and noticed that she spent the majority of the morning in the crate. I called after she’d been in there for almost an hour and was initially told she was just getting a break and had not done anything wrong. I decided to pick her up because she’d been in the crate for so long. When I arrived, the gentleman at the desk revised his initial statement and told me, “she showed signs that maybe she would start fighting, so she was crated.” (Really did not give a lot of confidence that he knew the situation.) PP isn’t for us and our dog wasn’t a good fit. They knew this, but instead of communicating with us openly and clearly, they continued to just leave our dog in the crate for extended periods of time. This seems almost cruel for a dog who loves to play- make her watch all day but don’t let her join in. Even after we expressed our concerns about this, they continued to do it. We would have appreciated clear, open communication so we could have made other arrangements that were more appropriate for our dog. We obviously brought her to PP because we didn’t want her to be in a box all day and we wanted her to socialize, so we were very sad that this is what happened.
• AH

  Annaleis Hunter

  Feb 3, 2023
  5.0
  The staff is very friendly. Everytime I go to pick up my dog they tell me all about his day, who he played with, what he loved doing, etc. You can tell how much they love each dog there and it makes me not only happy but also have peace of mind knowing he's at a place that loves him and treats him like family.