Chihuahua dies at The Dog Spot: East Nashville, Dog’s Owner Responds – Letter to The Dog Spot Published

I am a fan of transparency and openness so in that spirit I wanted to share the link to the news article so readers can view the response from The Dog Spot as well as pictures of our letter sent by our attorney to them. I’m happy to put this on display as there seems to be several questions. News Channel 4 mistakenly included personal information when they attached the letter and have since taken it down, which means no one can read it. So here it is.

In addition, I’d like to point out that before I leave negative feedback publicly I always give the recipient of the feedback a chance to respond. Sometimes businesses or people make mistakes and do their very best to right a wrong. With that being said, it is well within The Dog Spot’s rights to respond in the manner that they chose. I am disappointed at the misleading accusations in their statement but I believe in free speech.

I want to highlight one last time the most important part of our story, and that is to do your research. How? Here are some tips for researching dog/pet boarding facilities:

– Tour the facility. If you notice that they only have a small number of play areas, ask how they separate the dogs.
– Never leave your dogs anywhere that does not truly separate by a size that you are comfortable with. This goes for big dog owners too. If you are afraid your dog might squish a small dog, then you should have peace of mind that they won’t be with small dogs.
– Monitor camera streaming. In the last two weeks I’ve logged into The Dog Spot’s cameras and taken screen shots of them mixing sizes that I feel should not be together. How will you know if a business is following their own rules? By periodically checking in and watching.
– Read reviews. But don’t stop there. An easy way to identify company culture is to read how the business and owners/employees react to negative feedback. You can’t possibly make everyone happy all the time, but how you respond makes a difference. If the business responds in a poor manner then how will they react if you are unhappy?
– Google. And then go to the second and third pages of results. If I had done this I would have found information from prior legal incidents that would have kept me from choosing to board my dogs at this business. Businesses pay to have good results show up on the first page. Go the extra step to ensure you’re not missing something.
– Ask what the emergency response plan is. What vet do they use? Does that vet provide 24 hour care? Are their employees trained in identifying possible injuries and do they know how to react? Do owners get informed of an incident right away? What is the fire evacuation plan during their closed hours with dogs staying overnight?
– Be vocal. If you have a bad experience, leave a review. Leave an honest, thoughtful and factual review. Speak to the manager/owner about the issue and ask questions. Share your story so others can base their decisions on whether or not to use a business based on as much info as possible.

I miss Hall so much. Please learn from this tragedy. Hopefully this won’t happen again. Thank you to everyone who shared our story and who reached out privately with your own stories and support.