Never again! Booked our dogs in for Easter last December only to have their stay cancelled. Numerous phone calls made and voice mails left but no contact. Eventually told that the booking was cancelled due to covid yet still see people dropping off dogs as I pass by on my way to work. Do not recommend at all!

Approximate cost: $770

I left Louey my 6 mth old blue heeler for the first time ever for 3 nights! The ladies here were fantastic calmed my extreme anxiety about leaving my pup! I had to work early in sorrento snd even though my voice message about early collection wasn’t received the owner was EXTREMLY understanding .... THANKYOU for looking after Louey

Approximate cost: $115

Just pick up my boy (odin) after having a long weekend away! He has had a ball and is stuffed :) highly recommend to anyone having a weekend away or longer holiday, great location and staff! We will be seeing you again when I have holiday. Thanks again to everyone at 4 paw

Approximate cost: $125

i HAD OUR PET STAY HERE FOR A LONG WEEKEND. ITS A GOOD SIGN WHEN YOU ROCK UP AND YOUR PET IS STILL I THE CONDITION ... Obviously they care about what they do.

Approximate cost: $120

4 Paws Dog Boarding Kennels - Review

Due to family health emergency, we ended taking our dog to 4 Paws kennels in Pearcedale, Victoria. That was the first time boarding for our dog and that was 4 Paws Kennel's first dog from as far away as Sydney. We chose them due to time constraints, other kennels nearer to home being booked out, and because 4 Paws deluded us with good service with their rapid email response. We will NEVER go to 4 Paws again and we would NEVER recommended them.

When we dropped out dog off, we informed them we our flight back into the country would be very early so we might have to pick our dog up early as well. The owner said "no problems, that is just fine".

Our plane landed at 2:30am in Melbourne airport, we drove out to the property where the kennels were and arrived around 5am. We parked in some bushes a long way from their entrance and waited for the sun to rise so as not to awaken anyone.

By 6:30am the sun had long arisen, the bunnies were out, the day was bright. We inched our way to the front office/home and parked in sight but at some distance from their site office entrance. We thought that at 6:30am someone might be up and could hand over our dog. We still had a long 12 hour drive home to Sydney, we had not managed much sleep on the plane, and the long day was expected to be hot given the recent heatwave in Australia.

The 2 dogs furthest from the house/office were awake, happy, and signalled our presence with their greeting barks. We saw movement at the curtains but after a few minutes, no human emerged. The other many dogs in the kennels had also by then joined in the barking so we were surrounded by curious, continuous barkings. But no humans came out.

We sat and waited for half hour. Finally at 7:05am, the day was even brighter - we thought surely the owner, who we knew was awake, could just come out to hand us our dog. She did - come out.

To our hello, her first response was, standing behind her gates, "you woke me up half an hour ago. I am feeding my BABY" - indicating her fully clothed breasts and her 2-3 year old toddler (who had chatted and walked with us when we were first shown the kennels and our dog's promised accommodations). We explained how we had arrived back in the country in the middle of the night, how we didn't want to disturb them before day break, how we had a 12 hour long drive back to Sydney, and if it was possible for her to just give us back our dog. We had already paid in full, there was no bedding or toys or anything to collect. We just wanted our dog so we could begin our long journey before the day started to share its heatwave.

The owner said, again, "I am feeding my BABY. Do you expect me to come our and get your dog? My girls (staff) will get you your dog when they get here." She then turned around, entered back into the building, and closed the door.

We were stunned, to say the least. We knew our dog was the furthest (distance) boarder she had ever had. We knew it could not be a regular occurrence that she would have people coming by to pick up their dogs at 7am. We thought she might have had some smidgen of understanding and flexibility. After all, we were already standing in bright sunrise. Maybe, we thought, she was all alone, with her toddler, and there was no one else to help her? Alas, to add inset to injury, less than 2 minutes later, we saw her husband flitting around in their back yard, trying to get a look at us surreptitiously from behind the trees and leaves. So, she could have handed her "baby", the walking, talking toddler, to him for 5 minutes?

We had to sit for another half hour, admidst the non-stop howling and barking of the boarded dogs before her "girls" arrived. The handover took 5 minutes. No report, verbal or attempted, as to how our 1st time boarder dog fared in their care while we were away. We didn't even have to sign anything to retrieve our dog.

The owner could have easily given us our dog in the 5 minutes it took for us to be on our way. Instead she had chosen to come out and tell us she was too busy feeding her BABY to do that. (That took longer than 5 minutes). Instead, she with total disregard for the dogs in her care, chose to let them bark and howl non-stop for an hour.

And by the time we saw our dog, he was almost frothing at the mouth in his panicked state. His eyes were rolling and he was in a totally unsettled state. We had to drive quite a distance before he even calmed down. We have no idea if he was in that state due to their care and/or he was set into that state, locked into what looked like a close up space (not like the open air dog house we left him in), admidst the continuous hour-long howling and barking.

I am only giving this kennel a 2 star because our dog is alive, and unharmed. How many stars would you give them if this happened to you and your beloved dog?

Approximate cost: $AUD900