Business ProfileforK9 Resorts Luxury Pet Hotel of Lone Tree

My name is ****. I am a former employee of K9 Resorts Lone Tree. I worked here part-time as a **************** Rep from 8/4/21 to 8/24/21. You may remember me from the tours during our grand opening event on 8/14/21. My dog, Noodle, a 10-month old, 23 lb Lancashire Heeler/Chihuahua rescue, was attacked by a large pitbull mix (***** lbs) on 8/23/21a week after opening on 8/16/21. It happened in the small dog daycare which is for dogs 30 lbs and under. I do not blame any dogs involved. The fault was entirely on the owner and staff. Several procedural errors were made. 1. Large dogs over 30 lbs should not have been in the small dog daycare. Period. 2. There should not have been a chair in the daycare. Our training materials from the K9 Resorts franchise specify that there are to be no chairs in the room and the pet care tech supervising daycare is an active member of the pack who is walking the room and interacting with the dogs. 3. Noodles body language and cues were not read. The staff in the room opened the gate and allowed the pack to swarm him. 4. After the dog brawl, the owner and manager both had hand injuries, so they left to get themselves to the emergency room, and took 1 other dog to the vet. I held Noodle in my arms absolutely shocked. A pet care tech, or at least a second pair of eyes, should have inspected Noodle as I did not see the dog-pack fight happen, and I did not know if he was bitten or anything. As I was not in the room, I did not know where to check my dog for what injuries because at first glance, he looked fine. I couldn't see his wounds beneath his fur. I realized he needed to go to the vet half hour later when I saw a 1 ************* of red, open skin peeking through his fur. At that point, I was one of four staff members in the building. There should have been an emergency protocol and what-to-do-if-there's-no-managers-around procedure in place as I was clueless what to do with an injured dog. I didn't know what vet to take him to and there was no dog first aid-kit in the building. I ended up abandoning my shift, and leaving the building to take Noodle to the vet myself. Both my dog and the other dog stayed overnight at the emergency vet. After the ** vet shaved him, I could finally see that Noodle had two large gashes requiring 9 staples and additional wounds all around his sternum and back of his head. Lack of emergency protocol or procedure left me unequipped to handle an injured animal. 5. Amends were superficial. The owner agreed to pay only half of the $630 vet ****. Additionally, I was only refunded the 38 days of 40-day daycare package I purchased. It is not about the sum of moneyit is the gesture of admitting wrongdoing, generously making amends, and implementing new plans to ensure this never happens again to another puppy. The owner said "I apologize this had to happen to Noodle." He deflected blame onto his team, "That staff member should have..." There was no real apology. 6. The owner texted, but did not call me for over 24 hours after the attack. I had to text him at 4:30pm the day after the attack to ask him to call me when he had a chance. He did call me at 6:30pm--while doing groceries and loading the car. As this phone call was something I was long awaiting, I had outlined the exact items I wanted to bring to his attention so I could be efficient with his time. When presented with my feedback, he said, "I don't need to be told how to run my business." The owner cares more about his bottom line and turning a profit than about his people, clients, and guests. 7. There were several red flags I didn't see clearly before. Early on, during my interview, I asked him about the challenges he had overcame being a business owner. He told me about his previous ************ massage business and described his staff as flight-y due to the physically demanding nature of the job causing them to late cancel shifts. If your team is abruptly cancelling shifts, that means theyre overworked, and have something going on. There is always a solution in which all parties win whether that means changing the schedule or only offering light-touch. Whatever the case, no manager/owner should ever speak ill about their staff/team under any circumstances. 8. During my interview, I was very excited to apply for a fun part-time gig that both me and my dog could enjoy. The owner initially offered me $14/hr, and I had said I was willing to take less pay for increased employee dog benefits. He emailed me an offer letter of $12/hr and I countered saying that's below current minimum wage for CO. He said it was an honest mistake and didn't realize the law changed. Then he changed my offer letter to $14/hr. Later when we received our first paychecks, one of my teammates, a full-time non-seasonal worker, who just graduated high school, showed me her paystub and asked about taxes. I noticed she was being paid $12/hr. I had already notified the owner about **** minimum wage, during my own interview/negotiation phase, so he was well aware that the minimum wage is no longer $12/hr. This, along with other soft red flags, should have told me right away--He's the type to take advantage of folks whenever he can. Needless to say, Noodle will never return to K9 Resorts, and I terminated my employment here on 8/24/21.