Popular Dog Hotel Chain Settles for $150K After Being Accused of Animal Neglect

Wag Hotels, a dog boarding company with nine California locations and six more in Colorado, Illinois, and Texas, boasts the “ultimate luxury boarding experience” — but for years, pet parents have been claiming that their dogs suffered neglect and harm during their stays. On September 26th, Wag Hotels settled a consumer protection lawsuit claiming mistreatment of pets; though they claim no wrongdoing, they will pay $150,000 and make necessary adjustments to their facilities.

Accusations of the company’s mistreatment of animals have been circulating for years. In 2022, One TikToker posted a warning for pet parents to stay “far, far, far” away from the company. She claimed that her dog, Miso, was returned to her covered in urine and “in a very, very poor mental state.” Staff refused to give her access to the camera in his room, even though she had paid for 24/7 camera access.

In response, another TikToker, Priscilla Chan, shared her own story. When her dog stayed at Wag Hotels, she checked the video feed to see him crying for hours without being fed. Despite many calls and emails from Chan, staff didn’t feed him until hours after their agreed upon feeding time — and like Miso, he was returned to Chan filthy and urine-soaked. All over social media, others flooded in to share stories about their dogs receiving poor treatment in the care of Wag Hotels staff.

In 2023, the San Francisco Chronicle published a harrowing investigative piece on the boarding chain. They detailed the experience of Susan Sanchez, who left her French bulldog, Shadow, at Wag Hotels while she visited family. When she returned to pick up her dog, she found her covered in fleas with dark, swollen paws. She had lost weight. When Sanchez removed her dog’s back brace — which she wears during play due to a back problem — she discovered wounds where the brace had cut into Shadow’s skin.

More than a dozen more former Wag clients told the Chronicle about their own experiences picking up dogs who had clearly been neglected. Some failed to receive their medications, some weren’t fed on time, and some sustained injuries — like scraped-off paw pads and a flesh-eating disease — that cost thousands of dollars.

Shockingly, 29 current and former Wag employees backed up these clients’ claims, explaining that many of them had been hired without any experience and given no training. They claimed that Wag Hotels management did not allow them to take their legally mandated breaks, and facilities were often understaffed. “We were told by our general manager to lie to the owners’ faces,” one employee told the Chronicle. “This was especially common for if an animal got hurt, so we wouldn’t be liable.” 

Many Bay Area law enforcement offices including the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office, and the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office banded together to prosecute Wag Hotels with a consumer protection lawsuit. They claimed that the boarding facility had insufficient employee training, failed to report dog bites, and did not have adequate hygiene and pest control. “Pets are family,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “When you leave a family member in someone else’s care, you are relying on that caretaker to provide the highest standard of safety, comfort, and care.”

Wag Hotels agreed to pay $75,000 in civil penalties and $75,000 in investigative costs but denied any wrongdoing. The company will also instate improvements on employee training and monitoring of dog play groups. They must now retain video surveillance footage, keep data on any incidents and injuries, provide more space for pets, and create an animal welfare department. 

“When people leave their pets in someone else’s care, they are placing immense trust in that facility,” San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said in a statement. “This settlement ensures that Wag Hotels will meet the standards the law requires to safeguard the health, safety, and dignity of every animal entrusted to them.”