Tampa Bay Canine Retreat

We absolutely love Tampa Bay Canine Retreat and highly recommend them! We’ve trusted them with our dog during several long trips, and we also bring our fur baby to daycare every Friday. Every experience has been fantastic! Amber and her husband are wonderful—professional, caring, and extremely knowledgeable. You can tell they genuinely love what they do and truly care about the dogs in their care. It gives us so much peace of mind knowing our dog is safe, happy, and well taken care of while we’re away. Their pricing is very reasonable, and they offer a great variety of services beyond just boarding and daycare. Whether you need someone to care for your dog while you travel or you’re looking for regular daycare, we definitely recommend giving them a try! Thank you, Amber and the Tampa Bay Canine Retreat team, for treating our fur child like family! We appreciate everything you do!!!🐾❤️

I completed a three-week board and train with Tampa Bay Canine Retreat while I was in Tampa awaiting the birth of my grandson. My daughter's family already has pets, so I wanted to minimize the disruption to their household with a new baby arriving, while knowing my dog was safe, well cared for, and nearby if I needed to get to her. My dog already had a solid obedience foundation, so I wasn't looking to start from scratch. I wanted to reinforce her existing skills while improving areas like loose-leash walking, crate training, impulse control, and confidence. After interviewing several trainers, I chose Tampa Bay Canine Retreat because of the home-based environment and force-free training methods. From the beginning, Amber was thorough. The intake call, detailed questionnaire, and customized training plan showed she wanted to understand my dog's individual needs. I also appreciated the daily updates and training videos, which have been invaluable now that we're reinforcing the training at home. One thing that stood out to me was pickup day. Amber encouraged me to stick with the scheduled time so my dog could be bathed, have her nails trimmed, and so she could give each client and dog her full attention. It showed me that she prioritizes the well-being of the animals in her care over simply rushing people through pickup. The results have been noticeable. Loose leash walking is much better, she checks in with me more during walks, her crate training has improved significantly, and she's showing much better impulse control with less jumping and more patience. One of the biggest changes has been her confidence. My Cavapoo had always been a "Velcro dog," but she's now much more comfortable relaxing independently instead of following me everywhere. We put her training to the test immediately with a 400-mile road trip to South Alabama for a family event, and then the long trip back home to Nashville. She traveled beautifully and is transitioning back into our normal routine much more smoothly than I expected. I realize my responsibility is to reinforce what she's learned. Since she already had a solid obedience foundation, I appreciated that Amber focused on the specific goals I identified while also addressing additional weaknesses she observed during the intake assessment. The result was a truly individualized program, and we're already seeing those improvements carry over into everyday life. I highly recommend Tampa Bay Canine Retreat to anyone looking for a force-free, personalized board and train program with excellent communication.

We chose this boarding service based on strong reviews and appreciated the video updates during our dog’s stay. Overall, our experience was mixed due to communication and scheduling issues. At drop-off, there was confusion about our reservation despite a signed agreement and we were later told a meet and greet should’ve been done even though we had previously been told it wasn’t necessary. At pickup, we arrived about 30 minutes early and were asked to wait. There were additional signs of scheduling confusion, and the bath and nail trim we had paid for had not been completed when our dog was brought out. Communication throughout the stay felt inconsistent and the owner later acknowledged the issues and reimbursed us for the nail trim, which we appreciated. While our dog appeared safe, it wasn’t always clear to us that the information we provided in writing about his anxiety and known triggers was being taken into account during his stay. The experience just didn’t feel as organized or reassuring as we had hoped. We understand mistakes can happen and that managing multiple dogs is demanding. However, the repeated miscommunication left us less confident than expected. While this may work for some, it just wasn’t the right fit for us.