Overall Reviews at Camp Bow Wow
2.0
Unwelcoming
While my leaving was a result of my own hectic schedule, and while I loved being around a plethora of man's best friends, there were still a couple of things that drove me over the edge to quit in just three weeks. 1. Being a camp counselor doesn't necessarily mean you get to watch a few dogs and then you're good to leave for the rest of the day. And there isn't just maintenance work that's needed within the pens, there's also cleaning that must be done throughout the entire floors of the complex. So what usually happens when a new employee comes around to a new job? They're told what to do by a peer that's ranked above them - no questions asked from you needed for the most part. This was not the case for my experience. 80% of my time outside of watching the dogs was just standing around doing absolutely nothing waiting to be told what to do in order to keep the day moving. There are many one man jobs that included mopping, doing dishes, laundry, and feeding - all jobs taken up by someone else. Should I have asked what to do? Yes, and I did multiple times. All the times that I didn't were a result of a manager not being present. So with all these jobs taken I was left to stand there like an idiot, and it made it appear that I simply just wanted to sit around a not work at all. 2. My second and last issue was dealing with some of the employees that are hired there. I consider myself a quiet guy, I am far from acting disruptive towards other and in ties with my shyness, I g
ProsLong break, short hours with many days, around dogs
ConsEmployees not welcoming to newcomers. When jobs need to be done, they don't give you tasks
1.0
Wouldn't recommend working there
Pros: -Get to wake up and go see dogs -SOME people are nice -Watch and take care of dogs -See all kinds of unique dog breeds -Nice pet owners -The “Interview” process: Good way to have a new dog interact with others and see if they’re not a threat to other dogs -Learning different dog behaviors -Cameras in the play yards so the owners can see how their pets are doing outside of Camp Bow Wow -Use good chemicals for cleaning and when dogs are sick -hard to be sad or emotional in this job because of the dogs/puppies Cons: -Drama: the environment will remind you of high school all over again, as well as employees and staff talk badly behind your back -horrible management -After only working an hour into your morning 6am-1pm shift you get a lunch an hour into your shift -smells -dogs barking ALL THE TIME -located in a weird area -Managers are never around, they’re always hidden in their office -Back of house leads and managers are Hippocrates about the rules in regards to the company -People NEVER cover your shifts and you end up getting introduce if you don’t come in, no matter the circumstances you’re in -Can’t leave the play yards use the bathroom or other needs -Even with the interviewing process there have been dogs that viciously attack other dogs and in order to stop them you have to use your hands (no gloves) or body: end up getting injuries -Have equipment (gloves, blow horns, whistles, etc) for extended interactions, yet the staff never let
3.0
Good job for dog lovers, but not so good people.
Working here, for the most part, was not so bad. Most of the dogs were pretty great. You do have the occasional ones that misbehave, but that just comes with the job unfortunately. This is a good job if you love dogs, but do expect it to be difficult sometimes. You're usually in a yard by yourself with about 15 dogs. Sometimes you may have more, but when you have more than 15 dogs, there will be someone else with you. But working with dogs is fun all the same, and seeing their happy faces every day is worth it. Most of the employees there are pretty nice. Do expect to use teamwork there every day. I wouldn't recommend applying for this job if you do not like teamwork and if you prefer to work alone. The worst part about the job is the management. The manager is often moody and will yell at the employees a lot. The manager is often rude to the employees and isn't very understanding. The manager is even sometimes rude to customers, if she is in a bad mood. She shows her emotions a lot more than she should, as a manager. The best part of the job is of course, the dogs. The worst part about the dogs is when they fight. But they're usually pretty well behaved, and most of the dogs listen really well. If a dog is misbehaving, unfortunately the manager and front staff don't typically give the dogs breaks out of the yard (unless absolutely needed), so you kind of just have to deal with the dog and give them time outs in the yard. You unfortunately cannot pick up the dogs,
ProsNice customers, great dogs, friendly/helpful employees
ConsShort breaks, minimum wage, rude manager, bad training
3.0
fun but stressful
the job itself isnt bad as long as you know what you're getting yourself into. Ofcourse you have to clean up after dogs and there's always a chance of getting bodily fluids on you. Whether you're stepping in feces, or a dog jumps on you after it's ran into a puddle of urine, or having to screw the mop head back on after it falls off the mop handle and you're having to touch the urine soaked mop head. All of that is worth it when you actually have the time to get to know the dogs personalities and individualities. There are some very sweet loving dogs, and there are some super crazy high energy dogs, and some very independent dogs who just keep to themselves. you get to learn and meet and work with every single dog there. Be prepared for dog fights because they do happen and not when you expect it. you will be stressed out on days that the energy levels in the play yard are high. You learn so much about dog breeds and every day problems you may face with your own dog that you might have not known before. A notorious problem with the camp bow wow franchise would definitely have to be the management. i dont know about any other CBW's but the one i worked for she was very young. Not saying that young people cant handle being manager, but you could tell she just wanted to be your friend rather than manage, It took her forever to fire anyone whose already made one too many mistakes. She would make the rest of the employees pick up after other's slack rather than addressing the prob
Prosgetting to see and meet a huge variety of dogs
Consmanagement, no benefits, no room for advancement after front desk
1.0
Camp Counselor | Albany, NY | Jan 15, 2020
It's not worth it
This job isn't at all worth it; everyone is under payed and overworked. Management doesn't really care about what happens to both the employees and the dogs, they'll accept EVERY SINGLE dog that comes through, because they "don't feel like dealing with an annoyed pet parent" -Management 2k19. This has lead us, the camp counselors, to then deal with large groups of these problematic dogs. I've been bit multiple times, scratched, and sustained a fairly serious injury that has put me out of school for a semester. When you're hired, you're told that you'll spend, at most, half of your shift in yard, and that if a dog is giving you any trouble, they'll be taken out no problem. I spent a MONTH straight of being stuck in yard anywhere from 4-6 hours at a time, only to be given my lunch before being thrown right back in again. 6 hours out in yard, 6 hours of CONSTANT moving and maneuvering, it's tiring. So, you try to make it easier for yourself. You remove a couple of difficult dogs and ring the bell, only to be greeted by an annoyed manager, who pretty much tells you to deal with it and then walks away. Then, as you're trying to do just that, they watch you from the cameras and critique you through the pupdates. "Take this dog out, do this, do that" and yet I've never seen any one of those girls enter the yard. And, if they do? The yards calm down so much, because since the dogs are now bothering them, they must be removed ASAP. The workplace drama can be a bit ridiculous, if you s
3.0
Supervising all breeds and sizes of dogs
A typical day at Camp Bow Wow, is loud, crazy, and dirty. I typically would be scheduled to work at 6:30 in the morning or 7:30 to about 1 p.m. From, 6:30-7 A.M. was time for the dogs to be let out of their kennels to use their restroom and get their breakfast. It was a quick process to get done. Because we had to feed the amount of dogs that were boarding the night before. It could have ranged from 15-90 dogs, depending on the time of the year it was. After 7 a.m., camp would open and clients could come in and drop off their dogs for daycare or boarding that day. During 7 to 8:30 the time was designated for completing daily cleaning tasks done among the people on shift. My coworkers and I engaged frequently and communicating all day long. This job is where I learned the most on how to function, learn, and compromise with people in the working industry. Since, I am 24 years old, and started this job when I was 21 I did not have much experience in the working industry.This job aloud me learn and figure things about myself as a person and I react to certain situations. I worked with all types of personalities and dog personalities. This job helped me learn what it is to have a strong work ethic. I believe in order to have a strong work ethic in the working industry, you have to care first about what it is you're doing. With out having the passion for something in a job there is no heart in it and no drive in one self to do the best of their ability. I saw this often at the job.
ProsWorking closely with my coworkers.
ConsNot enough breaks and a very physical job.
2.0
Poor Management, No Organization, Low Pay/Compensation
The real issue with this location isn't the job itself really; I love working with the dogs. It's everything else that makes it suck. First of all, even the managers seem like they have little to no interest in their job; like it's a disappointment even for them. Not very inspiring or uplifting, and it drags all the other employees down too. I know this job isn't exactly glamorous, but when even the mangers treat it like it's a sucky job, how do you think everyone else feels? The biggest problem is that there is absolutely zero organization going on. There is no deployment or scheduled positions. You walk in and everyone just sort of wanders around until stumbling across something to do. Four people are supposed to be in the four yards at all times; it's supposed to rotate, and you think they'd have a rotation schedule to ensure people spent equal amounts of time between the yards and other duties. They don't. Sometimes you're back there 15 minutes, sometimes an hour and a half. When you're not in the yard, no one is in charge of asking people to take up certain duties or tasks; like I said, everyone is sort of milling around doing nothing until they stumble across something. As a new person, this was exceptionally confusing. No direction given, but then you were treated like you were slacking off if someone found you walking around trying to look for tasks or help. I was also told my first day that there are no breaks. If you get a second, you can go into the br
ProsGet to work with all sorts of dogs
ConsNo scheduled breaks, no organization to the day
1.0
Worst Job Experience so Far
Extremely poor management; no one communicated and when I or others would try to bring up issues we had, it went ignored. Superiors would belittle others, talk behind their backs, and made working there a very toxic experience. Dogs were pushed over, yanked by their collars, kicked away, spritzed in the face with the water sprayer, etc. which was the main issue with working there. Management would try to enforce common rules (such as to not go on your phones unless taking photos, do not leave the yard farther than three cabins, stay engaged, etc) yet did all of those things multiple times a day. The careless, selfish, and despicable behaviors/attitudes of most of the staff is unacceptable. There have been so many incidents that have occurred in the time that I have worked there. In addition, many of us were predictably let go in March due to a cutback from the pandemic with no sick leave payout (although sickleave was displayed on our paychecks we were never paid when we had to call out sick and if you couldn't find a replacement you were threatened with being fired), and no warning. The only financial help offered was to send us a link to file for unemployment. The only other option given was to stay as an employee but we were told that we would not be scheduled until the pandemic was over, so if we had chosen this option we wouldn't have been able to file for unemployment. No warning, no compensation, and no emotional support. The management is cold and heartless and do not
Proswork with dogs
Consvery clique-y, poor management, favoritism amoungst employees as well as with the dogs (dogs weren't treated the same or very well), the pay was not worth it, lack of communication and respect
4.0
Best Job I Ever Had
This is literally the best job I've ever had. I love going into work and if I have too many days off I end up missing the dogs. You have to be a dog person definitely. There's always a lot of barking but there are earplugs available. Dogs are separated by size and temperament. When monitoring the yards, you're in there for 1-3 hours typically to watch the dogs to make sure they play nicely, don't hump or bother other dogs, are healthy, etc. You're expected to give each dog a fair amount of attention, no picking up dogs, no sitting on the structures or on the floor (yard four, the small dog yard, is the exception as you can sit on the structure for five minutes at a time). When you're in the yard for the longer periods of time, you can rotate (ie start in yard 1, later end in yard 3). This is great because sometimes if you start in a more wild yard, you can rotate to a calmer yard for a break. When you're not in the yard, you feed the dogs and do a lot of cleaning. Everything needs to be vacuumed, mopped, and scrubbed regularly in order to ensure the dogs are in a healthy environment. Shifts are regularly 6 hours. Sundays and holidays are 3 hours (holidays you get paid time and a half) and every now and then you could get an 8 hour shift. Most people work 3-4 days a week and even though there are on calls, you typically get only one a week. You start off making minimum wage but after a year you get a raise to $9 an hour. Sometimes you end up staying late because before leavi
ProsDogs, flexible and regular hours
ConsLots of cleaning, low pay
4.0
A solid place to work as a student
Overall, I liked working here. The place has its cons for sure, but what workplace doesn't. as a part timer, shifts are about four or five hours. they favor the full time employees so I never ended up getting the increase in hours that i asked for for summer. The management can be very sweet but they are also cliquey and big on favoritism. I mostly kept to myself while working there so it didn't bother me much until around the six month mark, where i never got to do larger tasks or advance because they were always given to the "favorites". They also train everybody differently but then expect everyone to do jobs the same way, which can get annoying. Your main job is standing in a play area for four hours straight with the dogs, lots of independent work, which can be boring. I'm a person that likes to stay busy in a job so this just wasn't a good fit for me, personally. I've also had over 45 dogs in a play area at once; they're very lax on their own rules unless corporate comes to visit. They also kept a lot of dogs they should have kicked out. Money is a big deal to them. Some perks: free lunch at the end of the month, a pay raise after three months, the connections you make with the dogs. I love my dogs soo much and i'm going to genuinely miss them a lot. If you really love dogs, you can find something to love about all of them, even the most annoying ones. That alone makes the job worth it, if you ask me. It also helped me learn a LOT about dogs, just by being
Prosflexible, connections, hour long lunch break
Consno sick days, boring, favoritism