Conway Kennel - Stanwood, Washington

Alicia M.

My 12 month old lab stayed here for boarding for his very first time away from us. I was able to chat with the owner who provided such great feedback about my dog. She recommended he use a slow feeding bowl, to prevent potential dangers of eating too fast. She also gave me some details about how he interacted with the other dogs. When he was picked up, he was the same gigantic, goofy dog. He’s always been, and looked as though he had been well kept, even a nail trim, which was a great surprise! Based off of our very first boarding experience, I would highly recommend this facility!

Katie C.

I’ve put off making this review because I got the impression there was a family emergency that was profoundly affecting the trainer/facility but as time goes on I’m more and more concerned about what must have happened while my dog was here.

I wanted a trainer for my duck tolling retriever puppy who was not heavy handed. I was assured she had experience with tollers. We dropped her off for boarded obedience and gun dog training. They said they’d send photos and videos weekly so we could see her progress. The first red flag was that I had to reach out for any photos or updates - and I got about 3 photos the whole 3+ months she was there. Never a video. Never any evidence that she was retrieving, swimming, being gun conditioned etc.

I visited for an obedience lesson with her and she seemed ok. Then as we’re getting closer to coming up for a field work session, she says our dog got stung by a bee and is now too scared to hunt. She worked with her for about 3 more weeks before saying it just wasn’t going to work out for her to be a hunting dog and we needed to come pick her up. They didn’t charge us for the gun dog portion of the training which I thought was fair at the time.

We get her home and right away we notice she cowers and runs at the sight of an open tailgate. She has good recall but doesn’t stay or retrieve at all. I texted the trainer who said the truck thing was “new” because she had to load up in a truck every day at the facility, and that “ducks are different than toys, that’s why she won’t retrieve”. I left it alone but her reaction to loading into a truck or even getting near a truck got worse so I reached out again - and didn’t receive a reply (she had told me to reach out with any issues or questions).

Over the past 6 months we have realized our dog is traumatized. She is terrified of trucks, even the sight of a rifle, gunfire, water, and won’t even go near a chain link dog run (like what she stayed in at the facility). These were all things she should have been conditioned for during her stay. If you raise a hand near her she cowers and rolls into submission. I’ll never know what happened for sure there, but she came back with a trauma response. I understand training can require some force but I feel something more happened here that I was not made aware of. I have so much regret because the dog that came home is not the same as the dog I trusted them with and we’ll be dealing with her new triggers for the rest of her life.

Nik G.

My dog is currently wrapping up her 2 month long training. I could not be happier with their program. Our trainer Kane is top notch in everything he does with my dog and his customer service! I will recommend Kane and Conway Kennel to everyone I know!

Jodie W.

This is our "place" for our dogs whenever we need them boarded. We just boarded our very nervous dog. She saw to it that our dog was between non aggressive dogs in order to help her as much as possible. It's always hard on animals to be boarded, but to have a Kennel that tries to make it easier on them is awesome

Marcus E. K.

Our first experience with Conway Kennels was for training, we took our beagle puppy and our golden and left them for 6 weeks of training. They were well cared for and well trained. We continued to take our dogs for boarding with zero issues, the dogs were always happy and excited to see Mel and Bucko and healthy and happy when picked up. When our golden was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma and we had to go out of Town , they put their own dogs in the kennel and kept mine in their house. When he took a turn for the worse they called and let me pick him up way after closing, that’s above and beyond. I have boarded and or trained 7 dogs at Conway Kennels, this is a very professionally run training/boarding facility. Love all of them and would leave my dogs in their care with zero concerns.

Kevin W.

I have had two dogs trained here. When i began it was for simple obedience training help and it ended up being full fledge field trial competition. It's really the most amazing and gratifying experience you can expect to have in your lifetime.

Dave B.

The only place to take your dog! I had my lab trained there many years ago and just had our pointer trained there this year. Great place to board your pets(Just dropped off our three dogs) and the rates are very reasonable. Mel, Bucko, Charlette, Brook and Tony are wonderful to work with. No need to go anywhere else!

J Y.

Nothing like their website makes them out to be. Our lab went in happy and healthy and a bit overweight. After a 2 week stay she came out with her ribs showing, rub marks on all her joints and she smelled really really bad. We had a vet do a house call within 3 hrs of picking her up. It is thought that the kennels were cleaned with a strong disinfectant, not rinsed well enough and that our dog was put back into the kennel when it was wet causing a skin problem. The price we were quoted was not what we were billed. Our bill almost $100 higher than quote. Lesson learned.