Bark Avenue Pet Grooming

"I took my dog here for a year, both their old location and their brand new one. He gets sick almost every time. It’s always stomach bugs which cause him bad gas, diarrhea and sometimes vomiting. It’s so consistent at this point I know the signs well, it always starts with fatigue a few hours after I bring him home, and takes him days to get past. He also ends up giving whatever it is to our older dog who is 12 and gets much sicker every time. We wind up unable to sleep for days due to them getting us up throughout the night being sick. I have only kept going here bc when I moved to alabaster a year ago it took me 4 months to even find a groomer taking clients and I was shocked. I’ve never had issues like this with groomers in 7 years of having my dog. Now I know why this place has openings. Their location by CVS was filthy and dingy, it had constant problems with power and air too. I was hopeful when they moved that it would solve everything, but my dog just had his first trip to their new facility last week and came home sick again. I called my vet and explained everything and they said that type of sickness is likely bacterial and comes from them not properly cleaning and sanitizing their equipment. The sad part is, after going there as long as I have, I’m not even surprised to hear that bc they all seem gross. She would never give me a time to show up that makes sense, she would always say they open at 7 and I learned the first time they don’t start grooming until 10. I said I don’t want my dog there longer than he has to be. Despite telling her that she confused me to the point I ended up taking him at 7 the first time and was livid he spent almost an entire 8 hour day there before he was done. From that point on every time I called to schedule him she would tell me to come at 7 and I would say no, I’m coming at 10 when you start so he isn’t there all day and she would just say ok. The whole situation is very unprofessional. They don’t even have a computer system set up for their clients and every time I went I would have to remind her who my dog was and what his grooming notes were. It was very annoying. They never cared though and would never make an effort to learn their dogs or try to keep some kind of notes or filing system. They also would constantly try to fluctuate their prices on me to make more and I know they knew what they were doing, but they go about it by playing dumb and saying “oh last time you paid $85 right?” When I had definitely paid $75 and she told me that’s what she always charges everyone. Yet they did this price game to us so often we just started writing checks for $100 every time and said you figure out what money goes where. That shut them up of course. They don’t even have a credit card system, everything has to be check or cash which I also found to be odd. So many red flags with this place, I could keep going but I just really want to warn others not to go here bc in my 7 years with my dog I’ve never seen him get consistently sick like this from a groomer and it’s just horrible. Be aware!"

"I love this place! My dog Cannoli looks great every time he is groomed!"

"Bark Ave takes excellent care of our dogs! They're attentive of our dog's needs along with our requests and their haircut is always done right! Best dog groomers in the area"

"It was my first appointment with Bark Avenue and it was awesome. Not only were they able to fit me in next day, they did a great job on my pup. I’ll definitely be back."

"I called at the last minute on a Saturday. Everyone I usually go to was booked due to Thanksgiving quickly approaching. Not only did she get me in but she also did an excellent job on my mini schnauzer and my daughter's pomeranian. We asked that she cut both dogs low since there was a little matting. She definitely earned a repeat customer."