Melissa's Mutt Hutt & Cat Shack - Manhattan Beach, California

Paul Garcia

I do not know where to start... since joining Melissa's Mutt Hutt earlier last year, Melissa and her team were very welcoming and made it know they were excited for me to join them. Everyone is very helpful, training was informative, which lead to me never feeling uncomfortable branching on my own. I have had been lucky to work with great clients and their pups. I mainly board dogs in my home, and they are all well trained and have not had any issues. You should feel 100 percent comfortable having MMH take care of any of your pets!

Adam Barker

We have been working with Melissa's Mutt Hutt for the past 6 months for daily walks and last minute boarding at a walker's house when away for the weekend. They are very responsive communicating through the app or via email/text when last minute and send wonderful updates. I can tell from the way they welcome my pet when they come to pick her up that these people are genuine dog lovers and passionate about the work they do.

K H

Since working with Melissa’s Mutt Hutt for almost 1 year, I have shared so much love and joy with these pets. I have been thoroughly trained with each of my accounts so that I can confidently carry out walks and visits independently while clients carry on with their work, vacations or other plans as they arise. We use a brand new app that allows clients to communicate with us, schedule appointments, and share the cutest pics of their fur babies! I treat the time I spend with my dogs and cats as more than a job because I know how precious they are to their humans. It’s more like a hangout, and I often wish we could extend our time together.

Kyle R

I can’t stress how much I love this business. I’ve used them for both walks and sitting for my two dogs and they are just over and above fantastic every time. Really like the sitter Kaia we had last time.

Annelise Laufer

After working for two years with another dog walking/pet sitting company, we moved out of their normal area of service, and had to find pet care on short notice. With a shy and anxious dog who is nervous of strangers and sometimes reactive to other dogs on leash, finding a trusted dog walker is no easy task. I found MMH on Yelp and gave them a call. Melissa called me back within 24 hours, and Sarah came out that week to meet me and my dog and assured me that Allison would be able to take care of our pup. As we still had a few walks scheduled with our previous walker, they even coordinated a time for Allison to join our old walker on one of their last visits and help our dog adjust to the change.

Allison is amazing, and we are so lucky to have found her! She took the time to get to know and build trust with our dog. Our dog loves her, she sends the best photos and updates after each visit, and she really goes above and beyond to keep us informed of any concerns. We’ve worked with lots of great dog walkers over the years, but she is the best when it comes to communication.

We have regularly scheduled weekly walking, but MMH has also always been able to accommodate our one-off requests. This is one of the benefits of working with a larger company. If we need a one-off walk, and Allison isn’t available, MMH has always been able to find someone, and Allison regularly introduces our dog to other walkers so that there are multiple people who can fill in when needed. We’ve also used MMH for overnight, in-home care, and again, MMH has always been able to accommodate our requests and we’ve had positive experiences with all the walkers/sitters so far.

J R

Melissa's Mutt Hutt & Cat Shack has been serving the beloved four legged family members of the South Bay area since 2004 and it is of little surprise. From top to bottom, each member of this team is passionate about providing the highest level of service and care. It has been my experience that the management team goes out of their way to make sure that each client is well informed about fees, policies, and services. They return messages in a reasonable amount of time and make sure that any and all concerns or questions are thoroughly addressed. The staff are all carefully selected, vetted, and trained to provide the highest level of care while maintaining safe handling practices. The attention taken to ensure each staff member is trained to handle any situation they may be confronted with while caring for a family's fur babies is extraordinary. Their devotion to animals and advocacy to provide a gold standard for care is apparent in every aspect of this business; from the management team and staff, to the range of care that is provided. This is a phenomenal group of people. I highly recommend using their services.

Tyler Harms

I will start by saying I rarely take the time to write a review unless I feel it's necessary or worthy. Melissa's Mutt Hutt is absolutely worthy of 5 stars!!!!!

As so many of us feel, our fur babies are family members so trusting anyone else to care for them can be difficult. From my first meeting with Melissa I knew my dog would be in the best of hands. She is so passionate about what she does and is professional, educated, and CARES. She treats my dog like her own! I have used both her dog walking and boarding services and what a gift it is to feel my girl is in completely responsible hands. With each day comes daily photos, thorough notes and communication, and LOTS of love!

If you are looking for a dog walker or boarding care, I sincerely recommend this service!

Aric Johnstone

My review is primarily for the management team consisting of Melissa, Elise, and Jackie (note the boarders have been largely good). My concerns with this business can be summed up as: lack of fee transparency/moving goal posts and terrible communication.

I recently relocated to the area and my anxious senior pups were exhibiting signs of aggression towards one another, which I disclosed to the team ahead of our first boarding appt. Fortunately, both boarding visits went well and the second boarder raved about how sweet and calm both dogs were throughout the visit, with only some minor growling one time.

Fees: Upon booking my first boarding appt, the management team added $10 per day for medical administration (for longer stays, this would amount to a day or more of total fees). I contacted them to understand why it was being added as I've never had such a fee in all the years I've been working with professional boarders, and their meds simply get mixed in with their food and there's never been a problem with them not eating it. I was told it was "industry standard" and because of the extra effort required. I reluctantly agreed but soon learned it is not industry standard (all 6 of the local boarding businesses I contacted do not charge such a fee), and this felt disingenuous. I recently made a number of additional bookings, with two bookings in march separated by 2.5 days, and without my approval, they added two additional days of dog boarding to connect the two visits. I requested an adjustment to the booking thinking it was an honest mistake, only to receive a very condescending email from management telling me in the future they would automatically book additional days if stays were not separated by 2+ days because "its in the dog's best interest", "the dogs don't eat and won't take their meds", "it causes more behavioral problems", etc... none of which were issues that my dogs have had under their care that have been reported to me or under the care of other boarders. I contacted management again to understand why their contract terms were changing and again was met with the same condescending attitude of "we've been caring for animals for XX years, we know better than you do."

Communication: There have been several instances of what I would describe as clunky (at best), if not altogether unprofessional and frankly disrespectful communication by the entire management team, including Melissa herself who decided to start insulting me over the phone when I pushed back on the new 2+ days stay separation requirement. They claim their med fees are industry standard, and they know that's not true. Maybe some other boarders do it, but don't tell your customers something is industry standard when you know it's not just so they'll be ok with it. If you push back on anything with them, they'll immediately become defensive and dismissive, speaking to you like you have no idea how to care for your dogs - citing potential risks and issues that have not otherwise been noted or are issues at all. And if you persist and continue advocating for yourself as a customer, good luck, you'll be met with all manner of excuse making about why things are your fault and even likely get the owner herself insulting you over the phone.

I've never had the misfortune of working with a management team like this, so I will gladly be taking my business elsewhere.

1/3/24 Update: There's Melissa's response. Not surprised at all and won't take the time to point out the multiple lies and inconsistencies (I have receipts) or her not addressing key concerns I outlined and instead resorting to insults and personal attacks... again. Ask yourself if that's the kind of business you want to support. I personally won't and hope anyone who does business with them doesn't have service issues because this is the person you'll get to try to resolve them with. Also note that many of the 5 star reviews here are from her employees and not customers, including several that were left since I left my review to inflate their scores. Again not surprised.