UK dog daycare chain battling ‘smear campaign'

Telegraph

7 hours ago

Britain's largest chain of dog daycare centres is battling an alleged smear campaign that has forced it to repeatedly call police and left employees afraid they are being followed home.
Council documents reveal a battle between the UK's largest chain, Bruce's Doggy Day Care, and what a council officer believes is a 'rival' that has involved police, lawyers, and private security.
Staff have been 'called names' and pursued in their cars in a feud that has sprung up amid competition between dog kennels as the industry becomes increasingly popular.
The row began when photos claiming to show poor conditions at Bruce's Doggy Day Care, which operates almost a dozen sites across England, started to appear on a social media 'whistleblower' page.
The account has accrued more than 2,000 followers and now has more than 100 posts claiming to show dogs kept in waterlogged fields, cramped cages, and muddy indoor facilities at different Bruce's sites.
It also has alleged testimonies from former staff members who claim that several dogs burned themselves on indoor heaters and workers were severely outnumbered by pets.
Rival business
But a council animal inspector who visited one of the sites instead concluded that many of the alleged pictures of poor conditions were 'fake in my professional opinion' and that Bruce's was the victim of 'a campaign... started by a rival'.
Bruce's cares for more than 1,000 dogs across 11 sites, mostly in London and the Home Counties, where pets are dropped off in the morning and kept in large grass fields, containing cabins and play areas.
The company posted a £10 million turnover last year and is due to open two more sites in September.
Bruce Casalis, a South African-born former dance music promoter who founded the business in 2008, has previously described it as 'a Disneyland for dogs'.
Following the social media account's allegations, the company wrote a letter to customers which dismissed the content as 'factually incorrect or presented out of context' and said it was taking legal advice.
Lewes District Council launched an investigation into one of Bruce's sites, in Ditchling, East Sussex, after 22 complaints were received by the authority's licencing team between June 23 and July 2.
Councils are responsible for the licencing and inspection of dog daycare sites.
Trevor Moule, an animal licencing inspector at Lewes, carried out an unannounced inspection on July 2 but found no evidence of the allegations made.
He instead described 'an expertly managed site' staffed by workers with 'a deep and genuine love for dogs' in his inspection report, which has been obtained by The Telegraph following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
He claimed that all of the complaints received by the council had referred to the social media page and none he believed were from genuine customers.
Mr Moule said Bruce's staff had 'reported experiences of being tailgated or followed home or to petrol stations, being called names and feeling anxious and sometimes vulnerable'.
He added that eight calls had been made to police in a two-week period and Bruce's had instructed a private security firm to 'conduct patrols at multiple sites'.
'Many of the complainants are known to the company and legal advice is being taken,' he said.
Sussex Police confirmed it had received two reports of malicious communications relating to the site on June 27.
'These incidents are being reviewed and officers are liaising with the victim,' said a force spokesman.
The Telegraph has spoken to the owner of the social media page. They run a small dog walking business but insisted they were not a rival as they do not provide a daycare service and operate in an area without a nearby Bruce's site.
Employees stand by allegations
Four former Bruce's employees, who have contributed photographs and testimonies to the account, denied any connection to a rival company and insisted their allegations were genuine.
One former employee of the Ditchling branch provided a photograph of a mud-caked dog in a small cage and a video which appeared to show a rain-soaked dog with matted fur whining inside an indoor cabin.
She claimed the footage was taken during her time working at Bruce's.
A former employee of a site in Woodcote Green in south London, who asked to remain anonymous, provided a video showing a dog barking frantically in a cage that appears too small.
She also provided copies of a daily staff rota that showed staff to dog ratios – which council licencing rules dictate must be one staff member to every 10 dogs or less – were sometimes not observed at the Woodcote Green site.
The rota, which showed the planned number of staff members and dogs in a field each day, revealed that staff were sometimes given up to 14 dogs to look after by themselves.
Messages on the branch WhatsApp group, which includes staff members and managers, also showed staff flagging that they had been left with 'nearly 20 (dogs) each' in a field.
Dog daycare centres can have their animal activity licence revoked by the local authority if they are found not to uphold the ratio.
It can also be disclosed that a Bruce's site in Hemel Hempstead was issued a formal warning over its poor conditions by Dacorum Borough Council in August 2024 – although the issues had been fixed by December.
A spokesman for Bruce's said: 'We are a dog care provider, celebrated and championed by customers, regulators and councils. Our priority is, and has always been, the welfare and wellbeing of the dogs in our care. We are licensed, regulated and routinely inspected, proudly holding the highest available ratings across all of our centres. Our entire ecosystem is set up to nurture and look after the dogs entrusted to us.
'The allegations and images we have been made aware of are either wholly unrelated to Bruce's, factually incorrect or presented out of context in a way that misrepresents our business and the care we provide.
'We take any concern or complaint extremely seriously and fully investigate any matter raised. We will not engage in online exchanges that amplify harmful misinformation and hatred, and have informed the relevant authorities, including the police, of these allegations.
'While we wish all former staff well, those who contributed to this social media account represent a tiny minority, regrettably have their own agendas against Bruce's and do not reflect the track record we've built up over the years.
'Our centres are open for visiting by our customers and licensing inspectors at any time.'
Dog daycare centres first emerged in the United States in the 1990s but have taken off in the UK since the pandemic – when more than three million households acquired dogs.
With their new found popularity has come increased competition between rival companies.
The chief executive of a different dog daycare company, who asked to remain anonymous, said: 'There are lots of these companies springing up and I would imagine it's very competitive between the major businesses.
'It's a necessity for some dog owners at the end of the day and there are lots of competitive businesses so they have a lot of choice.'
Winkie Spiers, a dog behaviourist, added: 'It's a big booming industry. Everyone is opening dog daycares. It's this season's must have.
'Everyone who gets a dog these days is keen to not look after them.
'There are some very good ones and some not good ones.'