Frequently Asked Questions

Every new client gets two free nights of boarding or three free days of daycare for a single dog. There is no catch. Really. No additional purchase is required. If you only use one free night, you can use the next free night during your next stay.  If you use two of your free days of daycare and then want to use the next free day a year later, that’s fine too. We want you and your dog to be comfortable at Hip Hounds and giving you a risk-free way to do that has worked out great for us. This isn’t a “limited-time offer”, it’s the same deal we’ve been giving new customers for over a decade and we intend to continue doing it. 

Yes. While we can usually give a tour any time we're open, it's best to call or text us before you come by in case we're super busy and can't accommodate.  We try to keep our tours of the play areas brief because seeing strangers can be a bit over-stimulating for the dogs. It's especially hard to accommodate drop-in tours on Fridays & Saturdays. 

No. Because of the way our facility is set up (see diagram and pics here) any dog not in a group has a direct sight line to the groups of dogs and, for some dogs, this can be very stressful. Our focus has always been group play and dogs than can’t be in groups tend to be pretty miserable here. 

No. We recommend The Dog Alliance as a great training resource. 

Yes! Please visit our grooming page for details.

We are aware of the medical benefits of waiting to neuter for some breeds. We respect your decision to listen to your vet’s advice and wait to neuter. Our concerns surrounding neutering at six months are purely behavioral and neutering that early may not be an option for all dogs.  

We have two groups of dogs here every day. What we call the “small side” and the “big side”. (super creative names, I know). The small group is typically small and medium sized dogs (under 40 lbs) but there is some crossover. We have older or lower energy dogs who just do better on the “small side” but we make sure that any larger dogs on the small side are safe and play appropriately with the small dogs. 
The big side consists of larger dogs (typically 40+ lbs) who are rougher and more energetic. This group is usually full of adolescent dogs who spend the bulk of their day being VERY active. 

Fights, though rare, do happen. They’re an unavoidable side effect of having dogs in groups. We try to focus on de-escalation and preventing fights before they happen. If there is a fight, we separate the dogs involved and they go into a time out and are thoroughly checked for any injuries. Any dogs showing repeated aggressive tendencies are asked not to return.

All daycare and boarding passes are refundable at any time for the amount of days remaining on them. If you buy a 20 day pass, use one day and decide two years later that you want to be refunded, we’ll happily refund you for the 19 days remaining. 
Daycare and boarding passes do not expire and are transferable to another dog or client.
There is no “maintenance fee” or any other nonsense associated with our passes. We are committed to being fair and feel that if you pay for something, you are owed the value of what you purchased or a refund if you request it.

No. If your dog isn’t picked up from daycare by the time we close, they will be fed and boarded overnight and you will be asked to pay the boarding charge for the night. We do not offer drop-offs outside of our regular business hours. Everyone’s time is valuable and we stand by our fair but firm policies. Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Yes. We offer a 10% discount for Dell employees, Pflugerville, Round Rock and Austin ISD employees and active and non-active duty military personnel.

Yes. We consider any stay “extended” that is 10 nights or more. You can email or call us for a quote for your extended stay. 

We do not have any breed restrictions.