Private suites, always
Every dog boards in their own indoor suite with bedding and fresh water, from 4′×6′ up to our 5′×6′ deluxe. Nobody shares unless they arrived together. More on boarding.
Comparing private‑suite boarding with a group daycare model in St. Marys
Choosing where your dog stays is a personal decision, and St. Marys is lucky to have more than one genuine option. Woodlands Pet Retreat and Madi's Mutts both board dogs here in town, but they are built around different ideas about what a good day looks like for a dog. This guide lays out what we can verify about both, so you can decide which model suits your dog rather than taking anyone's word for it.
The short version: Madi's Mutts is a daycare‑forward facility where supervised group play and socialisation are central, and they also offer boarding and grooming on site. Woodlands is a small boarding facility where dogs stay in private suites and are never grouped with dogs from other households. Both are family run. Neither approach is universally better, and the right answer depends almost entirely on your particular dog.
Details about Madi's Mutts come from their own published information and may change. Check with Madi's Mutts directly for their current policies and offerings.
This is the distinction that matters most between the two, and it is worth understanding properly before you book anywhere.
Madi's Mutts describes supervised indoor and outdoor play with socialisation as a core part of what they do, including a treated turf yard. For a confident, social, high‑energy dog who genuinely enjoys other dogs, that kind of day is excellent. Plenty of dogs come home from group daycare happily exhausted in a way no amount of solo attention achieves.
Woodlands is built the other way round. This is a one‑on‑one structured facility: dogs are grouped only with their own family, and dogs from different households are never mixed together. Play and outdoor time happen with their own people and their own siblings. That suits dogs who find other dogs stressful rather than fun, dogs who are reactive on lead, seniors who would rather not be bounced on, and dogs whose owners simply do not want to gamble on group dynamics.
If your dog loves a crowd, the group model is a real advantage and you should weigh it seriously. If your dog does not, our model exists precisely for that.
Both are family run rather than chain operations, which usually means you talk to the person responsible for your dog rather than a call centre. Both describe monitoring systems in their buildings. Both offer boarding, daytime care and access to grooming, though we handle grooming through our sister salon, Chien d'amour, rather than in the same building.
One factual difference worth asking about directly: their published information describes being on site daily from 7am to 9pm year‑round, while at Woodlands a caretaker is on site overnight as well. If overnight presence matters to you, ask both of us to explain exactly what happens between midnight and 6am, and compare the answers.
Our rates are published in full. Madi's Mutts does not publish nightly boarding rates on their site, so we have not guessed at them.
Their website describes their boarding rooms in detail and states there is no upcharge for larger rooms, which is a genuinely customer‑friendly policy worth knowing about, particularly for big dogs or multi‑dog families. Their published price range on Facebook is listed simply as "$$".
They do not publish nightly figures, so call them on (912) 510‑6122 for a quote. When you do, the useful questions are whether a deposit is required, whether holidays carry a surcharge, and how additional dogs are priced. Woodlands charges $20 per additional dog sharing a suite, with no deposit and no holiday surcharge.
Check with Madi's Mutts directly for current pricing.
Every dog boards in their own indoor suite with bedding and fresh water, from 4′×6′ up to our 5′×6′ deluxe. Nobody shares unless they arrived together. More on boarding.
A caretaker is on site overnight, not just on call, with motion‑activated cameras throughout the building.
The property sits among pines at the water's edge, which is a genuinely different sensory environment from a commercial lot. See the photos.
Owner operated, with more than a decade across grooming, dog services and dog shows. Read the background.
Madi's Mutts may be the better fit if their group‑care model, location, schedule or availability matches your needs more closely than ours.
These are the questions that actually reveal how a facility operates. Ask us, and ask anywhere else you are considering.
Our answers are on the FAQ page, and you can see the building and yards on the facility page.
Come learn more about our boarding environment, rates and care approach. Tours are welcome before a first stay.
Questions about Madi's Mutts versus Woodlands? Call or text (912) 674‑4709 and we will give you a straight answer.
Information about other businesses is provided for general comparison purposes and may change. Contact each provider directly for current services, pricing, availability and policies. Woodlands Pet Retreat is not affiliated with the businesses mentioned unless specifically stated.