Water4Dogs Rehabilitation Center

Simply put this has been the best place to go to for my senior dog. They work wonders both on hydro, dry, laser and acupuncture therapy.

I highly recommend this facility. John @k9swimmer on instagram, has been fantastic with my dog. The staff is always on top of making his visit a comfortable one.

My dog probably wouldnt be walking today without their work. Go there if your dog needs physical therapy. It will be mental therapy for you!

Although I've been a Yelp user for many years, I have never felt compelled (in either direction) to write a review and publicize my thoughts about a service or business. However, after taking my dog, Dillon (aka the love of my life), to Water4Dogs for the last 4 weeks, this has changed. About 6 weeks ago, my housekeeper dropped my couch on Dillon, fracturing his pelvis in multiple places. Dillon could not walk or use his hind legs. Needless to say, I felt heartbroken and lost.... until I brought him to Water4Dogs.

From our first visit with Dr. Block, this remarkable facility and its kind and caring staff gave me hope. The therapists are extremely knowledgeable, compassionate, and professional. The day after his first therapy session, Dillon began to walk, and after his second therapy session, he stopped taking/needing pain medication. After each therapy session thereafter, Dillon exhibited noticeable improvement.

Every time I walk into Water4Dogs, I feel inspired watching the level of care the staff provides Dillon and all the other dogs (and there are many) coming in for therapy. Water4Dogs has brought back Dillon's step and his spunk, and for that I am so grateful.

RUN, don't walk, to Water4Dogs. You'll see that after a very short while, your dog will be able to run with you :)

I would have given this place five stars because it has helped our dog immensely. However, the demotion was for one particular employee there.

Our 12-year-old lab mix has been going to this place for a while and we spend a lot of money there, as well as recommend it to the many people we know in the NYC animal care community. It has been very helpful for our dog to have his sessions with John, whom we purposely schedule with every week. John is absolutely amazing: my anxious dog loves him and he deserves the utmost credit and respect given his dedication, ability and passion for the dogs. He carefully exercises my dog on the water treadmill, with massages and stretches in between sets. John compassionately and skillfully helps him swim and stretch in the pool, even though he is afraid of the water. Sometimes John picks up our 80 pound dog just so he can more comfortably get in the pool. After our session he rinses off and towel dries our dog. John even says a Reiki prayer for the dog every session, which shows how much he cares. Similarly, Jenny is also amazing and skillfully helps us with laser therapy, fitting the dog for a harness and tips on exercises. They both go above and beyond for their clients.

The manager Tanya even accommodated us after our dog couldn't swim one week because he had diarrhea. At first it upset me because the diarrhea had stopped, but once she explained the safety issues I totally understood. Of course always going above and beyond, John gave our dog a quick stretch and massage on dry land instead so he wouldn't totally miss out that week. Both were helpful and made us feel like valued clients.

This places charges $118 for a half hour session, so obviously every minute should be used productively, which has been the case always with John and Jenny. However multiple times now the assistant manager/dry therapist Alana has caused problems for us. Last week she took her time in a session before us, and cut into our session significantly with no apology or consideration of any kind. This week she did not even have us scheduled for laser therapy at the appropriate time and was again entirely unconcerned. She told me I had to accommodate HER mistake by thoroughly blowdrying my dog after his water therapy when I had already told her I was feeling unwell and dizzy myself, and that it was also painful for my dog to get blow dried after swimming, so I tried to minimize drying him after therapy if the weather didn't demand it. She told me laser therapy wouldn't be as effective if he was wet, so I should just dry him or not do treatment. He had been doing laser therapy, then water therapy for a few weeks now, so there was no good reason for lack of proper scheduling and she, as the manager on-site, was completely unconcerned about any of this. All she offered was to do his laser therapy after swimming, which was the problem in the first place. I told her I preferred her not touch my dog. I was uncomfortable with her handling him, as she had already showed no concern for the pain she was already causing him. Jenny did the treatment, thankfully.

I had to force my dog to have his hips dried, of course forcing him to stand after being sore from swimming and having trouble standing already from his severe hip and spinal problems, which is why we come to these sessions in the first place. He is too anxious to lie down during drying and his hip problems don't allow him to lie down evenly in a sphinx pose, so one hip wouldn't dry that way anyway. Laser therapy helps him a lot so I just did my best so he could get the treatments we came for. He fell on the hard floor fell multiple times during this process. Alana offered no help and simply walked past us multiple times as if we weren't even there, while my dog suffered and I was forced to blow dry him feeling unwell myself. I'm sure John would've helped but he already had another client.

Aside from these direct negative experiences with her recently, any interaction I've ever had with her, however fleeting, I noted the difference in her demeanor compared to everyone else who works there i.e. her strange affect and seeming lack of compassion.

Otherwise our experience has been wonderful and we will continue to go see John and Jenny, as well as the veterinary staff. It's just unfortunate that they employ someone weirdly unconcerned for the well-being of both animal and human clients, especially putting her in a management position. A business built on treating animals in pain shouldn't do so, and should at least force her to correct her behavior and approach. I am really hoping someone will prevent her from mistreating clients (animal and human alike) in the future, because we do not want to have anything bad to say about this usually wonderful place and do not want to continue to have our time and money wasted, feel disrespected, and our dog CAUSED pain here, especially for the price and how important it is for our dog.

What can I say,.. this place is the BEST..
My dog had an injury ; The Vet recommended physical therapy.. One was way closer to my home ; but gives preference to their own patients. So I trudged downtown.. Worth the trip.
The Physical Therapists are very skilled.. the facility is immaculate. Appointments are scheduled properly so there is no waiting..
The Staff.. what words of praise for the staff? They are caring and lovely.. I got caught in a torrential downpour. One of the employees put my soaking wet socks in the dryer..
I just wish it was a big more geographically desirable. Even so.. IF we are ever in need of PT again.. Water4dogs Is the facility of choice.

The improvement our dog has had since going to Water4Dogs has been LIFE CHANGING.

Our 12 y/o miniature schnauzer, Barak, was diagnosed with arthritis and some neurological spine damage in January. His hind legs were dragging to the point that his nails bled. We put him in booties for protection, which helped, but he couldn't walk very far. Each day, he seemed to get worse. His legs started to cross and he would easily trip.

We had him on pain medicine to minimize the discomfort in his spine, but he was still lethargic. It would take him 20-30 mins to get out of bed in the morning, and he tired easily. Our walks were just one block long before he was ready to rest.

I was convinced he would continue to decline and that we probably only had a few months left with him. Each walk we took left me welled up with tears. Watching him lose his mobility was breaking my heart.

After talking to many people about our options, someone suggested water therapy. Even though our vet dismissed the option as "overpriced and doesn't work" and told us all we could do was medicate him, we knew we had to try.

After our first session, we immediately saw a huge improvement in Barak's ability to walk and pick up his hind legs.

As our weekly sessions continued, so did his progress. After just a few weeks, Barak no longer needed booties. He was able to walk on his own without dragging his feet.

After 2 months, Dr. Dipolo at Water4Dogs suggested we try taking Barak off the pain meds. I was a bit nervous, but we gave it a try. Unbelievably, we didn't notice a difference - he's not in pain, has loads of energy, and can go on 30+ minute walks without booties.

4 months and 10 sessions later, Barak is a brand new dog. No booties. No nail bleeding. No tiring. No pain meds. He is energetic. He jumps out of bed in the morning, read to start the day. He has endurance for long walks. His core muscles and hind legs are stronger.

He has his life back.

I cannot say enough about what Water4Dogs is doing. Their staff is kind, compassionate, and cares deeply about each patient.

Yes, it's expensive. Yes, it can be inconvenient to get your dog there each week. Yes, I liked some of the therapists better than the others. But every penny and every minute we spent has been worth it. Go a few times and work with different people until you find the ones you like the best.

The therapists will give you exercises and massage techniques to do at home, which we do religiously. It's a bit of work, but we've fit it into our routine and it's now become a habit. Weekly or bi-weekly water therapy is great, but the consistency in strength building and muscle memory that we've worked on at home helps a tremendous amount as well.

I cannot recommend this place enough. If you care about your dog, you will take them here. If you want your dog to get their mobility back, their energy back, their strength back, you will take them here.

If you want to give your dog their life back, you will take them here.

We are VERY fortunate such a facility exists! #ZoeTheHusky LOVES Water 4 Dogs!

John & The Staff are always available if you have questions..... most importantly, they're extremely professional, especially when there's a cancelation! Worth every minute --- for her health!!!

Time to swim with your dog! This ain't CA, it's NY where pools and beaches aren't very abundant. So what do you do? Come here to swim with your dog!

I brought my pup here and he was terrified of the water, but he was a quick learner. You can swim here too, so I did! My pup put on a life jacket, and there's plenty of toys to play with, too. You can also bathe him (and yourself if you wanted to, in their shower). There's towels for both, and some wipes to clean their ears.

$35 for half an hour is pretty steep, however. I wouldn't come here regularly, but it may help older/injured dogs.

Well, hello 100th review!

Water 4 Dogs is a water therapy facility in Tribeca.
My senior dog is rehab-ing his hind leg by using the water treadmill and caps off his session by swimming in the pool.
I cannot think of one negative thing to say about this place.
My dog would've had to have invasive surgery if I never found out about water therapy.
There are open swimming sessions on the weekends where you and your dog can swim together for an hour.
You can also drop your dog off for treadmill therapy.
It's been only 3 sessions, but already my dog has shown tremendous improvement.
The staff is amazing - so sweet, helpful and devoted to caring for your pet.
It is always a positive environment, for myself and my dog.

The building itself is impressive - it also houses an agility course, a doggie daycare, RBC Coffee and Worth Street Veterinary Hospital - all on different floors.

Water 4 Dogs is a perfect place to take your dog.
The older dogs get a great benefit in stretching out those old legs by doing low-impact exercise.
The hyper pups get to run around, swim with toys and drain their energy.
I've also seen a lot of post-op doggies that are literally trying to get back on their feet.

I HIGHLY recommend for all dog owners.

I am very grateful to Jennifer and John to get my dog River walking and having a happy life. Dr DiPaolo came in and doubled the prices and was more money and ego oriented.

We brought our senior citizen poodle here for therapy after she was diagnosed with a collapsed disk in her neck/back and could barely walk. This place is amazing. A year later, our dog is 3 lbs lighter and walking/running like a champ. I did prefer some therapists over others and felt she received more thorough physical therapy sessions with them. This place isn't cheap, but it's a canine water rehabilitation center in NYC, so you wouldn't expect it to be! Dr. Block is great and we're thrilled with the progress our senior dog made here.