Because many consider their pets as an extension to their family, area boarding and daycare facilities strive for a “home away from home” ambiance.
“We will love your dog just as much as you do,” said Wes Mudd, head pack leader at Bark Station, located at 240 Arnold Mill Road, in Woodstock.
Owner Lorre LaMarca agreed.
“We wanted to have a fun facility where dogs could just play and have fun,” she said.
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Jessica Wagner | Ledger-News
Bark Station owner Lorre LaMarca, seated, as well as Jennifer Delgado, Seth Jones and head pack leader Wes Mudd give daycare dogs some love last week.
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Much as Bark Station focuses on fun, LaMarca said it was important for the dogs’ parents to know their pets are in good hands, which is why Bark Station’s owners installed cameras, giving pet owners the ability to log on to the Internet to make sure their pet is having fun and being treated right.
“People love seeing that they are getting their money’s worth,” LaMarca said. “When you pay for it, you want to see it.”
LaMarca said prior to opening Bark Station in June 2010, when she personally sought a boarding facility, she always looked for one with webcam accessibility.
For many, the webcam is a trust factor. “We don’t have anything to hide; rather, everything to show,” Mudd said.
Another perk to offering a webcam is the exclusivity, as owners need a username and password to log into the system. While the webcams do offer a sense of security for Bark Station customers, LaMarca said a dog’s wagging tail should tell the story of their experience.
If a first-time customer at Bark Station, a pet owner would need to fill out an application and bring their dog in for a temperament test, which can take anywhere from one to two hours, depending on the dog.
“Every dog has to go through this process with Wes because we are very cautious. Our priority is safety,” LaMarca said.
Once the test is passed and proof of vaccinations is provided, the dog is ready for traditional boarding, playgroup boarding or daycare, all of which are in a climate controlled area. The outdoor play area is covered with a doggy turf to ensure clean paws.
According to LaMarca, traditional boarding is targeted for special needs dogs or those not adapted to the playgroup environment. Dogs that board in a traditional setting are provided one-on-one time with a manager and private, off-leash time when the playgroup dogs are napping.
LaMarca said playgroup boarding differs, as the dogs are socialized and exercised in one of the three play areas all day long.
After a day of play, LaMarca said the dogs being boarded are brought to the sleeping quarters—a 16-square-foot station bunkhouse or a 32-square-foot big chief bunkhouse. According to LaMarca customers are charged by the night, not day or hour.
In addition to boarding, Bark Station offers a variety of other dog-lover amenities such as daycare, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays; grooming and a full service spa; and a self dog wash.
For those in the northern portion of the county, Savy Paws Pet Resort, located at 310 Adam Jenkins Memorial Drive, Canton, also offers playgroup boarding.
According to owner Chuck Butler, he decided to open Savy Paws Pet Resort, a little more than two years ago, because he saw the need for a playgroup boarding facility in northern Cherokee County.
“There are plenty of good vets around that do some boarding, but what we do is offer playgroup boarding where the dogs can come in and play all day,” he said.
Butler, who has seven labs of his own, said he got into the business because he enjoys spending time with the dogs.
“I will go out in one of the play areas for several hours at time to learn how they play and interact with each other,” he said.
Butler said Savy Paws, which acquired its name from his 11-year-old daughter Savannah, offers multiple play areas, which allows for a nice mixture when it comes to temperaments, age and breeds.
According to Butler, his facility is climate controlled and completely indoors.
Dogs staying the night at his facility are accommodated with a cozy bed within an individual kennel, which comes in two sizes—6-by-8 foot or 4-by-6 foot. Savy Paws Pet Resort charges by the night, too, and the rates include bedding, food and playtime.
In addition to boarding, Savy Paws Pet Resort also offers daycare, retail merchandise and bathing services.
While large playgroups are intriguing to some families, others may enjoy their pets to encounter a little more one-on-one time, which is exactly what Canine Campus prides itself on, according to owner Patrick Ireland.
“We are kind of unique in the way we do things because we consider ourselves a low-volume kennel,” he said, noting that the advantage to this is more individual attention is directed toward the pets.
Although Ireland has spent most of his career training dogs for government agencies, 11 years ago he and his wife, Jodi, opted to open their own boarding/training facility.
“When we got married, we decided to open the kennel up to the public and do domestic pets because I was doing working animals,” he said.
Located in Waleska, Canine Campus Inc., which also is a climate controlled facility, offers a variety of services from boarding to summer shaves. But, what sets Canine Campus apart from other lodging facilities is that it welcomes all pets for boarding including cats, hamsters and birds.
“I enjoy the variety,” Ireland said. “We are dealing with all different breeds and all different ages.”
Ireland also offers training services to his customers.
“We want to portray the fact that this is a place that you not only can board your dog, but they can learn something, as well,” Ireland said, noting he offers boarding, in-home or on-site training.
Boarding rates, which cover everything a healthy dog would need including food, bedding and exercise, are based on the number of nights in which the pet stays in one of the facilities enclosed structure, which vary from 6-by-5 foot to 6-by-15 foot.
For more information and rates on Bark Station, call (770) 517-9907 or visit www.bark-station.com; for Savy Paws Pet Resort, call (770) 704-6443; or for Canine Campus,call (770) 479-7100 or visit www.caninecampus.net.
