Bailey is a one-year old Golden Retriever who just learned how to play dead. Today she bounds with her brother Dixon and ten other dogs her size through a snowy, fenced yard, stopping now and then to eat snow and bark at passers-by.
Inside, Inzo, a large, auburn Belgian Malamar who is training to be a police dog, sits in a chair behind the front desk with a bone in his mouth and peers over the counter.
These are just a few of the “regulars” at Home Sweet Home Dog Resort.
“Each dog has his own personality,” said Vicky Cox. “They’re like members of the family.”
Cox and her boyfriend Anthony Barnett have owned Home Sweet Home, Lawrence’s first doggy daycare, for nearly two years. They are one of the 29 licensed doggy daycares in Kansas (according to the Kansas Animal Health Department), and are among the many small business entrepreneurs across the country who have entered the fresh and fast-growing market for doggy daycares.
According to estimates from the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, total pet industry spending has increased 5.8% in the past year, from $36.3 billion in 2005 to $38.4 billion in 2006. The total amount spent on pet services, which includes grooming, boarding and doggy daycares, increased from $2.5 billion to $2.7 billion in the same time period and is likely to show 8% growth in 2007.
Heather Staas, dog daycare division chairperson for the American Boarding Kennel Association, said that the industry is growing rapidly because people now have busier schedules.
“Daycare provides a support service to help them meet the needs of their dogs and allows them to enjoy the benefits of pet ownership without so much of the time constraint,” Staas said.
Barnett and Cox had been thinking of opening a doggy daycare in Lawrence when they moved here in 2003. Two years ago, they bought their current facility from another dog daycare that was already operating in the same building. Barnett said what appealed to them about the idea was that Lawrence was a pet-friendly town, and that the building had a pre-established clientele. He said he was surprised by the wide variety of clients that came in.
“I thought it would be a lot of the people with a lot of money, but it’s crossed across all economic boundaries. It has a lot to do with how they prioritize their dog,” he said.
Since they opened, Barnett said that they have grown by at least eight percent. They usually care for about 30 dogs a day, although they are filled to capacity with about 50 dogs for boarding. He said they have a waiting list for most travel holidays, including spring break.
“There was a day last summer when we had almost 70 dogs here and we had to get extra help,” he said.
To cater to their growing volume, they recently bought a lot near their building and hope to expand the facility soon to create more training space.
Barnett said that because they are the only large, licensed dog daycare in Lawrence, many local veterinarians and pet sitters refer their clients to them for daycare services. They also get their name out by doing collaborative, fund-raising events with the Humane Society, including a costume contest last Halloween and a parade for St. Patrick’s Day.
Cox said they are able to distinguish themselves from veterinarians, who offer kennel boarding, and pet sitters, who offer in-home care.
“This is the only place that dogs can run and play together instead of being cooped up in a cage or at home alone,” she said.
Their facility offers two indoor rooms with mattresses and TV’s for little dogs, one big room filled with large, “suite-style” kennels, and two big, fenced yards outside for large dogs. In addition to daycare, they offer overnight boarding, grooming and obedience training.
The main difficulty in maintaining the facility is keeping it clean from messes and mud, which are especially problematic when it snows or rains. Kennel cough and fighting are also risks, though doing behavior screening of dogs before they enter often prevents the latter.
Barnett said the reason that other dog daycares haven’t been opening yet in Lawrence is because there are costly barriers to entry. In addition to the expenses, all dog daycares in Kansas containing twenty or more animals require an Animal Facility Inspection and license from the state.
“It would be easier for a bigger company like PETCO or PetSmart to get that done than a small business,” Barnett said.
Despite these challenges, non-corporate dog daycares continue to open in the Kansas City area. Dr. Jim Swanson, a Kansas City, Kan. veterinarian, opened a Swanson’s Streamline Dog Park and Daycare in July in Shawnee after he saw many of his clients coming in to get the required vaccinations for their pets before taking them to doggy daycares.
Swanson said he was amazed at the amount of money people were willing to spend. In order to keep up with competition, he decided to make a large facility. On his 8-acre plot, he offers a nature trail, agility course, web-cams to observe the pets during the day, hydrotherapy training for rehabilitation, and even birthday parties with doggie cupcakes and decorations.
He said that starting off was a big investment and has been rough financially, but he expects steady growth over the year. Since he opened, he said, business has increased from about five dogs a day to nearly 25. He hopes to soon have between 40 and 80 a day.
Swanson said the doggy daycare business is a nice change of pace.
“People walk into a dog daycare because they want to. At the vet, they come because they have to,” Swanson said.
Vivian Malkus, a veterinary technician, moved to Shawnee from Baltimore a year ago with her husband and two dogs. She now takes her dogs to Swanson’s Streamline Dog Park and Daycare when she leaves for vacations.
“I think dog daycares are great for our dogs because they get more socialization. It makes me comfortable to know that someone is caring for them all day,” Malkus said.