by Jessica Carreras
While retail, restaurants and automakers suffer, there's an industry that's going strong throughout Michigan's economic recession: doggy day care.
Though it may appear to be on the top of the list of costs to shave off, many Michigan dog owners see the service as something as important as day care for children. Dog day care business owners are, in kind, seeing little to no drops in the number of dogs they look after.
Nancy Janoch, who owns Happy Hounds Doggy Day Care in Plymouth, said that although some clients have stopped using their services recently, others are coming more often. Her business sees an average of 30 dogs per day. "The recession has not really affected us drastically yet," she said.
"Some clients have cut back and there are some clients, unfortunately, who have lost their jobs and had to stop, but we have new clients all week."
Janoch added that the average client spends up to $300 per month on dog day care – a price that competes with the costs of some day cares for children. However, claimed Janoch, to some people, their dogs are their children.
"We have had a lady drop off her dog for the first day and she was in tears. She said, 'I didn't even cry when I took my child to their first day of kindergarten,'" Janoch recalled. "All of my clients consider these dogs to be their children and want just as much for them as for their real children."
Also similar to day care, the dogs are often treated like children, with focus on socialization, proper behavior and adequate playtime. Most even offer overnight boarding for when owners are out of town.
At Camp Bow Wow in Clarkston, which also averages around 30 dogs a day, dogs are left out to play for up to seven hours a day, taking breaks only for meals, time outs and, if needed, nap time. Owned by Linda Ward, her partner Sue Rutkowski, Patti McDonald and another part-time business partner, Bow Wow began in October of 2007 and has taken off, leaving them with up to 60 dogs or more over holidays or busy times.
"Most of our day care people are people that work because they don't want their dog shut in. They don't want them locked in a crate," elaborated Ward. "They want them to exercise and socialize, which is great, especially if they start from a puppy. They bring them to us and it's kind of like taking your kid to day care."
And, just like with children, special requests from owners are a frequent reality for doggy day care owners. From special meals to particular toys or even certain phrases the day care workers should say, dog owners are fanatical about their pooches.
"They can bring their big beds in. They bring shirts that have their smell from home. They bring their toys. We have dogs that eat a half a can of green beans with their meal," Ward listed. "There's all kinds of requests.
"People are very fanatical about their pets."
Camp Bow Wow and Happy Hounds also both offer Web cams on their Web sites, so that owners can watch their pets at play all day long. For some, it's seems that they spend more time on doggy Web cam than on actual work. "If our Web cams go down, which unfortunately does happen, we get calls immediately," Janoch explained. "We'll also get a call to say, 'We can't see our dog. Could you put them up in front of the Web cam?'"
Though Clarkston's Camp Bow Wow has only been open for a year and a half, the franchise, based out of Colorado, has been around for a while. Likewise, though Happy Hounds is newer, Janoch has done pet sitting for almost 15 years.
Both women agree that much has changed in the business since it began.
"When I started (in-home pet sitting), nobody even understood the concept. They didn't even get it," Janoch said. "Then, when I started day care, nobody understood that concept either. Now it's grown so much – not my business, but the industry. Now everybody knows about it."
And every fanatical dog owner – gay and straight – wants to use the service.
Doggie Day Cares:
Camp Bow Wow
Sue Rutkowski, Owner
6374 Sashabaw Road
Clarkston, MI 48346
248-620-9663
Club Pet Too
3181 Walnut Lake Court
Commerce Twp., MI 48390
248-669-4501
Happy Hounds Dog Day Care
Nancy Janoch, Owner
673 South Main St.
Plymouth, MI 48170
734-459-3647
Play and Stay Pet Care Center
Jodie Ellison, Owner
1705 Austin
Troy, MI 48084
248-528-3844
