Animals have always been part of my family. Lots of people love animals, we love them and live them. My animal family started with an amazing Chow named Winnie. Winnie went everywhere and did everything with me. She went to school classes with me and helped me teach young children how to pet and interact with dogs. She helped teach veterinary assistants how to handle patients. She spent every day teaching people that every breed of dog can be a great family dog if their owners give them the training and socialization they crave. She helped me rescue and re-home dogs. One of her important jobs was teaching dogs how to play and interact with other dogs. She was definitely the best Chow ever:-)
Winnie’s most important job was helping me build and raise our family. She helped raise my children and teach them patience, loyalty and kindness. She faithfully kept us all safe from harm. And, she helped integrate our growing animal family. Winnie passed away a few years ago. She was 12 1/2 years old. She lived an amazing life and she will always be with our family. Our amazing, furry, scaly, feathery family Includes a Belgian Malinois named Rumble, a Labrador Retriever mix named Magic, a Miniature Poodle named Quinn, a Puggle named Bumble, a Pit Bull named Tank, a Labrador Retriever named Hunny, a Chowbrador Retriever named Brady, 2 cats named Meowi Kazowi and Minty Dobbie, a ball python named Hera, a bearded dragon named James and two Umbrella Cockatoos, Valentine and Big Bird. We’re still building the family Winnie started. Many of our crew had trouble living in their homes before we adopted them. They live happily together, in large part, due to Winnie’s influence.
I always wanted to own a kennel. Years ago, I toured a few kennels that were for sale. They were horribly run and not good candidates for purchase. Time passed and I got caught up in the rat race. I was having trouble finding time to spend with my kids and I wasn’t happy with where we were living. One day I woke up and decided it was time for a change.
I always said that I wouldn’t buy a kennel unless I was able to kennel dogs and cats the same way I would kennel our own. I’m very particular about our pets’ care so I knew it was going to be a difficult search.
1. It needed to be a kennel with indoor only runs. I’m a trainer and I never liked indoor outdoor runs. They stress dogs out because the dogs can never meet the dogs in the runs around them in the way dogs need to meet. The staff at most kennels that use indoor outdoor runs spend significantly less time interacting with the boarders which also causes more stress for the boarders. Dogs are pack animals and need to be with other dogs and people to be happy.
2. It needed to have grass where the dogs could play. Dogs don’t belong on cement or Astroturf. Astroturf causes unnecessary injuries. Dogs need to roll on their backs, run, dig and rough house to be happy. They can’t do that safely on Astroturf, cement or gravel.
3. It needed to have lots of property so we could have lots of play yards for the dogs where we could offer them enrichment experiences all day. Dogs are happiest when they have new places to explore. Going out in the same yard every day isn’t exciting. Having 8 big play yards to explore (like we have at Dogwood) is exciting and fun.
3. It needed to have a team that believed in positive reinforcement. We use positive reinforcement at Dogwood. There is always a way to get dogs to do what you want them to do in a positive rewarding way. Our team has to embrace our philosophy or they can’t work with us.
4. It needed to have a place for cats to board where they could get out, play and have enrichment experiences throughout the day. Cats who board need to get out (inside of course), interact and have enrichment experiences just like dogs do.
5. It needed to have a roomy grooming area where we could implement our positive reinforcement, minimal restraint techniques. It takes room to groom. Dogs who are kept in small, stacked up, pushed together crates or cages when they are groomed are stressed. There needs to be room where they can be out, walking around, there needs to be room where they can be bathed and groomed without another dog being right next to them. And, everyone who handles them needs to believe in minimal restraint and positive reinforcement. If not, dogs are stressed and unhappy.
I began to search for a kennel to purchase and started looking for a kennel near our home. I eliminated all the local kennels pretty quickly for various reasons. Then, I had a decision to make about continuing our search…North, West, South or not at all. I never liked the snow much, so the North was out. The West was too far from our family. I’d always heard good things about the South, so I started looking South of us.
We came to tour Dogwood Kennels over Presidents’ Day weekend. We fell in love almost immediately. Dogwood was a kennel that was running the right way, Catawba has a great school district with very committed educators, everyone we met was incredibly friendly and, while it was really cold at home, it was warm and breezy in Catawba. We knew we’d found our kennel.
I came to an agreement to purchase Dogwood and, after completing enough paperwork to fill a kennel while arranging the financing, I officially purchased our kennel on August 1, 2017. Everyone was incredibly welcoming and supportive. We have the greatest clients and boarders anywhere.
I’ve spent my career successfully building and running small businesses, both for myself and for others. Dogwood wasn’t perfect when I purchased it, but the foundation was there. I knew with hard work and imagination we could make it perfect. We spend the first year getting settled in and beginning to make the changes we need to make. We know it’s going to take a little more time to make Dogwood perfect but we’re on our way. To us, all of the cats, dogs and exotic pets who stay with us are our family. It’s incredibly fun and satisfying to see our family grow every day. Stay tuned because this year, we’re going to up our game…
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