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After I left for college, my parents and younger sister filled the void with a Jack Russell Terrier. If you’re at all familiar with Jack Russell Terriers, you know that they’re high-energy, high-maintenance and highly intelligent (though not all are as well read as Wishbone). On days Sinatra doesn’t get to the dog park, she finds more destructive ways to exercise – namely, chewing drywall. Leaving her home alone for more than a few hours is a risky proposition and leaving her alone overnight is out of the question. Enter Mr. Doggie Day Spa Operator, who, without fail, always leaves Sinatra so tired that she sleeps the whole ride home.
We’re never exactly sure how Sinatra spends her time at Dogtopia – my sister suggests that the proprietors make all the dogs cobble shoes – but I’m pretty sure she’s not tiring herself out by doing laps in a swimming pool. Here’s the story behind that and some of the other more, uh, unique, doggie daycare and boarding services available:
Stay: A Modern Dog Hotel – Chicago
Is your pup packing a few extra pounds after the holiday season? Then Chicago’s Stay might be the perfect remedy. The 30,000 square foot facility features an aquatic fitness center with a custom designed lap pool, which uses paddle-in-place currents to “effectively increase muscle strength and endurance.” All dogs wear life vests and receive a one-on-one workout, with a 25-minute session setting you back $20. You can also keep an eye on your dog while you’re away via one of Stay’s two Web cams.
Yankee Dog Retreat – Boston
I don’t know who thought it was a good idea to name an establishment in Boston after baseball’s Evil Empire – maybe it’s a not-so-veiled indication of what Red Sox fans think of their New York brethren – but the Yankee Dog Retreat boasts a lineup of amenities worthy of a champ. From purifying clay treatments and conditioning milk baths, to essential massages and emergency deskunkings, this place is guaranteed to pamper your pooch for the right price.
For the on-the-go dog looking for a trendy way to stay fit, 20-minute Doggy Yoga sessions provide an “indirect way to teach obedience and focus,” while aggressive or shy dogs might benefit from one of YDR’s Positive Energy sessions. Among the items for sale in the boutique, the dog house at the bottom of this page would make some celebrities blush:
America Dog & Cat Hotel – Las Vegas
What happens in Vegas, (sits and) stays in Vegas. This luxurious hotel boasts private suites for dogs and cats and “play pals” who look after your pets during the day. The large free range area features 32-inch color TVs, which play “doggy cartoons,” and, from the Web site: “pleasant soothing jazz music such as ENYA and SADE.” I think my dog’s partial to Snoop.
Ritzy Canine Carriage House – New York
Ever dropped $20 for room service that tastes like dog food? Well, at the Ritzy Canine Carriage House, the room service is dog food, including dishes made from organic meats, vegetables and basmati rice. While it also boasts deluxe accommodations, such as orthopedic bedding and a $175/night Presidential Suite replete with “a toy chest filled with all kinds of stimulating toys, a television, VCR and special selections from our video library,” the Ritzy Canine is perhaps best well known for its one of a kind boutique. I suppose there are worse ways to spend money on your pups.
Cha Cha’s Doggie Daycare – Sacramento
Cha Cha’s offers a wide variety of services and activities for your dog, including field trips, weight camp, and arts and crafts. Perhaps some particularly artistic former visitors were responsible for the facility’s Rainbow Brite-inspired walls. Cha Cha’s also hosts birthday parties with liver-flavored cake, a balloon chase, and, my personal favorite childhood game, bobbing for hot dogs. Mmmm. From their Web site: Cha Cha’s is like “a day at doggie Disneyland.” Pluto would be jealous.
Paradise Ranch Country Club – Sun Valley, Calif.
The artsy intro to the Paradise Ranch Web site says it all: “A resort so exclusive it doesn’t accept people.” People, after all, can’t legally request a “bed buddy” with the concierge. That’s right, with the largest staff to dog ratio on the West Coast, Paradise Ranch employees will actually “cuddle up and snooze the night away right next to your dog in order to bring them that much closer to home” for an extra $20 per night. That’s just one way that Paradise Ranch promises to make your dog, however shy he might be, feel a part of the family from the time he sets paw inside the country club’s secure gates.
* * * * *
So what’s the most ridiculous doggie daycare service you’ve heard of? And for all the dog owners out there, what’s the most you’ve ever indulged your dog?
Scott Allen is an occasional contributor to mentalfloss.com. His last story was an exhaustive history of the Bud Bowl.
Comments (27)
Comment
What about us pooch pamperers in the South (preferably NC)? I wish I could find a daycare energetic enough for our two pitbulls - another pair of my boyfriend’s work boots succumbed to seperation anxiety this week. And let’s not forget the horrendous shape of our carpet, upstairs bathroom, fouton, living room blinds…..
I might have to start a Doggie Daycare myself!
posted by bas on 2-21-2008 at 3:23 pm
And yet there’s hardly a human hotel that will accommodate pet lovers. Have you ever snuck a three-legged Rottweiler in the back stairwell of a Holiday Inn in Macon, Georgia (en route to Florida) just because she was a little bit over the size restriction? There’s an experience for you.
posted by K on 2-21-2008 at 3:26 pm
It’s really funny that you posted this today because my boyfriend and I were just discussing this last nite…
We LOVE Oscar, our Pitt Bull/Greyhound mix (yeah, I would’ve loved to see that, too) to pieces. He has full run of the house and our hearts (awwww). He gets more people food than dog food, activities are dropped when he wants to play (mostly because it’s usually homework) and my boyfriend gives him more cuddle time than I’ll EVA see. And don’t EVEN get me started about the waterworks that this girl produced from her face when we found out he had Lyme Disease…
But SERIOUSLY??? Perhaps it’s because we are but of meager finances, but even $20/day seems insane to me for something like these services. Dogwalking service? Yes. Pups need to stroll. Doggie Massage. no No NO! You love your dog that much YOU give him a massage! We do (and he totally loves us more for it)!
But I digress.
You got the $$$ and you want to spend it on doggie birthday parties and $175/nite rooms for pooch cuddlin? Rock on.
posted by Jessica on 2-21-2008 at 3:43 pm
Perhaps the Yankee place is so named because of its position in the northern half of the country?
On a different note, my parents too have a Jack Russell Terrier. Theirs is now a few years older (and was a mother once) and is therefore a little calmer. She’s luckily never been a chewer, but she would have no need of such expensive doggie day care. All she would need is a tennis ball launcher and she could be pretty happy all day. She’s pretty OCD about playing fetch.
That’s nothing, though, to the thrills she gets from a laser pointer. If you value that JRT’s sanity, don’t get one. Rosie loved the ones my parents had…but it drover her slowly insane (even more so than your standard JRT). She would sit in the middle of the living room floor, trembling, and waiting for the light to come back. She still tries to chase any kind of reflection of light that might pass through the house to this day in the vague hopes that the light will come back.
That’s the other thing about JRTs…they have a great memory. While my parents were replacing their linoleum a few years ago, a favorite ball got dropped down a vent and never retrieved. To this day (at least 5 years later) she still periodically goes to the vent and whines a little.
Sorry that got so long!
posted by Fruppi on 2-21-2008 at 3:59 pm
I saw a news clip a few years back about a doggy spa complete with treadmills for your pudgy pooch.
posted by Megan on 2-21-2008 at 4:05 pm
When I lived in Winston-Salem, NC, I worked 60+ hours a week and drove my pup 45 minutes (each way) into the country for doggie day care three times a week. The cost was only $18/day but the gas and mileage did add up. The advantage: he was exhausted the other 2 work days a week, slept all day at home with no separation anxiety and complete lack of rug and furniture destruction.
Doggie Day Care was my savior! And I didn’t feel guilty that he was at home lonely - instead he was outside romping with other dogs.
posted by Mary on 2-21-2008 at 9:01 pm
Wow. I agree with taking proper care of your pets. Food, warmth, exercise, love and attention.
But this is excessive.
posted by Katie on 2-21-2008 at 11:30 pm
Hey, bas…
click my name and you’ll see at least one place NC has to offer your pitbull pals.
posted by anonymous on 2-21-2008 at 11:58 pm
a clarification for bas, anyone else -
I am NOT in any way affiliated w/ the above site, just seemed to fit both the original entry and bas’s comment
posted by anonymous on 2-22-2008 at 12:02 am
I confess. I spend $20 a day two days a week to send my dog to daycare. On special days, for $10 more, she gets to go swimming in their covered, heated, salt water pool. She loves it. She knows which days she goes and starts nosing me first thing in the morning. And I get to enjoy it too because I see how happy she is when I watch the webcam.
Am I a sucker? Probably. But how can you say no to that face??
posted by cd on 2-22-2008 at 12:30 am
I really liked when you name dropped Wishbone.
posted by meta on 2-22-2008 at 6:51 am
We do have doggie day cares in my area but I have not availed my pet of their services. However, my niece will be opening one within the next 6 months. She has asked me to create custom dog wear (I make coats for all the extended family pets). It seems that many people are willing to part with $$ for their pets so she should do well and my Haute Dog couture may be a great side business for me!
posted by JaneM on 2-22-2008 at 6:54 am
Hello Scott-
Thanks for mentioning Dogtopia! We opened over 5 and 1/2 years ago and people are still amazed sometimes that we exist! (nice shout-out to the Bud Light commercial as well - Mr. Doggie Day Spa Operator had me laughing out loud in my car the first time I heard it!)
Labrador Retrievers and Jack Russells keep us in business - we love Sinatra - she keeps everyone in the “Toy Box” on their toes!
Cheers!
Amy
PS We are coming to Raleigh, Cary, Charlotte, and Greensboro, NC!
posted by Amy on 2-22-2008 at 7:47 am
My one worry would be that my dog would like it more at one of those spas than at home!
posted by Brittany on 2-22-2008 at 8:30 am
Homeless veterans freeze to death while dogs eat New York Strip, film at eleven.
posted by Ira on 2-22-2008 at 8:52 am
I recently booked the dog hotel for my hound (75lbs with the energy level of a JRT and I live in an apartment) for when I plan to be gone in April. It took 45 mins to go through all the options with the receptionist and is only a little cheaper than my own hotel room. The last time I left him in a bare bones boarding kennel for $15 a night, and he seemed so sad about it I couldn’t do it to him again. This way he gets to play with the other dogs in doggy day care during the day, but at this rate I am going to have to increace my travel budget a lot.
posted by Sara on 2-22-2008 at 9:29 am
speaking of human hotels that accomodate pet lovers…
the Hotel Monaco has 5 different locations across the country, and they readily welcome pets; dogs and cats. they even have special room service, day care, and walking options for your pets. and the best part: if you don’t have a pet, but you would like one in your room, the hotel will give you a goldfish to take care of while you’re there.
posted by Erin on 2-22-2008 at 10:04 am
Maybe it’s just luck, but my JRT isn’t a terror and is never destructive - no matter how long I’m out. Not to say the spas aren’t great, but I’ve found it’s better to find a pet sitter to come to the house than put the dog in any spa or day care. She just is more at ease and gets to stay in her/my bed.
posted by Kate on 2-22-2008 at 10:11 am
It’s called Yankee (the retreat in Boston) because it’s a catch-all term for those in New England, or, if you like, those in the Northeast. Do some research.
posted by Trent on 2-22-2008 at 12:06 pm
Thank you, Trent. I didn’t skip U.S. History class in high school. Apparently the tongue-in-cheek nature of my blurb about the Yankee Dog Retreat wasn’t clear enough.
posted by Scott on 2-22-2008 at 12:15 pm
Aha, Amy does not deny that Sinatra cobbles shoes at Dogtopia. Your sister was right!
posted by sinatradad on 2-22-2008 at 12:17 pm
Waaaaaay uncalled for, Trent. So not cool.
posted by Jessica on 2-22-2008 at 1:15 pm
I worked at one of these places part time since I love dogs and thought it would be a fun job….wrong. I would never send my dog to a daycare. The filth, the over aggresive dogs, and not to mention the favoritism with some dogs and the complete lack of attention others received was enough to drive me crazy. 20 bucks a day no way. A good business to own though.
posted by noway on 2-22-2008 at 2:22 pm
Interesting post, but this all strikes me as sort of unconscionable. It’s fitting with the sickening excesses American culture deems necessary, but it really just makes me sad.
I realize that each person can do what they want with their own money, but maybe they should use that money to get outside the U.S. (and I don’t mean to western Europe) and get a sense of how out-of-whack their priorities are.
posted by kate on 2-22-2008 at 3:15 pm
Amy,
I agree. Our priorities in this country (and the rest of the industrialized world) are completely skewed.
More money is spent researching new types of mascara than on AIDS and cancer research combined - a LOT more money. Factor into that anti-aging cremes and treatments and you have a sum larger than the GNP of half of Africa.
But I’ve been saying this for 40 years and nobody listens…
I do not currently have a dog, but when I did a special day for her involved two walks and a chance at the leftovers. She seemed perfectly happy with that.
And pet psychologists? Don’t get me started on that…
posted by Doc on 2-22-2008 at 4:19 pm
I’ve worked part-time at a Doggy Day-Care facility in NJ for several months. I think it’s great, for those who can afford it, and who work long hours. At least their dogs get a chance to play with other dogs during the day, rather than sit home alone, holding their bladders and waiting for Master to come home. But it is, in a sense, like the people I know who go to foreign countries to adopt children, then leave them in day care all day while both parents go to make six-figure salaries in demanding jobs. My question is, if you wanted the dog/kid that much, you really ought to think about their needs first. Otherwise, maybe you shouldn’t have adopted them to begin with. Dogs, like kids, need social interaction in order to thrive.
posted by Will on 2-23-2008 at 2:07 pm
There is a place in Indianapolis right across from the airport (great name and location). They offer both day and overnight care. My sister will drop off her 2 chocolate labs when they go on vacation and can’t take them with. Its alot better than just taking them to the vet to boarded because this way they get interaction all day.
One of her labs is like a JRT - and is OCD about his Kong. When you pick him up after a stay he smells really bad but often he will fall asleep in the car on the way home and its only a 15 minute drive.
posted by Beth on 2-23-2008 at 6:52 pm