A Place for your Pup

The quarantine days of 2020 brought many challenges, but one bright spot was the rise of the “pandemic puppy” phenomenon. People around the world adopted dogs after finding themselves working from home.

Now, five years later, many companies that once allowed employees to work from home are ordering them to return to work in-person. So what do people do with their pandemic puppies?

Many consider enrolling their pets into so-called doggy day cares, facilities aimed at caring for and engaging dogs in socialization activities on a daily basis while their owners are free to work throughout the day. The dog-care industry has been around for several decades and, despite a period of uncertainty during peak COVID months, is now back in full swing and seeing an increase in clients as a result of fewer work-from-home employment opportunities.

Blue Collar Doghouse

This established business in Edmonds has more than 10,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space next to the Edmonds Marsh. “While it’s important to understand that not all dogs are ideal candidates for day care, you can be sure we will do what we can to find the best fit for your furry family member,” say owners Wade and Jessica Anderson.

It has five groomers on staff. Pricing varies, from $41.50 for up to five hours and $51.50 for five to 11 hours. It also offers behavioral assessments, nail trims, the Bordetella vaccine for kennel cough, and anal gland expression.

Camp Canine

At this Mukilteo location, dogs have a 16,000-square-foot space – with five yards – where they can run, walk, or just sit around. Puppies? There’s a Puppy Preschool for the little ones (or biggish young pups) between the ages of 12 and 36 weeks.

Camp Canine is not a place where you just drop off your dog,” said general manager Brenda Pedroza. “We take the time to give individual attention, create play groups based on your pet’s preference of friends, create a strong family dynamic and practice some of the best cleaning protocols in the industry.” 

Camp Canine is $43 for a half day, $53 for a full day.

Camp Happy Paws

Becky Buchanan, owner of the Bothell location, has been in the dog-care industry since the early 1990s when she was a dog walker in Seattle. She bought the property shortly thereafter. She initially focused on dog boarding, but also offered day-care services, and has since leaned into the day-care side of her business even more since the pandemic.

“People stopped traveling as COVID kicked off, so boarding changed and we actually closed for a couple months,” she said. “But after that, we started to offer day-care services to the essential workers, nurses, really anyone that needed us.” Since then, their services have gained in popularity. They have a waiting list.

The typical day for dogs at Camp Happy Paws involves canine clients exploring the camp’s 5 acres.

“Camp Happy Paws is in the woods. We have open grassy fields, trails that are wooded, fallen logs, playgrounds built out of wood,” said Buchanan. “We might blow bubbles or have sprinklers. We have acres of trails, fields to play in and they just play, romp, wrestle. It’s an outdoor nature camp for dogs.”

Camp Happy Paws is $40 a day.

A solution for working couples

Doggy day care has been a great solution for full-time government employees Isabella and Sam Montalvo, Bothell residents and parents to Sadie, a 3-year-old chow chow-miniature pinscher mix, and Molly, a 2-year-old Australian shepherd.

“We teleworked when we first got Sadie. Sam was at home and I would go to work about once a week,” said Isabella Montalvo quoted for this article. Over the past few years, they had to increase their time in the office, and as of March both are back to working full-time in-person.

“It was first a little scary, because we love our dogs, and their routine is our number one priority – especially having an Aussie,” said Montalvo, who also mentioned that they moved from an apartment to a home with acreage in Snohomish to accommodate their dogs’ needs.

After considering other dog-care options, such as hiring a dog walker through Rover (a website specializing in dog walkers), the Montalvos decided on Camp Happy Paws for Sadie and Molly. “We have been going to camp for almost two years, and I want to say how much we love it. Our dog Molly was rehomed, so when I was considering taking her into our household, the first person beside my partner and my parents to encourage me was Becky.”

Sadie and Molly have different personalities – Sadie is low energy and people-oriented, while Molly is described as a “wild child” with lots of herding-dog energy. Both find success at Camp Happy Paws, which they attend four days a week. “I think a lot of folks are considering what to do with their COVID dog,” Montalvo said. “We tell all our co-workers about camp and share photos. It’s definitely given us a lot of peace of mind. We love camp.”

Montalvo also mentioned that not only do the dogs get a chance for exercise and socialization, but they are also supported in their training goals. It’s like a child-care team. We all need to be on the same page, with the same standards,” she said. She described a time when Camp staff struggled with Molly’s recall. But not for long. “Now her recall is impeccable.”

Some folks have been fans of Camp Happy Paws a long time. Leslie Dale, a Bothell resident, first learned about it 25 years ago when searching for somewhere to take care of her black lab, Maggie. “Back then, it was like, ‘Oh my gosh this is the coolest thing!’” she said, noting that doggy day care was a fairly new concept in those days, and it seemed to be a perfect fit for her family. “I was a young mom. I had a brand new baby and toddler and an older child, and that originally drew me.”

Now, Dale works full-time in sales and has a chocolate lab named Bruin, a dog with lots of energy. When thinking about what to do with Bruin during the work day, she immediately thought of Camp Happy Paws. “I knew it was a great place and had a puppy that would be a great fit. But it had changed; it had evolved into something bigger and better. It is just a great thing for dogs. I never looked at another day care.”

A constant is its sign. “It reminds me of when you’re sending your kid to camp. Driving across the threshold, it says ‘Camp Happy Paws,’” Dale said. “The first time I went back 25 years later, there was that big wood sign. I saw the little wood house that’s the office, and it all kind of came rushing back.”

Now Bruin attends camp three days a week, though she is currently attending daily while Leslie recovers from surgery to repair a foot injury, ironically caused by walking Bruin. “She is so young she needs to be run every day, and I can’t walk. I couldn’t even drive her,” Dale said. She spoke with Buchanan, and they came up with an arrangement where Dale’s son can drop Bruin at camp and one of the workers can drop her back off at home.

“It has been a huge blessing. It would be a nightmare if I didn’t have that. It’s a godsend, really. You know that saying, ‘It takes a village,’ and it really does. Bruin has been going there since she was so young, and she knows them so well – they are her second family. I’m really, really grateful.”