The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
New dog daycare opens in the city
Looking for a place to watch your four-legged friend while you work or enjoy time to yourself? Look no further than The Bark Club located at 33549 Liberty Parkway in North Ridgeville.
The exclusive doggy daycare, opened earlier this year, serves about 15 to 20 dogs a day and is continuously growing, according to owner Chuck Stella.
“We are usually pretty busy,” he said. “For a brand new company, we are doing really good.”
The facility was opened after Stella realized there was a need for a dog daycare in the city limits.
It was founded on the idea of integrated training and structure to keep dogs happy and healthy. Bark Club focuses on a dog’s socialization, confidence building, and obedience needs.
“We saw a need for more socialization. When we do socialization at our other facility, it’s generally a one-on-one or two-on-one scenario, and I wanted to create a larger scenario where 20 to 40 dogs could socialize and play together,” Stella said. “I saw a need for that in North Ridgeville, being the only daycare around.”
The cage-free environment is more than just letting dogs run wild, It has created structured exercise and socialization activities to lessen canine’s stress and improve their behavior.
“We do a little more structure than other places,” he said. “We like to have them go through agility equipment, stimulate
each other socially – not through aggression or rough play, but through engagement with things like the obstacle course and the A-frame.”
Socialization activities include tug, treadmill, fetch, flirt pole and confidence by walking on, over and under things.
A well-trained dog needs focus, structure, and plenty of exercise, he said, adding the goal is to provide training that continues at home.
Stella said he and his wife have a Elite K911 dog training, and have been doing it for over 10 years.
Not all canines are built for daycare and before a
dog enters the club they have to go through Stella’s balance dog evaluation.
“Any breed of dog is absolutely fine to be a part of the club, but they do have to pass an assessment,” Stella said. “The first thing they will do is meet Venus (balance dog). We will see their body language based on how they meet Venus.
“The second thing we do is introduce them to a larger pack of dogs and see what their body language and behavior is like with that.”
If dogs are found to be social, they are brought into the club, but if a dog is semi-social, Stella and his team will do some behavioral work with the dog.
Once admitted into the club, dogs are separated by size and age.
There are seven people on the staff and each employee is trained in dog body language, CPR, and pet first aid.
Stella said he enjoys being around the dogs and training them.
“Socialization is really important to dogs,” he said. “When people bring their dogs here they are receiving mental stimulation as well as physical stimulation. This something we really love to do.”