Pet ranch tells tale of happy tails in Katy area
Everybody is greeted at Waggin’ Tails Pet Ranch by Wyatt Earp, a yellow Labrador retriever, one of four dogs owned by Denise Einkauf and her husband, Derek.
Denise is the owner of Waggin’ Trails Pet Ranch. Wyatt, who is 11 years old oversaw the construction of the original building and is now overseeing the construction of a new addition. “The construction workers love to feed him, so he hangs out with them,” says Einkauf. “He is our ambassador and our greeter. He is a therapy dog that I take every week to the Ballard House.”
Ballard House is a Cinco Charities facility that provides lodging for Katy hospital patients with life-threatening illnesses. Waggin’ Tails offers free board for pets belonging to Ballard House guests and each week brings therapy dogs for visits.
Waggin’ Tails Pet Ranch, 7631 Katy Fulshear Road, opened 10 years ago. The 6,000-square-foot addition will give the ranch close to a 13,000-square-foot facility.
Waggin’ Tails Pet Ranch was honored in February as the 2015 Business of the Year by the Katy Area Chamber of Commerce.
Einkauf has always loved being around dogs. She is a graduate of Texas A&M University with degrees in biomedical science and animal science. She worked for veterinarians while in high school and college. After graduation from A&M she taught science for five years at Katy High School.
“In the summers I would still work for some of the vet clinics in the area to keep my
skills up,” says Einkauf. Her dream was to have a boarding place where dogs could play. She found an investor who believed in her dream and loaned money to start Waggin’ Tails Pet Ranch. In two years the money was paid back.
“Acreage is important for us,” continues Einkauf, “because our business concept is that our place is where pets come to play, an outdoor dog park, a dude ranch for dogs. You don’t feel guilty dropping off the dogs while you go on vacation.”
“The dogs are awesome that I work with, and it’s fun to interact with the people who work here,” says one of the supervisors, Laurel Casillas.
Without the new addition, Waggin’ Trails Pet Ranch has 12 fenced-in play yards, two of them a half acre in size.
“We can have 10-12 dogs romping and running and playing at the same time. It lets everybody play with enough space,” adds Casillas.
There is a cement, inthe-ground dog-boneshaped swimming pool for the four-legged guests.
“Some dogs are heat intolerant and don’t want to be outside for too long a time. We will adjust our schedule when we need to,” says Einkauf.
The ranch has 90 airconditioned and heated enclosed runs in the bunkhouse. The kennels along the runs are 8x4 feet.
Twenty of the kennels are private luxury suites. The suites have doors and little cots or beds. They have small flat screen TVs on the wall, all tuned to “Animal Planet.” There are rugs on the floor, bedding on the bed or cot, and fans.
“A lot of people like that because they leave their TV on at home for their dogs for the noise,” explains Einkauf.
“We use them a lot for dogs that are very nervous around other dogs. If dogs react to thunderstorms, a lot of times we will move them into one of the luxury suites.”
Waggin’ Tails can accommodate dogs for people going on vacation, or they can be dropped off for just a day at Doggy Day Camp.
“We have an average of 40-60 day campers a day,” adds Einkauf. “They are dropped off in the morning and picked up in the evening. We have an average of 12-16 dog groomings a days. It’s not unusual to have a 100-150 dogs coming and going.”
The expansion will add 40 more runs, but mainly it will be a day camp area.
“Our day camp has expanded so much that we have outgrown our space in the present building. Another feature of the new addition is a large pavilion area, over 2,000 square feet of shaded space with fans and misters. “It will be like a porch facility. We can do our training classes inside or outside.”
Construction is supposed to be completed by the end of May and reservations are being accepted for Memorial Day. The estimated final cost of the addition is about $600,000.
“It’s a lot of dogs,” says John Wood, kennel manager. “It’s a large facility with big pens, water for them to play in, and they just have a great time.”
Waggin’ Tails Pet Ranch takes care of cats in The Cat House, a spacious room built just to keep its guests happy.
“We even board birds, pot-bellied pigs and other animals. Call us and let us know what you have and let’s talk about what we can do,” says Einkauf.
Waggin’ Tails Pet Ranch takes an active role in the community, too.
Waggin’ Tails supports Citizens for Animal Protection, donating all profits from its annual Hoe Down to CAP and boards, trains and grooms any CAP dogs that need a little extra help.
Events sponsored by Waggin’ Tails include the Bark for Life Cancer Walk and the Katy Visual and Performing Arts Center’s Arts for All Festival.
They partner with both Lamar Consolidated and Katy independent Schools districts to sponsor student activities and donated more than 50 gift baskets to support school and charity auctions last year. Tom Behrens is a freelance writer