For the love of dogs, and people

When Chaddie Platt says she’s been “absolutely crazy about dogs my entire life,” she means it. When she was young, her answer to “what I want to be when I grow up” was: “I want to have a dog farm with two of every kind of dog.”

After careers in banking, environmental conservation, human resources and fundraising, Platt’s childhood dream took shape in 2005.

That’s when she opened Dog Party USA, an off-leash daycare and boarding facility on five acres in Northwest Arkansas, featuring outdoor and climatecontrolled indoor play areas. The business also offers professional training. Platt is also a certified Pet Tech First Aid Instructor.

All this, she says, is part of the mission is “to provide a place for dogs to have fun while their owners are away or at work in a safe, secure, and sanitary environment.”

Platt feels lucky to be able to fulfill her dream while also working with her family. She started the business with her mother Priscilla. Her brother, Ron is now her partner and her nephews Matthew and Tristan are managers. “We have always been fortunate to enjoy each other’s company as well as to respect each other’s abilities,” she said.

She also has a staff of 32 dedicated and trained individuals who share her passion for dogs and their well being.

While Platt’s love of dogs keeps her business going, her love of community keeps her active in many other capacities.

You might say community service runs in Platt’s family. Her grandfather, Roy Kumpe, founded World Services for the Blind in 1943, a vocation school in Little Rock for adults who became blind later in life. The school has changed the lives of vision-impaired people from all over the world. Platt now serves on the board, and says she’s looking forward to increasing the school’s presence in Northwest Arkansas.

Platt has also been a member of the Rotary Club of Fayetteville for over 25 years and has a long history with nonprofit organizations including World Wildlife Fund, US Peace Corps, National

Public Radio, Humane Society, Spay Arkansas, Animal League of Washington County, For Pets Sake and several other area rescue organizations.

This dynamic woman has also been the lead singer for the high-energy dance party band Ultra Suede for 28 years. In addition to playing George’s Happy Hour on Dickson Street a few times a year, the band has played “almost every kind of fundraiser in the area.”

But perhaps Platt’s most rewarding work combines her love of people and four-legged friends, because dogs, as she puts it, “offer their love based on how you treat them and they don’t care who you are, what you look like, what your position in life is. It is an honest relationship of the highest order.”

Platt’s canine community service began several years ago with her dog Timmy, a border collie/collie mix.

“He had a wonderful temperament, especially with children,” she notes.

“We would visit some of the Head Start locations where 20 three-year-olds would be climbing all over him and he loved it!”

Her standard poodle CeCe is a certified therapy dog, and they visit Arkansas Children’s Hospital together.

“We visit the children while they are having their infusions and often do a bedside visit (or even on the bed) with children who are staying there for treatment,” she says. “We both absolutely love getting to know the children and their families.”

Platt and CeCe also visit nursing homes, schools and the U of A campus.

She also volunteers with Circle of Life’s Pet Peace of Mind Program, helping to rehome dogs that have lost their owners in hospice.

And she has recently started working with Peace at Home, to help pets that have been endangered by domestic abuse.

Without her love of dogs, Platt would not be where she is today, running a stateof-the-art doggie daycare, fostering dogs and connecting them with people to love. She believes in the positive power of furry friends, and it’s something she’s grateful for every day.

“Their infinite capacity for joy makes me stop and appreciate being in the moment,” she says. “They are like people to me, with such individual personalities, wants and needs.”