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Our Story
Our Best Friends Deserve The Best
Our story begins where you are right now:
searching for a dog daycare near Westerville Ohio.
We tried several different daycares for our pups, but none of them were a great fit.
At some daycares, our four-legged friend was kenneled most of the day, so he came home FULL of energy.
But with the "free play" doggy daycares, he came home dirty and absolutely exhausted - and sometimes with scrapes and bruises too...
Who has time to come home after a long day with their own feet barking and give their dog a bath, or exercise them, or worry they got into a scuffle?
In a human daycare, kids spend their day learning and doing activities. The focus is on education and growth. They get to play too, of course - but not all day!
There had to be a better way.
A New Standard of Dog Daycare
After some research, we discovered the Enrichment philosophy. We weren't the first to have this idea - in fact, canine experts across the US have been saying that all-day play might not be the best thing for our pups for a while now.
This new dog care model focuses on quality off-leash playtime, smaller groups, enriching activities, and basic training instead of just stuffing them into a kennel or letting them run wild chasing tails.
The result: your friend comes home happy-tired instead of exhausted - and you get to rest easy after work or travel knowing your best furry friend is clean, healthy, happy - and maybe even a little bit smarter too!
So, we got our certifications and started running a small dog daycare 2.0 out of our home during the pandemic. Demand quickly grew, and in 2022 we quit our day jobs and opened our first flagship luxury dog daycare in Westerville Ohio :
Sterling K-9 Retreat!
How are we the new standard:
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Bring Healthcare to the K9 Industry.
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Bringing a better choice in dog care
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Creating a social outlet to help Properly Socialize our Fur'babys
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Give compensation that represents the skills needed for our team's craft.
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Giving the community something that could only be found outside Ohio until now.
How did you get into dogs?
Auntie Jae
My younger brother and I are so close. Since we were kids, our biggest joy is to watch the AKC dog shows with him.
Watching the show and seeing how each judge rates the dogs and handlers is always exciting. As we got older, our passion for dogs grew.
Seeing this K9 world lacking diversity made me think I could never fit in. I aim to become the first dog show judge of color to show today's children this diverse passion we all share. I would love to bring my knowledge of k9 nutrition and Enrichment care to judge the whole dog, not just the dog and handler.
I have been hungry for dog knowledge for as long as I can remember. To prepare for opening a Dog facility one day, I have acquired any certification I could while running a daycare and boarding out of my home.
Reilly was a catalyst for many dreams coming to the reality of opening the facility as you see it today. I am proud to be able to not say "Maybe next year?" anymore and be here with a great team. This has always been my dream, but I never knew how blessed I would be to share my dream with such great, supportive, and caring parents like you.
Thank you!
Uncle Reilly
Dogs gave me my trajectory in life. When I was in Grade school, I was in the Learning Disabled and in the LD room. Being way behind in school, the school district brought in reading dogs for the kids on Fridays. These dogs were trained to lay their head on the kid's lab when they began to read. Not only does this get the kids excited about reading, but the kids tend to practice for their fur-friends to be better the next time they come
This took kids that were way behind and allowed them to get ahead. I would not have graduated from my undergrad, attended CMU for my master's, or had Sterling K9 Retreat to call my home. Once I finished my undergrad, I taught my own pup how to be a reading dog and went into the schools as a substitute teacher to give back to those like little me as I attended Barber school.
When the pandemic hit, taking away barbering and substitute teaching, I began to groom dogs out of my home. I met Janika on a child-free site, instantly becoming friends, both having golden doodles. With her doing dog care out of her home and me grooming out of mine, we designed a plan to put them together as the regulation was lifted, coming vac to normal.
Sterling is getting bigger every month, but my goal is to build back better as we grow this sterling dream.