SIOUX FALLS (AP) – When Jeanine Hoff Lubben opened Paws Pet Resort on Valentine's Day last year, she thought 10 VIP dog boarding suites would be sufficient. She assumed only a few dog owners would be willing to shell out $54 per day for a room equipped with a treat dispenser, TV, pet camera and chandelier.
"I knew that they would be great rooms for a niche of people," Hoff Lubben said. "I didn't know how people would feel about spending that extra money and just that level of pampering for your dog."
Now she wishes she had built twice as many.
The VIP suites have become the most-requested item at Paws Pet Resort in southeast Sioux Falls, with owners booking a suite months in advance. And that situation is not unique.
In the past few years, luxury pet amenities have exploded in the region, with everything from structured doggy day care to doggy spas to an indoor water park for dogs, the Argus Leader reported.
More than just a kennel
While there have long been facilities available in Sioux Falls for owners looking to house their dogs for a few hours or a few days, it is only in recent years that they have become more than just kennels.
"People have really changed their expectations of what their dog should have during the day," Hoff Lubben said. "Dogs are like our family and they're like our kids, so people ... want a place where they can take them to day care, (where) they can socialize and not just be out running, but really improving that dog's life."
It's not uncommon for dog owners in larger cities to seek out higher-quality pet amenities, especially when it comes to day care. In Sioux Falls, that change has ramped up in the past two or three years.
"People wanted structured day care with a bigger purpose in mind for it," Hoff Lubben said, adding that she researched what facilities in coastal cities were doing before opening her own. "That was a really good predictor of what I felt Sioux Falls was going to be wanting eventually."
At Paws Pet Resort, the format looks similar to day care for kids, with play time, nap time and what Hoff Lubben calls "enrichment activities" all on the menu.
"We work on basic training tips, we take them on outdoor nature walks, we get them in the pool and get them swimming," she said. "So, it's not just a big free-for-all. It's really purposed day care."
Victoria Schroeder and two of her sisters opened Dog Days Hotel and Day Camp in Sioux Falls in 2013. They began by offering standard kennels, but later added semi-private kennels and larger suites after expanding their building to 20,000 square feet. Like Paws, Dog Days' suites have become their most popular choice for canine guests.
"Every weekend in the summer, our suites were full," Schroeder said. She believes the suites, with their raised cushioned beds and large windows, appeal to owners' desire to give their pets the best they can offer.
"People feel bad putting their dogs in a kennel," she said. "(A suite is) not really a kennel environment ... it feels more like home."
Part of the family
One of the most common themes with these facilities is rapid growth. Paws Pet Resort is constructing an 11,000-square-foot building that will allow it to expand the amount of spots available for day care. Hoff Lubben said the addition was needed almost immediately.
"We were at capacity probably within six months (of opening)," she said. "We just realized pretty quickly that there was a lot more demand that we were just having to turn away because we didn't have the space."
The new building, adjacent to Paws' existing facility, will also house an indoor pool for dogs that will allow for swimming and dock-diving competitions year round.
Teri Jo Olean opened Smoken Dakota Kennels in Sioux Falls in 2007 with just five rooms, which quickly expanded to 26. Ten years later, she opened the 71-room Resort by SDK, a high-end facility for both day care and short-term stays. Furry visitors can take advantage of amenities like freshly baked biscuits, heated floors and bedtime stories.
"It looks like a human day care," Olean said, adding that for many customers, "dogs are really part of the family."
Smoken Dakota recently added a new level of pampering to its collection — a spa experience that includes exfoliating mud baths. Next year, a certified canine massage therapist will be available on site to provide therapeutic and relaxation options for dogs, Olean said.
Amanda Larson has taken her two beagles, Charlotte and Ralphie, to The Resort by SDK for daily day care since they were three months old. She also utilizes the resort's grooming and boarding services, and says she wouldn't go anywhere else.
"My dogs are like my kids," Larson said. "If you took your kids to a day care where they weren't learning or growing, you wouldn't take them anymore."
Larson began taking her dogs to the facility after having a bad experience at another local kennel, where she says they were left in a cage all day. She says it is worth the cost to ensure her dogs are happy and thriving.
"I know when I'm at work, they're being loved and taken care of," Larson said. "I would pay any amount of money to know that."
Future in focus
In 2020, Smoken Dakota is opening a new concept — an indoor splash park specifically for dogs. The idea came to Olean when she was at a human water park and thought it would be fun for dogs, too.
"There's not a specific place in Sioux Falls that was built for dogs," she said. "There's nothing like (this splash park) in the United States."
The park will feature a palm tree sprinkler and a tiki bar that offers beverages for both dogs and their humans, Olean said. She hopes to open the one-of-a-kind facility by Christmas.
Kennel owners are not the only ones getting in on the animal amenity boom. In September, Sioux Falls city councilors approved a city partnership with residents Joe and Jennifer Kirby to build a new dog park downtown. When it is completed in late 2020, the park will be the third dog park in Sioux Falls.
"Some things about living downtown are a little more challenging because of the urban environment, and dog ownership had been one of them," Downtown Sioux Falls president Joe Batcheller told the Argus Leader in May. "But this just makes it so much easier to do that and to have a place where dogs can go to socialize."
At Paws Pet Resort, Jeanine Hoff Lubben says she has not ruled out the possibility of further expansion.
"There are a lot of people asking for not just a bigger space here, but more locations in Sioux Falls," she said. "So, I think that's really neat and promising that people are actively asking for that."
As for what the future could bring, Hoff Lubben expects that owners' yearning to understand, care for and maybe even spoil their dogs will continue to increase.
"People want to know more about their dogs than they ever have," she said. "They want to understand why their dogs are doing these things. They want to know how they can help their dog."
