Someone Finally Did It!

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

DH and I are always saying that with all of these big ole empty building sitting around because of the bad economy, it seems like someone would think about opening an Indoor Dog Park!  The winter months here are terrible for getting exercise when the weather is so terrible.  When the girls were puppies I struggled to find ways to get rid of all that energy!  Well, just this week I saw an article where someone in Cincinnati has taken the plunge and it is even on my side of town.  Costs $5 per visit and is just a big indoor play area where you go and play with your dog.  They also daycare etc!  Look forward to checking it out once the weather gets sloppy and unbearably cold!

[shelly]

WOW! I keep saying someone should do that here! We brought tori to an agility class that was in a factory - they rented space out there. They only used baby gates to surround the 'arena' - that didn't hold tori in... it was also summer and they had a baby gate across a large garage door... It was off a pretty major street too... I don't know who was more freaked out about the whole thing, Tori, me or my 12 year old son! I bet this place does REALLY well! Enjoy!!! I'm so jealous!

[Anna and Achilles]

Lucky you! lucky girls.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Since I live in Southern California, land of outdoor swimming pools and dog parks, I have a question. When you have an indoor park, do the dogs poo and pee there? If so how is it cleaned up? I am sure our outdoor parks are quite unsanitary, but that is what I am used to.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Since this is the first indoor dog park type place I've seen, I'm not sure. That is one of the things that I will be looking at when I go check it out, but I'm guessing it will be something similar to any of the play areas in any of the doggie daycare places that are in the area.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

What do the day cares do? This would also be the land of outdoor day care!

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I've only ever been to one daycare place and that was just for a Doodle Romp as we don't do boarding or daycare. They had some sort of special flooring. They initially cleaned up with buckets and some sort of liquid spray and then after everyone was gone I think they were able to just hose everything down. But I honestly don't know.

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

There are many synthetic floors and even grass that were designed specifically for these kinds of situations....They are easy to clean and are more sanitary than any soil or fill used at any outdoor dog park ........They are pricey though to install and maintain and require special cleaners that in themselves are expensive and filtration systems beneath the actual surface that also need to be maintained and cleaned......

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I want these special floors and cleaners for my real life! LOL

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

I'm jealous too Sher!....Adrianne and I were seriously researching a way to do somthing similar here in New Jersey.....It would be a fantastic biz to get into.....Big overhead though and alot of liability.....Heating and air-conditioning of such a large space is one of the biggest expenses.....How to manage your customers and their dogs in regards to vacs and health risks which are quite different in an indoor setting as opposed to an outdoor park and indoor behavior as opposed to outdoor behavior, injury etc. are the potential liabilities....

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

That's great. And the price is phenomenal! it costs me $10 to go to the big forest preserve dog park, and that's outdoors...there's no overhead like electric, heat, etc.

[F, Calla & Luca]

But there is trail maintenance, tree cutting etc. Still that's a hefty entrance fee.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm not in that county. Residents only pay $5. But the property taxes also take care of the forest preserve district's maintenance.