04/12/2025
Morning Novel 📚
"Your dog goes there?"
"My dog could never."
"You trust them with that many dogs?"
"I just don't see how they do it."
Many dog owners are understandably hesitant 😬 about sending their pets to a kennel. We get it. We've heard the horror stories 😱 and we've welcomed dogs into our care after poor experiences at other facilities. Unfortunately, the rise in amateur pet care has fueled widespread 🌏 distrust in kennels, and rightfully so. Being a somewhat unregulated industry, Missouri has traveled a dark path into substandard pet care. 😔
At Bark House, we go beyond amateur care 📈. We are not a hobby kennel 🙅♀️🙅♂️. We are a professionally operated, certified facility backed by industry-leading standards 🏆. Does our kennel look like a standard state of the art facility? No 😅. It's the old Hwy M Chapel ⛪ and we operate the kennel from the basement 🦇. If you're the type of owner to care more about first impressions 🔍 and the looks of a kennel versus the overall care and safety of your dog, Bark House is not for you 👎. Here, the dogs come first 🩷. Dogs don't care about a shiny kennel, they care about being able to express their natural behaviors and fulfill enrichment needs 🥎🌳.
Our team undergoes extensive training and continued education 🎓. In fact, we are one of only eight kennels in the entire state of Missouri listed in the prestigious IBPSA directory 🤯, a distinction that reflects our commitment to quality care, safety, and ethics in pet boarding and daycare 🐾. We're the only kennel in Sedalia certified to manage off-leash group play. How do we know? 🤔 Because we're members of all but one of the leading organizations in this industry and are listed publicly in those databases 🌐. Bark House, aside from one local veterinary hospital, is the only kennel in Sedalia listed amongst various industry leading organizations. That's how unregulated this industry is 😩, which is why we focus on international ethics and welfare when it comes to animals. 🐕
Our intake process is intentional and structured ☝️. Every dog undergoes a thorough behavior evaluation before joining group play. Dogs are professionally assessed and assigned a color-coded designation; green 💚, yellow 💛, or red ♥️ based around various factors such as age, breed, past experiences, etc. This system ensures safe, appropriate playgroups and reduces the risk of incidents.
We are also small-dog 🤏 friendly. Dogs under 30 lbs who are not a good match for larger companions are placed in their own specialized group, complete with a separate yard 🌳 and amenities tailored to small breeds. For the record, our large dogs are not a threat to your little ones (if anything it's the other way around 🤣). We are only "allowed" 2 major dog bites per year 🙂 Therefore, we would not be able to operate the way we do without having successful and compatible off-leash play groups. The dogs have all passed behavior evaluations or are grouped accordingly. One amazing thing about Bark House is that we rarely lose clients once we gain them 🥰. We often see 250+ dogs weekly and the majority of those regulars have been visiting BH various times per week for 2+ years. 🗓️
Here's the difference: we are trained and certified to manage groups based on behavior, breed tendencies, and energy levels ⚡. We've noticed too many other facilities and individuals mimic our model without the proper training, educational resources, or understanding of canine behavior 🥴. That’s where problems happen. When staff can't recognize 🧐 the early signs of tension or stress or aren't versed in breed characteristics, incidents are inevitable. Granted 🫴, disagreements happen even under the most professional care and trained dogs, so don't think they won't 🤌. That's why seeking a trained professional is dire in this industry. It's not an IF situation with live animals, it's a WHEN. However, the education, experience, and ability to apply the knowledge and training is the difference in frequency and severity amongst kennels. We don’t just supervise dogs. We assess them 🧠📝. We understand breed tendencies. We read body language. We know how to intervene before a problem escalates.
We make it look fun 🎉 and easy. Do not try to copy our group play model without the behavioral knowledge or understanding to back it up. That’s when dogs get hurt. 🫣
At Bark House, your dog isn’t just boarded—they’re understood, respected, evaluated, and cared for by professionals. 🐕🏡
Bark House Bed & Biscuit
[email protected]
Barkhousebb.com
660.596.3903
(Pictured below is newcomer Zesty busting out the door and running with the group)
Bark House Bed & Biscuit offers dog boarding, dog daycare, cat boarding, & grooming in Sedalia MO.
