Care Built for Dogs - Demand Better Daycare & Boarding

23/12/2022

23/12/2022

page name change from “stand with beyond” (because y’all can sit down now). this page will continue to educate and update on town cases and kenneling laws as well as elevating the standard of care across the boarding industry.

28/09/2022

Y’all are so smart that puppy mill inspections don’t mean s**t but you hold boarding inspections to some regard?? It’s the same ppl!!

20/07/2022

rich coming from the office of a man that owns a literal ZOO and small biz in
Check out Space Farms on google. Particularly in the “news” and “animal welfare” sections. ☕️

06/07/2022

Reposting and expanding. This facet of the outdated boarding legislation problem very well may help the matter of legislation go federal.

Rover hides providers signing off that they, for their tiny boarding service, are zoned and licensed in one simple line in their terms and conditions with NO explanation as to what that massive convoluted mess could mean or entail for the provider. They treat their care providers, who they take 20% from (but offer no worker’s benefits to), as disposable. Zoning or licensing issues after the providers starts “working” for them? Oop. They’ll drop them faster than a trainer holding a dog showing whale eye. But do be sure to make that last 20% for them.

I estimate there could be as many as 150,000 in-home boarding providers in the US on Rover.com, and pending their geographic location in this country, possibly 60% or more are “not zoned” and “unlicensed” - completely unbeknownst to the care provider.

In essence this aspect of the outdated boarding legislation problem includes labor exploitation, facetious “hiring”, and offering “employment” under not sufficiently disclosed pretenses. They may find themselves needing to to invest in legislative change to differentiate kenneling from boarding or risk losing a significant aspect of their business (in home boarding).

Don’t tag them. I want this to blindside them.

05/07/2022

🇺🇸 as our founding fathers would have fought

18/05/2022

Sixth grade social studies - ever remember learning about ✨The Office of Legislative Services✨?
Me neither.

Yet another failure of the American education system aside, the OLS is a non-partisan government agency comprised of attorneys and individuals with Master’s degrees in legislative policy. This group of state hired (not elected) employees provide counsel on proposed legislation or matters of change to ALL state legislative offices. Essentially this one group of same individuals is available for ALL state legislators to consult for legality or constitutionality of potentially proposed or proposed bills (so who really has control over policy change? Legislators? Or this influence entity that didn’t even bother to pick up the phone and ask me about my proposition?)

Well our lovely OLS provided a state legislator with the feedback that “traditional kenneling” and “innovated dog care” are too similar to distinguish between. 😐😶🙃 Yeah read that again.

I’m told the OLS has “subject matter experts”, but, by this statement, it shows me that this entity lacks even basic subject matter knowledge, let alone any expertise, to make such a statement. Also, per OLS’s job scope, it seems a far reach of influence for the OLS to make such a specific assertion (limited to statements of legality and constitutionality; neither of which would be a concern in this matter). Likewise, legislators are not required to take their recommendation though seem to defer blame to the OLS for the legislator themselves’ choice not to pursue the matter.

I’m not sure who holds more responsibility for this massive drop of the ball but I sure know who still has them. Nevertheless, we keep calm and carry on making calls and taking names in navigating this ridiculous straw maze that is affecting necessary legislative change.

11/05/2022

It seems the biggest roadblock I/we may face in the matters of boarding legislation to give “innovation boarding” its own distinction (or in settling this matter with my town) is the discussion of “limiting” the number of dogs. (While of course no run of the mill “facility” is given any real quantity limits, but yes let’s limit the number of dogs the innovated providers can take in. Such sense it makes.)
I’ve tried to make several points around this with all points falling on deaf ears. Let’s delve into the most important point - the clients and the dogs. No person/dog left behind (without a dog care option)!
1 There’s already a shortage of boarding availability especially during summertime that dog owners in general find “acceptable”; that they’d even consider for their dog.
2 Almost no franchise/big box/larger scale traditional boarding provider accepts dogs with behavior concerns or are quick to expel a dog when they become inconvenient in their environment (many of these providers are logistically incapable of accommodating dogs that would do best/be less noisy/not be a redirection risk/etc in private rooms and be prevented from seeing and/or being housed around other dogs. Note: this is over simplified. would take me an hour to explain its intricacies.)
3 For risk purposes and because most traditional facilities don’t have a true behavior professional on board, most “traditional” providers simply will not take dogs with human directed behavior concerns and certainly not those that would arrive and require a heavy level of experience/skill to care for safely (without just leaving the dog in an indoor/outdoor run 24/7. Note: there IS a place for this type of care! In the future, I would like to have a few of these for the most extreme of dogs (ie 3 dogs I turned towards this kind of care out of 600 accepted dogs) that would do best with hands off care but still benefit for our best practices in enrichment and behavior management and modification - we might even be able to make progress from there.)
Circling back to the point - A significant portion of my client’s dogs are affected by the aforementioned 3 facts. If we have to turn them away because of some arbitrary quantity limit set by persons that have never done my job a day in their life, where should they go? Because providers like us are rare and, moreover, if they can be found they are also waitlisting dogs like us.
So, to those in government inclined to push for a limit (the number 8 was tossed out so we’ll use that), I ask, which of the 12 dogs with me today should I have turned away?
* the 4 behaviorally stable client dogs or 1 friendly rescue dogs boarded due to needing emergency temp placement? should they be relegated to some other provider that doesn’t monitor dog-dog interactions as well as we do or provide enrichment and suffer the potentially consequences?
* the 3 rescue dogs here for boarding and behavior eval/training (1 awaiting sanctuary placement/2 in-training)? Should we not support rescues anymore? The fallout of this would take an hour to lay out (yet another community service we offer).
* the 2 behaviorally significantly concerning dogs with bite histories? 1 was already expelled from a local facility and the owner demeaned after their staff’s mistake.
* apparently they’re unaware that Ross is my “sanctuary” forever foster so drop 8 to 7 I suppose.
So, legislator, which 5 dogs do I boot? Are you going to pay for the behavior modification lessons when the behaviorally stable dogs suffer fallout from alternate placement at a “traditional” provider? Are you going to oversee the care at a “traditional” facility to make necessary changes so their experience is the same as here? Maybe boot the rescue dogs? Are you going to provide the resources to the rescues that we provide (at reduced cost)? The list goes on.
We think not. We think you are doing a whole lot of deciding around something you know nothing about.
Note: We do fine job policing ourselves (very clear from no complaints for 5 years). I have a limit, but it’s not arbitrary and we can care far more than legislators can fathom because they don’t have the experience or education we do in dogs.

07/05/2022

dog daycare and boarding legislation is concerningly outdated ⚡️let’s change that. sign petition in comments today

03/05/2022

important af. dog daycare and boarding is damned. unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot. click for full. it may surprise you.
sign petition in comments. 🔥

01/05/2022

you & your dog deserve 🐾 sign the petition in comments.

28/01/2022

How much perspective, conversation, or input has my town asked of me, the only dog expert in the room, about a profession I have done all day, everyday for 1643 days? Zero.

How many points within my initial 3 page request letter have they referred back to? Zero.

How many times have they stopped by for a visit while I’ve had an open invitation for 2 years? Zero.

How many meetings have I been granted with 3 email requests to speak to my town council? Zero.

How many times have I had discussions with my neighbors on changes they needed me to make? Twice. And I was more than happy to make those two changes.

How many of my 200ft neighbors have I spoken with and have explicit approval from to operate? 23 (including 2 landlords; 3 neighbors were not available for conversation)

How many conversations am I open to having with my community? Unlimited.

Municipalities assume far more responsibility for controlling community environments than they need to without affording residents any opportunity for their opinions to be heard nor for *actual* subject matter/industry experts to provide any education. Towns make their own job harder on themselves by assuming all responsibility and control over every function in their town. They underestimate individuals’ ability to just have simple conversations with one another and compromise. They underestimate neighborhood residents’ willingness and desire to work with one another.

We don’t need strict regulations, oversight, or babysitters. We need conversations, compromise, education, and a willingness to listen.

The fact that my neighbors are far more willing to have a chat with me than my town is to have a conversation, let alone show me any respect as a professional, is saddening.

26/01/2022

NIMBY is an opinion a person or group (for example: a town council) has towards a certain area of land or property/house being used for a function they are opposed to having near their home or other areas they frequent (even if they have no concrete evidence to oppose it). “Not in my backyard” commonly affects much more important social services such as housing, treatment centers, and adult homes, but also affects other services/businesses with negative connotations such as boarding.

Recently in Blairstown, NJ, the Town Council decided to prohibit the use of land for “kenneling” in every zone of their town.

Why? No reason other than because every other town in the county and almost the state has effectively banned dog care operations. (excerpt in photo panels) Noted was that the citizens of Blairstown enjoy their quiet… lovely… so do I! No dog professionals were consulted at any point in this decision. No consideration was given that dog care could possibly be provided without it being a disturbance… an erroneous assumption. Cited was concern about poor quality “breeders” (with unwarranted, charged language)… again, another blanket decision and lumping innovative boarding in with other functions that we are not.

Further, the town council considered in a meeting to “prohibit the use to avoid the headache all together”. Oh, what a headache indeed. Imagine the level of headache us business owners and pet owners face who lack viable care options. But by all means, avoid your own headache; managing a town and its needs isn’t like your entire job.

Even further, the town council dissolved into a ridiculous conversation spanning months considering limiting the number of dogs each household could *own* based on apartment vs house and property size… when the conversation was initially only about kenneling. Thankfully that topic was dropped, but what a waste of time.

Question: Where can entrepreneurs begin? Where are people supposed to board their dogs? People are damn near looking at driving over the PA border in search of any resemblance of dog care that isn’t hot trash.

Excerpt from a Blairstown Official Town Document: “Township being targeted by dog owners and potential kennel operators…some surrounding municipalities had regulations in regard to dog ownership and kennel use which potentially made Blairstown a target…reviewed several ordinances and concepts that it received through researching various ordinances around…area…rigorous debates with regard to the best approach to take…in order to control the potential downside of kennel operations in the Township, it is recommended…prohibited use to limit kennel and kenneling operations…elimination of kennels as a permitted use in the Highway Commercial and Community Commercial zones.”

Wow. Not even in commercial zones. Even in their own words the downside to kennels is only “potential”, yet they eliminate the use for all. And the TONE. The shallow audacity of a town to view a town as a “target” rather than objectively try to understand why excited business owners and dog owners that lovingly own many dogs are resorting to considering any possible town they can to pursue happiness. This also assumes that dedicated dog care providers and aspiring entrepreneurs aren’t simply trying to find any fu***ng town that they can provide the service they’re passionate about to service dog owners. Blairstown, you aren’t being “targeted” by entrepreneurs of a wholesome service function. And note, from my readings of the town proceedings, there was no “rigorous debate” around the kennel ban, only around dog ownership quantity limits.

No dog pros consulted, only wild assumptions made.

Blairstown recognizes that many of their residents own dogs, yet care services for their towns dogs ain’t gonna happen in “their backyard”. If not there or the many surrounding towns that have also banned the land use, then fu***ng where?

23/01/2022

Without innovative boarders who do so much for their community in these and other ways, municipalities and their constituents will lose much of these services and safety nets and need to supplement these services if I and others are forced to board “the way the town wants me to” or not at all. Imagine the amazing network of unique services and ability of such dedicated, educated people to become available to support their community when they can operate to the best of their ability and not spend unnecessary time following time consuming and financially draining guidelines.

Municipalities and states are blind to how much we do and how valuable it is.

22/01/2022

Do you know what the “panel” of industry pros looks like that developed the current zoning/licensing guidances? Neither do I. It doesn’t exist.

It’s quite unclear where any of the licensing guidances originated from, dates it was updated, & who, if any dog behavior or daycare/boarding pros, were consulted during its creation or revisions. Zoning is, empowered by the state, completely decided upon by towns with Blairstown, NJ’s town council of definitely-not-dog-pros simply sitting around a table just deciding to ban any “kennels” from operating in their town. Why you ask? Wait for that extrapolation in a future post - it’s sure to be a good one.

Dept of Health & Agriculture & State Legislators- It is time for us to have a voice in how you regulate our industry which we know better than any of you. I don’t mean a select veterinarian or two or the investors/founders/managers of the “highest volume” or “highest rated” WWE colosseums in the state. I mean us, the little places, the places that started from a passion of purpose, not a chance to make a buck. & include the privately owned largest of us that started decades ago and still embody that dedication to dog & client. Include the stay at home mom that cares for a few seniors to have some extra cash, the in-between-jobs candle crafter who stays off unemployment daycaring a few dogs each day, the new excited soul who wants to service the area’s dogs that can’t find care anywhere else, the retired couple supplementing their social security with a cage free haven, the dog lover in the most urban cities of the state that offers grass yards versus the inside of a warehouse, the family man carrying his late dad’s legacy forward, the board and trainer working hard to improve the lives of the community’s dogs & owners, but can’t afford an external facility, & every one of us in between. (those are all real business owners I’ve spoken with)

Until NJ’s government represents ALL state residents which includes us dog business owners & our dog owning clients, you do not represent us.

22/01/2022

Rover.com takes pet providers’ hard earned money & cautions boarders should be zoned/licensed, but has done nothing in 9yrs to lobby for legislative change to make it easier for boarders to run their small business.

Rover.com, what exactly did you do with the nearly $100million you took from your almost half a million pet care providers in 2019 as 20% commission for little more than being a marketing platform and some customer service, insurance, & tax settling? You’ve been hemorrhaging money for several yrs. Makes sense for a company whose CEO/executives, rather than coming from experience of the life, sleep, & blood of pet care, haven’t worked in the pet care industry, & came from tech/other unrelated corporations.

CEO: “you need two things: You need pet-as-family & you need population density to make peer-to-peer [pet boarding] work.” Bro, really? You think about exploiting how much pet owners in suburban/urban areas care about their pets & you see dollar signs? & not one mention of how much you appreciate your care providers… how they are literally 100% of your company? We see where your priorities are & how you downright do not understand what being a care provider means to the provider themselves or the pet “parent”.

Being a care provider is about innovation, dedication, integrity. Being reliable, educated, & experienced & a meaningful relationship with each client & pet. But I wouldn’t expect you to understand that. You stand on the backs of your quality providers & call yourselves tall.

At minimum, look at the zoning & licensing issues that you’ve left your providers to face on their own. Better, stop taking a ridiculous amount of commission from your boarding providers until you’ve spent your legal dollars on zoning/licensing reform.

Rover.com does serve a purpose. Being - helping new care providers enter the industry without overhead that they may not be able to afford or don’t prefer. But don’t get it twisted, I’d love nothing more than to see most of your providers g**o & keep all the commissions THEY have earned as soon as they can or want to. Regardless, do better. Meanwhile, I’ll be out here doing what you should have started 9yrs ago.

Tag Rover in the comments and ask them what they’ve done about this. 🤔

21/01/2022

solid logic. if you are or know a not-s**tty daycare/boarder/board and trainer TAG yourself or them in the comments. 💯💪

21/01/2022

Just in case any of you were getting nervous 😅💪The judge didn’t seem to understand… till I told him. This affects HUNDREDS of people. Thousands if you count every provider like me and their clients.

21/01/2022

🎤licensing means nothing until it’s updated to reflect the most modern information on dog behavior and wellness

21/01/2022

Sounds like a bit of an abuse of power to me 🤔 how about you?

21/01/2022

Most of us dog boarders started our business from nothing. I started with -$600 and 2 part time jobs plus full time boarding. None of us had or have the kind of money that municipalities require to even begin inquiring about zoning or variances.

Unless you are lucky or wealthy enough to buy a *rare* property that is grandfathered in, you will need to run a variance on ANY property you seek to do business on. No matter the size and almost no matter the location. (double that if you want to live on the same property: mixed use variances can be two different processes)

Most towns will require $2k+ PER property you want to inquire about for a dog business (not including your legal and professionals’ fees of at least $1k-$5k+). And if they deny you, leaving you to run another variance on another property to inquire about, you do NOT get that money back! Simply getting zoning approval for your simple dog business can BANKRUPT you before you’ve made a cent.

Even if you are lucky enough to find a property already zoned for dog care, if you rebuild the rundown, old kennels, it’s considered a new kennel and you have to apply for the variance anyway!

That doesn’t even touch meeting licensing requirements which can easily run you thousands of dollars if it’s even possible for you to meet the asinine guidelines at all.

20/01/2022

Most municipalities (at least in NJ) have relegated daycare and boarding to industrial and retail zones which are not appropriate environments for dogs to thrive in. Or have even banned dog services from operating in their town at all! BUT they won’t even tell you that up front. They’ll let you apply for a variance just to find out they were intending to deny your app from the start.

Spent a fortune on super safe impact crates for your board and train program? Depending on your license inspector, you can be told they’re “too dark” per their personal opinion and forced to spend even more constructing kennels for no other reason than biased preference.

Enormous, 6ft fenced yard for cage free daycare and boarding? Think again! There’s a small stream running through, great enrichment for dogs, but your inspector only sees broken legs and requires you to keep all dogs on leashes in the fenced in yard. What?!

Just a few examples of how experienced, dedicated care providers are forced into practices/locations that are NOT their vision or blocked entirely by biased and authoritarian government officials who haven’t worked one day in the dog industry.

20/01/2022

Make It Make Sense: You can be completely “permitted” to operate a children’s daycare in your zone, but will have to go through an expensive, uncertain variance process to have a dog daycare regardless of any measures you take to control noise.
Does this make sense to you?

20/01/2022

👇DID YOU KNOW THIS?👇No one talks about this!

Welcome! This page is a movement to improve the quality of dog daycare, boarding, and board and train services through education and awareness and increase dog owners’ access to such quality services.

However, we can’t start discussing best practices and how to find them before we address why there aren’t more innovative, non-traditional dog daycares or dog boarders. Well-intentioned, but misguided zoning and licensing requirements are not only unreasonable and ineffective at their intended purpose, but discourage and block amazing, unique daycare and boarding businesses from beginning, marketing, and growing, especially those that wish to provide a low-stress, species appropriate environment that dogs thrive in.

It is time for change in how states and municipalities approach daycare and boarding zoning and licensing. Follow this page for the journey towards more effective and fair legislation to even the playing field for small business owners and increase your access to quality daycare and boarding options.

You have the right to have more choices for care for your dog.