I come from a family of dog lovers. In fact, at any given family gathering, there’s usually one dog for every two or three people. Right now, there are four Labrador Retrievers in my extended family, including my parent’s dog Belle, a yellow lab. Often it’s up to me or other dog-loving family members to help out with pet care during vacations, or my parents call up a dogsitter. But that doesn’t always work out.
Last summer, my mom drove by the new Adogo Pet Hotel in Minnetonka and was intrigued. She took a tour. I think she was equal parts impressed and amused. Funny to think our dog might stay somewhere better than we would on vacation. After comparing the price to that of our usual dog/house sitter (nearly the same), we decided to test it out.
keep tabs on your pet on Adogo’s facebook page (pictured here, belle).
Photos courtesy of adogo pet hotel
Adogo, billed as a pet hotel, offers overnight and day care as well as training and grooming. The facility features 93 overnight rooms (of different size, style) and seven daycare play areas (five inside, two outside). Since last summer Belle has stayed there twice, for a long weekend and during the holidays for a week. During her holiday visit we even took advantage of Adogo’s grooming services. After New Years, Belle came home smelling good, with clipped nails, and best of all, she didn’t shed all over us.
For us, one of the best parts (especially that first test run) was that we could check up on Belle (or, as my sister-in-law pointed out, we could helicopter parent our dog). Adogo has a webcam (password protected) that shows the playroom, where you can see all the dogs playing (separated into groups by size or energy level). Over the holidays, I signed on to view the webcam and played “spot Belle” with my niece and nephew. In addition, Adogo posted about a hundred photos on Facebook each day, so we could keep track of our dog that way as well.
While I imagine I’ll still be called upon to dog sit in the future, it’s nice to have another option for pet care, where we know Belle will be in good hands.
Do you like the idea of knowing what’s going on with your pet while you are out of town? What do you look for when you are selecting a pet care facility? There are plenty of other options in the Twin Cities—Now Boarding near the airport is just one more example.
