Pet spas: The next resort for animals

New Urbana kennel offers swimming pool, other luxuries for dogs and cats

Thursday, March 9, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Bill Ryan⁄The Gazette Bremy and Rebo romp at Greenbriar Pet Resort & Veterinary Center in Urbana, which opened last month. Click here to enlarge this photo Bill Ryan⁄The Gazette Cats rescued from Hurricane Katrina lounge at the spa.

John Rosen, co-owner of the Greenbriar Pet Resort & Veterinary Center in Urbana, which opened last month, said the kennel is tapping a growing market.

Greenbriar ‘‘filled the primary kennel in our second week,” Rosen said.

The business, which entered a $3 billion industry nationwide, is really two separate businesses, he said.

‘‘It’s the pet resort — a very unique way to board a pet,” Rosen said. ‘‘Then the veterinary facility opens and will be available day and [starting in April] night. It’s two separate businesses: a very large luxury pet resort, [and the veterinary services]. The two are collective, but also separate.”

Greenbriar — on 30 wooded acres with heated floors, a swimming pool and pickup service — is part of a growing national trend, said James Krack, executive director of the American Boarding Kennels Association in Colorado Springs, Colo.

‘‘This has been a trend for several years,” Krack said. ‘‘Today’s pet owner [tends to] perceive the pet to be a member of the family, and often wants [the same sort of service] for [the] pet that they would want for their children.”

Greenbriar tries to do as much as possible to reduce the pets’ stress, Rosen said.

U.S. Kennel industry, 2004 Gross income, all pets: $3 billion Gross income, dogs: $2.3 billion Average daily boarding cost: $19.05 for a dog run Source: American Boarding Kennels Association

‘‘In addition to the facility being state of the art, we have things you won’t find in” most of kennels in the area, he said. The heated floors, for example, ‘‘are more comforting to older animals.”

To maximize the comfort of its canine and feline customers, Greenbriar installed a $1 million air conditioning system.

‘‘We spent more than anyone spent in the tri-state area, to my knowledge” to create the facility, Rosen said.

Rosen declined to discuss financial specifics, but did say that ‘‘based on the response so far, we will be in the black sooner than anticipated.”

The key, he said, is repeat business.

‘‘We started on the premise that this place needed to be a place where we would put our own dogs,” he said. ‘‘You don’t get people coming back unless you’re doing things right.”

A big piece of Greenbriar’s expected success may come from the 24-hour veterinary care that Rosen expects to launch next month. With two of the spa’s partners practicing veterinarians, the owners are working to ensure that a licensed veterinarian will be on-site around the clock, an amenity that Krack calls ‘‘quite uncommon.”

Prices start as low as $18.50 per day for small dogs, to as much as $94.50 for a larger, triple occupancy suite, with extras such as room service treats for an extra charge.

A nearby facility, Germantown Veterinary Clinic and Pet Resort, charges $22 per day for dogs smaller than 40 pounds and $26 for larger dogs.

The national average charge, Krack said, is $19.05 per day, but that can vary widely.

‘‘A [kennel or spa] in New York City is probably twice that, while in a little town in Kansas, it’s probably half that,” Krack said.

Currently, Rosen said, ‘‘I would guess that 75 percent [of our business] is coming from Frederick County, with 20 percent coming from Montgomery,” with the rest from Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. ‘‘I expect Montgomery County will grow over time.”