DARTMOUTH — Johnelle Ciano — owner of dog grooming, daycare, retail and boarding business Emma Marie — has been boarding dogs at her Mattapoisett location for 15 years, while the Dartmouth location remains “doggy daycare ” for non-overnight stays, as well as other aspects of the business. However, that will change starting in July.
“Originally, I wasn’t going to do boarding at the same locations just because it’s a lot — it’s 365 days a year,” Ciano said. “But the demand became so high. We started getting, on average, I’d say 25 calls a week asking if we were boarding at Dartmouth. So now, we’ve turned our nap room into boarding suites here.”
So, what has changed?
“We always have a waitlist for doggy daycare because everyone has a job, and before COVID almost no one worked from home. Now everyone does, so a lot of those clients have gone from four or five days to one or two. a week, maybe just for some socialization,” Ciano said. “Then another change we’ve noticed is that people have been taking more vacations since COVID, so the demand for overnight rides has been huge.”
Since announcing the upcoming addition of overnight boarding at Emma Marie’s Dartmouth location at 14 Ventura Drive, Ciano said about 48 reservations have already been booked for the summer.
Dog businesses are popping up everywhere
National data show that pet care services in general have increased since before COVID. According to an article published by the US Census Bureau in February 2020, spending on pet care services such as grooming, spaying, training and sitting — excluding veterinary and pet supply businesses — has doubled to $5.8 billion between 2007 to 2017.
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“With more than 100,000 pet care service businesses, this industry has increased the number of establishments by more than 60% since 2007, for both employer businesses and self-employed (nonemployer) businesses ,” the article read.
What is the dog’s experience while riding?
As part of the dog boarding experience at any Emma Marie location, Ciano said they can participate in doggy daycare activities. However, this is not necessary for dogs that prefer less social interaction.
“We do a lot of fun things and enrichment activities to make the dogs not only physically but mentally tired, so they don’t get too anxious when they go to their rooms,” Ciano said. “We ask people to bring their dog’s blanket if they like, a favorite busy toy — maybe a bully stick, one of those puzzles, or a KONG filled with peanut butter.”
Because all dogs are different, Ciano said dogs are cared for according to their personalities and needs. While the staff’s experience allows them to address most day-to-day issues with ease, Ciano said they’re not afraid to go above and beyond when needed.
Are some dogs too hard to handle?
When it comes to difficult dogs to handle, Ciano said the staff’s experience allows them to address most any issue with ease. He remembered only one rare instance — but even then a solution was found.
“In the 15 years I’ve been doing this, I’ve only had one dog that didn’t live. His sister just died,” Ciano said, referring to the owner’s other dog.
To address that dog’s relentless stress, Emma Marie’s Manager Ashley Smith came in on her on-call weekend to sleep in the dog’s room with her.
“The second you walk into the room with him, he lays his head on you and zonks out,” Smith said. “He is very tired, but he needs the comfort of someone there to sleep.”
No two dogs, or boarding facilities, are the same
If, during the consultation phase, a dog is determined not to be a good match for Emma Marie, Ciano says he has no problem referring prospective clients to another setting he believes would be a good fit.
“We’re not trying to make people feel like they have to use us,” he said. “People are surprised but we have a running referral list where I can tell, other places are different this way or that way; I think this dog will do well there.”
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Even between Emma Marie’s two facilities, one may be better suited to some dogs than the other. For example, if your dog tends to be an escape artist, Ciano says Dartmouth may be a good fit for its abilities to contain canine passion.
“After having the Mattapoisett one for 15 years, we learned a lot. So at Dartmouth two of our runs have an enclosed top. It’s fully breathable but escape-proof,” said Ciano. “We’re considering dogs that we’ve never boarded before, like huskies that like to climb crate fronts and things like that.”
One stop shop
Ciano said part of Emma Marie’s being a “one-stop shop” — between its boarding, daycare, grooming and retail portions — is that it creates opportunities for staff to get to know the dogs that they face. This can be especially useful during riding, says Ciano.
“Once the client’s dogs are involved with us, it helps us because we know what they want, if they skip a meal we know if that’s normal for them or not,” Ciano said. “Even just grooming you learn a lot about the dog.”
To learn more about Emma Marie’s grooming, doggy daycare, boarding, and retail services, call their Mattapoisett location, 19 County Road, at 508-758-8276; their Dartmouth location, 14 Ventura Drive, at 774-206-1019; or visit them online at emmamaries.com.
