Sponsored Content: Living Lavishly
K9 Resorts Daycare & Luxury Hotel of Cherry Hill offers a one-of-a-kind pet care and puts dog owners at ease.
We take months, even years out of our lives to plan the perfect getaway, but when you have dogs that can’t come along it makes the process a little more stressful. Our petsseem to be the additional family member we love unconditionally, and we want them to feel safe in a place without worrying if a pet care facility is giving the right attention to our dogs the way we would on any given day. When on vacation, or even at work, you don’t want to constantly wonder how your four-legged friend is doing in a kennel or doggie daycare, and now there’s no need to.
K9 Resorts Daycare & Luxury Hotel is the first of its kind in South Jersey to offer dogs their own vacation while their owners are away—whether it’s for the work day, weekend or three months at a time. Each top-of-the-line luxury suite (that fits up to three if owners have more than one dog) offers an 8 by 8 room with pictures and artwork on the walls, televisions tuned to Animal Planet and a safe environment—all designed with dogs in mind.
“With dog boarding, you make a reservation in advance andthe check-in process is very smooth. We go over your dog’s feeding instructions, if they’re on any medication; we confirm emergency contact information and answer any questions that you may have,” says Jason Parker, co-CEO and co-founder of K9 Resorts. “After a customer uses us once or twice, our staff is great at getting to know you/your dog. It’s a very, very easy check-in and check-out process, and we computerize a lot of those things to make it easier so we can save notes and your dog’s preferences and your preferences on file.”
Owners get to choose activities their pup is involved in for the duration of their stay, between doggie daycare and a more private experience of private walks and playtimes. Doggie daycare is an indoor, cage-free, well-supervised environment giving dogs the opportunity to socialize with other dogs and receive daily exercise that helps limit the anxieties and behavior problems animals could experience when their owners are gone. Surprisingly, the grass at K9 Resorts is specialized turf designed specifically for dogs to fight odor, has microban built in that kills bacteria on contact and also has an underground filtration system.
No need to be concerned about the other dogs yours is playing with, since every dog goes through an extensive evaluation to confirm if K9 Resorts doggie day-care is a good fit. “Some dogs aren’t qualified because they may be a little too nervous, too young [or] too old. There’s really a whole bunch of reasons why a dog may not be approved,” Parker says. “Most of the dogs are [approved], but we do go through a very strict temperament test to make sure that dog is a good fit for that type of an environment.”
K9 Resorts co-founders and co-CEOs Jason and his brother Steven always had a love for dogs, and the love grew when their parents didn’t allow dogs in the house. They started their own successful dog-walking and pet-sitting business and from there they developed the luxury hotel in 2005 to care for dogs when their owners need it. It was developed out of the love people have for their pets and wanting animals to receive top care.
“Dogs 20 years ago were household pets. Today, they’re family. People are spending more money on their veterinary care, on their food. … You’re not getting the staff that’s as well trained in a typical other boarding facility,” Parker says. “It’s really the experience, not only for the pet, but the experience for the owner that you have peace of mind. You can travel knowing that your pet is well cared for, that you have trained staff watching them, they’re going to enjoy themselves and want to actually go back to the resort.”
If all of the luxurious amenities don’t convince you this facility stands out among the rest, the resorts all have ventilation systems changing airflow every two to three minutes to ensure a sterile environment.
The resort is also a franchise company, which currently has seven locations and six to seven more opening in 2019, including the Cherry Hill location. Cherry Hill’s franchise owner, Andy Hennig and his brother and partner Bryan knew South Jersey was the perfect location for the resort because there was nothing else like it in the area.
“About three years ago my wife, son and I were going on vacation. We have two standard poodles that are part of our family. We couldn’t find a place that we felt comfortable leaving our dogs at,” Andy says. “We visited about five different facilities in the area. None made us feel at ease. We finally settled on one that we thought was the best choice. And then two days into vacation, we had to come home because our dogs had gotten sick. We were thinking, there has to be a better way or place somewhere.”
There was no better home than Cherry Hill, which offers a convenient location with little traffic for clients. Both Andy and Parker see a bright future for K9 Resorts on Marlkress Road, noting that the staff Andy has hired are all trained/certified.
“If you go in a kennel, you see cages; literally chain linked fence, cages with concrete floors,” Andy says. “We don’t have that. There are no cages inside our facility. We have rooms for dogs with televisions, with chandeliers, with special flooring, with special beds. I mean, it’s really a hotel for dogs.”
K9 Resorts Daycare & Luxury Hotel
1149 Marlkress Road, Cherry Hill
856-208-4888 | K9Resorts.com
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Published (and copyrighted) in South Jersey Magazine, Volume 15, Issue 10 (January 2019).
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