Tails never stop wagging at Dee-O-Gee Care

Rich Palzewic

Staff

October 14, 2024

IOLA – According to a 2023 study conducted by the MarketWatch Guides team, 65.1 million households in the U.S. own dogs.

With dog ownership comes the responsibility of providing food, medical care and sometimes daycare or boarding services – something Dee-O-Gee Care in Iola said it aims to help with.

“Dee-O-Gee Care is a family-owned and operated business run by myself and my husband, Josh,” Jessica Franchuk said. “We currently have two employees – Joey, who has been with us for almost 10 years, and Alyson, who started earlier this summer. They have both been wonderful assets to Dee-O-Gee Care, and we wouldn’t be able to run it without their help.”

Located at E1256 Johnson Road, Josh Franchuk said Dee-O-Gee Care – which is housed on their home property – provides a home-style environment for dogs to play and stay.

“Many pups visit for daycare while Mom and Dad are at work, and many others stay overnight for their own doggie vacation,” he said. “Our longest stay to date has been eight months.”

‘We’re different at Dee-O-Gee Care’

The couple said at some boarding facilities, dogs might be kept in kennels for most of the day – if not the entire time – with very limited exercise time.

“We took this practice and flipped it,” Jessica said. “We believe a tired dog is a good dog, and boy, do we tire them out. Our visitors play on an artificial turf lawn all day long (which helps keep them clean), running up and down the jungle gym and cooling off in our splash pad. With the new additions of an aerial lure course and a herding ball, dogs always have something fresh to play with.”

Josh said they also have a pet salon onsite as well.

“Reba’s Personal Touch Pet Salon moved in on our property in 2022, giving us access to one of the best groomers in the state,” he said. “Reba has been grooming dogs for years, and when her lease was coming due at another location, we offered her a spot in our barn. It has been an amazing partnership, and we love having her here.”

Meet & Greets

Because the couple said “Dee-O-Gee Care does things differently,” they need to make sure each dog that comes to the facility has the right personality for a group play environment.

“We do something called a ‘Meet & Greet,’” Jessica said. “We want the pups to run and play all day, so we need to learn about them beforehand. This is done through our Meet & Greets. We also take the time to explain to each owner what sets us apart from other facilities – we are taking care of their furry family members after all.”

During the Meet & Greet, Josh said they show off the outdoor play space, go over feeding and sleeping schedules, cover animal safety and “explain how our 2020 house remodel allows us to maintain a clean, healthy home-based business.”

“We then inquire about the history of each pup,” he said. “We are looking for simple information such as vet records and medical history, behavioral issues, temperament and any need-to-know quirks.”

Finally, Jessica said, they introduce two of their own dogs to the newbies, one at a time.

“Lulu, a corgi, comes in first – she is less intimidating and fairly quiet compared to most dogs,” she said. “Will a dog see her as an easy target? Maybe. The second dog is Liddy the labradoodle. She can be a shock to new dogs as she enters the room with a lot of confidence and often barks to introduce herself. Watching how a new dog interacts in these situations tells us a lot about how they will handle themselves in the play yard.”

Josh said there are two main reasons a dog might fail the Meet & Greet.

“The main reasons are excessive dominance and fear-based aggression,” he said. “In our years of experience, we’ve found these two characteristics often lead to issues in the ever-changing pack.”

Because “animals are animals,” Jessica said Dee-O-Gee Care purchases liability insurance.

“We carry fairly basic liability insurance,” she said. “It was a little bit of a challenge explaining our business to the insurance company, but once they understood what we are doing here, getting coverage was not a problem.”

How it started

Josh said Dee-O-Gee Care started in 2010 when he was working as a financial planner in Wausau.

“We had a dog of our own named Dee-O-Gee who suffered from horrible separation anxiety,” he said. “While we were unsuccessfully searching for a local daycare for him, Dee-O-Gee tragically passed away. From that moment on, we knew we needed to provide a safe, happy, healthy place for dogs in our area. With that, the idea of Dee-O-Gee Care was born.”

And Josh said, as they say, the rest was history.

The facility

Jessica said Dee-O-Gee Care sits on a five-acre parcel, with roughly one acre of that securely fenced for dogs.

“We purchased our home in 2008 and started the business in 2010 with just a fence,” she said. “We had no barn or lower-level dog room. The original fence was installed as a safe place for our own dogs to play. Over the years, the fencing has been redone four times – always improving and adjusting as we learn how dogs move and play.”

The couple said the large pole barn on site was constructed in 2016.

“It was constructed with the thought of having an indoor play space for the dogs during inclement weather,” Josh said. “However, the dogs quickly discovered the heated floor was a great spot for a nap instead.”

As Jessica said, Dee-O-Gee Care is more than just a place to kennel your dog all day.

“We have had seven different swimming pools and are in the planning stages of building number eight,” she said. “Our play space has also seen four different jungle gyms, two splash pads, three major yard haulovers and countless attempts to get grass to grow – hence today’s artificial turf.”

Josh said the property’s current yard was completed in 2022.

“There are still projects to be done,” he said. “Because we are a small family-owned business, we invest back into the business what we can, when we can. We hope to install a new swimming pool and surrounding deck next year, allowing for dock diving and deep-water swimming. There are also plans for a timber-framed porch off the barn, as well as a few other tricks up our sleeves.”

Though the facility focuses on open play, Jessica said Dee-O-Gee Care has kennels for feeding and sleeping.

“Our capacity is 30 dogs each day,” she said. “Not all dogs like kennels, so if they’re not comfortable in one, that’s fine, too. They will just eat upstairs in a bedroom and crash on our couch at night instead.”

An early start

Josh said a typical day at Dee-O-Gee Care starts at 5:30 a.m.

“All dogs who stayed overnight are let out for their morning potty,” he said. “Alyson arrives at 6 a.m. and picks up our van – AKA the ‘Critter Cab.’ She will drive our regular routes, picking dogs up from their doorsteps for a day of fun. The overnight dogs will go back into their kennels (or rooms upstairs) for feeding at 7:30 a.m. Alyson returns at around this time and everyone goes out to play. Poop is scooped, and the house is cleaned while the pups meet up with new and old friends.”

Weather permitting, Jessica said dogs will be outside playing (or snoozing in the sun) for the entire day.

“At around 5:30 p.m., the process reverses – dogs are fed, daycare pups go home and everyone is out for a last potty and playtime before bed,” she said.

Despite the early mornings and late nights, Josh said he and Jessica wouldn’t change much. 

“Like most jobs, there are of course times when the day-to-day seems to get old,” he said. “After running our business for many years, though, we have learned to take advantage of any downtime we have.”

When the dogs are taking their afternoon naps in the sun, Josh said, “we try to relax a bit ourselves and hang out in our outdoor hammocks or one of us will go for a walk.”

Jessica said running a business at home does have its advantages.

“We don’t take many vacations, but our trusted employees have allowed us to do so more often,” she said. “We used to close the business down when we were gone. But now, we may limit the number of dogs, but we feel confident the business can run smoothly without us here when we need to take a break.”

For information on rates and how to set up a Meet & Greet, visit Dee-O-Gee Care’s website at deeogeecare.com.