Hello Pack Parents,

We hope this peemail finds everyone in good health, and the best spirits possible in these unprecedented, difficult times.

A lot of folks have begun asking about boarding. And with D.C. starting its phased re-opening, daycare numbers have begun to rise. After sorting out how to do so safely and with reliable continuity, we have decided to reopen our doors for regular boarding services! Everyone is welcome, not just essential boarders.

Please email the office to make reservations starting June 11th!

Your boarding fur babies will be loved around the clock. However, we will not be restoring daycare on weekends just yet. Our daycare hours will remain Monday through Friday although with slightly longer hours as folks start to return to work – 7 AM to 7 PM. On Saturday, we will remain closed for daycare or boarding drop off/pick ups. If we only have one or two boarders, your pups will go home with managers Beth or Bethany – though during weekdays they will be at daycare. If we have more boarding reservations, boarding will be at Dog Ma and then of course we will be staffed 24-7 weekends and weekdays to care for our boarders. Boarding pickups and drops offs will be available on every day but Saturday. For Sunday, please email the office to arrange a time between 12-5 PM.

We miss seeing everyone and hope you will consider returning soon. And for those who have brought their fur babies in, thank you! ! It’s been a joy to see some of the old crew. And, unexpectedly, we are getting a lot of new applicants and meetings some sweet dogs at trial days and then at play.

We have come up with procedures and practices (and a small ocean of bleach, gallons of hand sanitizer and lots of PPE including a touch free thermometer to take employee  temperatures daily as they come in) to keep staff and clients safe. So, we are ready to expand services. As we do, we plan on operating with block staffing – three different “clean” teams that do not overlap.

By scheduling staff this way, we will both maximize our ability to stay open if, heaven forbid, someone on the team has an exposure and minimize possible exposures for staff and clients. (We would quarantine the team that has the exposure and sub in the reserve team.)

So, please email us to make daycare reservations if at all possible – we want to make sure that as more pups are coming in, we have the right number of staff, and, especially since the PPP runs out before the end of June, we do not want to call folks in if only a few dogs will be playing on any given day. And email for boarding too!

We are very relieved to share with everyone that so far our intensified bleach cleaning, maskwearing, hand sanitizing gooping, etc. protocols have kept everyone healthy as more staff began to come back in.

Our staff will be wearing face masks to make our clients safe. We ask our clients do the same to keep our staff safe. You will see a sign outside the gate that reminds you to put on a face mask.

Those who fail to do so will have Izzy set on them! OK, all that would happen is him flipping over for belly rubs, but seriously, please please do not come in the gates without a mask and please do sanitize your hands with the sanitizer between the first and second gates on the right side. We are bleach spraying on the regular, but cannot get the latches after each use.

We have three more weeks of the PPP covering everyone’s salaries. Paws crossed that the phased reopening works safely and by the time the PP period ends, more folks will be using daycare and boarding so we can have enough business to keep the staff covered without PPP!

Thanks and please take good care,
Lori, Beth and Bethany

P.S. Izzy is hoping soon he can get back to sending the peemails, and in the interim wants all of his four-legged friends to know that pool season has started and he misses splashing his buddies. So, come on in, the water is fine!