Tag » keith miller « | Pampered Pooch Playground

Remodeling Update

January 18, 2012 by Keith | Comments Off

Schatzie and Hendrix were some of the first dogs in the remodeled Waggers Way.

Wow, what a difference a week makes in our doggy daycare makeover. Our Waggers Way room is now being used, and I think all the dogs LOVE it. You will notice the webcams are now in the middle of the room so you can see about 90% of the room and the new energy efficient lighting has made the room much brighter and the new paint color on the walls and the lighter floor has made the dogs stand out better on the webcams. I was laughing yesterday when I first logged on to the cameras because Brent (one of our staff) was wearing a black hoodie and he looked like a shadow on the cameras. We love these changes! Now That Waggers Way has been almost completed (there are just some ceiling tiles to be placed), the Ruff House has started getting the facelift. We keep putting pressure on the construction guys to be finished by Friday and I think this will be achieved.

So excited to show everything off!

Keith

How Clean is it?? Cowboy Clean!!

January 16, 2012 by Keith | Comments Off

Cowboy the Rottweiler Puppy

Today was a big day when it comes to our construction. The majority of the work in Waggers Way has been completed and they will be starting in the Ruff House tomorrow. So we will have all of the big dogs in Waggers Way starting tomorrow and I spent 5 hours this afternoon putting everything back together in the room. The construction guys cleaned everything when they were done, but I wanted to go through with the shop vac and make sure they picked up everything. We have a Rottweiler puppy named Cowboy, who is known to eat just about everything at home and wanted to make sure he would not find anything on the floor. So the entire time I was cleaning, I kept thinking to my self “we have to Cowboy proof everything”. We are so very excited with how everything has been going. The new webcams are up and running in waggers way, you can see about 90% of the whole room and you should be able to see all the dogs. I am excited to see how the dogs react to the new digs tomorrow.

Have a great night, and I know we always say this, but thanks for putting up with our construction

Keith

Remodeling – Day 4

January 9, 2012 by Keith | Comments Off

Roxy shows off the remodeling progress of our Doggy Daycare room

Wow, Lots has changed in Waggers Way doggy daycare room in the past few days. Sunday, the final touches were finished on the floor, and this morning we were able to walk on it. At 7:30 this morning, the painting started. Wow, does it look fresh and new! Tomorrow, the work on the ceiling starts. We took Roxy in the room and she really liked the floor. When we first opened, rubber flooring was the industry standard and the best that was out there. After almost 4 years, the standards have changed, and rubber flooring is a great option, but not the best (in my opinion) which is why we have decided to update it. We are putting down a rubberized epoxy which is 5 times easier to clean and the dogs really love it! m This room looks so empty with everything moved out of it. Crazy!! If all goes well this doggy daycare room should be up and running by Friday, then we will start the Ruff House.

Thanks again for being so understanding with us during this time, construction is always hard, but we try to make it as easy on everyone as possible.

Keith

Pitching In

January 2, 2012 by Keith | Comments Off

Leyla was the first nail trim of 2012.. I did her nail trim at 9am on January 1st.

The new year is here and Pampered Pooch Playground is rocking. This week all the talk is about our remodeling that is starting later this week. Everyone is very excited for the updates and we really try to take our employees opinions into account when we change things. As an owner, sometimes it is easy to sit back and say “deal with it”, but we don’t work that way and those words would never leave my mouth. If there is something we can do to make the job easier, we will change and adapt to make things easier for our staff. I think it really helps that Trycia and Myself are very involved in the dog daycare everyday (we don’t just sit in an office), but know what really goes on. For example, tonight, the person that does our cleaning was sick, so who filled in?? I did!! Some of the staff did think it was kinda funny that the owner was cleaning, but it is a task that needs to be done. I actually had fun doing it (I had don’t done it for a few months).

We are excited to get the ball rolling on 2012 and continue to provide the best possible care and exercise for your pooch!

I think we will make the slogan for the year….. 2012… The year of the pooch!

Have a good night.

Keith

Thanks for 2011

December 31, 2011 by Keith | Comments Off

Nap time in the Ruff Hosue

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to all of our wonderful customers and staff for a wonderful 2011. I know we say this every year, but Trycia and I never expected Pampered Pooch Playground to be as successful as it is. We really appreciate everyone that has made PPP what it is today! In 2011 we remodeled our dog grooming, bathing, and food prep areas and added a new floor to the Ruff House. I LOVE change and keeping things fresh and new and in the next few weeks you will see more changes taking place. We strive to be the best possible dog daycare in the Twin Cities.

Thursday night, I was doing our closing shift because one of our employees was sick. The entire shift, when I was in the room, I kept thinking about when we first opened 4 years ago and how far it has come! I still remember when we had 3 dogs each day and can name our first 20 dogs (and most still come).

have a happy and healthy 2012!

Keith

iPhone Update

December 20, 2011 by Keith | Comments Off

I was all a twitter when I saw the new version of Pooch Vision in my update list.

We just released the latest version of “Pooch Vision” which is our app for the iPhone. This being the 4th version, we think is is the best yet. We have made it possible to pay for doggy daycare and soon you will be able to check your pooch out before you even walk into our building (we are waiting on an update to our software for this and have been pushing the company for this feature for 2 years). We are all about making life easy for you, but also connecting you to your pooch. The whole purpose for the iPhone app is to allow you to watch your dog while they are playing at doggy daycare. Webcams provide a great sense of security and let you know how we operate. You can also read our blog, make reservations, and keep up on the latest dog events in Minneapolis.

In January we will be doing some remodeling in the 2 big dog rooms, and we will be adding more webcams, so watching your pooch will be even more fun! Many daycares have contacted me asking “why would you have an iPhone app and webcams”… My response has always been “why the heck not”… Our app might not be as cool as the Starbucks app where you can pay at register by letting them scan your phone, but we are getting closer and closer to that! We are still one of the few dog daycares in the country that have their own iPhone app which is a free download.

Those that don’t have an iPhone, we also have “Pooch Vision” available for the droid and blackberry.

Have a great night!

Keith

Group Nap Times

December 16, 2011 by Keith | Comments Off

All the dogs in the Ruff House are napping, except for Schatzie!

I still remember the first week that we opened (almost 4 years ago) and I remember how we tried to do “nap time” like all the other dog daycares in the area did. We would put all the dogs in cages for 2 hours. In theory they would lay down and nap, but honestly it does not happen. We tied it for a month and it was nothing but non-stop barking everyday. We started thinking and wondering if we can do things different, and guess what… We did! So we started our group nap times, where the gigs just lay down in the play areas and take a nap. It is so much less stressful on the dogs and on our staff. Log onto our webcams around 1pm everyday and you will see what I am talking about.

Starting in January, we are really excited to do some more remodeling (I love to change and update things all the time). We are all pretty excited about it. The final details are still being worked out, but once everything is finalized we will give you all the details.

Have a good day!

Keith

Our Holiday Party

December 12, 2011 by Keith | Comments Off

Last night was the PPP holiday party which was so much fun! I personally hate typical holiday parties, and we really want to go all out and do something different. All of our employees work so hard everyday, so we really enjoy doing something fun with them! This year we hit up a local indoor trampoline park to play dodgeball and then went out after for pizza. I think this was our best party yet, and all of our staff had so much fun! I know we always say this, but our staff is amazing and we are so proud to have each one of them taking care of everyones pooch!

To make the party happen, we had 2 of our ex-employees (Erin and Steph) come in and close the daycare so our current staff could attend the party! IT was funny when they came in, all the dogs spending the night were regular dogs, and they knew each one of them from when they worked for us! A big thanks to both of these ladies for coming in and helping out!

Have a great night!

Keith

Thanksgiving Fun

November 25, 2011 by Keith | Comments Off

I want to say a special “Thank You”, to all of our staff who worked on thanksgiving. The holidays are always the hardest days for us to staff, because I really want to give everyone the day off so they can spend it with their family. Most daycares and boarding places only let the dogs out for 2 hours in the morning and at night on holidays so they don’t have to staff it…. We staff it as a regular day for all the dogs staying over, meaning that they were out playing all day long. It obviously takes much more man power to staff like this, but for quality care it is worth it. I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. Roxy had lots of turkey, and was stuffed yesterday!

Keith

Roxy Does Agility

November 18, 2011 by Keith | 1 Comment

This past weekend, we were at an event and we introduced Roxy to agility equipment and she got so excited to do it. So I decided that we should sign her up for a class. Last night was the first night, and wow she had so much fun! We worked on jumping, running through the tunnel and jumping/laying on the platform. Roxy really picked up everything really fast!

The best part of the class was Roxy run through the tunnel. She loves doing it (I think it is because she knows there is a treat at the end).

Hope you have a great weekend!

Keith

What would you like to make a reservation for?

Pampered Pooch Playground - Doggy Daycare, Boarding, and Grooming in Minneapolis, MN

Remodeling Update

How Clean is it?? Cowboy Clean!!

Remodeling – Day 4

Pitching In

Thanks for 2011

iPhone Update

Group Nap Times

Our Holiday Party

Thanksgiving Fun

Roxy Does Agility

Blog

Navigation

From The Blog

Every Gift Has a Story

The View as a Dog

The Bubbly Bowl

What would you like to make a reservation for?

Blog

Navigation

From The Blog

Newsletter