Pampered Pooch Playground is proud to support the Greyhound Pets of America – MN and GreyFest 2012 at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. Click here for more information.
Beer With Your Buddy – Saturday, May 19th
Pampered Pooch Playground is proud to sponsor the summer season of the K9-Connection’s Beer With Your Buddy. This great event mixes 2 of the best things in life…. Dogs and Beer. Stop out to the Nomad World Pub in Minneapolis for a fun night with your pooch! This event is on Saturday, May 19th from 5-7:30pm. You can purchase your tickets and get more information here.
Jack’s Last Day
Jack brought treats for all the daycare dogs on his last day!
Today was a sad day for all of us at Pampered Pooch Playground. Jack the Boston Terrier had his last day of doggy daycare before he moved to Indianapolis! We always hate to see our dogs move away and Jack was no exception. When Jack’s mom dropped him off for doggy daycare, she broke the news to us. We quickly started talking about how Jack was one of our first doggy daycare dogs 4 years ago when we opened! Oh Jack, we are gaining to miss his crazy “noises” he makes when he plays with things and his little wiggle when he comes through the front door.
Hope everyone has a good night!
Spotlight: Patrycia Miller
Keith and Patrycia Miller are the owners of the Pampered Pooch Playground (PPP) and Bubbly Paws. Between the two of them, Keith is slightly more public, doing interviews for the local news and writing for the PPP and Bubbly Paws blogs, to name a couple things. He wanted to make sure to give his wife Trycia a moment in the spotlight.
We see a lot of Keith at PPP/Bubbly Paws and online. Would you describe what you do for Pampered Pooch Playground and Bubbly Paws?
Keith and I are both at the daycare five days a week, dealing with the daily operations at PPP. You can usually find me there during the morning and the afternoon. Ellen, our manager, usually handles the evenings. I am there answering emails, the phone, and managing the daily operations. I love taking pictures of the dogs when I remember to bring my camera 
At Bubbly Paws, I handle ordering all of the retail items we sell. I have so much fun picking out the latest and greatest in doggy fashions! Of course, when I am not physically at Bubbly Paws or at PPP, there is always something that can be done. I spend a lot of time at home working on scheduling, payroll, and other tasks that keep our businesses running. And don’t forget my most important job is keeping Keith in line each day. Ha!
What is your favorite part of your job?
The dogs! The dogs at PPP are always so happy and loving! It’s great to get to know each one of them and their personalities. Our staff and customers are also great, 
and I love getting the chance to see them each day. I also love the fact that I get to hang out with my favorite dog, Roxy, and favorite person, Keith, each day.
I know it’s not always easy as a small business owner to disconnect from work. What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Outside of work I love being active. You can find me at Core Power Yoga, Lifetime Fitness, Lori Harder Fitness or walking/running around the lakes. I also enjoy shooting pictures and learning about photography. One of my new favorite obsessions is Pinterest (an online pinboard to organize and share things you love). I love trying all of the recipes I find on there.
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I asked Keith to share how he felt about working with his wife. “Trycia is the organizational part of our businesses and one of the most organized and detail-oriented persons I know. Getting to spend time together doing what you love is priceless. We are able to play on each others strengths to grow the business. As our business grows, so does our relationship.”
Not every married couple can happily work and play together, but it seems these two have figured out how to make it work—and have fun doing it. Their mutual respect and love are obvious. And, of course, they share in their love for Roxy, who inspired them to open Pampered Pooch Playground.
Remodeling – Day 4
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
Thanks for 2011
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
Group Nap Times
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
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
Italy Tour
Every September Trycia and I take a trip (this is planned right after the busy boarding summer season at the PPP on purpose). Because Pampered Pooch Playground is our baby, I always worry about not being around should we ever be needed. Our wonderful staff did a great time holding things down while we were gone. It really is great to have employees that you can trust with your business when you are not around and everyone did great! We got back Friday night around midnight, and I was at the daycare by 9am on Saturday. I just like to go and make sure everything is good (which it was).
We were in Italy, and it was so nice to get away for a few days. We were taking a tour of Pompeii and they talked about how important dogs were in the community. They have a bunch of dogs living on the land, all of which are protected by the government (fully vaccinated) and up for adoption. Trycia and I stopped many time on the tour of this ancient city to pet the dogs. I wanted to bring one home with us!
While we were gone, we were always keeping track on the happenings at the daycare, since I am never able to fully unplug. We did come up with some new ideas for the dog daycare, which you you will see in the next few months. See, we can never really get away!
Have a good sunday!
Keith
