Posh pooch pads put MRDD clients to work
Dog day care hires employees with disabilities to help care for companion animals.
Friday, January 19, 2007
MIDDLETOWN — Cages are no more at a new Middletown day care for dogs. Pooches who stay at this posh pad have the run of a whole room.
Constant Companions Doggie Day Care & Boarding, a nonprofit business with a mission to provide employment opportunities to the disabled, has seven themed rooms for every style pooch.
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Dogs who love the great outdoors can stay in the Little Camper room, complete with two tents, fake grass, and a frog chew toy. Precious Pooch is a pink and flower room for pampered dogs, and Moulin Pooch offers leather furniture for lounging. The Tiki Mutt room has a feel of the islands in every detail from the fake parrot to the faux palm trees. Man of the House is a sports room, where dogs can sleep inside a TV.
"It's fantastic. I'm afraid my dog would get spoiled here," said Jane Udry, of Cincinnati, who said her dog Winnie would stay in the sports room because they watch a lot of sports at home.
Other rooms include Downtown Hound, with a rubber fire hydrant, and Pup Art, a bright, colorful room.
There also is an indoor play room and an outdoor play area.
The cage-free facility, located at 6432 Hendrickson Road, is more than decorated rooms and chew toys, said director Kim Russell.
Constant Companions provides employment opportunities to people with mental retardation and developmental disabilities.
During each four- or eight-hour shift, employees with disabilities work with a job coach to feed, walk and water the dogs, as well as clean.
Currently, the Middletown location employs 10 people with disabilities, but with more dogs more people will be employed, Russell said.
Established in 2002, it is a program of Hattie Larlham, an organization that provides care to MRDD clients.
"It's great. It's much nicer than any other doggie day care I've seen," said Gay Covell, who brought her dog in for a tour Thursday.
"And then the mission makes it twice as nice," she said.
In February, the facility also will launch a new after-school and weekend program for children with autism, Russell said.
Constant Companions Doggie Day Care & Boarding
Daytime care from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
$10 per partial day (5 hours or less)
$15 per full day (5-12 hours)
Boarding
Check-in from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
$25 per night
$10 per extra dog in same suite
24 hours a day 365 days a year
For more information about Constant Companions, call (513) 423-8782 or visit hattielarlham.org.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or mengle@coxohio.com.
