We have been warning all of our customers that that the Flea and Tick season is going to be a big one this year. We require all of our doggy daycare and hotel dogs to be on prevention from April-October, but this spring, it might not be a bad idea to start early. FOX 9 did a great story on how to protect your pooch!
Warm Weather Brings Fleas, Ticks Out Early: MyFoxTWINCITIES.com
Chego loves to play outside at doggy daycare!
Today, I jsut took the 3rd call from one of those 1/2 price deal companies… You might have heard of them, their name starts with a G and ends in PON. Anyway, the guy said that we shoudl offer a deal (this is the 4th time in a month they have called us). I just wanted to touch on why we have never offered any type of deal for any of our services at Pampered Pooch Playground. Basically when you sell a deal you have to honor it. So if the dog is not a good fit for our doggy daycare we still have to allow them to come until the special runs out. This means we would have dogs that are a bad fit for daycare in the group. The other reason is that they take over 60% of the sale of the offer. So in a nut shell, we always put the safety of your dog ahead of everything else 
Have a good day!
Keith
Kinnick is the largest of all the Bernese Mountain Dogs that come to our doggy daycare weighing in at about 120 pounds. One way you can tell him apart is by his trademark poofy hair on his head. Kinnick has been coming to us since he was a puppy and is now almost 3 years old! It is often asked, “what is up with the name Kinnick”? His mom went to college at the University of Iowa, and the football stadium is called Kinnick Stadium. He might be a huge dog, but he loves hanging out with the smaller dogs in Waggers Way or the Canine Cove. Kinnick is also a regular face at Bubbly Paws and pulls his mom to the door for his nightly treat!
Roxy supervising the Doggie Den dogs.
Yesterday I had so much fun at doggy daycare and it involved the 2 ladies in my life (Trycia and Roxy). We were all in the Doggie Den supervising some of the daycare dogs playing and Roxy was helping us. Those of you that know her from the lobby know that she like the calm mellow dogs that come in (not the super excited ones that can’t wait to get into the play areas). Roxy does not normally go in the rooms everyday, but her and Trycia are a package deal and they always have to be together. So Roxy was hanging out and helping us supervise everyone. Hope everyone has a good weekend!
Keith
I just received this email from the City of St Louis Park stating that there have been several Coyote sightings in the area. If you have a smaller dog please make sure they are always supervised when they are outside as they are the highest risk. More information can be found on the city website. Below is some of the information that was in the email.
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Coyotes in urban areas are not a new phenomenon, but recently there have been several coyote sightings in St. Louis Park and unfortunately a small dog was recently killed by a wild animal. The City’s website has information on dealing with coyotes: http://www.stlouispark.org/keeping-informed/coyotes-are-among-us.html. The attached articles can also be found in that website article.
This past week Trycia and I were on vacation and every time we leave I always worry about the daycare. Pampered Pooch Playground is our baby, and I is always hard to leave and go somewhere. We have a great crew / mangers and we felt very comfortable leaving it in their hands and they did a wonderful job! First thing Saturday morning I stopped in to make sure everything ran smooth, and it did! Just because we were on vacation does not mean we were out of touch, we emailed daily and always had the phone on just incase anything came up. I really love being to leave and know that the doggy daycare is in GREAT hands and I can’t thank our staff enough to let us be able to go away for a few days and know everything is fine. You might be thinking, “where did you guys go”? Well, we went to the Turks and Caicos islands and had an amazing vacation. Their stray dogs are called Potcakes, and we really debated adopting one and bringing it home, but then we realized Roxy likes being an only child!
Hope everyone had a great weekend!
Keith
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!
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.
The dogs of the Ruff House know how to play hard at doggy daycare, then how to nap!
The dogs in the Ruff House play hard and then it seems like the whole room gets tired at one time! We call this our group nap time. So many doggy daycares do a caged nap time, when every dog goes in a cage for 2 hours and they call this “nap time”. I can honestly tell you that it not a nap time and most of the dogs end up barking for the 2 hours (we tried this when we opened), and the barking was loud enough to stress me out, and the other dogs. So we found a way to have these group nap times, and the dogs do great with it! Resting is also a large part of doggy daycare because you don’t want a tired cranky dog when you pick them up, you just want a tired dog!
Have a good weekend!
Keith
