Profile of Success



By Kathy Hosler
Photos provided by The Bark Yard



“We used our insider knowledge from the rescue and dog-care community to build our ideal doggy care environment; based on everything we’ve learned about what makes dogs happy and keeps them safe,” says Britt.
“When we were in the planning stages, we heard a podcast with Allison Jacobs of Scout’s Honor Pet Retreat,” she continues. “We were originally going to go with a traditional daycare, but we were so impressed with what we heard, we redid our model to focus on enrichment because we understood what a difference enrichment makes for most dogs and we wanted to make it as widely available as possible.”




“It took us about three years from conception to opening the doors,” Britt shares. “Our 11,000-sq.-ft. facility can handle an average of 60-70 dogs a day at our day camp and 40-50 per night in boarding. We are continuing to build and expand as we go.
“My husband and I have a great division of labor,” continues Britt. “Sully was incredibly instrumental in the financial and physical planning. He designed the entire layout of the building and did a lot of the construction himself.”
Each dog must undergo an evaluation before being accepted for daycare. The evaluation gives The Bark Yard a chance to meet the dog and sit down with the parents to learn about the dog and its history, current needs, play style, etc.
“We are very careful about putting groups of dogs together,” explains Britt. “After the evaluation, the dog goes with one of our counselors and has a meet and greet with a couple of other dogs to see how they do together. We want to make sure that they will enjoy being in a group and feel safe.”


The Bark Yard has a unique policy for their overnight guests, which has proven to work really well.
“We require that everyone who boards with us attend daycare at least once a month,” Britt shares. “That helps them become familiar with the faculty and staff, which lowers the stress of boarding for them. We want this to be a place where they come and have fun with their friends, enjoy treats, and have a sleepover once in a while, verses a place they only come to be left.”
In order to keep everything running smoothly, it takes a top-notch team, and Britt says that their staff is everything.
“Through training and continuing education, we have built a fabulous team,” she proclaims. “We start with a two-week training period, during which they learn all the procedures and policies, and basic dog body language. They shadow with our top trainers and learn hands-on dog handling, how to interact with the pet parents, altercation protocol, and more.




In addition to their daycare and boarding services, The Bark Yard also offers “Happy Dog/Happy Hooman School” training programs, which pet parents have eagerly embraced. The options include day training, board-and-train programs, private training with the parents and small group classes.
“We are so proud of our training programs,” Britt says. “From our work in the rescue field we know that most dogs get surrendered because of behavior issues that are fixable. Not training them during the valuable adolescent months can create lifelong issues.
“The science is there,” Britt adds. “We know the more stressed the brain is, the less it can learn and absorb information.”
Educating people has always been important to Britt. And one way she is able to do that is through the blogs she writes and posts on their website, www.thebarkyard.me.
Britt and Sully’s dream is to scale The Bark Yard and create templates and information for other people who really want to duplicate their success.
“We definitely see a second and third Bark Yard in the near future—filled with happy dogs and happy ‘hoomans,’” Britt concludes.