Tina Merrill pampers dogs for a living, but even she is amazed when clients at her pet-boarding facility ask whether the rooms have TVs. “Dogs don’t need TVs,” says Merrill, chuckling. “Some of our customers are rather eccentric.”
Well, yes. But Merrill, MBA ’99, isn’t running a typical kennel, either. Her “deluxe hotel for dogs,” Citizen Canine, provides four-star service for pooches whose owners are out of town. Located in Oakland, Citizen Canine has 50 rooms, some as large as 80 square feet, featuring amenities such as supervised playgroups, daily maid service and “cozy blankets.” Dogs that stay five nights at the deluxe rate ($42 per night) receive a complimentary bath. (Whether the dogs consider that a perk isn’t clear.)
For many pet owners, this may all seem extravagant, but Citizen Canine’s customers “have an elevated relationship with their dogs,” says Merrill. “The dogs are like their children.” Citizen Canine attempts to simulate a dog’s normal home life, according to Merrill, and both the animals and their humans seem to appreciate it. Despite rates more than twice as high as standard kennels, it is booked solid six months ahead and has served more than 3,000 pet owners, a few hundred of whom return several times a year.
“I knew the market was there,” says Merrill, who was frustrated by her own inability to find a place that would do more than keep her dog fed and watered. She developed the business plan for Citizen Canine while a student at Stanford and opened the facility in October 2000, just as the dot-com balloon was rapidly losing air. So far, the business has been recession-proof. Merrill has 18 employees running the 24-hour facility, and although “my Wall Street friends probably wouldn’t invest,” it is making a small profit.
