Wednesday, March 17, 2021 | All About Pets
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Pet moms and dads, it’s OK to leave your babies here Your precious furry friends are treated like family at Love Us and Leave Us BY NOAH HOFFENBERG Eagle sponsored content editor PITTSFIELD — Restaurants have just re-
PHOTO PROVIDED BY LOVE US AND LEAVE US
Bass gets the full birthday treatment at Love Us and Leave Us dog day care.
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turned to full capacity. Airlines are booking more and more flights. And reservations are now being accepted for spa treatments and overnight lodging at a Berkshire business that’s expanding to a second site in Lee. Unfortunately, it’s not for you, silly human. It’s for your pets, says Renee Dodds, owner of Love Us and Leave Us. First opening in 2006 as a homebased business, Love Us and Leave Us now has grown into a two-location operation. It has helped owners and their friends at its original location at 1525 West Housatonic St. since 2012, and now does so at its latest venture at 915 Pleasant St. in Lee; the latter just opened Feb. 1. Each site offers dog day care, as well as a dog “spaw” and overnight accommodations. The Lee site also includes dog groupings based on their size, with two different play rooms and outside areas; it also offers kennel suites, “beautiful glass-front little rooms for the dogs,” says Dodds. “They seem to get better sleep when they’re separate.”
Dog pile available But, some dogs do better in a pile, with fellow canines or with their Love Us and Leave Us human companion. For these kinds of social beasts, Dodd’s Pittsfield location has freerange boarding, in which an overnight staffer stays with the dogs; these pups don’t get crated or kenneled, she says. The overnight site is outfitted with a bed, couches and more; Dodds says the dogs sleep where they want.
“We had to get a futon for the end of the person-bed to make an extra-large bed,” she says. This was to fit seven dogs. Co-sleeping isn’t for all dogs, she notes, because of dog temperament; it also costs more than traditional kenneling, because of the sitter. For others, it’s preferred. “Some people don’t like the thought of their dog in a suite. The good side to having someone overnight is that they're always with a person. The downside is that the dog is not separated. You could have a younger dog that wants to stay up all night. They might not get a good night’s sleep,” notes Dodds. These days, overnight business isn’t booming. But, by summer, Dodds expects to hire three or more seasonal employees to meet the demand she expects is around the corner.
All dogs do a trial day All dogs do a trial day at Love Us and Leave Us before they start coming regularly to any programs. “Day care is not for every dog, and there are a lot of dogs that find it too overwhelming and too overstimulating, or just they absolutely hate it. My Lab hates it. She wants to go with me, but will sit in the corner and then growl,” Dodds says of Tilly, 11, a yellow Labrador. Dodds has two other pets, Fergus, 8, a Shiba Inu, and an adopted cat named Schmi, almost 13. Day care is for social animals, and Dodds says it straight: It’s not a normal or natural scenario to put a dog into, which is why it isn’t a good fit for some. “Even though we say dogs are pack animals, they’re not used to being around 30 or 40 other dogs. We introduce them slowly, at their own speed. Some dogs are ready to roll and go right in,” says Dodds.
Getting them plenty of exercise She says many of her dog clients are in the middle of “their teenage phase.” The play regimen at Love us
