Healing the Soul

Dogs and their owners can indulge in rituals and healing processes like reiki, an energy healing technique that uses hand motions on and around the body.

DEN URBAN DOG RETREAT IS AN OASIS FOR PETS AND THEIR OWNERS

BY CLAIRE SPINNER

SoCal is a trendsetter for health and wellness, and DEN Urban Dog Retreat in Los Angeles is doing just that for pets.

Animal lovers Lindsay Velez and Victorious Solomon opened DEN in November 2019, an oasis for dogs and their owners. Since then, the business has been featured on Netflix and has become a word-ofmouth sensation.

“We don’t go around saying we’re in the people service business,” Solomon says. “We say we are in the dog service business. All of our services are perfectly designed for you and your dog to get some relaxation.”

Solomon and Velez strive to become an industry leader and help reshape how people view health and wellness with animals and humans.

“We want to be industry disruptors,” Solomon says. “We don’t feel that the care available to dogs is as up to par as it could be.

“The goal is to have a thriving, healthy space for people and their dogs to get together and learn from each other, as well as create a community that has energy and kindness and creativity. We want to change what people think about both pet and personal care.”

DEN offers doggy day care and grooming Monday through Friday, and it provides shuttle service. During day care, dogs participate in activities like hiking, playtime and massages.

Solomon says energetic trainers ensure dogs are having a good time, regardless of their ability to mingle. Without cages, he says, the dogs can relax.

“It’s really all about keeping them happy and relaxed during day care,” Solomon says. “We have a really great system for socializing the dogs while also letting them do their own thing. They can play and have fun, but with the way we do things they aren’t overstimulated or overexerting.”

In addition to its day care and grooming services, DEN offers wellness services for dogs and their owners, using creative and unorthodox methods. The activities include holistic healing services derived from Eastern traditions.

“We offer a lot of services that a lot of people may have never even heard of,” Solomon says. “With our programs, we really just try to heal and balance our members and their dogs.”

Dogs and their owners can indulge in rituals and healing processes like Reiki, an energy healing technique that uses hand motions on and around the body, sound healing, crystal therapy and “doga,” which is, essentially, dog yoga.

“What we do is really unique, and I think that when people are open to this kind of healing it can do a lot,” Solomon says.

Crystal therapy quickly became one of the most popular services. Each crystal has its own healing property, and experts work to find the most susceptible spots in the body to guide dogs and people through the healing.

“We like to keep everything really balanced. We offer these services as a supplementary aspect because we want to be this Montessori School for dogs — or even, your dog’s crystal shop,” Solomon says.

Crystal healing therapy can help radiate positve energy and is effective for rescues that tend to be more fearful and stressed.

Pet Health CBD Supplement benefits include improved skin and coat health, healthier digestive function, natural anti-inflammatory agents, and restored youthful energy and vitality. DEN has several different methods for dogs to heal, relax, and connect with their owner, as well as doggy day care and grooming services.

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The staff work to find what works best for the dogs and the people they serve, and they are always experimenting with new methods.

“We really are aiming to design services to help you and your dog connect, refocus and just know that everything is OK,” Solomon says.

“We want everyone to just take that breath of relief. Dogs literally get sick when they are under too much stress. We get a lot of dogs coming from kill shelters who are actually sick from the environment they’ve been in.

“We work with dogs of all needs levels when it comes to stress, including those who may not have had proper socialization. We try to really meet those needs, even if it takes creativity.”

DEN — which originally stood for “dogs, exercise nutrition,”—focuses on giving people a glimpse of what it does, from a consumer perspective. As a side project, Solomon and his team have taken on the task of documenting what DEN Urban Dog Retreat is all about.

“Dogs, exercise and nutrition is sort of the cornerstone of what we’re doing, but we’ve also started creating this great content and people enjoy it and are asking for more — maybe DEN could stand for ‘Dog Entertainment Network.’”

Through several weeks of filming, DEN is documenting its programs and services, as well as creating helpful videos that could aid DEN’s patrons while at home.

“We have been documenting the process of dog healing in different ways and seeing what people’s reactions look like,” Solomon says.

“We want to capture what we’re doing and make samples of it so that we can create this robust, durable content that we can offer to anyone who does a service with us.”

DEN attributes its success to word-of-mouth “marketing,” as well as Solomon, Velez and the rest of DEN’s team’s effort to spread the word through social media and fliers.

Solomon and Velez plan, organize and decorate everything, so they stay at the facility into the evening. Solomon stays passionate about the business when he sees animals healing.

“Lindsay and I are there until 1 or 2 in the morning every night just planning and making sure everything looks incredible and is ready for the next day,” he says. “But when you see the dogs, it makes everything so worth it, and I think our work really shows in the quality of service we provide.”

This high-quality service and atmosphere are seen throughout DEN’s work and environment. Media attention has allowed DEN to expand, and Solomon says the continued popularity and success stems from the staff’s authenticity and genuineness.

“We want the absolute best for these dogs. The passion and compassion are really at the heart of all of this,” he says. “A Chewy or an Amazon can’t build a company like ours because they don’t have that same heart.”

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