Speaker 1: 0:43

we want to take a moment and thank first community bank for being a premier sponsor of the podcast. Danielle we're in the studio.

Speaker 2: 0:50

It's raining cats and dogs it is raining cats and dogs. You know what they say. May well, it's's not May, yes, or April showers bring May flowers.

Speaker 1: 0:58

Right, that's what it is, so by the time this airs, hopefully there will be flowers everywhere.

Speaker 2: 1:03

So you're a dog person.

Speaker 1: 1:04

I am a dog person.

Speaker 2: 1:06

And you have a doodle mix right, yes, a labradoodle.

Speaker 1: 1:08

She's a little bit more lab than doodle, but she's fun.

Speaker 2: 1:11

She's a little hot mess, I feel like the doodle craze is like it's out of control it is totally everything has been mixed with the poodle at this point yeah because nobody wants dogs that shed I well, and I'm in the thick of it because I have two german shepherds and right now is their undercoat shedding. I've just been shopping for new robot vacuums. I need more than like a robot vacuum. I need like a live-in, like that's totally out of my mind.

Speaker 1: 1:36

You know how in kitchens now they have those little like vents that you can like sweep.

Speaker 2: 1:40

Oh, I have that.

Speaker 1: 1:41

And it like sucks it up. Yeah, you just need that throughout your whole house.

Speaker 2: 1:44

Oh no, except that it scares everyone in my house and everyone screams oh my goodness, so. I can't use it unless everyone's gone, and then my dog vacuum. But, anyway, our guests today. They are the dog experts. They are dog experts. We have Dawn and Max Bachman here with Canine Luxury Resorts. Welcome.

Speaker 4: 2:02

Thank you for having us today.

Speaker 5: 2:03

We're so excited to be here.

Speaker 1: 2:09

Yeah, thank you for being here, so we're going to jump right in and talk a little bit about your story. What brought you to Northwest Arkansas, why'd you stay and tell us a little bit about that journey for opening up Canine Resorts.

Speaker 4: 2:17

Excellent.

Speaker 5: 2:18

You can go first. You've been here longer than I have.

Speaker 4: 2:20

Well, what brought me to Northwest Arkansas? That's easy. I moved here when I was five, so my parents had everything to do with it. My parents thought that they would retire here and buy a piece of land and farm it out, and that was my early childhood. And grew up in Fayetteville and have lived all over this area over the last 35 plus years and along the way I've moved away, have moved back, moved away, moved back and always just gravitated back to this area. It's just a great place to be community and excited to see the growth over all this period of time as well.

Speaker 1: 2:55

Yeah, that is. It is a great place to be be. So, dawn, what brought you to Northwest Arkansas?

Speaker 5: 3:00

So I came to Northwest Arkansas to go to the U of A and really just stayed after that. I have now been here for over 25 years and just really love the area. It's a great place to raise your kids. Obviously, I found my husband here. It's just so warm and welcoming. And all of the growth that has been happening over the last few years.

Speaker 5: 3:21

I mean when I moved here there was a flashing yellow light in Bella Vista, because I'm from Kansas City and so coming down you have to drive through Bella Vista, or did at that time. There was a flashing yellow light and then no exit off the highway until you got to 412 in Springdale. Oh, wow, and now there's an exit every mile off the highway. Yes, there is Just seeing all of the change. Come a long way here. Yes, long. Just seeing all of the change.

Speaker 5: 3:47

And then, as our community grows I think to answer your next question of what led us to wanting to open canine resorts we just saw the needs of the community led us to wanting to open canine resorts. We just saw the needs of the community Coming out of the pandemic there were so many families that brought dogs into their homes during that time and now coming out of the pandemic, with all of the growth, everyone that we talked to wanted to know what do you do with your dogs, where do you take your dogs, where do you board your dogs? What do you do with your dogs during the day, now that you're going back to work? And we actually got two pandemic puppies. We have two toy poodles, dakota and Pepper. So cute and we love them and they are cute and they keep us busy. And as we were getting called back into the office coming out of the pandemic, we wanted something and a place for them to go, where they would be pampered, and that led us down the path of finding Canine Resort.

Speaker 2: 4:34

And you know people are spending so much on their dogs now. It really blows my mind Like the industry is huge pet products and pet care, and I mean you have a growing number of people that consider their dogs their children. They're not having children and they're putting it off. And then you've got crazy people like us that have small children and dogs.

Speaker 1: 4:52

And dogs I don't know what we're thinking, and the small children who believe their dog are their best friends.

Speaker 2: 4:57

Yes or their siblings.

Speaker 3: 4:58

Yeah, I mean.

Speaker 1: 4:59

Ardely just had a dog birthday party. She did, and her priority was not her friends getting a goodie bag as they leave the party, but the dogs getting a goodie bag. I love that. Of course they need a goodie bag, of course, of course. They needed, of course, of course. So each little dog got a little bone, a ball, and some like cookies, some like little dog cookies, and she, I mean she, just she loved it.

Speaker 3: 5:22

So I love that yes.

Speaker 2: 5:24

Yes, we are in a very dog eat dog world, like yes, so I actually booked a stay for my dog, heidi, at your resort.

Speaker 1: 5:32

Thank you.

Speaker 2: 5:32

And I have to say, at first the, the French shampoo and conditioner I was really impressed by. I was like, wow, I don't wash my dogs with anything fancy like that, you're like I don't wash my dogs at all.

Speaker 1: 5:42

That's what that smell is in your house, daniel. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2: 5:46

No, but what I was most impressed with was, after all, the questions. They were like and would you like us to feed your dog some homemade ice cream every day? Yes, I was like.

Speaker 1: 5:58

Well of course I would 100%.

Speaker 2: 5:59

Why wouldn't I let her have ice cream while we're traveling without her? I was impressed with every step of the way. I feel like I was talking to a concierge or something at a Ritz-Carlton, but for your dog it was a really good experience. She's excited to stay there.

Speaker 5: 6:12

While you're on your amazing vacation, we want your dog to have a five-star luxury stay.

Speaker 4: 6:18

Yeah, we do spend a lot of time trying to get to know every customer's dog and I tell our staff you're interviewing the customer just as much as they're looking for a place for their dog, Because the more that we know, the better we can service and care for the dog in our care and ensure that the dog has a wow experience and our staff is safe and we feel like we're servicing the dog to the quality that you're expecting and that's the purpose of it yeah, I will say when I was making ice cream a couple weekends ago we have different.

Speaker 4: 6:48

We have different flavors and I was. I happened to be making the peanut butter and I almost thought about trying it. Oh, you should please try it and then tell us it smells so good, I bet it tastes good.

Speaker 1: 7:00

My friend, her child, pranked our other friend with cookies, brought her a little you know bin of cookies and they were dog cookies. She 100 ate them. She was like they were fine, so I bet that ice cream is even better.

Speaker 2: 7:12

Oh yeah, it is. I want to try the dog, the peanut butter, not the chicken, or like the beef, how about the liver, the maple bacon?

Speaker 1: 7:20

Oh, okay, I mean I might try the maple bacon. That sounds good.

Speaker 4: 7:24

The other thing. You know. Dawn talked a lot about the community and what we heard from the community around capacity and looking for an upscale, high-end resort. That's just not here. But what came out of that between our own experiences as well was we knew there had to be a better way for the health and safety of the pets. That was at the foundation of what we wanted to do. So, yes, the high-end resort and bringing that differentiation to the community was important, but it had to be built on the foundation of a facility that really focused on the health and safety of the pet, and that was extremely important in canine resorts and bringing that too.

Speaker 2: 7:59

Oh yeah, the last thing you want is to pick your dog up and some things that they're not well or something has happened to them. I think that's great that you brought it here, and it's even more impressive that you both work full-time, day jobs and then started this on your own. So you guys must be really busy.

Speaker 5: 8:16

We're very busy, very busy, and we have two teenagers. We have a 17-year-old, annabelle she actually works for us in the resort. She enjoys hanging out with the dogs all day and then we have a 14-year-old, maya, who is both of them are actually involved in sports as well. So we have an all-star cheerleader that requires travel and lots of practices, and we have a tennis player that requires lots of practices and private sessions and tournaments. And so, in addition to focusing on creating an amazing environment for our pets here in Northwest Arkansas yes, taking care of our day jobs and ensuring we do those to the best of our abilities, we've got to take care of ourselves and take care of our kids as well.

Speaker 2: 8:59

And so it comes down to a lot of prior planning.

Speaker 4: 9:01

Yeah, you guys need to have you seen that movie. Multiplicity, I love that movie.

Speaker 2: 9:03

You guys need to multiply yourselves a few times.

Speaker 5: 9:06

It definitely takes a village. You need friends that help.

Speaker 4: 9:10

It does and kids that understand too, and so that's. One nice thing is our kids are a little bit older, so the 17 year old can help out and the 14 year old, well, it's a little harder on her. I think with her age she understands and you can have those more adult conversations about why we're doing what we're doing and sometimes the sacrifices of maybe it's a Friday night and she wants to for us to run her somewhere and we just can't Right, having that understanding, Thanks so much.

Speaker 1: 9:37

Let's talk a little bit about canine resorts as a franchise. I think something that I find really interesting thinking about the small business world and how sometimes people don't realize that a franchise is owned by local people in their community. And so let's talk a little bit about why you chose canine resorts versus trying to start a dog resort all on your own and just even like the benefits of owning a franchise.

Speaker 4: 10:03

Originally we wanted to do this on our own, and that was always a dream of mine was to start something from scratch, cultivate it blood, sweat and tears. You get out of it what you put into it. But, as Don mentioned, with us both working, realized quickly that that just really wasn't a reality. And moving into an industry.

Speaker 4: 10:25

That was not our background, both of us being in accounting and finance, and yes, it's been three years now and we've learned a lot. I've gotten multiple certifications in the pet industry for boarding, et cetera. At the time it wasn't there and we had to look for a partner. But that was really difficult because, as I mentioned, the foundation of what we were trying to bring was high-end luxury services but focusing on the health and safety of the pet. And when I looked at other franchises, they just didn't meet the mark and it wasn't any different than what the community was saying they didn't want or hearing their experiences with other locations. And it was actually kind of difficult. But luckily stumbled upon Canine Resorts on our own and fell in love with the brand, because immediately we realized that, yes, not only was it a very high-end facility, but it was a state-of-the-art facility with health and safety at the forefront of what they brought to the table. That's awesome. What?

Speaker 5: 11:19

we really didn't want is to have your dog not want to come into our facility right. Our canine resorts is really focused on the health and happiness of the dogs and transparency to their humans right and to their owners, and so we want it to be fun when they come to canine resorts. In fact, we've had several of our guests owners say our dogs just pull us in as soon as we pull into the parking lot. They can't wait to get out of the car, and then they almost pulled me over and I almost knocked my teeth out on the sidewalk because they're so excited to get in Right. So we provide that great experience for them. But what we didn't want was for them to have anxiety when they got in the car or when they came into our parking lot. We definitely didn't want them to have anxiety Right, and we've had several of our community members or neighborhood members who have talked to us and it's even been our experience where our dogs have just come home and they haven't eaten for the entire time that we were gone and and they've lost weight or they're just shaggy and you can tell they don't feel well and it takes two weeks for them to get comfortable with the fact that you're not leaving them again and you're not leaving them with strangers or you're not leaving them somewhere where they're going to be overwhelmed with lots of noise and lots of other dogs just barking at each other. And so we're really excited.

Speaker 5: 12:36

When we found Canine Resorts, we went and we visited. We visited multiple facilities and several of the general managers told us parents come to pick up their dogs. We go and get their dogs and start to bring them out. They get really excited, they run out, give their parents a lick and then they turn around to run back in and we said, yeah, that doesn't happen until we actually saw it. And we saw this one parent that had to pick their dog up to carry them out because their dog wanted to stay, and we just felt like that was something that we could buy into and something that we could be proud of and bring to Northwest Arkansas and cultivate that environment here for all those dog owners in Northwest Arkansas. I love that. That's awesome.

Speaker 2: 13:16

Oh yeah, I definitely think it was a need here, because there really just weren't a lot of options. Yeah.

Speaker 4: 13:22

We do a lot of things different and that's what I really liked as well. So if you think of what's standard in your own experience, every facility that you've either gone to truly transparent. When your dog goes behind the door, do you know what's going on? Are they inviting you back to take a tour? Do you hear dogs? Do you smell dogs? And all of that leads to anxiety and a less healthy space. It doesn't mean that other facilities they're not good facilities and that's not what I'm trying to insinuate. We're just trying to go above and beyond the standards to do as much as possible for the health and safety of your pet.

Speaker 2: 14:06

Oh yeah, I appreciate that, because my dogs, I think, are just naturally anxious, and I don't know if that's because around me, because I'm an anxious person. Well, honestly, I was.

Speaker 1: 14:16

You know, when Max was talking I was thinking about. You know, dogs are going to read their humans and if the human is anxious, they're not going to want to be there.

Speaker 2: 14:26

When they say you get maybe your dog, my german shepherd, I don't know, maybe what does that say about us and luna?

Speaker 1: 14:34

she's a lunatic, oh my god, I know I can't wait. We at some point you know, once we get past like the breeding phase, like, and get her fixed like, I definitely want to bring her to canine. She won't do well on her own, she will crave other dogs and so she gets a lot of a lone one on one time she's my husband's shadow.

Speaker 4: 14:57

We have three dogs right now from a family. Two dogs are staying together and one dog who has a lot more anxiety. The pet parent reserved one of our luxury suites, which is an eight foot by eight foot completely private room, just because they know their dog has. That particular dog has a little bit more anxiety. So because we've zoned our facility into multiple zones throughout, we have options for pet parents for all levels, whether it's anxiety, whether it's some parents just don't want their dogs around other dogs at all, and we're able to provide those types of accommodations. And then we have a completely separate area for private play dogs. So some facilities. If your dog's not altered or of a certain breed, they will just not take your dog, and so we're able to service those pet parents as well. With the bottom caveat we always say the dog has to be people-friendly. If the dog is people-friendly, then we've got many different options how to service that dog for that pet parent.

Speaker 1: 15:57

That's so awesome. I know your luxury suites are amazing. We've seen them in person. My daughter actually I'm going to talk about her a lot in this episode because she loves yeah, she wants to spend the night in a luxury suite at canine she'll have her own television she know, yeah, she's like I'm gonna bring my stuff down I'm gonna bring luna with me yeah, she 100 would.

Speaker 1: 16:20

Let me. Let me tell you, uh, yeah, she's funny. She also told me that she wants to work at Canine Resource when she gets older. Oh, you have a future worker there. Yeah, so we're pretty excited about just all the things that you guys are doing. I want to back up a little bit and just talk about. I think it's awesome to talk about your business and the things that you're doing here in this community. I'd love to hear a little bit more about your story and how you guys met and what that looks like. I think that's such a fun. Part of what we're doing here on our podcast is getting to know people in all sorts of ways, so why don't you tell us a little bit about how you guys met?

Speaker 5: 16:55

Sure. So, as I mentioned, I came down here many years ago to go to the U of A, and one night when I was at the U of A I worked at Boatman's Bank. It's since been bought out by Bank of America and Boatman's doesn't exist any longer, but I was a teller there and the teller right next to my space, her husband, used to come in to the bank all the time and so I got to know Roy pretty well just by his visiting frequently. And so one night I had gone out with the girls and saw we were at George's on Dixon Street down in Fayetteville and I saw Roy and started talking to Roy and Roy was like come on down and come sit with us. And so I went down and sat at his table and started talking with Roy and some of his friends and looked down at the other end of the table and Max was at the other end of the table. That's how we met. Do you want to tell the rest of the story?

Speaker 4: 17:56

Yeah, it was an interesting night because, like she said, the guys had gone out and I had one sort of thing in mind and that was just really to go out and have fun and no matter what. I was not going to talk to girls that night, like it was the guy's night Little did you know Exactly?

Speaker 2: 18:14

It was the guy's night Little did you know Exactly, it was the guy's night. Guy's night every night, not anymore. Little party reference.

Speaker 4: 18:19

Yeah, and that's the way the night started. And so I think when Dawn came down to the table and we started talking, at first it was truly that it was just nothing more than nice to meet you. She worked with a friend of mine's, wife, and my mental state at the time was it's guy's night and I was going to stick with it. And then the more I talked to her, the farther that went away and it was a good night. And so I had ridden to Georgia's with my friends and I said, okay, here's an opportunity, dawn, can you give me a ride home? She says, yep, I'd be happy to. And my friends kept saying no, no, no, no, we've got you. And so now they wouldn't take the cue that hey, look, I appreciate it, but I don't necessarily need the ride anymore. And so they finally got the hint. We never looked back. I think, dawn, we have our what year anniversary next month.

Speaker 1: 19:15

Our 24th anniversary is next's next month, in may. Congratulations, thank you. That's really awesome.

Speaker 4: 19:19

Sure it's not 25. I'm sure you sure was it 1999 or 2000?

Speaker 1: 19:25

that's the question 99.

Speaker 5: 19:26

Then it's 25 years oh, oh, it's our 25th he's like trying to.

Speaker 4: 19:32

He's trying to correct you without correcting you and the funny thing is and I know you- know I can't get my ring off because my hand's swollen right now. But the funny thing is, she engraved it in my ring so I'd never forget it. And she forgot it.

Speaker 5: 19:49

I know the date, I know the date, I just don't do math.

Speaker 2: 19:52

Well, oh, I'm the same with 100 percent. 100 percent. I can't believe I absolutely can't do math.

Speaker 1: 19:55

Well, oh, I'm the same with you. I'm like 100 percent, a hundred percent.

Speaker 4: 19:57

I can't believe, I absolutely can't believe she didn't get that right.

Speaker 1: 20:02

It's kind of great, though, so I like that you were really trying to be discreet in correcting her, and so what are you guys going to?

Speaker 4: 20:09

do I don't know. Here's the unfortunate thing is is like we are literally you know we talked about just how busy life is right now. I truly, we're literally living day by day at this point in time. And you know, there's days like I say you know what? Today I'm not going into the resort, and then I get the phone call. You know this happened or that happened, or you know, this door, this lock isn't working on a door, or just. And then here I go.

Speaker 2: 20:37

I've heard that other friends of mine that have open businesses are like oh, it's Christmas Day and something at the whatever studio or something that they own, the whole family's up there. And she's like now my husband's learning how to be a mechanic or like you just learn and go and you have to fix stuff. But I admire that about entrepreneur entrepreneurship so much, because you just sometimes things happen. Maybe you haven't done it before, but you're like I'm just going to do it.

Speaker 1: 21:02

And I'm sure there's a YouTube video out there to help you with that too.

Speaker 2: 21:05

Oh yeah, how to fix it, how to do it.

Speaker 1: 21:08

I mean, that applies to our house. I have done that many times actually.

Speaker 4: 21:11

Dawn's birthday was April 16th and I will admit I'm one of the worst around gifts and recognizing that certain dates mean something to somebody versus myself, and as I begin to age, I don't even want to think about my birthdays, and so as busy as it was, it was just a win to pull the family together to have dinner and have small gifts, just to small gifts, just to recognize the day, because we don't eat dinner anymore together and when we find those small opportunities it is very nice to do.

Speaker 1: 21:44

Oh, so you did remember her birthday, and you my girls were not going to.

Speaker 4: 21:49

They were like on me for days.

Speaker 1: 21:52

They got your back. They got your back.

Speaker 4: 21:54

They were. They were like dad. What are you doing for mom's birthday, dad? We need to verify. We want to physically verify that the presents have been bought like yeah, they were on me for days that's amazing smart kids.

Speaker 1: 22:08

You raised them well.

Speaker 5: 22:09

You did raise them well here's those little moments where you think they don't listen, don't listen, don't listen. And then you hear something like this and you're like oh yeah, they heard it.

Speaker 2: 22:18

Aww, I know, because teenagers you think that they just don't care or they just want to Be with their friends. Mom and dad aren't cool, but then it's sweet to hear that they wanted to make sure you felt special on your birthday. Yes, so they do care.

Speaker 5: 22:32

I appreciate them and I love them very much.

Speaker 1: 22:35

Are they very supportive of the business? Are they interested in getting involved? What does that look like as a family?

Speaker 5: 22:41

Our oldest one is Annabelle. She works for us, she works at the resort and she loves it and she wants to learn all the positions. So right now she's a pet care technician and she works in the back with the dogs in the daycare, gives baths. She loves to play with the dogs and take care of the dogs, feed the dogs, but she wants to do something that's outside of her skill set. She's always been a pet lover and never really a people lover, but she wants to learn how to be a customer service representative.

Speaker 2: 23:07

That's a growing trend these days.

Speaker 1: 23:10

Yes, it is. Dogs over people.

Speaker 5: 23:14

Yes, but she wants to learn how to be a customer service representative, right? She wants to learn what are the steps, how do you engage with people, how do you engage with customers the business side of it as well. It comes with a selling component to it to bring in customers and to give them that wow, five-star customer service experience. So those are things she wants to learn as well, so it gives her the opportunity to do that.

Speaker 4: 23:36

The downside is is because she gets paid at work. Now she thinks she always asked if I asked her to do anything else outside of work. Am I on the clock? Am I getting paid for this?

Speaker 2: 23:47

She is smart. She is super smart. Am I on the clock? Am I getting paid for this? She is smart. She is super smart. Am I on the clock? Yeah, she's got executive disposition.

Speaker 1: 23:52

This is the time when you volunteer as a member of the family, and here's when you are an employee. She thinks she's moving to the top. Oh yeah, oh yeah, I bet she does. How old is she? 17.

Speaker 3: 24:03

Oh yeah, she's moving to the top, for sure.

Speaker 1: 24:05

For sure. Tell us a little bit about as we kind of get closer to wrapping this up. Tell us a little bit about something that you've learned through opening this business, and maybe some words of wisdom to our listeners.

Speaker 5: 24:16

I think you really have to know your skillsets and what you're good at. Opening a business is incredibly stressful Everything from do you have the site plan to where are you going to open, to how much is it going to cost. Do you have the lending, All the things you have to buy along the way. Is the construction going well? It's incredibly stressful and that can lead to stress at home, stress in your personal life, In addition to are you meeting?

Speaker 5: 24:41

as we've said we have full-time day jobs, stress at work you carry that over and Max and I have handled that really well. We've not let it kind of bleed into our personal lives. And so we've also said Max does really well at the operational functions, I do really well at more of the HR, social, people-friendly type functions. And so we've divided and conquered, if you will, based on the skill sets we know that we have and that we're really good at, and that's helped us maybe compartmentalize that stress a little bit.

Speaker 4: 25:13

Yeah, I think for me it's not so much. I think I knew this going in, but then, living through it, you really experience it. Construction will take longer than advertised, it will cost more than advertised and you can have the best GC in the world. You have to be involved. If you're not involved, weeks, a day turns into a week, turns into a month, and that's real dollars for small business owners that most people only have so much capital to go. And so just be involved, understand where the processes are, ask the questions If something doesn't look right, it's probably not right and then just find time for yourself. Periodically. You have to still even if you're used to it's not going to be full days, if it's an hour Find time for yourself or for your family, your spouse, and just recognize that if you don't let that pressure out, some way or another it's going to build, and I think we've done a good job with that.

Speaker 5: 26:08

We have a great staff at K9. We're really excited about the team that we've built and have brought together and the service they provide to our guests. But no one's going to love it like we love it.

Speaker 1: 26:18

Right.

Speaker 5: 26:18

Right, we have been here a really long time in Northwest Arkansas and we've seen the growth and we want to be great community members, we want to be great employers, we want to build a great welcoming culture and we can do that. But it takes time and it takes being there. Like you said, Max, you know being called in the middle of the day when you didn't expect to show up, and now I have. We have to go by, right.

Speaker 5: 26:42

An alarm going off in the middle of the night, All of those things being there to train, being there to guide, being there just to say hi to a customer the hardest thing for me has been just take a step back.

Speaker 4: 26:53

Trust the staff. They're there, you've hired the staff, you've got great staff and, as Dawn said, no one's going to love it as much as you. But now they're at that point where and it's hard, but Let them run it and be there to support them, be there to empower them, but they don't need you as much as you think they do now that we've been open and they're doing a great job.

Speaker 2: 27:14

It's funny you say that, because I have heard that when you start a business, it's almost feels the same I mean not similar to having a child, but it feels like you've created something and like you're saying, if you've done a good job, they should just it should be able to function with you step takings, but of course you need to oversee and check in, and so it kind of sounds like that.

Speaker 4: 27:34

So I still look at everything on the background. So I go into the systems, I look at our invoices, our deposits, our customers. Who's coming in today? Who's going home today? I know every dog that's coming into that facility on any given day today. Who's going home today? I know every dog that's coming into that facility on any given day. But now, instead of being on the forefront and interacting and pushing from their standpoint, now I send that to my management team. Let them run and operate and then if there's anything that we need to discuss, we do it, and so that, from a staff perspective, it doesn't feel like the owner's coming in all the time and critiquing, because it's hard not to. You want everything to run exactly right, and that's a learning. Is you hire them to do a job, trust them to do it, but still, I say trust, but verify.

Speaker 2: 28:21

I like that.

Speaker 1: 28:22

Trust but verify. Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, it's your business. So, as we finish things out, tell us a little bit, or tell us what is your favorite thing about Northwest Arkansas.

Speaker 4: 28:34

I love the outdoors aspect of Northwest Arkansas and the older I get, unfortunately, the less time that I have to enjoy it, just with everything that's going on. But the vision and goal is to always get back to that. But I love the diversity that's here as well, and for me, because I travel all over the world and I tend to go to cities that have 10 plus million people. In a city up to 20 plus million, I feel comfortable here, Like there's enough to keep you, there's enough big city without the big city Correct, and the pace of life is perfect.

Speaker 5: 29:08

It really is. You just stole my line. I was going to say I love Northwest Arkansas because it's the suburb of the big city, without the big city. It has the arts, it has the dining, it has shopping. You can get anything that you want here. You can do anything you want here, whether it's nature, whether it's museums, whether it's event planning. You can do any of those things here, any entertainment, and that filters into the nature part. You can be on your own, you can do it as a group. You can make new friends. You can do it with pets, you can do it without pets. It's very open and welcoming, yet it still has that hometown feel.

Speaker 2: 29:46

Oh yeah, I agree with that, although making friends when you're older is getting harder and harder.

Speaker 5: 29:51

Your friends tend to be your kids' parents.

Speaker 2: 29:54

It is. That's exactly what it is.

Speaker 5: 29:56

It's your kids' friends', parents.

Speaker 2: 29:57

Through life with you in that moment. Yes, okay, so tell us how our listeners can find you on social. Any specials you want to announce? Going on anything else you want to talk about this?

Speaker 5: 30:08

is your time, Come check us out. You can follow us on Instagram at K9, that's the letter K, the number nine resorts underscore Rogers. On Facebook at K9 Resorts Rogers. Our website is k9resortscom. Forward slash Rogers. Or you can give us a call at 479-278-4045.

Speaker 4: 30:32

We put new specials out all the time. Our May special is 15% off our daycare packages. On top of every package that you buy, you get an additional discount 15% off that price and then we're always coming up with new promotions. If you follow us on Instagram or Facebook, you'll find those promotions. Some of those types of promotions coming out will be codes for boarding, reservation discounts, et cetera, for different communities or different groups of people belonging to other Events. Yeah, I'm looking for the right word. Other groups Northwest Arkansas groups.

Speaker 1: 31:06

Like organizations or nonprofits. Okay, correct, all right.

Speaker 4: 31:07

Awesome, that's really cool that you're partnering with different organizations around here For the right word other groups Northwest Arkansas groups Like organizations or nonprofits.

Speaker 1: 31:09

Correct, okay, correct, all right. Awesome, that's really cool that you're partnering with different organizations around here. Well, thank you so much for coming on our show. Thank you for being one of our sponsors. We're really excited to promote your business and really thankful that you could come be in the studio with us today.

Speaker 2: 31:23

Yes, thank you for being a sponsor. We've loved hearing about your business and your story too. Your meet cute, meet cute yeah.

Speaker 4: 31:30

And your dog's names are.

Speaker 2: 31:32

Heidi and Aukin.

Speaker 4: 31:33

Heidi and Aukin I will remember that and Luna.

Speaker 1: 31:36

Luna, yeah, lunatic, just kidding.

Speaker 4: 31:39

I won't tell the staff that it's lunatics coming in. No, she's not.

Speaker 1: 31:53

Honestly, she's not really a lunatic. It's kind of a joke that we call her that. She's really truly just kind of scared of people and she's very close to us and so she just wants to be with her people. But she, you know, she doesn't like snap or bite, she's gonna. Her bark is like so loud and obnoxious. But she, you come near her and she's like, oh okay, I'll stop barking now we have lots of golden doodles we do, and we have shepherds as well.

Speaker 2: 32:08

Yes, some people are scared of them, but she's been trained.

Speaker 5: 32:11

That's great we were really glad that you came to our grand opening and you got to see our entire facility and we were glad that we got to meet you there and very grateful for that. So thank you for allowing us to come on and tell our story.

Speaker 2: 32:23

You're welcome. Thank you for coming. Hey, thanks so much for listening today. If you liked what you heard, please consider subscribing to the podcast so you never miss an episode. You can also follow us on instagram at people of nwa.

Speaker 3: 32:33

Thanks so much people of northwest arkansas with the two daniels produced by me brock short of civil republic productions. Please rate, review and like us on any podcast platform where you listen. For more information about today's guests and the show, please check the show notes. Thanks for listening.