Doggie Daycare.

• Author: CLARK, NANCY
• Position: Big Backyard pet care center, Denver, Colorado - Brief Article

IT'S A CHILD'S LIFE FOR YOUR PET

It's one thing to preview a preschool in which you hope to enroll your toddler. But a puppy interview, to see if yours is a candidate for doggie daycare, is entirely new. That's exactly what we -- my six-month-old Old English Sheepdog, emma.com, and I -- got when we entered Denver's The Big Backyard, which is akin to any children's daycare center.

The walls are brightly painted and decorated with seasonal messages -- in this case Halloween pumpkins and ghosts. Bulletin boards are filled with Polaroids of the attending dogs with their names scrawled underneath, and the wall is lined with cubbies for each dog's personal belongings, usually consisting of lunch and a collar.

We're welcomed to a separate room by owner Tracy Jackson, where she explains she will introduce emma.com to other dogs one-by-one in an isolated playroom.

Suddenly, I'm the one who's nervous. Going back 20 years, I could bribe my child to behave for this kind of interview, but my squirmy puppy isn't listening. She's sniffing wildly. All the training we've invested in seems to have been left in the car. But emma.com is accepted.

A new breed of entrepreneur has cornered an innovative luxury market. The Big Backyard is designed to meet a basic need, albeit an animal one. This doggie daycare facility right in the heart of Denver (one of only three in the city) has a daily waiting list that barks success.

Jackson bought the existing 8,000-square-foot facility in May. The University of Denver graduate with a degree in psychology has a team of four employees running the facility, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. No overnight or weekend boarding is offered.

The cost is $l2 for a half day, or $19 for a full day. While city code regulations limit any kennel to 60 dogs, Jackson has imposed a limit of her own: 50.

Jackson provides water; dogs bring their own...