Going to the dogs.

• Author: Mildenberg, David

Pet care is a $60 billion business that has grown almost 70% over the last decade as more people shower Fido and Rover with unceasing attention. It is a megatrend that had absolutely nothing to do with Traci Whiteside's decision in 2006 to open a doggie day care in Granite Falls, a town of 4,700 between Lenoir and Hickory. After 10 years as a part-time dog trainer, she wanted to offer better care for dogs than was available in her area. The first in her family to attend college, the Appalachian State University graduate had little business experience, having worked as a social worker at a Lenoir hospice. The concept was relatively new nationally, much less in a sparsely populated area that has struggled as foreign competition prompted the closing of most furniture plants and textile mills.

"People said our business wouldn't work here because this is Caldwell County, where people just tie their dogs to trees out back," says Traci's husband, Kenny, who left a nursing career 18 months ago to work full time overseeing the company's finances. "One of our first clients, Brad Aldridge, laughed at us and said we were silly to open the business. But then he brought his 10-week-old dog Brownie to us and saw what a difference training made." The chocolate Labrador retriever, now 8, learned how to get along with other dogs and people. Aldridge now calls himself "that idiot" for underestimating Traci's concept.

Started in a 1,000-square-foot space in a strip mall by Traci and one other employee, Club Canine moved within a year to a 5,000-square-foot building subleased by a dog boarder who had tired of the business. The company now employs the equivalent of 13 full-time workers in a 10,000-square-foot building. Its popularity with vacationing dog owners forces the Whitesides to turn away clients, particularly during summer months and Christmas holidays. They also reject some potential business if dogs show too much anxiety around other animals or trainers.

Staffers are on-site from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., training, exercising and grooming dogs, which spend their time in four different play areas and enough suites to house 85 dogs. Day care is $26 per day, with overnight stays costing $37. Unlike humans, perhaps, not every dog prefers the best-available suite, which at Club Canine includes an outdoor patio. "Some dogs need a...