FREDERICKTOWN — Pets get the royal treatment at a new spa that caters to canines.
Doggy Day Spa, a dog grooming and boarding business, recently opened at 17476 North Liberty Road.
Owner Lindsay Miller said she had a small pet grooming business at her home for about six years, before she had her new 2,400-square-foot building built. She said the new location opened in March, and provides full service grooming for all dog breeds, as well as cats. Grooming includes things such as cleaning and clipping toenails.
“Basically we treat other people’s pets like they’re our own,” Miller said.
Miller said the boarding rooms are more like miniature bedrooms for dogs. They are spacious and give dogs plenty of room, and could house multiple dogs. Most rooms have a covered area outside that can be accessed via a small door, when the weather allows. Each room comes with a child’s bed.
“We wanted to create a place that wasn’t scary [for the dogs],” Miller said. “It’s not the typical kennel environment.”
She said people who come for the boarding usually are going on vacation or work trips, or they just may drop off their pet for a day. Miller added that her mother-in-law, Claudia Stanley, does the grooming; her husband, Brandon Miller, also helps run the business on the weekends. Miller said they groom about 20 dogs a day. The number of dogs they provide boarding for varies; last week they were taking care of 27 dogs.
In other business news, the historic building at the corner of South Main Street and Vine Street in Mount Vernon is undergoing major renovations and could have new commercial occupants in the future. Judy McCardell, co-owner, said the building, whose address includes both 16 S. Main St. and 9 E. Vine St., required some structural repairs. A restoration group came in and put things like rods and I-beams in where necessary to keep the east wall from falling down. The building is now structurally sound. Workers are repairing the bricks at 9 E. Vine St., which were deteriorating.
McCardell, a rug weaver, co-owns the building with her brother, James Arbogast. Both live outside of Danville. She said they bought the building last year and have been making improvements gradually since that time.
“As soon as we bought the building we started contacting restoration groups,” McCardell said.
At 9 E. Vine St., the floor and walls in the back room have been replaced, and handicapped accessible bathrooms have been put in, she said. The stairs that lead from the second to the third floor, where there is a nice ballroom rented by Auxiliary Creations, a baton twirling training business, have been replaced. McCardell said they are using their own funds and did not obtain any grant money to make the repairs, so it is a bit slow going.
“We’re taking it one step at a time,” she said. “We’re trying to do as much of the renovations as we can. We want to restore the ballroom and hopefully have wedding receptions there.”
McCardell said several business people have expressed interest in renting the space at 9 E. Vine St. There are also office spaces on the second floor of 16 S. Main St. that will be renovated in the future. Since they are doing everything gradually, she said she doesn’t know when the complete renovations of the building will be complete or the full amount of the renovation.
