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If you have ever come home from work to an energetic dog demanding your attention when you barely have enough energy to take your shoes off and flop onto the couch, Parkland Pet Resort may be the answer to your—and your dog’s—dreams.
Offering drop-off daycare and long-term boarding, a stay at Parkland might give your dog enough socialization, activity and exercise to make it happy to join you on the couch for an evening’s relaxation.
“Caring for a dog can be really overwhelming for some people,” said owner Jessica Tonascia. “Their dogs drive them nuts with all the energy they’ve stored from being cooped up all day. Some people have said our resort is the only reason they’ve been able to keep their dog.”
Tonascia first worked with dogs at Dogwood Ranch in Prunedale, a resort owned by her parents, where she oversaw the operation. But she has been around dogs all her life. Her mother, Kim Stofer, founded Stofer Labs, a breeding, boarding and training kennel, 20 years ago.
“My husband farms here in Hollister,” she said. “I noticed that the city has few boarding facilities and nothing like ours. Ours has more of a resort-like feel where dogs are temperament-tested and get to be in a pack with like-minded and like-sized dogs.”
The facility was designed from scratch, with eight different pens to accommodate the size and socialization of the individual packs. Tonascia plotted everything from the placement of water bowls to the height of fences, from the ratios of turf and decomposed granite to the design of the sprinkler and sanitizing systems.
“There were probably 100 things to think through in this project,” she said, “and each thing was thoroughly discussed. With 20 years of being in the industry at home and what it would cost if we had to redo anything, I knew exactly what I wanted done for the dogs.”
All the pens are fenced with wood except the side containing the entrance, which is chain-link. This design prevents dogs in one pen from seeing the occupants of the adjoining pens, which reduces the chance of them picking up cues that might make them tense up and bark rather than play.
The fences are built on top of deep concrete foundations so that the dogs will not try to dig out. The entrance to each pen has a gated holding area for better control and to test socialization when a dog is first accepted to be boarded.
The staff must be able to grab a dog’s collar without having it turn to bite them, and hand the dog a bowl of food without it becoming aggressive. If things go well, the dog is introduced to an appropriate pack.
“We have a little dog pack, an elderly dog pack and an excited teenager pack,” Tonascia said. “They first meet their pack through the fence and sniff every dog. When the pack is no longer excited and moves back from the fence line, the new dog meets the pack one dog at a time.”
The interactions are monitored for aggressiveness, dominant behavior and just plain rudeness. If the dogs are safe with each other, the dog is boarded. Otherwise, the owner will be told that it did not work out.
“A lot of owners are oblivious to their dog’s flaws,” Tonascia said. “I want people to know their dogs are going to be around safe dogs here and that they are going to have a good time.”
Dogs can be dropped off any time after 7 a.m and, for daycare, picked up by 6 p.m. There is a set schedule for all the dogs, beginning at 6:30 a.m. with a potty run, then alternating times for playing in the pens, taking meals and resting. Dogs who are longer-term tenants sleep in individual crates or kennels.
Mark and Cathy Mottau have been bringing their dog to Parkland for daycare since its opening day, having met Tonascia while boarding their boxer at Dogwood Ranch.
“He is very energetic, and we both work full-time,” Cathy said. “He gets to go two or three times a week and play with other dogs and get out some energy. Plus, he’s very social, so he’s not at home alone as much.”
Cathy said she has noticed a marked improvement in the dog’s temperament and personality after just a few months at Parkland.
“They don’t just let him run around wild for the whole day,” she said. “He gets to play with dogs similar to him, but they also give him rest periods, so he has been learning how to settle. It has really helped in his training.”
Mark said he is impressed with how much individual care their dog gets and how empathetic the staff is.
“You can tell they really love the dogs they take care of,” he said. “You can see it in their response to our dog when arrives. They also send us pictures throughout the day of his activities. That kind of attention is important to us.
Tonascia’s brother, Kevin Stofer, has been working at Parkland since it opened and said that allowing a dog to burn off energy during the day makes life a little easier for both the owner and the animal.
“If you’re coming home from work to a dog with a lot of energy,” he said, “then it probably needs to be at daycare. When the owner comes home tired, and the dog comes home tired, you create a more symbiotic relationship between the two of you.”
Parkland Pet Resort
2100 Cienega Road, Hollister
Phone: (831) 673-7342
Hours: Daily – 7 a.m – 6:15 p.m
info@parklandpetresort.com
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