SNOHOMISH — Lauren Rick knows them all by name.
Molly Sue is the barker. Cody wants to be in the middle of the pack. And little Chewy — well, he just wants her to pick him up and rub his belly some more.
There were roughly 110 other dogs romping around Rick’s 5-acre property in Snohomish last week, like caffeinated kids at Disneyland. It’s not a sight you see every day, unless, like Rick, you happen to own a “dog ranch” day care and boarding facility.
Some of the dogs are boarders at Rick’s Bone-A-Fide Dog Ranch. Others arrive in “dog taxis” every morning to spend the day while their owners work.
They travel in packs around the property, a bobbing sea of brown and yellow fur. At least six “wranglers” are with the packs at all times, keeping an eye on the more aggressive dogs and making sure they get their energy out “in positive ways,” as Rick puts it.
She’s new to the dog ranch, having just purchased it in January from a couple who ran the business for about a decade.
She says she’s found her spot in the world and plans on shepherding dogs around for some time to come. But she can understand why the place was put up for sale last year.
“It’s a hard business to own. You’re constantly on,” Rick said last week, while a couple dozen dogs crowded around her. She lives on the property but in a house separate from where the boarders sleep, she’s quick to point out.
Rick moved thousands of miles to take over Bone-A-Fide, and she’s come a long way from her former life as a software developer in New York City.
“I was about to have a nervous breakdown before turning 30,” she said.
She jokingly blames her love of dogs on her mother, who never allowed her to have a dog as a child. About five years ago, her keen fascination with animal psychology grew into an idea.
“I knew I wanted to start my own business,” she said. “I wanted a facility. I wanted a space.”
Rick quit her job as a manager at the software company and started a high-volume dog-walking business. She boarded dogs in her apartment and kept her eyes open for the perfect piece of land.
“I looked for almost two years,” she said.
Finally, her broker called and said: “I found your spot.”
Five acres in a little town called Snohomish, thousands of miles away in Washington state. The owners were looking to sell — adopting their third child and launching a new business had them too busy for the dog ranch.
And so Rick pooled her savings. She got a Small Business Administration loan. And finally, she packed up and moved.
She now manages 14 employees and has the capacity to care for up to 150 dogs overnight — more during the day.
In terms of the economy, it’s not an ideal time to own a “luxury” business that provides a nonessential service. Business has slowed slightly in the last few months, Rick said.
“When people cancel, I ask why,” she said. “And what I get now is, ‘I just lost my job.’ “
Still, she plans to open a training facility on the property soon, and has already taken on a few extra employees to help with summertime boarders.
She recently hired a former law firm administrator to work as a dog wrangler — a woman without much experience training dogs but an all-too familiar desire to work with animals.
“There was something about her,” she said. “Sometimes, you just know what your calling is.”
Read Amy Rolph’s small-business blog at www.heraldnet.com/TheStorefront. Contact her at 425-339-3029 or arolph@heraldnet.com.
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