For many, a common consequence of owning a dog is decreased travel/vacation time, stemming from the guilt of leaving one’s dog at a kennel or the inability of convincing a friend or relative to dog-sit.
For the guilt-ridden: two entrepreneurs have provided a vacation spot for one’s pooch while traveling guilt free.
“The typical story of a business success is to find a need that’s not being sold, and sell it,” Randy Neece, co-owner of Canyon View Ranch, said, which is just what he and co-owner Joe Timko have done.
Canyon View Ranch was born 10 years ago when Neece, a Whittier native, and Timko, a New Jersey native, decided to make their vision of creating a canine boarding and training facility a reality. At the time, Neece was working as a television producer and director, while Timko, a graduate of Rutgers University with a background in animal science and more than 15 years of training experience, was busy training and handling dogs for nationwide dog shows.
“At that point we had eight dogs and we couldn’t take all of them with us to dog shows around the country,” Neece said. “We had a real problem finding a place to leave them and thought we couldn’t be the only ones with this problem.”
After searching numerous kennels, with disappointing results, and struggling to find relatives or friends to dog-sit, Neece and Timko envisioned the type of place they wanted for their own dogs: “A place where dogs frolic together all day on manicured lawns, romp over ramps, play hide-and-seek through tunnels and wade in their own luxurious, bone-shaped swimming pool.”
Canyon View Ranch, located in Topanga Canyon, offers such a paradise for canines. The facility offers boarding and training for dogs of all breeds and sizes under the condition that each passes a strict assessment.
“We conduct a strict evaluation to make sure the dogs are sociable because we want to give people peace of mind that they’re safe,” Neece explained, adding that though most of the returning dogs are former Canyon View Ranch trainees, those that do not pass the evaluation must undergo training.
Though he said the business “took off overnight,” Neece also said initial obstacles did exist, such as the many required permits and concerns from surrounding neighbors about issues such as noise. But once the permits were obtained, Neece said, the county supported the concept.
“There’s no barking,” he said. “I don’t want to live around barking and neither do our neighbors. Dogs traditionally bark in kennels because they’re bored out of their minds and nobody’s around to quiet them. A leaf blower is the most exciting part of their day. That’s not the way it works here.
“Dogs are placed in separate yards according to age and size,” Neece explained. “By the time they’re done playing, they’re so tired and sound asleep by the time we get them all inside. There’s no reason for them to bark, and if they start, we stop it immediately.”
Canyon View Ranch also offers vaccination administration and emphasizes the importance of training one’s dog through its four-week program in which dogs stay at the facility and are visited by their owners for weekly lessons.
“At the end of their stay, owners get the dog they’ve always wanted,” Neece said. “Times have changed, neighborhoods are crowded and dogs need to be in control more than ever.”
Margot Mandel has been sending her dog Stoney, a two-year-old Australian shepherd/border collie mix, to Canyon View Ranch since she was seven months old.
“It’s everything you could imagine if you could put one [a boarding and training facility] together yourself for your own dog,” Mandel said. “It literally is ‘Doggie Disneyland’ here, and they treat your dog as if it were their own.”
Timko said one of the best parts about his job is “seeing how wonderfully people treat their dogs, especially in California, and watching the dogs run, jump and play. It makes me feel so good to see that every time I see them.”
Timko, whose childhood dog had an outdoor doghouse, added, “I look back and think dogs should have better lives than so many people know to give them.”
For Neece, the most enjoyable part of the job is being able to transform a dog into a family dog and to give pet owners the freedom to travel and the peace of mind to know that while they do, their dogs are in good hands.
“We want owners and families to go away and know their dogs are going on vacation while they are, too,” he said.
More information can be obtained by visiting www.canyonviewranch.com.