Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa and Mark Harvey.
Lisa and Mark, please share your story with us.
When I (Lisa) was in high school, one of my first jobs was at a doggie daycare in Prospect Heights. Since then, I had always kept in touch with the owner of that daycare and always kept in mind that, “If I could do anything… I would open a doggie daycare,” but it always seemed like a dream that would never actually happen. I always continued to further my education in animal behavior just “in case,” I would ever land in the animal field. This was when I got my certification in dog training. I went on to college, studying Sociology Criminology and ended up working in a school for students with disabilities. During college, and my first years of work, I lost both of my parents. I also gained my husband Mark who was a PE/health teacher at the school that I worked at. After dealing with the devastating loss of both of my parents, Mark and I ended up getting married and decided that the field of education was not exactly what we wanted. On our honeymoon, Mark and I made up names for our imaginary daycare that we would one day open. When we got back from our honeymoon, we started to do the research to see if this dream would ever become a reality. The rest is history!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Opening your own business is a very tough road. For us, it was a huge leap of faith. We dropped everything we were doing and all the money we had saved up and put it into the business. When we first started, we always thought the hardest part would be finding the customers. Luckily, the customers were always there very early on. We established many relationships with wonderful people along the way and in the community. One of the hardest parts has been finding a trustworthy staff to help with our business. The dogs that come into our facility are our customer’s family members and we provide care for them 24 hours a day. No matter how thin we spread ourselves, we can not be here 24/7. Luckily, in the past few years, we have found some great employees to help at our facility.
Please tell us about The Dog Waggin’.
I think the biggest thing that sets us apart is that we are kennel free. A lot of facilities are not to a point where they have staff in their facility 24 hours a day. We don’t leave dogs alone which allows us to work with a variety of customers and dogs. A kennel can be a scary thing for dogs, and so we have done everything possible to make it as calm and comfortable for them by providing them care around the clock, while also allowing them to be free throughout our building. This does put us in a position to not be able to care for dogs that do not get along with other dogs, but it is ideal for those who do! It allows for a very personal experience for the customer because we are a smaller facility, dogs have a name and not just a kennel number.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My parents had a cabin in Wisconsin that we used to go to every weekend in the summers. I met some of my greatest friends there and also allowed for the true quality family time.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1400 S Main St
Algonquin, IL 60102 - Phone: 224-678-9461
- Email: LMHarvey@thedogwaggin.com
- Instagram: @thedogwaggin.com
- Facebook: /Thedogwaggin
Image Credit:
Rich W. Chapman
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