Doggie daycare franchise hopes to take advantage of return to work

WAKE FOREST, N.C. (WTVD) -- Remember all those dogs that were adopted during the pandemic?

Many have never known a life without their work-from-home and remote-learning humans around during the day.

That's why a couple of Wake County sisters think their timing is perfect for a Carolina Comeback when they open the doggie daycare Hounds Town of Wake Forest this summer.

One of the sisters, Jenny Lasker, quit her career as a social worker and started planning the new business during a pandemic when she was being treated for breast cancer.

"You kind of almost go through a transformation with your cancer and for me, it was really important to secure something for our family," she told ABC11.

Lasker and her sister, Andrea Bradford, said a doggie daycare was the perfect fit for them, in part because it honors their father.

"This was a love affair of our family coming together," Lasker said, "We lost our dad in 2006. He was a huge dog lover."

Lasker gave ABC11 a tour of the facility they are renting in Wake Forest that will soon become the latest Hounds Town franchise in the Triangle.

"This will all be transformed," she noted about the space that previously housed a private school.

The franchise will feature individual spaces for dogs, group spaces, and play areas both inside and out.

"One of the things we fell in love with this place is the backyard," Lasker said.

The private school's human playground will soon be converted to a canine playground.

Lasker and Bradford think opening this summer will be perfect timing for all those people who decided to adopt a dog during the pandemic and will likely soon be returning to in-person work.

For the past year, those dogs have only known a world where their humans are home almost all the time.

That will soon change when many people go back to the office or classroom.

"The dogs are just going to be left there in a world that they're not familiar with," Bradford said, "So doggie daycare provides them a place to go and play and be with other dogs like them, and be with humans who are going to take care of them as well."

They even offer taxi service to pick up or drop off your dog according to Bradford who said, "If you're busy, you have your schedule, you have school, you have work, and you still need help and want to get your dog, we don't want that to be a hindrance."

Hounds Town also will feature grooming and longer-term boarding for both dogs and cats.

Lasker and Bradford have an option on two other franchises in the area once they open the Wake Forest location but haven't decided yet where they will be located.