Hamilton Hounds has gone to the dogs

It’s 4.30 on a frosty Hamilton morning, and if the darkness weren’t enough, heavy fog has made the Waikato its home for winter. It wasn’t the weather that brought Queenslander Deen O’Brien here, where he’s mopping the floors of a converted factory.

His dogs Rollie and Spook wear snug jackets, it’ll be six soon and his first customer, Stella, is due to arrive. Her boyfriend, Thor, won’t be far behind.

It’s not people that Deen is cleaning up for, it’s something he loves even more: dogs.That’s why he came to Hamilton.

“Hamilton has an amazing statistic, more dogs per capita than any other city,” says Deen.

He moved here nearly three years ago. In that time, a lot has changed in the world of doggy day care, especially for his business, Hamilton Hounds.

When he opened there were three dogs. He remembers it vividly, laughing as over fifteen dogs run at his feet and two compete for a spot on his lap.

He sits on an old couch; they go through one every six weeks – he’s the Red Cross shop’s number one customer.

The Frankton-based day care is one of three such centres in Hamilton. It cares for dogs while their owners are at work and offers socialisation, exercise, grooming and even hydrotherapy.

Deen grew up around dogs, and always had a love for them. Doggy day care was his dream, but this isn’t his first career. “I worked in corporate marketing for over 30 years unfortunately,” he says, adding that he was marketing director for Pepsi Co and KFC in his former life.

He has no regrets about the move: “I get more kicks here than any board meeting I ever attended.”

Working at Hamilton Hounds is not all patting dogs, he says. Throughout the interview he gets up to scoop poop, mop pee and discipline any dogs getting too excited.  There’s a naughty corner where over-excited dogs are timed out; Deen is a big believer in socialising dogs.

As he talks about this, Flynn, a border collie puppy with big golden ears, gets a little too rough with a fox terrier and Deen steps in. The puppy is timed out, which means it’s placed behind a fenced off area, ‘the naughty corner’. The dog is not caged though, which is an important detail to Deen. Even when in time out, the dogs can still socialise with others.

The biggest hurdle for Deen has been the council. There are no specific laws regarding doggy day cares, so they often have to follow kennel guidelines, despite the massive differences between the two.

Hamilton Hounds had to install military grade acoustic blocking fencing around the outside area, despite the fact the day care is situated in an industrial area and right next to State Highway One.

The barking is minimal as well. There are 30 dogs running and sniffing. The only audible barks come from unhappy dogs in the throes of being groomed.

Deen feels regulations need to be updated. He wants more training for people working in doggy cay cares, and modules about the job. He wants people to recognise a dog’s behaviour and be able to react effectively. He hopes that a committee will be created in the next 24 months.

Deen is 100 per cent committed to these dogs.

He remembers getting a call at midnight from one of his clients panicking that his wife was in labour. He wanted to know if Deen could take their dog in there and then. And he did.

“It’s just what you do,” Deen says.

Jaime Anderson used to laugh at the idea of doggy day care, but that was before she got her rottweiller, Mila. It turns out her dog is just like a child.

As a nurse, Anderson often works 6.30 am-6.30 pm and can struggle to find time to walk Mila, which leaves her feeling guilty. Hamilton Hounds was the perfect solution.

“If I ever get too busy at work to leave on time, I just call them and they are so relaxed about me taking my time. They will happily take Mila into the staff room with them and wait for however long it will take to get there with absolutely no pressure,” she says.

Mila gets socialised well at Hamilton Hounds, and Anderson knows what happens when she’s left home alone. Just yesterday she came home to a destroyed bean bag, polystyrene beans scattered across the carpet.

Every second hour, Hamilton hounds hold the “Running of the bulls.” The dogs can sense the time is near, as they start gathering near the doorway of their enclosure. The door swings open and the herd of small dogs thunders down the hallway, tails wagging ferociously.

The small dogs and big dogs alternate spending time outside, and the dogs are never left alone. They like to keep a ratio of 15 dogs per person, although this can change throughout the day.

The dogs often use up all their energy while at doggy day care, which is what appealed to Jo Critchfeild. She has been sending her dog Dodge, a german shepherd-husky cross, to Hamilton Hounds for the past six months, after receiving a free three day trial from her dog trainer at Cool K9’s.

“The best thing [about Hamilton Hounds] is flexibility; being able to drop him off whenever I need to and their long opening hours make it easy to drop him off before work and collect him after without stressing. It also tires Dodge out, which being such an active breed is good for him,” says Critchfeild.

Dodge was rescued from a shelter, and it took a while to teach him puppy manners. He is now one, and loves having the chance to socialise with the other dogs a couple of times a week.

“It’s good for him to have somewhere to go where he can run around, play with other dogs and keep busy instead of being left alone in the backyard while we’re at work causing absolute chaos,” she says.

People seeking work experience and disabled people come in to Hamilton Hounds during the week to spend time simply cuddling with the dogs. Deen mentions an boy with autism who comes in, not speaking to any of the staff, but happily sitting and talking about his life with the dogs.

Deen is strict about who he lets in. His older brother and his nephew are both vets, and Deen checks with them regularly. Notifiable dangerous dogs are not allowed, the risk for the dogs and the staff are too high. Banned dogs include those which are on the council’s dangerous dog list, including pit bulls.

“They attack without warning, making it difficult to keep an eye on them.”

But Deen is quick to dispel any suggestions only pitbulls are dangerous – they don’t allow malamutes either, and some of their worst offenders have been two brown labs who were very aggressive.

“We’ve been blessed by no incidents, that’s how we’d like to keep it.”

He says a well trained, socialised dog is an absolute joy, but a feral dog is a pain.

Jane Davies has been sending her West highland white terrier Mr Darcy to Hamilton Hounds since the beginning of the year, after transferring from a day care in Auckland. She believes they go the extra mile for Mr Darcy daily.

“He’s a much easier and happier dog after being at doggy day care as opposed to being home alone,” says Davies.

Davies is part of a growing trend, as more and more of society spend money on their pets. Last year the Companion Animal Council’s report found that Kiwis spent $797 million on their dogs in 2015, and that number is expected to grow as more owners invest in quality food and doggy day cares.

“Mr Darcy is very important to our family, and our friends, we can’t go out without him,” says Davies.

Hamilton Hounds has its fair share of special characters. There’s Mable, the black pug, “It’s quiet when she’s away,” laughs Deen. He goes on about other characters: Diego the great Dane who likes to sit on your lap, tummy rub Taylor, and big Gus the mastiff, who Deen describes as 85kg of lover boy.

As the sun sets and the fog starts lurking, the dogs disperse back to their loving homes.

Deen will be here until the last dog leaves, and if the owner is held back at work, the dog will be fed dinner and kept company at no extra charge.

“I would no more do that than fly to the moon.”