Summer Or Not, Dog Days Every Day at FYDO Land

That the dogs at FYDO Land’s doggy day care were barking was no surprise. Amidst all their toy tugging, tail wagging and tennis ball retrieving it happens. What is noteworthy, however, was the reason why the dogs, whose breeds and owners varied, began barking.

“They don’t know you so they’re just letting us that know you’re here,” said FYDO Land owner Robin Massey to the visitor touring her Huntley facility.

Massey then led the visitor outside to an adjacent play area where a separate pack of dogs responded differently and sought out the new person, as if to demonstrate that only the indoor area is worthy of a dog’s protection. Don’t fault the dogs, though. After all, the place is called FYDO (For Your Dog Only) Land for a reason.

“I have to give my mother credit for the name,” Massey said. “We were trying to come up with a cute name and I said, ‘I wonder if there’s something we can so with acronyms’ and she just ran with it.

“I hope she doesn’t want royalties,” Massey then joked. “I gave her a grandchild.”

Massey opened her first FYDO Land in Elgin in December 2008 before purchasing a dog care facility in Huntley and officially expanding the company in July 2010. Located one block south of East Main Street and Dundee Road in Huntley, FYDO Land is a full-service dog care center, offering dog training, grooming, overnight boarding, pooch parties, low-cost vaccinations clinics, in-home pet sitting services and canine massage therapy, the latter of which is provided by Cathy Purvis, a certified canine massage therapist and a member of International Association of Animal Massage & Bodywork.

Of course, FYDO Land offers doggie day care, too.

 “The (dogs) typically get here early in the morning and for the first two hours, it’s play, play, play,” said Massie who owns two Great Pyrenees. “They play with each other. They play with the toys. They play with us ­– we call our employees pet pals – so they play with their pet pals. That happens for 30 to 45 minutes and then they start to regulate themselves is what I’ve found. One (dog) will lie down and then they all start to lie down. That lasts for about 30 minutes before one dog will get up, and then they all get up, and the whole process starts over again.”

That is unless Massey and the pet pals have an organized activity planned for the pack, which they frequently do.

“We take them inside and outside,” she said. “During the summer we have pools. We also uses lasers that they chase…The only thing that’s really structured is the feeding times. We offer three feeding times.”

Because the dogs interact with other dogs, not to mention the pet pals, Massey says dogs admitted to the day care program must be current with their vaccinations, be spayed or neutered if they’re six months old or older, and most importantly, pass a behavioral evaluation test.

Massey, who worked full-time for IBM and part-time as a dog trainer before opening FYDO Land, says she looks for three indicators during the evaluation including how well the dogs react around humans and how they fare around other dogs.

“Then I look at how well they’re going to adjust to a group setting,” Massey said, “because some dogs do real well one-on-one and two-on-one, but if you put them in a pack it can be very overwhelming for some dogs.”

Unfortunately not all dogs make the cut.

“There are some dogs that are aggressive and so for the safety of all the dogs – even the dog coming in – we know that this is not a good environment for them to be in,” Massey said.

Upon final admission, dogs are placed into one of two indoor play areas based on the dog’s size, age and temperament.

On weekdays pet owners can leave their dogs in day care for 10 to 12 hours depending on the Huntley or Elgin facilities. The minimum amount FYDO Land charges for its day care service is $15 for up to six hours per day. To date Massey says she has more than 1,000 clients, some of whom drop off more than one dog.

“We have a family that comes with three dogs and they come three days a week,” Massie said.

Massey, who employs 15 pet pals at her Huntley and Elgin locations, says she is thinking about opening a third location with sites in Crystal Lake, Bartlett, and St. Charles under consideration.

In addition to offering dog services and care, FYDO Land also sells its own dog biscuits with 20% of the profits donated to local animal shelters. They also conduct two fundraisers including Presents for Pups in which FYDO Land collects food, toys, towels and cleaning supplies among others and donates the items to local animal shelters such as the Animal House Shelter of Huntley, Anderson Animal Shelter and the Assisi Animal Foundation.