Groomingdalz Offers Extensive Puppy Experience

Jerry DeMaio is responsible for inspiring the echoes of "How Much is that Doggy in the Window?" that bounce off the walls of his downtown Mount Kisco store. DeMaio's interactive store, Groomingdalz, has decorated the corner of East Main Street with puppies, puppies and more puppies for the past six years.

Groomingdalz is not a pet store; it is a place for families to go when they don't just want a dog, but want a good dog. DeMaio - who has had an intense passion for dogs since he was a kid - along with members of his immediate family, has created a community of crate-trained, family-oriented pups.

There are two ways that DeMaio places dogs with families. If a family requests to be matched with a specific type of dog, he uses his connections with trusted breeders - one breeder for each breed - to meet the family's needs. He specializes in selling cockapoos and goldendoodles, which are "non-shedding, great with children, active, but not too active and non-allergenic."

When a dog arrives to Groomingdalz, DeMaio observes its personality closely, holds play-dates at his family's home for two weeks and socializes the dog through interactions in the famous Groomingdalz window. The majority of the dogs that are in the window, which mimics a backyard setting, already belong to a family.

Sometimes, DeMaio receives a litter with puppies that have not been specifically ordered by a family. In this case, the dogs are treated exactly as if they were specially ordered. Members of the DeMaio family bring the puppies home at night to crate train them, the dogs return to hang out in the window during the day and, usually within a few weeks, a family comes in and expresses interest.

Once a family picks a puppy, a decision that DeMaio insists "can never be spontaneous," he evaluates their capacity to raise the puppy because he believes that a family is "not just buying a dog, it is buying into a relationship."

Of all of the dogs that DeMaio matches with families, 90 percent of them get enrolled in the store's 10-week program to crate train, house break and obedience train the puppy. House breaking takes two weeks and during this time the puppy spends nights at one of the DeMaio homes. Following the initial 14 days, the owners can take the puppy home, but must bring it into Groomingdalz for regular obedience training, daycare and socialization.

Dogs learn five commands, according to DeMaio, and they are: sit, stay, down, heal and come. 

On top of selling and training puppies, Groomingdalz (as its name implies) also runs a busy grooming business. the DeMaio family sees 25 to 35 dogs daily and will do anything from "bathing labs to cutting standard poodles." It is like a beauty parlor for puppies.