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Profiles of Excellence: Puptown Girls Dog Lounge and Spa

The family-run business offers luxury dog daycare, grooming, training, barkday parties and walking
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L to R: Kassandra Willis, Sabrina Sim, Chloe Mjolsness, Milena Carella, Vanessa Fajemisin and Juanita Kitaoka.

It’s been a whirlwind year for the crew at Puptown Girls. Since opening their doors in August 2019, the company has grown by leaps and bounds.

The all-female family-run business—co-owned by sisters Milena Carella and Sabrina Sim and their cousin Juanita Kitaoka—offers luxury dog daycare, grooming, training, barkday parties and walking in their Brentwood-area location. The business also offers a retail selection of carefully chosen products, from raw food to toys, and longer-term boarding in home environments with trained staff. The owners are joined by a staff of 10, all of whom are dog owners themselves, and love their work.

“These dogs and their owners have become like our extended family,” she says. “Dogs are like therapy to us. They bring so much joy and happiness to our day that this doesn’t even seem like work.” The owners all grew up in Burnaby and still live within five minutes of Puptown Girls.

“We opened up in the Brentwood area of Burnaby because we recognized the need for a good quality daycare in the area to service all of the pet parents that live in the surrounding buildings and houses,” she says. The response has been enthusiastic, thanks to word of mouth recommendations from happy clients. The reason is simple, they say: they focus on providing the highest level of excellence in care for the dogs and customer service for their families.

“We call this our Puptown Pack and we really mean that,” she says. “We treat every dog like they are our own and we care like they are family. It’s all about the little touches, such as holiday photos, New Year’s Eve sleepovers, homemade treats. We call our dog owners if we haven’t seen one of our pack members in a while to make sure they are OK. We care and it shows.”

Like all businesses, Puptown Girls has had to introduce new protocols this year but those were built on a foundation already dedicated to the highest levels of cleanliness and sterilization. They’re so confident in their processes that they allow new clients to tour the back area, which isn’t common in the industry.

“The number one comment we receive when clients walk in to our daycare is that they are shocked at how nice it smells. This is a testament to the hard work of our staff and our use of veterinary grade cleaning products. This is so important to us and it makes us happy every time we hear it.”

And while business is booming, the true measure of success will always be how their furry friends feel about Puptown Girls.

“We hope the dogs feel loved, happy and safe when they are at our daycare, or being groomed and boarded and we hope that their owners feel assured that their dogs are in the best hands possible,” says Carella. “It’s not just about sitting and petting dogs all day, it’s about being educated in canine behavior, which our staff is highly trained in—and providing a balance of love and offering direction when a dog needs it.”

Follow Puptown Girls on Facebook and Instagram: @puptowngirlsbby.

Visit www.puptowngirls.ca for more information.