Dog days can be the cat’s meow

Dog days for most of us are the miserably hot days of summer, but for Kenya Newman, dog days are the only kind of days she ever wants in her life.

“I had a high-stress corporate job in marketing in Portland, Oregon,” Newman said. “I took my dog to a doggy daycare and left him with the happiest woman I ever saw. I told myself one day I’m going to be as happy as her.”

Newman volunteered at that daycare for a while, just to have at least a little bit of fun, and then moved to Gwinnett County, partly to get out of her dog-eat-dog world and partly to be closer to her parents.

“I lived above their garage in Grayson,” Newman said, “and worked for three years at a dog daycare center.” 

With some experience under her belt, some courses in animal care, and that desire to be as happy as the lady in Portland, she opened her own center.

Funnybones, A Happy Place for Dogs, in Lilburn, offers canine clients more than mere daycare. The cage free environment allows dogs to run and play with their friends. And they are all friends.

“All dogs must pass a trial day so they can all sniff each other out,” Newman said. “If they don’t have the right temperament to play in a group, I recommend private sitters like Critter Sitter and Two Paws Up.”

But for dogs that get to stay and play, “leading a dog’s life” takes on a whole new meaning.

Special events include a Poo-au for which dogs are dressed in Hawaiian attire and play in the waterworks. At the Bark-B-Que, dogs wolf down grilled hamburgers. For the Howloween party, costumed guests bob for hotdogs and for Easter, they hunt down colored treats.

Some dog owners notice improvement in their pet’s personality after a few weeks, suggesting that maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks.

“(My dog) Blue is nine years old,” Tim Baranowski said. “He was always a little wired and hyper, but now he gets out and plays and he’s more social with people.” 

But then Blue and all the other dogs are playing with dog lovers like Charlene Triemer, whose life took the same turn as Newman’s, only at an earlier age.

“I wanted to be a vet and I was a freshman in college when Funnybones opened,” Triemer said. “Working here changed my whole life. I realized I couldn’t stand to put dogs down. I just want to spend my life playing with them” Like Newman, Triemer plans to use her business degree to open her own dog daycare someday.

Newman’s life has changed in another way since she’s switched careers. She no longer lives above her parents’ garage, but she’s closer to them in a different way. “My dad retired early and now he works part time with me here. My mother helps with the books.” 

Her whole family has “gone to the dogs” and Newman couldn’t be happier.

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