I laughed today while going through pics of HH Conway from opening month December 2015. We had one indoor playroom and only finished out one side of the building because we were so unsure about how the business would do that we thought we’d need to rent out the other side to help pay the bills. All our playground toys were recycled DIY projects, and my family celebrated Christmas of 2015 in our lobby because I refused to leave the building for essentially the first month it was open (I slept in my office)! The idea that there might ever be more than 30 or so dogs in the building at one time was unthinkable…our daily rosters were so small we wrote them out every day on the same chalkboard you still see in the lobby!
Two years later we’re so grateful for the growth we’ve experienced and love that our human team grew with us – allowing us to still get to know every single dog (and cat!) and treat them like our own. The line may be a little longer at pickup but we love getting those few extra minutes to chat and get to know you parents too! What I’ve learned, though, is that we were so completely unsure of whether we’d be successful that we outfitted the building with a lot of things not meant for the traffic we now see every day.
Starting this Wednesday, we’re trading out our painted epoxy flooring for a resinous epoxy flooring. It’s made to withstand the pitter patter of many many furry feet and all the cleanup that takes place after them. In short: it’s less slippery and lasts a heck of a lot longer (and it’s PRETTY!). It’s going to take a few weeks, and is going to involve a complete dismantle of everything in the back of the building. So…we’re going to be asking for a little patience while we get it done. I promise it’ll be worth it!! If your dog normally goes in Littles 2.0, they will be combined with Littles 1 from Wednesday 3/7 to Wednesday 3/14. If your dog goes in Bigs, they will be mostly outside to play from March 21 to 28 (we are praying the weather cooperates). All our fencing indoors has to be taken down, but will be put back up in the form of BIGGER, expanded indoor playrooms!
While that’s going on, we’re also doubling the size of our grooming salon and are in the process of starting a grooming apprenticeship program. Did you know there’s not a single professional dog grooming school in Arkansas? We’re hoping to keep the profession alive by sharing it with others who share in our passion for making the furries look fab.
Because of all this (organized) chaos, we are going to be capping our capacity each day a bit lower than usual. We ask that parents please try to make advance notice reservations for daycare during this time to make sure your dog has a spot. Please know we wouldn’t ask this of you if we weren’t sure it would make for MUCH better, safer play once complete! We hope you appreciate our efforts to continually reinvest in HH to make it a great place for your kids to play. Once it’s finished we’ll schedule our annual Open (DOG) House where all of you can come in to see it!
As always, email me with any questions – [email protected].
CHEERS // Lacey
