A home away from home

As much as you want to, you simply cannot take your pets with you everywhere you go. Say, you have a wedding to attend that requires you to go out of town for a few days or you are going away on a vacation and can’t take them along? Yes, leaving them with a caretaker or your family or friends is always an option but sometimes caretakers aren’t available and you don’t want to trouble your loved ones. This is when Paws, Play and Stay can be of great help.

Located at Ghalate in Bhaktapur, Paws, Play and Stay is where your pet can get the ultimate care while you are away. This place provides good pet care package comprising of lodging, grooming, and training. You can rest assured that your pet is being well taken care of when you leave them there.

“If I might say so myself, Paws, Play and Stay has been boon for all those busy pet owners who want to make sure their dogs get home-like accommodation, love, and affection while they enjoy their holidays. We treat these animals as our own pets and take really good care of them,” says Sandeep Joshi, co-owner of Paws, Play and Stay.

The story behind the idea

Sandeep mentions that they got the idea of starting a venture such as this when Pranav Raj Joshi, another co-owner and a vet by profession, talked about the problems his clients usually faced regarding where to leave their pets when they had to go somewhere. Since there wasn’t a proper pet boarding facility in Nepal, sometimes some clients even requested the Joshi brothers to take care of their pets during emergencies. This was what made the duo realize there was a dire need for a pet boarding facility in Nepal. They thought it would be a good business idea that would actually fill a void. The two then worked on the idea and, in no time, Paws, Play and Stay was established. Today, they have many satisfied customers not just in the capital but also from distant places like Sikkim, Pokhara, Dharan, and Butwal.

The services it offers

Paws, Play and Stay will not only look after your dogs when you are away but there are additional facilities like a grooming parlor and training sessions as well. You can take your pet to Paws, Play and Stay if you notice any behavioral issues in them. Here, Sandeep runs us through some basic facilities at Paws, Play and Stay.

Spacious dog park

“Unlike other regular kennel houses, here at Paws, Play and Stay dogs are not locked up in their crates for the whole day. Instead, the property offers a safe area of 10,000 square feet for pets to exercise and play freely with their leases off,” says Sandeep, adding that confining pets to a small area can have negative impact on their behavior. Whereas letting them wander about freely and interact with other animals and people lessens anxiety especially in case of absence of their humans. Also, with a double-gated entry/exit points and a minimum of five trained on-duty staffs at all times, this dog park is a controlled environment that meets all the safety standards. Furthermore, it consists of an adequate drainage system, and easy to play equipment like treadmills, hurdles, and tunnels for pets as well as a secure garden with ample shaded areas where the animals can rest when they are tired.

Grooming parlor

Joshi brothers believe these furry friends deserve to get pampered with some additional care and attention like humans do. So, even if you are gone for weeks, you don’t have to worry about coming back and tending to your pets. At Paws, Play and Stay, your furry friend will have had its nails cut, and the staff will have given it a bath and tended to other hygiene issues as well. You also don’t have to worry about what shampoo or products will be used on your pet. Sandeep says that only the best quality products, and that too depending on the type of dog, will be used. On top of all that, your pet will also get regular massages and will be well taken care of.

Dog boarding

The boarding services at Paws, Play and Stay are similar to those of deluxe hotels. All the pets will be accommodated in separate air-conditioned rooms with personalized beds and amazing paintings on the walls. While in boarding, vets visit these pets twice a day for daily health examination. In case of any problem, pets are given free oral medications. However, some extra charges might be applicable in case of injections or other treatments. The dogs will be fed human graded dog meals and given pure drinking water with fortified proteins, multivitamins, and minerals. Dog owners are also allowed to leave food of their choice as well as instruct the staff on their pet’s eating schedule.

At Paws, Play and Stay, they also know that, despite good services, dogs will miss their owners at the end of the day. So before they are sent off to bed, they even have a cuddle session where the staff will stroke and pet them to help them fall asleep. If your dog is disabled, say it has dislocated its hip or fractured its leg, then they will also be provided wheelchairs or drag bags that will help them walk around.

Specialized dog school

Besides the most basic activities like greeting their owner and bringing back thrown toys, here dogs of all ages and levels are trained through the canine education service offered by a team of experts. There is also a special type of training that addresses behavioral issues such as anxiety, excessive barking, gnawing, growling, destructive behavior, and many more. Here, Sandeep mentions that the special training also includes an advanced level of obedience where your pet will learn to follow instructions and do exactly as you say. These lessons are carried out in a group or you can choose to train your dog separately too. This depends on the owner’s preferences as well as the performance level of the pup or dog. As for the timings, you can get your pets enrolled in any of the three sessions – daytime, evenings, or only on weekends. At Paws, Play and Stay, you can also opt to customize a training session according to what your needs from your pet are.

Guiding the owners

Being a pet owner is definitely not an easy task as you have many important roles to play in their physical, mental, and emotional growth. According to Sandeep, at times, people aren’t aware of what their pets need or the changes their pets are going through and get it all wrong. And people’s varied behaviors often confuse the animals. So it’s imperative for pet owners or pet parents (as some like to be called) to be educated on their pet’s basic behavior traits. To address that, at Paws, Play and Stay they have counseling services that help people understand their pets better and try and find specific solutions to their pet’s problems. Here, people are also made aware about some basic requirement of different breeds of dogs, setting down appropriate rules, creating a healthy environment inside the house, importance of medication and other necessary factors.

Before you take your pet to Paws, Play and Stay

Unfortunately, not all pets are welcome at Paws, Play and Stay. There are certain criteria that your pet must first fulfill. First, your pet needs to have had its vaccinations. You will need to present a proof of vaccinations for rabies, distemper, parvovirus, and tick/flea prior to your pet’s check-in. Then you have to update the staff about any particular routine your pet might have or any medication it is currently under. Also, if your pet has any unusual behaviors, then that too has to be discussed beforehand.

“All this is to make sure your pet and all the other pets that are with us at that time are safe,” says Sandeep adding that sometimes some information can save a lot of unnecessary hassles and issues.

What the customers have to say

It has only been about a year since Paws, Play and Stay first opened its doors to the public but it has managed to make a really good impression among its clientele. Their Facebook page is filled with great reviews and appreciative comments. The customer ratings are also high.

Digbijay Dugar from Pokhara left his two pets for ten days at Paws, Play and Stay. He now says that Paws, Play and Stay is his pet’s second home. Dugar claims that he used to look at his pet’s pictures while he was away and they seemed really happy and content. He further adds that he wasn’t worried at all because it just felt like his pets were in good (trained) hands.

Similarly, Nada Walton from Kathmandu also says he was delighted by their services. When he went to pick up his dog to take it back home, he was surprised to see it playing and interacting with other pets and staffs. “As they say, it truly is a home away from home. I could tell that even my dog felt the same way,” says Walton.