Loyal Blue Pawfessional Puppy School provides training, day care and activity

By Joey McWilliams

DURANT – Living a dog’s life doesn’t have to be a bad thing. There is a new place for dogs to go in Bryan County to be treated well and spend some time with friends.

Business presented by Kiamichi Tech.

Loyal Blue Pawfessional Puppy School opened recently as a boarding facility for dogs and more.

Owner Sarah Hill, who also owns Unshakeable Fitness gym, is expanding her reach in the community to work with local four-legged residents. Loyal Blue is a place for boarding, as well as dog day care and more.

“We are a pet training facility as well,” Hill said. “So for now, it’s just basic obedience, puppies running from anywhere from 10 weeks old to, we’ve had up to five years old, that are just learning how to be perfect law-abiding citizens at home, just learning how to coexist with their owners.

“A lot of the times, people’s pets are part of the family so we want them to be treated like one and most importantly act like one. That’s what we focus on mostly.”

People who are going to be away for a weekend or are just going to Dallas for a shopping trip for a day can bring their dogs to Loyal Blue.

Dogs who stop by Loyal Blue can play inside and outside and also in the water. Staff photo.

“We’re open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. so you can let them play and get their energy out. We specialize in stimulation specifically toward the dogs so that will eliminate some obnoxious behaviors that you see in dogs the are under-stimulated and bored at home such as chewing your expensive couch and things like that.

“For overnight stay and for longer trips we keep them as well. The good thing about it is they do get full dog day care benefits so they’re not cooped up in their kennels all day.”

Hill said she is excited about the fact that not only are they capable of training dogs at Loyal Blue, but also that the business is working on its certification for even more training.

“We’re in the very, very beginning stages of it but we will be AKC certified soon,” Hill said. “AKC stands for American Kennel Club and it sounds a little misleading. The dogs do not have to be AKC registered to become a service dog, but it’s just through the Kennel Club so that it is official.

“CGC stands for Canine Good Citizens. So this is basically what allows you to have your certified service dog go with you to the airport or everyday types of situations for people who actually do need them for emotional therapy dogs.

“Therapy dogs have been used at veterans hospitals and with people who suffer with PTSD. And of course we have children. And we have volunteers who are autistic, we know kids that are autistic, kids that are diagnosed with diabetes at an early age, and these are things that dogs help with in day-to-day living. There have been several situations where dogs can let family members when people become unconscious, so we will be able to teach dogs all kinds of things. There are so many levels to what a service dog actually is.”

Loyal Blue is located at 2525 S. Ninth Ave., just down the street from her other business, Unshakeable Fitness. Hill said she had wanted to make sure her gym dog behaved well, so she took the time to learn and to train him.

From there, other members of the gym are requesting that she train their dogs, too. And from there, the idea of a business like this grew.

“The more I trained other peoples’ dogs for them and the more research and self education I did, I started to realize that on the behavioral side of things, what dogs actually need a lot of times is to just be able to enjoy their most instinctual behavior, which is the socializing and of course the stimulation that we do provide here,” Hill said. “They just need a place to be a dog.

“So I figured it was a big problem in this area and I could provide a solution. We’re right down the road from the casino and you have all these employees, people who can’t leave to go let their dogs out so they come home to a really keyed-up, frustrated dog. So rather than the dog feeling like it just has major misbehavioral issues, it really just needs a place to play. We want to provide that.”

The opportunities for people who are visiting town at the Casino have a place for their pets now that is just nearby.

“(The hotel) does have some pet friendly options but not to that level, whereas I can provide basically everything that humans would go to the resort for,” Hill said. “It’s going to be like doggy Disneyland. They have an Oasis just like the humans do. They have playtime and entertainment. That way whenever they’re staying they know that their dog is having just as much fun as they are and it is literally right down the road.”

Hill said she is happy about what Loyal Blue is able to provide right now, but also has goals for the growth of the business.

“One thing that I would love to see in the future is basically a behavioral institute for the dogs, while we could still provide the day care and the boarding services. I would love to be able to take the dogs that we have with the issues, like the adoptive dogs and foster dogs and shelter dogs, and maybe have part of the facility be a shelter and another part of it being a training facility.

“Sometimes shelter dogs can’t find homes because you don’t know where they came from or how they’re going to act. So not only could we shelter them, but we could teach them, they could find a new home and it would be a safe solution for everyone.

The main source at which to find Loyal Blue online in via Facebook.

“And there is a sign up button where you can actually go and register and create a reservation for your pet and build a profile for them so they’re already in our system,” Hill said. “There are a few vaccinations that are required so that’s going to be important too.”

And when your dogs are staying and learning at Loyal Blue, they will be happy with living a dog’s life.