We visit Luxury dog accomodation: Pooch Palace, in Lilleshall.

Shropshire Star

Pooch Palace in Lilleshall near Newport,  is about as good as it gets when it comes to luxury for doggy day care or boarding. We visited to take a look.

Transcript

00:00So welcome to the Pooch Palace, this is where we are, Lillashall, and introduce yourselves ladies.

00:06So I'm Zoe, and I'm Hattie, and it's a mother and daughter, this is a family affair. Yeah.

00:11So what is the Pooch Palace? It's a luxury boarding and doggy daycare facility. So what

00:19kind of numbers can you cater for then, and do you cater for? So we average 100 dogs a week for daycare

00:25and about 50 to 60 a week for boarding. And it's full-on for you girls, isn't it? We were having

00:32a little chit-chat off camera, you know, you've got dogs in over Christmas and... Yeah, Christmas

00:37and New Year, New Year's Day, New Year's Eve, all the way through. So this all started with,

00:43this is your little dog there, Ralph, isn't it? Ralph, yeah. So Ralph was kind of the inspiration,

00:47so just fill us in on, because it just started as a hobby, didn't it, this thing? Yeah. So go

00:52on, fill us in where the idea came from. So we went to have a look for doggy hotels for Ralph

00:58before we went on holiday, and there just wasn't anything that got the homely, warmly feel,

01:03especially for a chihuahua. So I had the idea to set up four rooms, luxury suites, just to see how

01:10it would go, and we've now increased to 15, and we're heading into our eighth year next year.

01:17Fantastic. And we're going to do a little tour on site, we'll show that on camera,

01:21but just talk us through some of the facilities we've got here. So we're currently in, this is

01:25doggy daycare. So this is doggy boarding. Doggy boarding, this is doggy boarding. That's right,

01:32I'm testing you. So we've got five suites off here, and we've got a lounge area with a little

01:37garden area as well. And then you've got an agility, you've got a nice run where they can

01:42do the jumps and stuff, and we'll show that. And then you've got the daycare as well. So you've got,

01:49you employ a few members of staff now, don't you? So there's seven of us all together,

01:54and we all do different shifts ranging from half seven in the morning till 10 o'clock at night,

01:58seven days a week. So if I hadn't been here and someone was saying, well, what's special about it?

02:05I mean, hopefully people will be able to pick that up on the video, but it literally, I mean,

02:10you know, people could stay here, couldn't they? Never mind dogs, it's that quality,

02:14isn't it? Quality of finish. We have a lot of men really that will come around and have a look

02:20with their wives, with the dogs, and they'll often say, oh, can we book in? Especially in the four

02:25paces suite. But, you know, we've worked hard to get our five stars. We're all first aid trained

02:33as well, and all the dogs are treated as if they were our own. So we love them just as much as

02:39we love our own dogs. So you've got Ralph there, Chester's your little one, isn't he? Yeah,

02:43Chester's my little one. And they all seem to be, I mean, they all seem to be getting on so well,

02:49the dogs, but I guess that's part of it, isn't it? When a dog comes in, you do like a little

02:53taster session just to make sure they're not going to disrupt the pack sort of thing. Yeah,

02:57we do an assessment day just to make sure that they're happy to stay here and they don't suffer

03:02with separation anxiety, and that they're happy to be away from the family. Cool. So are you,

03:07where you want to be as a business? Are you thinking we want to, you know, increase in size,

03:11or are you kind of thinking we've got just the right number going on here? No, we're completely

03:15happy with the size we've got now. We want to keep it small, that way we get to know all the

03:20dogs that come to us. We get to know the customers as well. So we're happy with the size we are at

03:26the moment. We love all our regulars. So this is Pooch Parlour, and this is where they come

03:33just to get looking all perfect. So how does it work then? Do you have like a visiting groomer

03:41that comes? Yeah, so Alexa comes twice a week to groom the dogs. She has over 10 years experience

03:49and she has a passion for grooming the dogs. So they all come here, have baths, grooms.

04:06When you want them to do it, they won't do it. And a bath every other week as well. And how far

04:12are people traveling with their dogs? Is it kind of generally Newport, Telford, or even further

04:17afield? How's it work? For daycare, it's generally local. Chiffnall, Telford, Muxton. For boarding,

04:24we have people that will come from Cirencester, Manchester. Yeah, just because you've got that

04:30special product that they're willing to travel like. Yeah, yeah. Fantastic.

04:38So we're in the, this is boarding. Yeah, yes. Cool. And this is the little lounge. It's lovely

04:46and warm in here, isn't it? Yeah, so it's all fully heated. TV's left on from half seven in

04:51the morning until 10 o'clock at night. The dogs come and chill, have cuddles. We've got a little

04:57gardener. We're off the lounge over as well. So we've got a range of different bedrooms.

05:03Do you want to just show us through? Yeah, of course. So we've got a couple of, I mean, this is

05:08fantastic. So these are like the go themed rooms. Yeah. So we've got the Chelsea Flower Suite,

05:14again, fully heated. CCTV as well, so you can watch them all the time.

05:20The Minnie Mouse Suite is in there. So we have their own bed, but obviously customers are welcome

05:26to bring their own bed as well. Yeah. And then someone tells me you've got a little four poster

05:31room. Is that right? Yeah. Go on then, lead the way. So that's over this side. Yeah. So Hattie,

05:40this is doggy day care bit, this one, yeah? Yes, yeah. So this is their little playground? Yeah.

05:46So they come out here and they play with the balls. They go on the apparatus. We've got agility

05:51gyms. We've got a tunnel and they're just free to run around and play all day as they please.

05:56And how many dogs have we got here at the minute? We've got 18 in today. Yeah. And they all know

06:00each other, don't they? Because they're regular. Yes, they're all regular. So it's a bit like a

06:03child going to nursery. Yeah. They make their own friends. Yeah. We're the teachers basically,

06:08and they all get excited to come in and play today. Fantastic. Let's just go and say hello to them.

06:15So who's the characters in this gang then guys? Muffin! Muffin! She's Muffin. Say hello to Muffin.

06:23Hello Muffin. Hello darling. She's a little cutie, isn't she? Some gorgeous dogs. Hello.

06:31Woody as well. And then when they've finished playing, go on Hattie, show us through.

06:36This is nicer than my house in this bit. I might book myself in for the day.

06:40So when they finish playing and they want a bit of downtime, they come inside in here,

06:45which is like a little lounge area. Yeah. So it's all fully heated. We have little beds

06:49dotted around. So they're literally free just to come and chill and have cuddles and keep warm

06:55and have their lunchtime nap. And you've got the little, the radios going for them and everything

07:01as well. So it's just more like a home from home and then just come and have a good day.

07:05And who's this little one? A very wise one sitting in there. Luna.

07:09Luna. She's not deaf, mate. So this is what they do, we have so many cuddles and lots of chill time.

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