Resort offers pooches high-flying accommodations
By Mira Reverente Special to the Acorn

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers PUPPY PLAY- Day-care client Blaze frolics in a pen at Flying High Pet Resort with 11 doggy friends and employee Jon Kuhlman on Tuesday afternoon.

Flying High Pet Resort is Camarillo's newest one-stop shop for locals looking for grooming, boarding and daycare services for their family pets.

What started in 2003 as a small pet day care has recently reopened in a larger facility to offer a broad range of services to its four-footed clientele.

"At first, all we did was day care; then we got a very filthy dog one day and decided to clean it up for free. That's how the grooming aspect of the business started," said Judy Arnold, coowner of Flying High Pet Resort. "On our fifth year, we decided to close the day care, move to a larger facility and expand the business to a resort-like setting for dogs."

Decorated as if it's an airport, the resort offers pets an atmosphere that's inviting to both dogs and their owners.

The business offers various "classes" of service to dogs who are staying for a few days.

"For $50 a night," said coowner Dawn Lopez, describing the first-class accommodations, "our clients can board their beloved dogs here in our penthouse suite, complete with a real bed, nightstand, bedside lamp and a couch. The dog can stay here solo or share with two other dogs from the same household for a slightly reduced rate. This is topoftheline accommodation and the most pampered a dog can get in our resort."

Business and coach classes are also offered.

The business class runs about $37 a night. Owners have the choice of a Jamaican or Parisian-themed room, and dogs can stay with other canines or enjoy a quiet night with no roommates.

Coach class, for $15 a night, allows dogs to spend the night with a number of other pooches. Lopez said the coach class is for dogs that are considered social.

The resort keeps a veterinarian on call and also gives a temperament test to be sure a dog will mingle well with others for extended periods of time.

"We are constantly getting ourselves educated in animal behavior and the latest, holistic approach to caring for dogs," Arnold said. "That's what makes us distinctive."

This month the resort is offering a special- free day care for all dogs also boarding there.

Flying High Pet Resort, 531 Dawson Drive, is open from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays.

For more information, call (805) 445-9099.