Doggy Daycare and Spa opened for business on October 18, 2000 in its original location on James Phillips Drive in Okemos, MI.
Holly Hunting-Martin came up with the idea for Doggy Daycare and Spa one morning when she was getting ready to once again leave for a ten hour work day in property management. She looked down at her golden retriever puppy, Fogo, and said “Fogo, you need daycare.” Hence, a business was born.
Holly researched the idea and discovered that dog daycares actually existed (mostly out in California), and so she began her quest to open Mid-Michigan’s first Dog Daycare Center. Most people thought she was crazy to leave her stable career in property management to open a virtually unheard-of business. Who in their right mind would ever take their dog to a “Doggy Daycare”?
The original location was a refurbished pole barn… nothing fancy, but it certainly fit its purpose. On the first day Doggy Daycare and Spa was open, Holly had her dog, Fogo, and a Rhodesian Ridgeback named Winston. On the second day, she had 2 dogs plus her own… and slowly but surely, the business grew dog by dog.
Janice Milligan became involved in the business initially as a client. Her little Schnorkie puppy, Vince, was chewing up a shoe a day, and Janice quickly discovered Doggy Daycare was less expensive than replacing an entire collection of shoes. In 2002, Janice became disenchanted with her career in advertising sales and approached Holly about opening a second location on the westside of Lansing. That summer, they purchased the property on Mt. Hope Hwy and began the plans to build a custom dog daycare facility. Two months later, they found out that the leased property on James Phillips Drive had been sold. What was once supposed to be a second location quickly turned into a relocation.
The new facility opened for business on August 28, 2003. In addition to Cageless Daycare and Grooming, the new facility allowed for overnight boarding. Other amenities included a custom air exchange system, a much larger indoor dog gymnasium, and extra tall outdoor fencing.
On December 1, 2005, Janice Milligan took over ownership of Doggy Daycare and Spa. Soon after, Holly moved from the Lansing area to Iowa, then to Minnesota, with her husband Greg and daughter Sydney. Holly passed away on August 13, 2010.
Doggy Daycare and Spa is Mid-Michigan’s original Doggy Daycare Center. We are proud to say that our business continues to thrive and we have expanded back into the Okemos marketplace as of June 24, 2015. We are proud to be able to provide the Greater Lansing Area the very best in Daycare, Boarding and Grooming Services.