Day care: A dog's life to die for Keep your canine contented with a paws for play and other pet-friendly activities by Scott D. Lewis Special to the Oregonian Oregonian A & E, Friday, October 13, 2000

(Excerpted from the article)

If it's true you can judge people by how they treat animals. Portlanders are a bunch of softies or saints.

"I started out taking her just once a week." says Marcie Edenburn of Milwaukie. "But now she goes every day. She loves it, and I'1l do anything for her."

The "her" Edenburn dotes on is not little Marcie Jr., but rather her malamute-labrador mix. Maggie, who, at 7 months, weighs in at a healthy 95 pounds and has the energy to match. Rather than pester her "dad." who works the graveyard shift and must sleep days, Maggie rides to work with her "mom" and then eagerly trots the block over to day care. Doggie day care.

Maggie attends Urban Fauna. where she enjoys all of the usual daycare activities: playing with friends and toys, going on outings, chowing on snacks, nap time and, if she's lucky, story time or a special art project. All with supervision and guidance, of course.

Walter, a white bulldog, gets nosy as Jennifer Underwood attends to some of the other pupils at Urban Fauna's doggie daycare.

Urban Fauna was opened in December by Suzanne Losh, a former veterinary technician and pet store manager.

"My husband I were at a gallery in the Pearl District one First Thursday and noticed how many people were in the area with dogs." she recalls. "I commented that there was a need for a pet supply store in the area. He responded, 'Well, then why don't you open one?" So she did. and more. "When we found the space, it had the garage, on the side, which led to adding the doggie day care."

Dogs are everywhere in Portland. It seems that more and more furry faces can be found peeking from cars, leashed outside coffee shops, playing in parks and being walked on the streets. Multnomah County Animal Control estimates the county has 70,000 licensed dogs and another 70,000 canines without the required credentials.

Aging baby boomers facing the lonely "empty nest syndrome" may choose to put canines in place of their kids; Gen Xers still too unsettled to produce progeny might pick a pooch.

But just like children, dogs can be a handful. "If I didn't take her to day care, there is no way I could keep, her," says Monique St. Laurent, a student at Lewis & Clark College. "She just has too much energy."

St. Laurent feels that the $350 a month she budgets to send Charlotte. her 13 month old Vizsla hunting dog, to Urban Fauna is well worth the expense. "She comes home tired at night and she's really happy. She's just been a lot better since she's been going to day care, and she's better socialized with other dogs." A fringe benefit is that Charlotte also gets a monthly bath and nail trimming during the boarding.

Losh of Urban Fauna points out that dogs are pack animals and so have a need to be around other dogs – playing, fighting and interacting with their furry friends for proper development.

"The biggest plus is that it prevents future problems." she pitches convincingly. "For years we've seen a lot of animals at humane societies. The reason they're there is because they are barking, digging, chewing, and all those behaviors stem from boredom. What else are they going to do? They're going to find some chair to chew on or start barking at some weird sound. So some people put them in the pound. Then you have this adult dog that no one wants."

"When they come here, they can play and romp, and they don't develop those neurotic behaviors," Losh says. Nor do their owners develop the guilt that goes with locking up their " kid " all day.

Those looking for doggie day care have a handful of options throughout the Portland area. You can expect the pet to go through a screening process, and dogs generally need to be spayed or neutered and up to date on inoculations.

Urban Fauna currently is the only downtown provider, thus making it ideal for commuters as well as the growing number of inner city loft and apartment dwellers...