September 27, 2006

Dear Customers, Friends and Great Dog Family-

We are pleased to update you on the outcome of yesterday’s city hearing. The zoning land use went to committee and they voted unanimously to recommend passing this new land use code to full council. What that means is although we have one more hurdle with full council, it will be recommended by committee. (pretty much a shoe in.)  

What does this mean for Great Dog? Well, it means that we will be legally allowed to operate within our current zoning and we won’t have to move. We will, however, need to make some structural changes to mitigate any noise so you might see some construction happening in the next couple of months!

Thank you to everyone that wrote letters, made phone calls and signed petitions. It really helped in more ways that you know.

Thanks,

Leslie & Judi

Dear Friends and Family of Great Dog,

Early last year, we were notified by the City of Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development with a notice of violation regarding our daycare services. The City of Seattle has not updated their accommodations for animal based services since 1982, and for their purposes, have classified dog daycare services as a kennel. One of the consequences of this conclusion is that Great Dog, as well as a number of operating dog daycares in Seattle, would not be able to operate daycare services. Judi, the Great Dog staff and myself dedicate a lot of our time special community & non-profit causes.  The income that is generated by our daycare allows us the opportunity to embark on these projects.

Great Dog has never maintained that we offer overnight accommodations – our definition of a kennel & boarding environment. The City has a more broad term for kennel which needs to be clarified further and be brought up to the 21st century standards. In addition dog daycare needs to be incorporated into the zoning codes as a separate animal service. Our vision is that the City of Seattle will work with Great Dog and other dog daycare professionals to pioneer new zoning accommodations for the dog daycare industry.

As Great Dog continues to evolve, we have developed programs that enrich our canine companion’s life. Our staff not only monitors safe play, but also continually develop activities that expand your pet’s cognitive talents, enhance their lives and social skills as well as keep potentially noisy, destructive and loose dogs engaged through out the day. Great Dog believes that there is a need for dog daycare and benefits to dog daycare much like there is a need for child daycare. Great Dog is more than just warehousing dogs. It is a place where dogs can learn, interact, be fulfilled and enriched. Great Dog is dedicated to the welfare of Seattle's canine community and we need your help to keep it alive.

What we are doing:
* Great Dog owners, Leslie Csokasy & Judi Anderson-Wright, in conjunction with our landlord, have retained a lawyer who specializes in zoning and city codes.
* We have established an association of Seattle area dog daycares. We will be working on creating an universal industry definition of dog daycare as well as other things that will help the industry as a whole.
* We are petitioning the City Counsel, the DCLU and the Department of Planning and Developing, as well as King County to create an official classification for dog daycares that differ from dog kennels.
* We are monitoring noise concerns and comparing to other present noises in our environment.
* We continue to research other ways to keep Great Dog open in our current location.

 

Together we can help bring Seattle's dog community to the 21st century. Thank you to everyone who loves Great Dog!

Sincerely,
Leslie Csokasy & Judi Anderson-Wright
Co-owners of Great Dog Daycare Inc.
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