Hub Staff

New things are happening for Saugeen Shores business Unleash the Pawsitive, which has moved to a bigger location, Unit 6 at 1119 Goderich Street in Port Elgin, and will celebrate with an open house on Saturday, March 19 from 1 to 4 p.m. Humans and their fur-babies welcome.

Unleash the Pawsitive owner and dog trainer Melissa MacKinnon, a former Veterinary Technician, said the open house is for anyone who’s interested in coming, but noted that dogs must be on leash. “We’re going to show-off our space, people can see our training and daycare area, and meet the staff. We will also be having a raffle towards Angel Arms Rescue,” said MacKinnon.

Angel Arms Rescue is a rescue out of Hanover and Cassidy Weber from Tangled Tails Dog Grooming, also a worker for Unleash the Pawsitive does a lot of work with them.

“We will be raffling off a daycare pass, a (Tangled Tails) grooming certificate and a free nail trim,” said MacKinnon.

The 3,000 square foot facility has room for 34 dogs in the daycare program which runs Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. “Our main priority is to offer positive reinforcement doggy-daycare for large and small dogs, and we’re offering separate space so the small dogs don't have to interact with the big dogs if they don't want to, but we judge it on their play styles,” MacKinnon said.

“Our biggest thing is having a one-person-to-10-dog ratio, we always want someone supervising them at all times,” said the trainer.

“We do have the ability for early drop off for people that have to head to work, and a home shuttle, so we will drive the dogs home if they live in Saugeen Shores. We’ve done a lot of research and we really do feel that the dogs don't have to be here all day, every day. They tend to get grumpier if they're tired and that can lead to aggression problems, so we want to send them home happy.”

There is also specific space for grooming in this new location, provided by Weber and Tangled Tails Dog Grooming in the afternoons. With the new daycare up and running, Unleash the Pawsitive has had to put a pause on its popular dog walking service, because of the staff needed during daycare hours.

Unleash the Pawsitive can be found at unleashthepawsitive.ca or on the Facebook page.