Meet Charter Member ABC Pet Resort in Houston, Texas

As part of our 3rd Anniversary of The Dog Gurus membership, we wanted to highlight a couple of our charter members. Charter members are facilities who joined The Dog Gurus as soon as we launched in 2013 and have been with us ever since. We are thankful for their support and hope they have loved being a member as much as we love having them! For this post, we interviewed Suzanne Locker from ABC Pet Resort and Spa in Houston, Texas.

TDG: Provide a brief overview of your company (when you started it, services offered, what is your facility like) 

Suzanne: My husband, Al Locker, and I founded ABC Pet Resort & Spa in 1991. Nestled in three wooded acres on the north side of Houston, Texas, ABC offers overnight lodging for dogs and cats, pet styling, obedience and fitness training, individual playtimes as well as dog daycare. Lodging accommodations for dogs includes spacious suites, doggie doors leading to private patios, and three daily walks. Each multi-level cat enclosure has portholes, windows and shelves to satisfy a cat’s natural instinct to explore; and a daily playtime with a camp counselor.  All pets are served a premium grain-free pet food, and exercised and played with daily to keep our overnight guests at optimum health and stress-free.

TDG: Why did you get started in the pet industry?

Suzanne: From 1988 to 1990 I worked for a veterinary clinic that also boarded well-pets. Although the pets were treated with respect and love, as a pet parent I felt that the experience was lacking – both for the pets and for their parents. I felt drawn to have my own boarding facility where I could give pets the individual attention that I saw was missing in most boarding businesses at that time. ABC Pet Resort was created to provide all pet guests structured play programs in a fun, safe environment.

TDG: What do you find most rewarding about working in the pet industry?

Suzanne: Working in the pet industry has been incredibly rewarding because it gives me the chance to make the lives of pets and their families better! Solving problems for parents, helping them understand their pets’ behaviors, and becoming their partner in caring for their pets; these have been satisfying endeavors for me through the years.

TDG: What does being a member of The Dog Gurus mean to you?

Suzanne: Having access to the educational material that the Dog Gurus have created has made my staff better at what we do. Because of it, we are much more confident that we understand what our pet guests are telling us and are running our Daycare in a responsible and knowledgeable way. The continuing education gives each staff member pride in the profession they have chosen.

TDG: What does your staff do together for fun?  

Suzanne: Our staff has occasional outings, such as bowling, but most of our fun has been during monthly staff meetings. We like to have challenging games (teams against teams) and the meetings are always positive and centered on educational topics and guest speakers.

TDG: Do you have a client or dog who changed the way you run your business?

Suzanne: Many of my clients have affected change in my business. It has always been my practice to be honest if we have made an error in judgement or a procedure that has comprised a client’s pet in any way. During this admission, I offer to my client that I and the managerial staff will put our thinking caps on to come up with a change that will prevent that specific error from happening again. We actually make those changes and become better at what we do. This effort always is appreciated by the client and the staff feels we are responding in the right way to take action to grow and improve the business.