Bay View Bark Wins for Doggy Daycare and Boarding

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Photo by Sandy Reitman

Julia Kaminecki

Julia Kaminecki

In the recent Best of Milwaukee contest, Shepherd Express readers cast their votes for Bay View Bark (1820 S. First St.) as the best place to entrust your dogs. Every morning you’ll see a line of cars with dog owners dropping off their best friends for the day while they go to work. Walking by, you’ll hear the sounds of many types of dogs playing with each other and enjoying their time away from their owners. Bay View Bark was started in 2011 by owner Julia Kaminecki and a friend and continues to be one of Milwaukee’s most trusted places to care for the city’s furry friends.

What’s your story of getting to where you are with Bay View Bark today? Where did you start in the doggy daycare world and what was your path to BVB?

We remodeled an old warehouse on a shoestring budget and started things off on a very small scale. Over the next few years, the Smart Doggy Day Care program grew from two groups of dogs a day to four groups, and we learned much about how to improve the environment and how to teach our staff the principles of compassionate care. In 2015 I bought out my partner so she could retire. In 2016 my husband and I bought a nearby building, remodeled it to fit our updated standards, and moved the business down the street to its current location. We can now run up to five groups of dogs a day, giving each group its own “small day care” experience. 

I have enjoyed being immersed in the business since its inception—from early concepts and planning, to remodeling, dog handling, dog training, staffing, and administrative tasks. I continue to play an active role, although my work is more administratively focused these days. I do still enjoy hands-on training with the staff and the dogs, running assessments for new client’s dogs, and remain on-call to the staff on nights and weekends.

I grew up in a family of animal lovers—we had lots of pets that I loved dearly and had deep connections with—but no dogs! In middle school and high school, I found part time jobs where I could work with dogs, and I really fell in love. When I moved away to college, I landed a job at a dog kennel where we cared for about 50 dogs a day and that truly started my life long deep dive into dog care, behavior, health, and training. 

After completing my degree in psychology, I tried a few vocations, but always returned to animal care and dog training. Opening Bay View Bark let me apply this collection of knowledge and skills, helping dog owners in the community by providing a safe place for positive canine socialization and activity. Training the day care and boarding dogs cues and skills to enhance their interactions in our play groups also assists owners when skills transfer to better behavior and communication at home. 

What types of services and programming do you offer for customers and their furry friends?

We provide an enriching, structured doggy day care program with a focus on compassionate care, safety and dog training. We also provide 24-hour staffing during overnight care for boarding dogs, which includes evening play sessions and late-night potty breaks. Obedience and manners training classes for both puppies and adult dogs are ongoing as well.

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Photo by Sandy Reitman

Bay View Bark

Bay View Bark

What do you believe sets BVB apart?

We provide an enriching, structured doggy day care program with a focus on compassionate care, safety, and dog training. We will run up to five groups of dogs a day, giving each group its own “small day care” experience. Each day, every dog that attends Smart Doggy Day Care receives a one-on-one positive method training session.

One-on-one training builds a relationship of trust and respect between the handlers and the dogs that carries over into all aspects of their day with us. These cues and skills are reinforced in play time through toys, praise, and petting. The relationships we build and training cues we teach help to set your dog up with a foundation for positive social interactions.

Do you have some funny dog moments you can share with us from your many years in the industry? And are you a pet owner yourself?

Due to the nature of our work, much of our day is an absolute blast! Our canine guests arrive each morning excited for the day ahead, the play groups are bouncing bustling fun, the training sessions offer a time to connect and practice skills, and there’s lots of time spent petting and cuddling too. 

Celebrating the dogs that we love with pictures is super fun! We take pics of the day care groups and overnight dogs regularly and post them on Facebook. If you ever need a little comfort or a good laugh - come take a look, there’s over 10,000 pics to flip through!

I currently have two dogs; a 12-year-old border collie/lab mix and a 9-month-old Tibetan Terrier. Although both enjoy coming to work with me, the older one only visits now and then. My puppy, on the other hand, has grown up at BVB. She started day care when she was 12 weeks old and has loved every minute of it! She attends day care multiple days a week and has strong social connections with the dogs in her play groups and the staff that care for her during her day care and overnight care visits. She thinks training is the best and can’t wait to show off her skills! I feel so lucky to have a dog that is comfortable and playful with dogs and people, and I know it’s in large part due to the early socialization she has experienced here and care she receives from our staff. It’s wonderful to take her with me places and have confidence that she will enjoy the adventure as much as I do.

What do you look for in who you hire? What’s the trick to finding such great staff members?

We seek employees who have a heightened level of compassion for animals, dedication to animal care, and the energy and attention to detail required to keep up with the standards here. This is an engaging workplace that requires the staff to be mentally and emotionally present. We begin by looking for candidates with previous experience in the animal care industry and people who enjoy working in a fast-paced, physical job. Moreover, we need staff that are genuinely interested in learning how we want them to care for the dogs at Bay View Bark. 

To celebrate our employees, we host special lunches and treat days for employee anniversaries, birthdays, snow days, hot days, busy days, holidays, Fridays and more! Staff enjoy free Doggy Day Care and discounts on boarding and retail. They get paid shift premiums for working on evenings and weekends, and for training newcomers. 

We have cultivated a culture of respect and positivity amongst our employees. We have an open-door policy where employees can always have a meeting with management and are always welcome to share their thoughts and feelings. Employee feedback and input helps to shape continuous improvements to our procedures. 

Where do you see yourself and the business in the next 5-10 years?

I really love what I do and I’m grateful every day for the clients and dogs that see the value in our services and let me have this rewarding career. In the coming years I hope to continue with things much like they are now. We have recently added Saturday Doggy Day Care to our services and I’m excited to see that continue to grow. 

If you could give dog owners some advice on how to raise a great dog, what would it be? And what’s one thing you wish more people would train their dogs to do?

I believe that regardless of where you get your dog, or how old they are, for them to succeed and flourish in our human centric lifestyles, dogs require ongoing help and support from their family. Socialization, activity, and training are each key elements of this support. We enjoy assisting our clients in those aspects of pet care and will happily discuss all nature of pet care ideals for the dogs in our care.