Hia Dog Boarding in Hiawatha offers day care for dogs, with a swimming pool

HIAWATHA — Faye Chadwick grew up in the country and so animals always have been a big part of her life, both wild and domesticated.

“I always thought I'd grow up to become a veterinarian, but life had different plans for me,” she said, noting that she spent many years working in the mortgage lending field.

“But my whole adult life I've had dogs, most of whom came to me through rescue. They have been some of my best friends.”

Some 18 years ago, Chadwick and her husband, Tim, talked about opening a day care for dogs.

“At the time, there wasn't a single one in the area and the Realtor who showed us commercial properties thought we were nuts,” she recalled.

While things didn’t pan out as Chadwick hoped back then, the timing was right in the past couple years. The couple recently opened a new dog boarding and day care facility in Hiawatha.

“And now I am just ecstatic to be spending my days taking care of dogs,” she said.

Hia Dog Boarding and Day Care is a 5,760-square-foot facility that offers overnight boarding that can accommodate large and small dogs with a variety of kennel sizes. They also offer day care seven days a week with no additional cost for the weekends.

“Our boarding and day care clients can add on some ‘One-on-One Enrichment’ time for their dogs,” Chadwick said.

She noted this alone time is tailored to the dog’s needs, such as working on basic training, learning a new trick, playing catch or as simple as a massage with a focus on range of motion.

“But what we are really excited about offering to our clients is time in our swimming pool,” she added. “It's an 18-foot-by-10-foot indoor heated pool, just like you would see at a hotel.”

Chadwick believes Hia Dog’s pool is the only one in the state.

Regulated by the Department of Health, Chadwick said they offer supervised swims for the dogs and have life jackets for pups.

“It's meant to be fun for the dogs and in turn gives them a full-body workout without putting pressure on their joints. I'm hoping one day to offer hydrotherapy, especially to those dogs in rescue that are going through medical rehab so they can find a forever home.”

The business is in a new building that Chadwick designed specifically to cater to her ideas for full-service dog boarding and day care.

“My vision for Hia Dog was designed for the easy flow of moving dogs from one area of the building to the next, and how to make the swimming pool fit into all that,” she recalled.

There are three boarding rooms, two separate play areas, in-floor heating, a backup generator, surveillance cameras, multiple washing/cleaning stations and easy excess to the outside dog runs.

Hia Dog is set up for full grooming services but at this time is concentrating on specialty spas that include a bath, brush out, blow dry, facial, paw conditioning, ear cleaning, nail trim and teeth brushing.

The Chadwicks run the business with their 16 employees.

“Over this past holiday we had clients comment on how nice it was to drop their dog off Thanksgiving Day as they were headed out of town instead of having to come in the night before,” Chadwick said.

Chadwick said all staff members are trained in pet CPR and First Aid, along with dog behavior training from the Dog Gurus, a pet-business consulting organization.

The couple purchased the property about two years ago and, after some pandemic-related delays, officially open their doors Nov. 8.

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