Dogs take a dip, business does not over past year at Columbiana dog training, daycare center

COLUMBIANA, Ohio (WKBN) – Some furry companions were ending the week with a splash as they cooled off at the pool at A Place For Paws in Columbiana in the Industrial Park on Friday.

Some dove right in and others were more hesitant, but overall, tails were wagging and smiles were going all around.

“People got lots and lots of dogs during the pandemic, so we’ve seen lots of training dogs, lots of daycare dogs, lots of puppies coming in,” Owner Dani Edgerton said.

Edgerton said they had to close for about six weeks during the pandemic, but business was steady over the past year.

“Even while they were at home, some people were like, ‘I need to do a Zoom meeting and I can’t do a Zoom meeting with my dog in the background,’” Edgerton said. “So we still had business as soon as we opened back up.”

Edgerton added that they’ve been working on socialization for the younger pups over the past couple of months.

People driving by might wonder why there’s a half-size pool there. Edgerton said when they got the pool 18 years ago, it was for dock diving training, and then they opened it up to all dogs.

“I had seen the dock diving and thought what a great thing to add to our daycare would be the swimming element,” Edgerton said. “Now, there are lots of daycares across the country which have pools and splash parks and all sorts of things, but at that point, there were two indoor pools in the Tri-State area.”

While the dogs might not fully understand the pandemic or what the coronavirus is, they know how to have a good time and enjoy a pool on a bright, sunny day.

“Some dogs like the labs, they don’t care. If it’s got ice on top, they’ll crack the ice,” Edgerton said. “They’ve tried.”