The wake-up call usually comes at 6 a.m. and is quickly followed by 30 minutes of outdoor exercise. Next comes breakfast, and then rest and relaxation. But the rest doesn’t last long, as there are a lot more opportunities for exercise and one-on-one time with a trainer throughout the day.
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No, this isn’t some fitness resort for humans, rather it is Fireside Pet Lodge by Next Generation, a new pet lodging facility located on over 100 acres in Chatfield, Minn.
Fireside Pet Lodge is a full-service facility that opened in February of this year; they offer lodging, day camp, grooming, training, classes, and a variety of pet products to purchase. While the facility is new, the business is nearly a decade old.
Next Generation Gun Dog Training has been in business since 2012. They specialize in hunting dog training and all breed obedience training. Additionally, they are dedicated breeders of Chesapeake Bay Retrievers and Labrador Retrievers. As the Next Generation Gun Dog Training business continued to grow, the decision to expand to include a full-service pet lodge was easy. “Chatfield needed it,” says Fireside Pet Lodge co-owner Adam Levy, “the next closest place for pet lodging and grooming is Byron, Stewartville?”
Fireside Pet Lodge is owned and operated by Levy, Adam Barbouche, Kelly Bromelkamp, and Casey Stickfort. Levy, Barbouche, and Bromelkamp are all trainers themselves, earning widespread recognition for the dogs they train. “People send us their dogs from all over the country,” says Levy, including that they’ve even trained some dogs from Canada and the U.K.
The pet lodge is made to feel like a country cabin for your four-legged friends. They have an indoor and outdoor facility, cat condos, indoor training room where they offer obedience classes, full-time grooming shop, day camp, and two lodging options.
You can choose between the Fireside Bunkhouse or the Luxury Cabin Suites. The Luxury Cabin Suites have large, covered beds, raised pet bowls, and music playing for the dogs to enjoy during their stay. All floors in the facility offer in-floor heat, and dogs can
roam outside in either one of their seven outdoor large exercise pens or six smaller pens.
Unlike other pet lodging facilities, Fireside Pet Lodge doesn’t do mixed doggy daycare, so if the dogs don’t know each other, they won’t be interacting with one another. Levy says that you can’t know a dog’s full personality within their short stay, and that there are too many unknown variables in allowing dogs to interact with pets they haven’t spent time around. Rather, each pet gets one-on-one time with a staff member. By not having a mixed lodging facility, they are able to take dogs of all breeds, whether they are neutered/spayed or not.
Fireside Pet Lodge is currently open from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Saturdays, and on Sundays by appointment. They are located at 13203 Hwy. 52 in Chatfield (look for a new sign, coming this spring!), and can be contacted at firesidepetlodge@gmail.com, (507) 316-8355, firesidepetlodge.com, or on Facebook.
Levy says he wants everyone’s experience at Fireside Pet Lodge to be a positive one, and after a quick visit of the facility, you, too, will find that this is the place to send your furry friends.
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