|
|
April 13, 2001/Nisan 20, 5761, Vol. 53, No.28
Different breed of day care
TAMI BICKLEY
Associate Editor
As pet owners know, caring for a furry creature can feel like parenting much of the time. There is discipline to be taught, money to be spent and sacrifices to be made. And, like parenting, these acts require time and patience.
There is a solution, however, and it exists in a home set on 2.5 acres of land in Cave Creek. Its inhabitants, Mark and Elana Weisberg and their children Ashley, 12, Jason, 10, Chloe, 9 and Gavrielle, 2, have devoted their residence and lives to caring for pets that belong to other people.
Elana Weisberg runs Animal Daze, what she calls "doggie day care" six days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at her home. She compares the service to a child day-care center in that her clients drop their dogs off and pick them up. For a small fee, Weisberg will provide pick-up service to her clients. In addition, she has a cattery at her home through which she cares for cats. She also provides overnight boarding, but stresses that she "does not use kennels or cages;" she prefers the animals have the run of her house and be socially integrated with the other animals.
Weisberg has no official veterinary training, but is a member of the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters and is certified in animal first aid and CPR. She is also a professed animal lover who says she wants to help animals become adopted and remain with their adoptive families. By relieving some of the demands of animal ownership for her clients, she says this goal can be achieved.
"We started this business to hopefully prevent people from (getting rid of their animals) and to get people to continue to adopt and rescue animals and to bring them into their homes and families," she says.
Weisberg began working closely with animals about six years ago in Farmington Hills, Mich., when she married Mark, who is the CFO of a construction company in Detroit. Jason, Mark's son from a previous marriage, is a special-needs child who, the couple discovered, benefited from the companionship of animals.
"We really felt that animals helped him to build trusting relationships that he couldn't have built without them," Weisberg explains.
In essence, she says, she began rescuing and adopting animals to "rescue Jason."
The Weisbergs now own five dogs, four cats and a horse of their own. They are also awaiting the birth of a pot-bellied pig, which they will bottle feed and house on their property in a special area. All of their pets have been rescued or adopted from shelters.
Weisberg works with the Foothills Animal Shelter, a no-kill sanctuary in Cave Creek through which animals are rescued from all over the Valley, fostered out and placed for adoption. Through the shelter, Weisberg also has fostered animals.
"Fostering is a good way to get started and it's important to have a variety of animals in the home and for the kids to experience that," she says.
Members of the Weisberg family each greet every animal when they return home from work or school, and take turns bathing and grooming them and cleaning up after them. They are well acquainted with the animals, even those that only visit for day care.
Weisberg nurtures and loves her clients' animals as her own, she says. She treats them for fleas and ticks, feeds them, bathes them, plays with them all day and never leaves them alone. If she has to run an errand, all of the dogs accompany her. She also offers some basic obedience and behavior training if they are having problems. All areas are accessible to the animals, including the family swimming pool, which has a shallow area dubbed "the beachfront," where the dogs swim, play and cool off during the hot summer months. Weisberg is also currently installing a bone-shaped "doggie pool" in a separate area of the backyard.
Weisberg does not believe in using cages or shock collars to discipline dogs. Weisberg also frowns upon using a cage to contain a dog or cat while its owner leaves the home.
"It's sad," says Weisberg. "I see these families adopting cute puppies, and then three months later they call and say the dog was great all weekend, but when they went to work on Monday, the dog chewed up their leather couch" or urinated in the house. "There are tons of things that are going to come up in people's lives ... and then they decide suddenly that the pet has to be lower on the value level. That's where my business comes from. You can't discard an animal simply because life is occurring."
Prior to accepting any animal in her home, Weisberg asks prospective clients to complete a survey. She also assesses the animals to see how submissive they are and makes sure she has a faxed copy from the client's veterinarian confirming the animal's health and vaccination history. In addition, she requires that all animals entering her day care are spayed or neutered.
"This is the equivalent of babysitting for a few kids a day," she says while brushing Bear, a client's dog. "I am doing it because it is so sad and so disheartening to walk through the humane society or pound or shelter. You can't even count the number of animals that are being thrown away."
"Everyone wants to be loved and have attention.... I do this because I love animals and I love my kids and I want them to know that there are little things they can do that that can make a big difference."
For more information about Animal Daze, call Elana Weisberg at 480-513-1353.
|
