As the sun begins to rise in the East over Fenway Bark and the Blizzard of 2010 becomes fully visible from our enviable view on the Boston harbor, I have had time to reflect upon the Fenway Bark vision, our effectiveness so far meeting that vision, and where we need to go from here.
The mission for Fenway Bark has been public and unchanged since we were founded over a year and half ago. How well are we doing toward our mission with our first Holiday guests on board, the first blizzard and travel challenge, and a array of medical and individual specific needs for our guests as part of our every day agenda all in our first 5 days of boarding guests?
I'm happy to report that we I am delighted with the outcome. Let me give you some examples of how the mission played out:
- When our veterinary technicians identified an allergy skin issue with one of our guests, they proactively worked with the pet's veterinarian and parents to improve our guest's comfort while in our care and following her departure. With her veterinarian ordered medication change, our team carefully followed her condition and worked together to improve her comfort level throughout her stay.
- When one of our senior citizen guests had some, well, issues with incontinence, our team understood both the condition that comes with age and how to handle a senior citizen to keep him both hygienically safe, comfortable and loved.
- When one of our young energetic boarders needed regular exercise because he typically runs with his mom daily, we developed a fun, exhausting retrieval game on each shift to wear him out and keep him exercised.
- With a little bit of separation anxiety noted, our staff took turns curling up with the sweetest little Golden/Chow mix and sleeping next to her on her dog bed until she was OK on her own.
- And when a blizzard hit Boston, our team pulled together to make sure that there was coverage of all key positions while ensuring the staff was able to travel safely, a warm area to play and walk in our indoor park, and where established, continued their pledge to take public transportation to reduce Fenway Bark's carbon footprint.
So where do we go from here?
There is still work to be done to finish the construction of Fenway Bark, add some special offerings we will tell you about in January, and launch most of our key services in the next 6 weeks. We will resume taking daycare and overnight guests once our main luxury boxes are completed in the last week of January and will be ready to have your pet as our guest for Valentine's Day weekend, winter break, and spring break. However, we recommend you register now and make sure your reservations are in place soon.
We continue to plan two important events: 1) Puppy Love on February 12 which brings together a number of rescue organization at one time at Fenway Bark with the hope of helping some fine dogs and cats find their forever home.
We will have some special guests that day including a book signing by Larry Levin, author of Oogy: A Dog Only a Family Could Love. Copies of the book will be available for sale in the Fenway Bark boutique.
Tours, a raffle to raise money for the shelters with some coveted donations made from generous local contributors, entertainment, and refreshments will be available, as well. Please plan on attending and maybe bringing home a new family member or at least help raise some money to help out the dogs and cats until they find their forever home.
On February 27 we plan on having our official Grand Opening all day. We hope you will mark your calendars to attend.
On a more basic note, events aside, we, as a team, are creating something that feels really right, that is working well, and we can be very proud of what we accomplished so far.
We will continue to listen, improve, launch new services, and hopefully delight you as Boston area pet owner.
We look forward to your visit and meeting your furry family members soon.
To register or make reservations, please go to our website through the link.
On behalf of the entire team, health and happiness in the New Year!
