Doggie vacations at Club Amarillo

Fresh air, long walks in the country and a beautiful view – if it sounds like the perfect resort getaway and it is but it’s not for the two-legged types.

At Club Amarillo it’s the quadrupeds that are treated to a little rest and relaxation.

From their kennels, the dogs are watching a movie on the flat screen television. The movie Cats and Dogs (in which a pack of dogs work to stop a group of cats from sabotaging the development of a dog allergy vaccine) proves to be a crowd favourite.

The Club Amarillo owner Dana Mailhot said familiar sounds and smells, like the television and pillows and blankets from home, help the dogs settle in and relax.

Most of the guests are at the club because their owners are off on vacations of their own. Knowing that their dogs are happy helps their owners enjoy their vacations.

Mailhot said she has a lot of city dogs come stay at the club.

“We offer a real country experience with fresh air and hand walking (on a leash),” said Mailhot. “It’s a very quiet, relaxed atmosphere and they get to experience things they have never experienced.”

The club’s amenities include heated and air conditioned kennels with raised orthopedic beds, including a family condo for multiple dogs from one family, an indoor bark park and an outdoor off-leash run called Freedom 55 – aptly named for the number of minutes each dog can run free – and a track that is shared with the horses that live and board at the Mulmur Township farm.

Having grown up on a farm in St. Jacob’s, Mailhot said she has always enjoyed the company of dogs and horses. She used to work as an exercise rider for racehorses and travelled all over the United States, conditioning some of the best racers on the circuit. Fifteen years ago, she and her husband Mike bought the farm and named it Club Amarillo with the goal of having a homebase to work from so there would be less travel as they started a family. They named the farm after a tack shop Mailhot owned in Glencairn, which she operated five years previously.

When the slots were removed from Woodbine, Mailhot said the race horse industry was hit hard and there was less work. As a way of supplementing the farm’s income, Mailhot opened the kennel and began boarding dogs.

She said it has been a great fit and she now has many regular customers.

For more information, visit www.theclubamarillo.com.