It’s 10 a.m. on a Friday, and I’m being playfully mobbed by half-a-dozen large dogs bursting with enthusiasm over nothing and anything.
A ball, a passing car, the fact that a stranger has just walked in among them—it doesn’t really matter. All that seems to matter to these creatures is the sheer joy of being alive.
It’s a beautiful thing, even to a non-dog person such as myself. As they scamper around me, I wonder if many people remember being this excited about anything in a long time.
But this is a daily scene inside Keystone K9, a new dog care facility downtown near 7th and Forster streets. Keystone K9 is the creation of Josh Feldman, who got the idea years ago while working long hours in Manhattan and dropping his own dog, Guvner, at a daycare center nearly every day.
Feldman says this helped keep Guvner happy and healthy while he was out of the house for most of the day. It also helped keep his furniture intact, he says, because destructive behavior can emanate from boredom.
In 2010, after moving back to Harrisburg, where he previously attended Widener Law, Feldman started thinking more seriously about making this service accessible for dog lovers here. He was always interested in business and entrepreneurship, and he was looking for a way to spend more time with Guvner as he gets older. He found the perfect space in a former plasma donation center on 7th Street and cut down to part-time at his job with Kaplan Bar Review during renovations.
The center opened in mid-December after Feldman got all the requisite equipment, soundproofed the space and brought it up to fire code. He also decked out the walls with paintings by local artists, including a re-imagination of the “Abbey Road” cover with the Beatles’ heads swapped out for dogs’.
Feldman hired six employees to help with boarding and daycare, conduct grooming, and facilitate training sessions. All six are trained in dog first aid and CPR.
Camp for Dogs
Dogs board at Keystone K9 while their owners are at work or out of town. It’s sort of like summer camp for dogs.
They make some new friends, have new experiences, get a little exercise, and, presumably, it’s all over too soon. They spend most of the day playing in a large room with street-facing windows and plenty of toys. (You can see what it looks like via their website’s live-streaming “DoggyCam.”)
Just as at summer camp, there are cliques. The dogs are often segregated based on size or social abilities. Smaller dogs, as well as more rowdy or aggressive ones, may be kept separate from the rest of the pack.
But there is plenty of room for all to have a good time. The staff uses movable partitions to allocate space to different groups depending on the mix of “campers” on any given day.
The group that is affectionately mauling me this morning is primarily larger breeds—a poodle, a mastiff, a border collie, a pit bull and others. The dogs are energetic, but well trained and respectful. They rarely jump up on people or bark loudly, and they obey the on-duty trainer’s commands.
Across the partition, a Chihuahua named Gordie works on his social skills. I serve as a “test stranger.” Staffer Andrew Hyle gives me a few pieces of chicken, and I walk past Gordie before turning around and feeding him. This is supposed to help teach him that strangers aren’t so bad and help him chill out a bit in public.
The center offers group and individual dog training classes, which often feature activities like the one with Gordie, to encourage positive behaviors. As Hyle explains to me, many dogs are rescues and have certain anxieties based on unknown experiences in their past. In some cases, it takes a long time to shed lessons learned from mistreatment in previous living conditions. Hyle also emphasizes that positive reinforcement, not punishment, is the best way to manage and improve behavior.
Feldman says the center is more than a for-profit enterprise. It’s also an engaged member of the community. That’s why they offer free services for the Harrisburg Police Department K9 units and free washing for fostered dogs looking for a permanent home. It’s also why they use an app called Walk for a Dog, which donates to local animal shelters every time they take the residents out back for a walk.
A lifelong animal-lover, Feldman grew up with numerous dogs, as well ducks, chickens, guinea pigs, and even (briefly) a monkey. As a kid he remembers taking in strays and once being featured on a public TV show about animals and animal safety.
Why the enduring passion for animals? “It’s the unconditional love that they have,” he says. “They can bring a smile when you have the worst day in the world. You have a bad day and they’re always there to let you know that there are more important things in life.”
And I realize that perhaps I am a dog person after all.
Keystone K9 is located at 931 N. 7th St., Harrisburg. For more information, call 717-384-5900 or visit www.keystone-k9.com.
