Spotlight: Rose City Dogs

Rose City Dogs is Portland’s only provider of small batch dog care. With two neighborhood locations, Broadway and Cully, it offers personalized daycare, high-quality overnight boarding, premium grooming, and custom-tailored training services.

Tell us about your business.

Leahland Hill (below as Leahland): We offer dog boarding, dog daycare, full-service grooming and dog training all under one roof. Our service is in the name, Rose City Dogs “Small Batch Dog Care”. We do dog care a bit differently. The normal model has been to pack as many dogs in a room as possible with the least number of employees. We keep our groups small and have multiple trained staff members working with the dogs. The dogs get one-on-one attention, and a program based on their individual needs. Also, our grooming salons work with one dog at a time to help keep anxiety levels down.

How does Portland shape or influence your company, or the work?

Leahland: Portland is an amazing dog city. Everybody loves dogs, but Portland pet parents really treat their dogs well and want the best for their dogs. Our mission of how we care for dogs makes us successful. Those people find us, and it's great.

How did you start the business?

Leahland: I came from the event production industry, where I worked for over 20 years. When Covid hit it obviously affected the event industry in a huge way and I had to close my doors. I went back to school for cyber security. The last year of school I adopted a chocolate lab puppy named Loki. He was a Covid dog and he had some issues due to lack of socialization. Because of Loki’s needs, I started exploring dog training and behavior. I found this work very rewarding and started to see immediate and lasting changes in Loki. I never had something in my life that I wanted to do 24/7. Working with dogs took over my life and I found great joy in what I was doing. Eventually, I realized I didn't want anything to do with cyber security. I wanted to work with dogs like Loki. As an Entrepreneur, I couldn’t ignore the fact that this work really meant something to me and other people. I kept asking myself, “what would happen if you took your years of customer service and marketing experience and applied it to this field?” So, I pretty much begged my wife for two years to open a place. We agreed that I would take a year, and I worked at a few places to see what this industry was all about. I learned that while their approach to care was coming from a good place, there might just be a better way to care for dogs and still make a profit. Another thing I found is that the bar for customer service in this industry is low. What would happen if we just changed the way it was done? I consulted with behaviorists and trainers and different people in the industry and Small Batch Dog Care was born. We found this old abandoned comic book store and signed the lease the same day. We secured funding and spent 4 months remodeling the Broadway building. The owner of Pets on Broadway and I became good friends during that time. He helped us build our brand even before we opened. With their help, by the time we opened on November 15th 2023, we had over a hundred dogs on a wait list when we opened the doors. From the day we opened, our growth was pretty amazing. We have the best pet parents in Portland. They are loyal and always tell their friends about us. Our Broadway location alone boasts over one hundred 5 star Google reviews in just 2 years.

Now we have a second and third location on the same property in Cully on NE 42nd Ave and Alberta. In February we started Portland's only little dog resort and daycare for dogs under 30 pounds. We have a whole curriculum of enrichment services we offer, such as, adventure walks, sniff work, agility training, and ‘bite sized’ 15 minute training blocks for basic obedience and general issues that are affordable and easily accessible. We just opened our second full-service grooming salon and it is going gang busters. The other building on the same property is a size-conscious daycare (30 pounds and up) and houses our boarding facility, and it has a beautiful outdoor area. This location also houses our Socialization Center. This is for dogs (like Loki) who might need a bit more time and structure to be ready for a group setting. We work closely with these dogs in a one-on-one setting and help them learn to be around other dogs in a positive way.

If you could go back to the beginning, what would you have done differently?

Leahland: I would have done it sooner. I spent two years unsure of myself. I should have done it sooner. I would have had more faith in myself. I think people (me included) believe a big part of being a business owner is taking this class or that seminar then you will be ready, and then they'll know or be ready, or talk to this person and have this mentor. At the end of the day, if it's something you love, just go do it. Trust me, while these are great tools, none of these things prepare you for owning a business. You either have it in you, or you don’t.

What's your favorite part about owning a small business?

Leahland: My favorite part is, you would think I'd say the dogs, and it's a huge part, but I love supporting and working with the pet parents. I love working with them. I love solving problems for them. These dogs are their children. I like solving a boarding issue, a training issue, and just being there for them and helping them raise their dog. I am fortunate to have found something I love so much. I do it 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. It doesn't bother me one bit. One of the other things I love is having employees. It's a love/hate thing sometimes, but I love having employees and watching them grow. I love finding an employee who's passionate about dogs and our model, how we work, and how we treat dogs. I love watching them grow as people and professionals. We’ve also been very fortunate to connect with some highly qualified educational partners to help fill the knowledge gaps and provide education to our staff free of charge.

What's been your biggest challenge?

Leahland: I mentioned earlier that I love having employees, but hiring the right people was a challenge. I am very particular about how our dogs and pet parents are treated. I am not willing to settle in this area. Finding people who feel the same way has been a challenge. Also, I'd never had employees in my other businesses before, and I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I had to take some ownership of my hiring failures and adjust accordingly. It seemed like people were either good with dogs and not people or vice versa. So, for a long time I settled, and it was frustrating. My wife opened my eyes to the fact that we could find people who are good with dogs and people who really care about our business and customers . It has been a process, but we now have 17 amazing employees who I consider family.

What has been your biggest success owning a business?

Leahland: More than our growth, working with my wife has been a huge success. We work really well together. She is an amazing person who sees things I don’t, and vice versa. We both accel in different areas and it really works for our business. Our son Domonick works with us, and he is amazing with dogs and our customers, so it's a family business. I am very fortunate.