U. graduate provides daycare for doggies

When most people drop off their children at a daycare center before going to work, the kids do not have fur all over them. But at Doggie World Daycare -- recently opened by 1996 College graduate Tisch Pagano -- man's best friend is the main customer. Pagano opened the daycare center two weeks ago in North Philadelphia after seeing "significant" demand for the service. The center -- the only one of its kind in Philadelphia -- has an 8,000 square-foot outdoor facility allowing the "students" to run and play, a low staff-to-dog ratio and a certified instructor to correct any behavioral problems in the dogs. Owners using the service have their dogs picked up each day by a bus that comes to each house in the morning and again at night. While their masters are at work, the dogs have nap times, play in groups based on size and friendliness and listen to Beethoven on the radio. But Pagano noted that unfriendly students are not welcome. The owner said her goal is to make the daycare center the "Blockbuster Video of the doggie world." Less than six months after graduating, Pagano and her partner, fellow dog-lover Charity Brennan, poured their life savings into this novel concept. Their objective is to provide working people with a place to leave their dogs other than small, cramped cages. "We're comparing ourselves ? to dog-sitting or dog-walking," Pagano said. "And for what they give them -- which is a 45-minute walk for $10 or $12 -- we have pretty reasonable prices." Daily daycare rates run from $15 to $20 based on the dog's size and boarding rates range from $25 to $35 per day. Pagano emphasized that Doggie World is a place where even the most pampered pooch will feel comfortable. Trained staff play with the dogs all day and classical music is played "to soothe the dogs." Each staffer is also equipped with a SuperSoaker squirt gun for disciplinary infractions by the canines. But most of the regular dogs have already become well-behaved. "Now we don't even have to squirt -- we just have to lift it," Pagano said. Pagano thought of the concept for Doggie World when she could not find an acceptable place in Philadelphia to board her dog while she was traveling to Florence, Italy, as part of a Penn Summer Abroad program. "This is something we would want our dogs to go to," she said. "We catered to our needs." When out walking her dog, Pagano talked to other dog owners about what they do with their pets while at work. She quickly realized that people wanted a place where their dogs could run around and receive the same care they would get at home. "I thought it was a niche that had marketability and I couldn't understand why no one else had done it," said Pagano, who added that the public seems to have concurred with her. After only two weeks, the number of dogs at Doggie World has increased threefold. In the first two weeks of business, they saw fifty dogs come through their doors. "We do love the dogs but personally my goal is a business and the bigger we are, the happier I am," Brennan said. "And we just happened to pick a business where we love the clientele." Pagano added that eventually they plan to expand and franchise, and hopefully go public. "This is no mom-and-pop store," Pagano said.