Three things convinced Peggy Cunningham and Barbara Laska to swap retirement for a Dogtopia franchise.
Being retired became boring.
They loved dogs, and had recently lost theirs.
And they had been thinking about buying a dog wellness and day care franchise.
They liked Dogtopia because it provided opportunities to give back the community — an important consideration for them, they said.
Cunningham and Laska were living in Scottsdale, Arizona, when they learned about the Dogtopia of Jacksonville Beach Boulevard franchise space at 11300 Beach Blvd. in the St. Johns Square 1 Plaza at Beach Boulevard and St. Johns Bluff Road.
The previous Dogtopia there closed in late 2023 and was for sale.
Because the 7,000-square-foot facility was already built, the franchise came at the “bargain price” of $525,000, about half of what it might have cost if they had started from the ground up, Laska said.
They bought the franchise at the end of January.
In fewer than five weeks, the partners moved across the country to Jacksonville, set up shop and hired 22 employees.
Dogtopia opened March 1, with the capacity to accommodate 140 dogs a day.
The business has been growing steadily, they said, and they expect to be cash-positive by the end of December.
In addition, they bought the rights to a Dogtopia franchise location planned for Jacksonville Beach. They are looking at sites and hope to be open by the first quarter of 2025, Laska said.
(There are two other separately owned Dogtopia franchise locations in Jacksonville: Dogtopia Jacksonville Southbank at 1075 Hendricks Ave., and Dogtopia Jacksonville Avenues at 9365 Philips Highway, Suite 112.)
‘Entrepreneur by spirit’
Cunningham, 73, retired in September after being a CEO in the behavior health hospitals industry.
Laska, 76, sold her business, a medical billing company, in November.
They traveled initially, then asked, “What’s next?”
“We’re of the generation that work is in our backbone,” Laska said. “You’re defined by what you do, and that defines who you are.”
She said that “it isn’t that we disapprove of retirement, and we certainly respect people who have found ways to be active in retirement.
“But I’m an entrepreneur by spirit, and I dragged Peggy along into this.”
The turnaround was quick, but “I’m used to fast-paced,” Cunningham said. “It’s like this: You have a goal. You have to work quickly to get that goal of having 22 staff hired by Feb. 19. And we did it.”
Cunningham is “the people person,” Laska said. “I’m the numbers person.”
“It’s a nice balance,” Cunningham said.
The previous Dogtopia on Beach Boulevard had been closed for five months.
Laska said it closed because it was undercapitalized and the owners weren’t prepared for how long it would take to become cash-positive.
The challenge for the new owners was putting the word out in the community that the location had reopened.
Word-of-mouth from the location’s previous customers helped, “and then we started to advertise and get into the community and make sure our presence was known,” said Laska, who handles marketing and advertising.
“If you want 80 dogs a day to come into your facility, you can’t just sit there and wait for it to happen on its own.”
Marketing strategies include radio and television ads, billboards and mailing postcards to homes in the surrounding area.
They sponsored the Jacksonville Arboretum & Botanical Gardens’ Dog Days of Summer event June 6, which included calling attention to the arboretum’s dog-friendly trails.
They have formed a strategic partnership with Mayo Clinic in Florida.
They offer a discount to Mayo employees who bring their dogs to Dogtopia. And Mayo refers clinic patients, often in Jacksonville for extended stays during treatment, to the business when they have dogs.
They also are a Jacksonville Humane Society sponsor.
Community involvement
Cunningham and Laska personally contribute to charities, they said.
The charitable opportunities through Dogtopia appealed to them and influenced their decision to buy the franchise location.
“We love the fact that Dogtopia has this whole charitable side to it called the Dogtopia Foundation,” Laska said.
“One of the legs of the charitable foundation is supporting people with autism,” Cunningham said.
“We go out of our way to employ and train people with autism to work with our dogs. A lot of them are much more comfortable working with dogs than with people, and they’re some of our best employees. I’m really proud that we can be part of the Jacksonville community in that way.”
A second leg of the foundation is contributing to buy service dogs for military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“We have Bacon Fridays, and we sell bacon, and all the proceeds go to purchasing a service dog,” Cunningham said.
The third leg is providing therapy dogs for hospitals and schools.
“So we are always taking our spirit of giving, our spirit of compassion, to the community through the service of dogs,” she said.
What Dogtopia provides
Dogtopia.com says it is the largest dog day care provider in North America and has more than 260 locations in the U.S. and Canada.
The first opened in 2002 in Virginia. The company plans to have 400 locations by 2025, according to the website.
Dogtopia offers dog day care, boarding, spa services and grooming.
Laska said day care generates about 87% of the sales at their location; boarding, about 10%; and spa services, which include shampooing, nail trimming, ear cleaning and teeth brushing, about 3%.
In day care, staff members lead dogs of similar size in off-leash indoor play when they are determined to be a good match in temperament.
The four playrooms are set up for games and agility-focused exercises. Each play room is equipped with a webcam that allows clients to check in on their dogs.
The hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Cunningham and Laska said work keeps them happily busy.
“When I worked in behavioral health, I used to say I’m one of the luckiest persons in the world because about 95% of the time, I’m coming to work doing what I want to do where I want to do it,” Cunningham said.
“Now I say, I’m one of the luckiest persons in the world because 98% of the time I come to work doing what I want to do, and glad to be here. And you can’t get any better than that.”
Laska embraces the decision to sell her medical billing business and do something new.
“I really just want to deal with dogs. As a matter of fact, I have a coffee cup somewhere that says, ‘I’m just speaking to dogs today,’” she said.