About Us
Anita's Puppy Palace was started back in 1990. The business was originally started as just a one person Mobile Pet Grooming Service. My husband ran a very large Wholesale Florist Business which he built from the ground up and the company I was working for wanted me to relocate so that gave me the drive and ambition to start my own business.
I had plenty of experience as a groomer. Years ago I worked part time for a for a small pet grooming shop and boarding kennel and I also attended Rochester Academy of Grooming where I earned my certification as a professional pet groomer. So, deciding to start my own grooming business was a pretty easy decision to make.
I found a used grooming van for sale in Florida and my husband flew down to Florida and drove the van home to western NY for me. My husband had a very large business in the area and he was a member of our local Chamber of Commerce and I participated in a lot of charity functions and I was a member of our local Lions Club so I had quite a bit of exposure right from the start. Of course it also did not hurt that my father has been the local Pediatrician for the past 30 years so my family was well known.
I would have to say that it only took about 3 months before I was booked 100% of the time and I had to start looking into getting a second van on the road. I also had many of my clients asking me to watch their pets for them while they went on vacation, this was when my husband decided to build a 12 run boarding kennel on our property. We had plenty of room because we lived in the country and my husband enjoyed hunting so we had built our home on a 50 acre parcel of land.
The business grew very fast, it was going into its third year and I was looking into purchasing a third van because I was booked several months in advance and the Kennel was kept full 100% of the time. We had also opened up Dog Training classes in the evenings and that kept us very busy.
I would say by our fifth year in business I had trained two other groomers so I now had three full time vans on the road and we had more than doubled the size of our kennel. By now we had also started breeding Pomeranians and it wasn't long before we had a waiting list for new pups.
My husband built an addition on our home for a hot tub and game room as well as a large room for our growing family of Pomerainians. The room was designed so that the dogs have their own little doggie door which allows them to come and go as they pleased, we had buried electric fencing around a two acre perimeter so our dogs pretty much have it made.
About 12 years into the business we decided to put up a self-service Pet Wash Location as well as a small Pet Shop and Grooming Salon. My husband had a very large building located on a major roadway so that made for a perfect location. That business took right off so instead of it being opened 3 day a week as planned we had to run it 6 days a week.
After a couple more years of steady growth we were struck with tragedy, my husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of 35. We spent the next 7 months going from doctor to doctor before his older brother got him into a medical trial in Boston which basically saved his life. However, the following 8 years have been very hard on him, he ended up having a total of 6 brain surgeries and he now suffers from severe seizures as well as a collapsed Larynx which inhibits his ability to speak and he has a permanent trach in his neck which allows him to breathe.
Due to my husbands health problems he was forced to sell his business which meant I had to close the shop that was in his building or consolidate my entire operation and that is what we ended up doing. So now Puppy Palace is all located on our property just 100 yards from our home and it turns out that was the best thing we could have done for the business. Our customers love coming to our Homestead and we get a lot more kennel business now.
If you would like to contact us you may use the Contact Us form or you can simply send an email to Anita at anita@mypupspalace.com
