DoggieLand Play Park

Behavioral Rags to Behavioral Riches Who knew that I would find an answer to an unspoken prayer by Googling "things to do with your dog on a rainy day in Madison, Wisconsin?" Doggieland Play Park came up first on my Google search, and I thought it was pretty cool that an indoor dog park existed. It would definitely be something to do with my dog during inclement weather, so I called to find out more. When Lisa answered the phone, I asked her to tell me about the dog park. As she listed off the myriad of services the dog park offers, she mentioned two things that arrested my attention! The first was I could have the park to myself. That was important to me because my dog had just experienced a traumatic event in a public dog park where the owners of five bigger dogs thought it was either cute or just plain okay for their dogs to corner mine. I not only had to break up the unbalanced encounter but also it left both of us gunshy about public dog parks. It was disheartening as I didn't want my dog relegated to an apartment courtyard perpetually tethered to a leash. The second was Lisa trained dogs. This also piqued my interest. I've had Charlotte as a puppy, and after four years, I had as much success working with Charlotte as I did with my ex-wife. After I divorced my ex-wife, I decided to look for some training classes for Charlotte. I went to a reputable place and took some classes with Charlotte to little to no avail. At this point, I was just happy to get her to sit and thought that would be as good as it got. She was still timid and insecure. However, I just knew that God gave me this "diamond in the ruff" for a reason, and simply sitting on command could not be the behavioral pinnacle of her young existence. There had to be more. I immediately made an appointment the next evening to see the play park, and I brought Charlotte. After we did the tour, we were in Lisa's office, and Charlotte was a bit antsy. Lisa came over and did something behind her ear, and Charlotte went from being antsy to summarily giving Lisa her rapt attention. It was literally something out of a hypnotist's playbook, and for the first time, I thought that more was actually possible, and I didn't have to settle for a mediocre dog. I forgot about why I initially came there and booked her first training session on the spot. I thought that anyone who could get my dog to sit still for more than five seconds was worth a closer look. I knew it would be an uphill battle as this older dog was about to learn some new tricks! Lisa reassured me that Charlotte (and, by extension, I) could do it! I didn't care about the amount of work involved, I just needed to know that it was possible. So after 5 months of consistent work, in addition to the four to five 45-minute sessions per month, Charlotte went from a shy, timid, insecure creature to a more disciplined and confident dog and that confidence, as with humans, makes her that much more of a beautiful dog. It's nice to go for a walk and have people who don't know you compliment on how well behaved your dog is and those who do know you comment and share in the progress made. Today, Charlotte has her Canine Good Citizen certification and participates in FastCAT. I am now working on Charlotte becoming a therapy dog so others can experience the joy she brings to me! It's amazing to me that all because of an unrelated Google search, she can live a more robust instead of a more mundane life. If you're willing to put in the work, you and your dog WILL be transformed. I thank God that He led me to Lisa, Jake, and Doggieland Play Park.

We took Mojo, our reactive German Shepherd, to try swimming (and to see if we could maybe work up to dock diving), and it was a phenomenal experience for both him and us humans! Lisa and Jake are super knowledgeable, helpful, and they clearly care about making sure your pet is happy and healthy as they try new things. They did a wonderful job of making Mojo’s first look experience incredibly positive and we look forward to working more with them!

Great indoor playground in Madison for pups! We have a large nine month old puppy who is very easily excited so we weren’t ready for a dog park. We didn’t even know it was an option to book private spaces for dogs until we came across Doggieland. Lisa gave us some really good advice on our first visit and we quickly signed up for some training classes. We did a couple private sessions before joining a group. She is a different dog after just one group class! So much better settling around other dogs, listening to us, walking better on the leash. Looking forward to checking out their large breed meetups and special events next!