WHEN Carly Wheeler placed her dog into a specialist day care facility 10 years ago, she dreamed that this is something she wanted to do in the future.

“Snoopy was never ‘just a dog’ he was my constant, my comfort, my safe place — and the soul behind Snoopy’s Doggy Daycare,” said Carly who has previous experience of owning and operating a pet-related business and has extensive hands-on experience.

And for Carly, that once held dream has finally come true with the help of Holly Orton, and together a business plan was hatched.

And over the past few months, a unit at the Haigh industrial estate in Alton Road has been transformed into purpose-fitted premises fit for 18 dogs to stay during the working day.

The day care unit benefit from two indoor areas, complete with sofas for the four-legged visitors, a snug with a range of dog beds for those downtime periods or for a cosy nap on colder days.

A giant picture of Snoopy, the inspiration behind the doggy day care facilty looks over the internal space.

The outside space features a spacious enclosed yard, decked out in primary colours akin to what a child’s day care facility might resemble, along with paddling pools so that the dogs can cool down during the hot weather.

All activity areas have been set up with a wide variety of exciting play equipment, agility equipment, exploration zones.

Whilst at the day care facility, the dogs embrace various structured play elements throughout the day. It seems that Carly and Holly become something like the Pied Piper of Hamelin as the dogs follow the pair around in whatever they do.

Carly said: “Snoopy may not be here to see what his name has become, but everything Snoopy’s stands for, the calm routines, the gentle care, the safe spaces, the love that every dog who walks through our doors will receive, came from him.

“Every dog will have an enriching day while its human owner is at work.”

The pair, who bring a strong combination of animal care, welfare management and business operations experience to the project, which gives complete peace of mind for owners said they couldn’t have got Snoopy’s Doggy Daycare up and running without the support of family members, Chris and Andrew Hodges and Simon Hughes who built all the internal walls, installed windows and anything else that was needed.

Holly said that before they can look after a dog, it must attend a half-day training session so that they can understand the animal’s behaviour and see if the dog is suitable for the day care environment.

But before the pair could accept any doggy visitors, they had to undergo an inspection with Herefordshire Council to check that everything meets the strict criteria for this type of business.

Carly and Holly were delighted when they achieved a four-star doggy daycare rating.

Every daycare session is structured to balance safe social interaction, calm routines and meaningful enrichment, helping dogs to stay settled throughout the day.

The facility is open between 8.30am and 5.30pm on weekdays and information and contact details can be obtained from the website snoopysdoggydaycare.co.uk.