Alyson Fisher has been looking for two years for the perfect location in Platte City to introduce Fantastic Fido’s.
The new dog training, grooming, enrichment daycare, and boarding business at 200 Branch Street is the third location to open in the area. The first opened seven years ago in Saint Joseph, and the second opened two years ago in Maryville.
Fisher has spent a lot of her time volunteering at shelters and fostering dogs. She grew up in the Saint Joseph area and moved away after college. Once she returned from a job where she traveled extensively, she wanted to buy a business, and Fantastic Fido’s was for sale, so she thought, ‘why not buy a dog business.’ She had four employees when she bought it, and now she has almost 50. She has always loved dogs and has two of her own.
Director of Operations for Fantastic Fido’s, Keli Morris, said they are thrilled to be at the new location in Platte City.
Proper training is important for a dog’s development. “Having a well- behaved dog who is making good choices all the time is very important for your relationship with your dog,” Morris said.
Most dogs respond well to training and obedience classes as long as their human continues to use the tools and implements the training at home.
Obedience and behavioral training along with therapy dog training will soon be offered at the new location in Platte City, along with a variety of specialized training workshops that will include tricks and agility workshops.
“Our Doggie Day School is a very popular training program,” Morris said. “It is a six-week program where the dog comes to our facility two days a week to learn proper socialization skills, loose leash walking, sit/stay, sitting on place and basic retrieval. We will be offering Enrichment Daycare at our Platte City location.”
If you are a dog owner, you probably know how excited and full of energy your dog will be when you get home from work. At Fantastic Fido’s you can take your dog to daycare where they provide enrichment activities to mentally and physically stimulate your dog while you are away.
“These activities will be planned out for the month so they would be doing different things each day,” Morris said. “Activities would include walks, snuffle mats, hide-and-seek activities, and dog puzzles to name a few. It is just as important and even more exhausting to the dog to get mental stimulation as physical exercise. We are excited to offer this on Monday/Wednesday/Fridays with reservations being required.”
Saturday Socials provide a good way for dogs to intermingle with the public and are offered at their Saint Joseph location. They consist of training lessons that provide the experience for people to work on skills with their dogs in a group setting. The sessions provide the much-needed exposure to different people, places and things. They do a variety of different activities to enrich your dog mentally and physically. “It also builds a community of dog lovers - lots of friendships have been made through our Saturday Social among the humans,” Morris said.
One of the most popular, and highly recommended offerings at the business is the Whiz Kid program. “We always, always recommend our Whiz Kid program when you bring home a puppy,” Morris said. “It is a 12-day program where the dog lives and works with us and one of our trainers. We focus on crate and potty training. We also work with the dog on foundational leash manners, social skills and basic behaviors.”
The board and training programs are also popular. A variety of different programs are offered but most of their board and trains are meant for behavior modification to help eliminate poor behaviors and help teach the dog to make good choices all the time.
The Week Away programs, which are 12-day and 21-day projects are all board-and-train programs that emphasize leash walking and sitting, along with place and recall.This program also focuses on scheduling, crate-training, and any problem behaviors. These programs are meant for more advanced behavior concerns.
“We have worked with some dogs that have had a bite history, dogs that are terribly fearful and under-socialized and dogs that are dog or human aggressive,” Morris said. “We take them in, and our trainers work with them on behavior modification and build a confident dog that is able to make the right choice all the time. The transformation is mind blowing.”
The Doggie Day School and the 12-Day Turn Around are the most popular programs.
The obedience class is offered three to four times a year. It’s a classroom-style training where people learn to handle their dog with instructions from a trainer. It’s a six-week program, one day a week for an hour.
“This program is different than our Doggie Day School in that you do most of the training as you learn the skill at the class and then you go home and continue to do training with your dog,” Morris said. “At the Doggie Day School we do most of the training. You still have ‘homework’ to do because all of the training programs require you to continue to use the skills learned at home so that your dog remains well behaved. We work on leash work, sit and stay, staying on place, leave it, and we even do an outing to help expose the dogs to new things.”
The Maintenance program is meant for the dogs that have been through one of the training programs, and it is important for continued socialization while brushing up on old skills and learning new skills.
The trainers are also good sources of information about how a person’s dog can live a healthy life by diet, exercise and hydration. They will discuss these important topics during training sessions.
The business also has a retail store with all things dog related, from toys to dog food ,and even items for humans like hats or T-shirts. “We offer Acana dog food,” Morris said. “We like this brand because they source only the finest ingredients. Their food has high inclusions of animal protein balanced with fruit, vegetables and botanicals. It is a very nourishing food that the dogs seem to love.”
For dog owners who have busy schedules, Fantastic Fido’s also offers waste removal services and will come to your house and scoop dog poop once a week.
“Let’s face it, no one likes the duty of cleaning up dog poop,” Morris said. “So let us do it. Our trained, friendly staff will come and take care of it for you.”
Boarding is also offered at their Saint Joseph location and dogs can be shuttled for a small fee from Platte City to Saint Joseph. Grooming is a large component of the business.
“It is very important to keep your dog groomed to maintain overall cleanliness and good health,” Morris said. “We recommend all dogs be groomed every four to six weeks. Brushing your dogs on a daily basis is just as important. We offer walk-in nail trims and recommend you get your dog’s nails trimmed every four weeks. We do bath and brushes or full grooms by appointment. We offer cat grooming at our Saint Joseph location one day a month.”
The staff at Fantastic Fido’s is excited to meet, and work with the area’s canine and human population.
“We are a company of dog lovers working to build a community of dog lovers,” Morris said. “We are ready to start building that community in Platte City.”