PETS
43
forget about City Lickers of Fort Pierce.
“We’re not a doggie day-care center,” Peter says. “The dogs
here are not housed together in a kennel.”
Hardly.
Inside each individually air-conditioned suite at City Lickers,
the dogs not only have their own elevated beds, they
have a flat-panel TV that can play their favorite movies and
TV shows. They also have doggie doors that allow them to
come and go as they please to a private pebbled run with a
sun porch, and smell — but not touch — all the other animals
that roam the 18-acre Harrison ranch.
“When we first opened up, most of the dogs that came here
were from the city and they’d never seen a horse or a cow, so
I called them city slickers,” says Karen. “Then my son said,
‘No, Mom, they’re city lickers,’ so that’s where the name
came from.”
PRIVATE QUARTERS
The fences that surround each run are separated from each
other, so that dogs can’t touch noses or “fence fight.” Each
suite also has its own vacuum cleaner.
“I’m very particular about providing a sterile environment
for the dogs we board,” Karen says. “There’s no cross-ventilation,
no contact between the dogs, so there’s no chance of
passing germs or anything from one dog to the other.”
On the other hand, dogs that are part of a family are allowed
to board together in the 12-by-12 suites. “Three dogs
can easily be housed together,” Karen says. “At times, we’ve
had as many as four.”
That’s one of the many appeals of City Lickers for customers
like Mary Schmidt of Fort Pierce. “There’s nothing else >>
Karen and her dog
Dexter inspect the
elevated bed in one
of the suites. Boarders
can watch their
favorite movies on
a flat-screen TV or
sun themselves on a
private porch.
/www.whimsyclothing.com