By the time Sam Apple pulled up with his goldendoodle, Steve, to their resting place, he was tired from the long drive and already second-guessing his plan. He felt a little better when they stepped inside the Dogwood Acres Pet Retreat. The lobby, with its elegant tiled entrance, might have passed for the lobby of any small countryside hotel, at least one that strongly favored dog-themed decor. But this illusion was broken when the receptionist reviewed their reservation — which, in addition to their luxury suite, included cuddle time, group play, a nature walk and a “belly rub tuck-in.”
Venues like this one, on Kent Island in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, didn’t exist when Apple was growing up in the 1980s. If you needed a place to board your dog back then, you went to a kennel, where your dog spent virtually the entire day in a small — and probably not very clean — cage. There were no tuck-ins, no bedtime stories, no dog-bone-shaped swimming pools. There was certainly nothing like today’s most upscale canine resorts, where the dogs sleep on queen-size beds and the spa offerings include mud baths and blueberry facials; one pet-hotel franchise on the West Coast will even pick up your dog in a Lamborghini. Apple knew Dogwood Acres wouldn’t be quite as luxurious as that, but the accommodations still sounded pretty nice. So he decided to check his dog in, and to tag along for the journey.
The Wild World of Money in College Football
The Sunday Read: ‘Ghosts on the Glacier’
A Confusing New World for College Applicants
Why Are So Many More Pedestrians Dying in the U.S.?
Biden’s 2024 Playbook
Trump's 2024 Playbook
Baseball’s Plan To Save Itself From Boredom: An Update
A Mother, a Daughter, a Deadly Journey: An Update
Inside Russia’s Crackdown on Dissent: An Update
How A Paradise Became A Death Trap: An Update
Biden Supports Israel. Does the Rest of America?
The New State of the War in Gaza
Why a Colorado Court Just Knocked Trump Off the Ballot
Football’s Young Victims
The Man Who Counts Every Shooting in America
The Sunday Read: ‘Bariatric Surgery at 16’
The Year of Taylor Swift
The Woman Who Fought the Texas Abortion Ban
Antisemitism and Free Speech Collide on Campuses
Ukraine’s Counteroffensive Fizzled. U.S. Funding May Be Next.
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Up First
Post Reports
The Journal.
The Ezra Klein Show
Today, Explained