Doggy daycare opens in Waxahachie

BentHill Dog Co., a doggy daycare located at 101 Kelley Bend, provides a space for dogs to grow into the best versions of themselves.

“We want to be not a place you just send your dog to get out of the house,” co-owner Hillery Jorgenson said. “You send them here to get that energy out, absolutely, but also to gain the skills that they need.”

If there are issues with the dog, Jorgenson and co-owner Bentley Tischauser inform the dog owners and provide suggestions of what they can do to fix those issues. “We’re willing to help you,” Tischauser said. “We’re going to tell you about this. We’re not just going to keep it from you and send them home.”

Along with doggy daycare, BentHill offers doggy boarding, puppy socialization groups, dog care and bathing, and puppy training.

Tischauser and Jorgenson first met working at a different doggy daycare. When they both came to each other with separate ideas of starting their own doggy daycare, they decided to team up. After discussing a business plan, they began searching for a location.

“(Waxahachie) is a growing area, and there’s a need for something like this,” Tischauser said. “We decided to start looking for something and said if it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”

One day, Jorgenson’s boyfriend took the wrong exit from I-35S for Brookside Road on his way home and saw the old location of Brookside Animal Hospital available for rent. Jorgenson and Tischauser took a tour and rented out the space in July. They began fixing up the place by repainting it, redoing the ceilings, installing a fence and more. In August, they opened for business.

“It was shocking honestly because we weren’t really expecting to find a place this soon, but it’s the perfect location,” Tischauser said. The space includes 24 suites with 16 being luxury suites with connected outdoor runs, two play yards and a grooming and bathing room.

Jorgenson and Tischauser both have years of experience working with dogs. Jorgenson worked for a city shelter and a doggy daycare that offered boarding and grooming. Besides working at another doggy daycare, Tischauser has been a professional trainer for about two years and has experience with training older dogs, blind and deaf dogs, and puppies.

“It isn’t easy to start something like this, so having the both of us and both of our knowledge combined, it works out perfectly,” Tischauser said.

As the only two employees, Jorgenson and Tischauser both work with dogs in their doggy daycare program and doggy boarding program, but they each specialize in something different. Tischauser is the trainer, and Jorgenson is the groomer.

“I’ve always loved dogs since I was little,” Tischauser said. “(I love) watching how their mind works and how they grow up and how different it is for each dog. When I got into training, I got to see that even more. They’re all so different, and it’s fascinating to me. I love being a part of the process … watching them grow up and mature and helping create a peaceful home and peaceful relationship between the puppy and the family.”

Through their one-on-one puppy training program, Tischauser works with dogs younger than 18 months for a two-week period using free shaping methods and positive reinforcement to teach sit, stay, down, leave it and place commands, leash walking skills, and more.

“I really like helping people with dogs they got that they didn’t understand,” Jorgenson said.

She explained how sometimes owners will get a high energy dog that overwhelms them. She likes to work with owners and their dog to learn how to redirect that high energy in productive ways.

They are currently developing a program for their doggy daycare to be structured like a preschool with lessons, play time and more. As the business grows, Tischauser and Jorgenson hope to hire more employees and to one day own multiple locations in the Dallas metroplex. Originally published February 13, 2023 - https://www.waxahachiesun.com/business/doggy-daycare-opens-in-waxahachie/article_99fc4042-abf1-11ed-80c5-cfe87b51e848.html