Pet boutique moves into new space

Longtime resident gives owners safe place to leave their four-legged friends

MOSES LAKE — Whimpering means Harley wants to play.

The pooch cheerfully peers over her apartment walls, hoping for a head scratch or someone to play ball.

Down the row of apartments, a much tinier dog also looks up hopefully at the sound of human voices.

There's a lot of hope within the walls of Patty's Pet Boutique, which recently moved from owner Patricia Jardine's garage to a new site at 4734 Stratford Road.

Born in the Columbia Basin, Jardine has operated the boutique since 1988. She lives near the new location, and noticed it was empty.

"I'd been looking for this for years," she said, adding her dream was to make a home environment for "four-legged friends."

She hopes people who drop off their pets for a weekend or for grooming, are comfortable leaving them in the care of the boutique staff, consisting of one full-time employee and three part-time employees, as well as Jardine's three children — Crystal, 14, Robin, 9, and Jesse, 8, and her mother, Ann.

"These are their children, their companions," Jardine said of the owners who bring in their pets.

The new space affords Jardine the chance for an office area, an employee lounge and about 15 little apartments or cottages — she doesn't like to use the word "kennel" — as well as plans for a number of other renovations, including a cat room and an outside play area.

Pets staying in the cottages are taken out five to six times a day individually, although that really depends on the requests of the owner, she said, indicating detailed pet profile sheets.

"We cater to the individual," she said. That extends to grooming as well, where animals are trimmed to their customers' requests.

She also hopes to install a fax machine to make it easier to obtain veterinary records for her charges.

Reaction from the community has been "so positive," she said, noting that she was hoarse from talking to people at a recent open house.

"It's just been awesome. This is something this whole area has needed for a long time," she said.

Owners can also utilize the space as a "doggy day care," dropping off their animals in the morning or at lunch and picking them up in the afternoon.

Patty's Pet Boutique can also care for older dogs or those with special needs. One animal uses a wheelchair, Jardine noted.

"A lot of kennels won't mess with these kinds of dogs," she said. "Their owners need a break."

Jardine enjoys interacting people and hoping with their animals, and giving a secured environment where people feel comfortable leaving their pets with her. Typically, animals stay for the course of a weekend, but Jardine points at the log for the week of Christmas, booked solid.

"This is a good, safe, secure environment for the animals, and they will be loved and played with," Jardine said.