Wiggle Butt Sitters provides service with a smile and a wag
Michaelle and Jeremy Boetger treat their guests at Wiggle Butt Sitters like family.
MOSES LAKE — Sierra the boxer came bouncing up to the gate, working that little Boxer nub of a tail, clearly showing off the inspiration behind the name of Jeremy and Michaelle Boetgers’ business out on Crystal Springs Place.
The neighborhood dogs sounded off like some scene of the Twilight Bark from “101 Dalmatians,” announcing a newcomer to the area. The Boetgers’ house sits on an acre of land east of town and is the perfect location for a doggie daycare called Wiggle Butt Sitters.
“It’s kind of like a B&B where you go online and find a house to stay at when you’re on vacation. This is kind of the same thing,” Jeremy said. “We have dogs that come for the day. We had one that stayed for a month while a grandmother visited her granddaughter in Hawaii. It just depends on the need.”
Wiggle Butt Sitters is as far away from a conventional kennel as Columbia Basin living is to Seattle. Dogs stay in a home setting, have free run of the spacious yard and are welcome in the house through the use of the doggie door. It’s a home away from home and Sierra gets some company to play with in the meantime.
“If your dog’s used to being in the house or out in the yard laying around, it’s a great option if people are looking for that,” Michaelle said. “They want their dog to be comfortable. It’s very stressful when they’re not at home. So if they can be around people and other dogs it helps.” Jeremy and Michaelle are originally from Decorah, Iowa. They run a graphic design business out of the house and naturally gravitated to the secondary business of dog sitting.
“We’re dog people and we treat the dogs like we treat our dog,” Jeremy said. “Right now we have just the one, but we’ve had as many as seven at one time. We walk them twice a day. We’re starting to see a lot more repeat customers. A lot of our customers are concert-goers from The Gorge. They drop their dog off before the show and pick them up on the way home.”
All the booking and reservations are done online through DogVacay.com or Rover.com. Both sites take care of booking the stay, insurance, billing, and provide 24/7 customer service.
“Most of the time it’s the parents that are most nervous,” Michaelle explained. “When they go online with either of these two services, they can see photos house and our yard and other dogs that have stayed here. We’ll take pictures of them while they’re gone and send them to their parents. We’ve always appreciated that as dog owners, knowing that your dog’s being taken care of and that they’ve taken them to the dog park.”
It’s service with a smile and wag of the tail, where a dog can stay and play at Wiggle Butt Sitters.