05/15/2026
We are so excited to announce our GRAND OPENING DATE!
MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2026! 🎉🐾
Next week, we’ll officially launch our website and begin accepting bookings for Meet & Greets and reservations for daycare and boarding!
We know many families in our area have been waiting for more reliable daycare and boarding options, and we’re incredibly excited to finally bring that to Mount Pleasant. As we get closer to opening, we wanted to share more about the “why” behind BARK BLVD and how this dream really began.
Honestly, it all started with Teddy.
Back in 2016, Matt and I were living in Kansas City while still early in our careers. Matt traveled constantly for work, sometimes gone for weeks at a time, and we were living in a tiny one-bedroom apartment in the city. We had both grown up with Labrador retrievers and always knew we wanted a dog someday.
Not long after buying our first home with a backyard, we brought home Teddy, our Sheepadoodle. Like most dog owners, we instantly became obsessed with him. He quickly became part of everything we did. At the time, we were both commuting more than 30 miles into the city every day. We knew Teddy needed more than just a backyard and evening walks. We wanted him to have exercise, structure, socialization, and interaction during the day while we were gone.
We first hired a local dog walker, but eventually I found a dog daycare near my office. For the next four years, Teddy went to daycare three days a week while I headed into work.
Like many pet owners, we also experienced the stress that comes with limited availability, long waitlists, and trying to find a place you could consistently rely on when schedules changed, travel came up, or life simply got busy. We always wished there was a place that felt dependable. A place where flexibility existed when you needed it most and where you didn’t feel like you were scrambling to find availability. I also had to be at work by 7:15 every morning, even though the daycare technically didn’t open until 7:30. One employee would always let Teddy in early for me. That small act of kindness stuck with me.
Looking back now, moments like that helped shape so much of what we wanted BARK BLVD to become. We understood firsthand how much trust people place in those caring for their dogs and how meaningful the little things can be.
Over the years, we experienced several daycare and boarding facilities throughout Kansas City. Some things we loved. Other experiences left us thinking, “If we ever did this ourselves someday, we’d do it differently.”
Slowly, the vision for BARK BLVD began to take shape.
In 2021, we moved back to Mount Pleasant with our four-month-old daughter, Elle. Since then, our family has grown by three kids total, and somehow Teddy has handled the chaos better than any of us. After years of it being just the three of us, he became the gentlest and most patient dog with our kids, especially Elle, who has always shared a special bond with him.
As the idea for BARK BLVD became more real, we started talking with Ryan, Matt’s brother, about what this could actually look like. With our family construction background and all of us sharing the same vision, it quickly became something we wanted to seriously pursue together.
The truth is, none of us came from the pet industry professionally.
We were simply dog owners who deeply understood how hard it can be to leave your dog somewhere and fully trust the people caring for them. Because of that, we spent countless hours researching the industry, touring facilities across the country, attending pet expos, and talking with owners, employees, and pet parents to learn everything we could before building something of our own.
BARK BLVD was created from real experiences we had as dog owners ourselves.
We built this for the people who treat their dogs like family.
• A place where dogs are genuinely cared for.
• A place where pet parents feel comfortable and confident.
• A place where flexibility, reliability, and trust matter.
• A place where the little things are never overlooked.
Bringing this dream to Southeast Iowa and sharing it with this community means more to our family than we can put into words.
We truly cannot wait to welcome you and your dogs to BARK BLVD this summer. 🐾
