by Barbara L. Roose

It’s been over two years since Ohioans Ray and Pam Bauman crossed over into Michigan to open the a third location of their business, Karnik Pet Lodge at Maple Village, in Ann Arbor. Ray, a construction management veteran, designed each of the Karnik Pet Lodge locations, including the state-of-the-art Ann Arbor facility. Ray’s design abandoned the traditional kennel layouts in favor of an original concept. “I developed a totally new concept for boarding. The Michigan facility is a departure from traditional pet care concept,” explained Ray. “There are no chain link fences or bars, but rather large, glass enclosed dog and cat suites, plus we brought the outdoors inside for the animals to enjoy with our expansive skylight.”

Ray moved to Toledo in 1973 while working in the construction business. He left construction in order to open a kennel. Ray named his first business, Karnik Kennel, after two of his favorite pets. “Years ago, I had one dog named Kara and another dog named Nikki and merged them together name the business, Karnik.”

At one point, Ray sold his kennel business to a national kennel consolidator and went to work for the company. In 1994, Ray met his wife, Pam, while traveling for his employer. Even though the couple met on a blind date, Pam remembers being intrigued by Ray’s previous occupation as a kennel owner. “At the time, I was looking to get out of nursing,” remembers Pam. “I was actually thinking about opening a pet sitting business of my own.”

A few years and one victorious lawsuit later, Ray parted ways with the company and he was able to reclaim his business and resume operation of his kennel with Pam by his side. In retrospect, Ray’s feelings about being a small business owner have re- intensified since regaining his business: “Small business people tend to think of themselves as not as capable and they are often intimidated by big business,” begins Ray. “Well, the older I get, I realize that the small business owners are the ones who really know how to run a business…you don’t know what’s it’s like to run a small business until you personally have to make payroll.”

After reclaiming his business in 1995, Ray expanded his Central Avenue facility and purchased back the original Karnik facility and changed the name from Karnik Kennel to Karnik Pet Lodge. He wanted to distance his business from the stigmas attached to many dog kennels. “Most kennels aren’t anything that people would be proud of, so I wanted to get away from the term ‘kennel’ and adopted the term ‘pet lodge.’”

Each Karnik Pet Lodge location has doggie daycare, boarding and bathing services available. One of the unique and patented features of the Ann Arbor facility includes an automatic watering component that flushes the composite-molded floor automatically, so that pet waste is removed from the animal’s kennel area on a constant basis.

All aspects of Karnik Pet Lodges provide state-of-the-art pet care while retaining good old-fashioned personalized service. Pet owners can go to Karnik’s website to view their pets online in real time on the “Karnik Pet Cam”.

Ray and Pam prioritize every animal’s safety. “All of our doggie daycare guests undergo pre-admission evaluation so we know as much about each pet as possible,” stated Ray. “Emergencies are rare, but when the unexpected arises, we can get a pet to their own vet quickly, where that animal’s medical history is known. If an emergency occurs after hours, we utilize the local emergency animal hospital.”

While it took three years to get the Ann Arbor facility from concept to creation, Ray and Pam are thrilled with the results. “Ann Arbor has a super daycare that is very popular,” remarked Pam. “We have the best of both worlds in one facility with a quality daycare and pet-boarding facility.”

Karnik Pet Lodges
Ray and Pam Bauman
2921 Fairbanks Ave.
Toledo, Ohio
Phone: 419-841-6621
Email: rbauman@aol.com
Website: www.karnikpetlodges.com