About Us
Connecting Our Community
Hi, I’m Nikki! The proud owner of Airdrie Puppy Pals. Back in 2014, my husband Ray and I would head to the dog park with our Rosa and Ryder, and we always seemed to miss the memo. As soon as we arrived, everyone would be leaving. And when we were ready to go, a whole new group of potential friends for Rosa and Ryder would just be arriving!
One day, on a car ride home from work, I told Ray my idea: to create an online community to connect local dog owners. There had to be other people like us who wanted to meet up and let their social dogs play. Just like that, the Airdrie Puppy Pals Facebook group was created, and we started organizing community meetups for like minded dog parents.
Listening to Feedback
Fast forward a few months and lots of amazing conversations and unfortunately horror stories. “I hired a dog walker and they were only there for a few minutes but charged me for an hour” or, “The kennel I used left food out and kept my dog alone in a run for a week.”
It didn’t sit right with me, and I wanted to do something to help make a different. What was I going to do if I needed support for my dogs? So, I quit my day job working downtown Oil & Gas in Human Resources and started walking dogs and going to the off leash park, thanks to a little ad I posted on VarageSale.
APP Family Support
With the amazing support of our APP family, we continued to grow. I wanted to keep helping especially creating a space for dogs to sleepover. So with the support of my wonderful husband, we began the process of opening our first brick and mortar location, a 2,000 square foot building in Kings Heights in 2015. Following our founding values of doing things differently with a focus on proactive safety, family values, and a strong community focus we now operate in a 13,000 square foot facility offer dog daycare, overnight boarding, group training classes, and behavior consulting.
Continued Education
This October marks the 10 year anniversary of Airdrie Puppy Pals. We’ve grown to a 13,000 square foot facility, we have an amazing team, and I’ve exceeded my personal educational goals.
I’ve earned five internationally recognized third party dog training and behavior credentials. The dogs in our care are happy, and I’m so grateful for the love and support of our community.
