Jeff Ironside and his wife, Kathy Wakai, owners of the Bow Wow Beach Club dog day care center in Westchester, are bringing their business to Brookfield.

The new location, which should be open for business in the next five to six months, will be at 9216 47th St.

Q How did you get your start in the canine day care and training business?

A Kathy and I were trying to look for something we could retire in. We were looking at different types of businesses. I happened to initially look at franchises to get an idea of what kind of businesses were up and coming. I used to be a partner in a master franchise in a janitorial firm, so we looked at franchises. We both love dogs and we’ve both had dogs pretty much our whole lives. We saw that (dog care) was going to be a growing business and decided to go for it. I worked at Playful Pups, a dog care business in Prospect Heights for a year, and we’ve been in business in Westchester for 2.5 years.

Q Where did the name of your business come from?

A My wife is originally from California. We got married in Kauai, Hawaii — just a small ceremony with family and friends — and when we got back and discussed what we seriously wanted to do in the future, we decided on dog care. We said Bow Wow, and added the Beach Club to have a motif that utilized a surfing theme.

Q Why did you want to expand your business to Brookfield?

A We liked the location. It is over twice the amount of square footage that we currently have. We have 4,000 here, and the Brookfield location has about 10,000 square feet. We will have day care, training and grooming at the Brookfield location. The Westchester location may stay open or might close. We’re not sure if we’re going to cut the cord here or not. Westchester’s been good to us and the client base is outstanding. If we can do both financially, we will. We’re still in lease negotiations in Brookfield. We finally got our special use permit from the village, but the earliest we’ll be open is five to six months from now. There’s a lot of build out — we have to reconfigure the inside to have it be safe and healthy for the dogs.


Q What are the three most important things to remember when training a new pet?

A The first thing to remember is to stay positive. You also have to stay consistent and you need to reward good behavior. Bill Casey is the dog trainer at Bow Wow Beach Club. He has his own business called Animal Talent, and he comes in once a week to do dog training and holds two classes in the evening. I’ve sat in on enough of his classes to give tips.