Local, indoor pet resort solves big problem

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – You're probably taking a vacation this summer, so why not send your pets on one too? There's a pet resort in Mandarin with everything you could possibly need for your furry friends under one roof. Plus, it probably doesn't cost as much as you're thinking!

Life isn't all that ruff for the dogs in the Dixon family.

"Well, we just moved here a week ago, and this is our fourth time," Julie Dixon told us.

They're back at Dogtown in Mandarin, this time for an overnight stay. But, the pets get a lot more than a comfy crate to rest their paws. It's a suite life for any animal spending the night. They stay in a private cubby, have a ton of activities to keep their days packed. Even an indoor pool. It's like a human resort for four legged friends in many ways, including that it's all inclusive.

Owner, Frank Charles said, "At Dogtown, we want all of our guests to be treated the same and therefore one price covers all of the fun that you have."

Charles designed Dogtown because he couldn't find a place he liked enough to leave his own pets. It's been open a year and it's a huge hit. They care for at least 200 pets a day. And while some here get the very royal treatment...

"Certain people take it to a much higher level, we have individuals who bring in Evian bottled water for their pets home cooked meals steaks and chickens," Charles said.

Most just love the safety factor. See, Charles says the summer weather was his biggest motivation. He wanted to allow animals to get exercise, without putting them at risk.

Charles explained, "I realized you have two options, you can go to your traditional kennel which is an indoor, outdoor run or you can stay at your local vet which is in doors. I basically wanted to bring the outside indoors and that's why it required 35,000 square feet to do it.

Not taking the dogs outside did come with some challenges. Like, where do they go to the bathroom? But when I said this state of the art facility has everything, I wasn't kidding. There's a central wet/dry vacuum system with 40 outlets throughout the building. When the dogs use the bathroom, they use steam and a vacuum to send it straight to the sewer.

The inside of Dogtown is designed like a little town, complete with a fire department, police station, even a gas station that serves as the employee break room. There's a senior center for older pets and toyland to keep the little dogs separate. Plus, they have a grooming area, animal hospital and even a pet store.  All of this is why Julie Dixon says she's never felt this good about leaving her pets anywhere before.

"Its really nice for us, for us it's pretty reasonable," Dixon said. "We just moved from New York, and they had a facility much smaller than this and that was twice as much and not quite as nice."

To give you an idea of the rates, for just $25, you can drop your pet off for the entire day. But, by doing package deals, it can come out as low as about 13-dollars a day. To see the full list of rates, including boarding costs, you can find the Dogtown website by clicking here.