Sol Dog Lodge and Training Center has the keys to its new, $4 million Tangerine Road campus.

“A couple of us burst into tears” when that milestone was reached Feb. 3, said Shelley Harris, Sol Dog’s director of community outreach and marketing. It became official when the town of Marana issued a certificate of occupancy.

Keys in hand, activity has been nonstop. “It’s been an insane pace,” Harris said.

Sol Dog has relocated groomers and trainers from its Thornydale quarters to the 4.5-acre location at 11862 N. Tangerine Business Loop. It planned to perform the first grooming and training on the new campus Feb. 15.

Fifty-five new kennels were delivered to Sol Dog on Feb. 10. When they are installed and ready for use, kenneling services should open on the campus by Friday, Feb. 28, Harris said.

“We will only have current (boarding) clients in March, and will open for new clients in April,” she said.

“Welcome to our new home, eight years in the making,” Sol Dog executive director Valerie Pullara told a tour group of more than 20 guests on Feb. 12. Contractors installed Sol Dog’s new telephone system nearby.

“It has that new-house smell,” one person observed.

Sol Dog’s new 9,000-square-foot facility, occupying less than half the available land, is a huge leap forward for Sol Dog. It is a nonprofit organization supporting families and their dogs with training, grooming, education and kenneling services. It keeps dogs “out of the overcrowded and overburdened shelter and rescue system,” according to its website.

Before the move, Sol Dog was able to board up to 15 dogs a night at its Prince Road location, while training and grooming up to 15 dogs a day at a site along Thornydale. The new campus has an eventual capacity to board up to 75 dogs per night, and provide grooming and training services to more than 100 dogs and families each day. Both the Prince and Thornydale sites are being closed.

“We are expanding significantly, so we are still working through so many of the details, processes and what each 24-hour period will look like,” Harris said. It’ll be staffed 24/7, Pullara noted.

“It’s amazing what goes into this,” Pullara told the group. From shade sails to boarding beds and blankets, and everything in between, Sol Dog is acquiring “things we need just to operate on a daily basis.”

Pullara led guests from the lobby of the T-shaped building into the grooming salon, “much bigger” than the Thornydale location. Up to four groomers can care for dogs at a single time. They’ll have access to three tubs/washing stations, a drying room, two washing machines and two dryers. The bigger space can be divided, making it “safe for the dogs.”

Within two large training spaces, Sol Dog is able to offer classes, behavioral consultations, agility training, exercise equipment, play groups and comfort spaces to dogs and their owners. In fact, Sol Dog is looking for a loveseat if anyone would like to donate.

Two boarding rooms are built for kennels of varying sizes. Some kennels are “bunk beds,” stacked two high for smaller dogs. Kennels do not face one another, to avoid canine conflicts.

“Once we get dogs in, this places closes” to the public, Pullara said of the kennels.

Each interior space has a “turnout” to fenced, outside space for play. All the floors are poured, non-skid concrete that’s easy to clean. Meals and medications can be prepared in a medical and feeding room complete with refrigerator and freezer.

Outside the main building, Sol Dog is opening a small casita, a place it can house dogs without vaccination records, dogs needing shelter on an emergency basis, or animals from across the world.

Justin Gallick, boarding operations manager for Sol Dog, said a number of greyhounds, retired from racing, are expected to arrive from Ireland sometime in April. They’ll be placed in the casita for isolation, evaluation, proper vaccination and eventual adoption within the community.

And, Pullara said, Marana Animal Control and the Marana Police Department can use the casita at any time they have a displaced stray, or a dog in need of shelter during a family or individual crisis.

Sol Dog has paused hiring, for now. “The idea is really to take our time,” Pullara said.

“Our focus is ‘bring on the team that we have interviewed and will be training’,” Harris said.

The building comprises Phase 1 of the campus. Fundraising is about to begin on Phase 2, the creation of a veterinary clinic, Pullara said. “We built this for the future,” she added. “This increases our capacity to help more people.”

Sol Dog is a nonprofit. It derives 82% of its revenue in the form of “fee for service,” to include kenneling, training, grooming and education. “The rest comes from donations,” which are “very critical for us,” Pullara said.

“We could never have done this without all of you,” she told guests. “I hope you’re pleased with what you helped build.”

If you go

Sol Dog Lodge and Training Center

11862 N. Tangerine Business Loop,
Marana
520-886-7411
soldoglodge.com
shelley@soldoglodge.com