The state-of-the-art dog care vision has nearly six acres identified.
O’Connor began making her vision a reality by planning for the creation of Prescott Bark, a state-of-the-art, full-service dog care facility that will offer overnight boarding, individual play, enriched group daycare, bathing and grooming for those pets in her care. Prescott Bark will also offer pet products for sale.
A native of Ireland, O’Connor and her husband, Mike Gust, of Dallas, Texas, have lived in Prescott for almost five years. The inspiration for the business came to her in summer 2021 when the air conditioning in their home required upgrading. The couple needed last-minute care for their two dogs while workers were there for a week.
“Since it was summertime, the boarding facility that we had used previously was fully booked and could not accommodate us,” O’Connor said. “That forced us to inquire at the other facilities in the area – all of which were also booked, and one of which told us to call back in 12 weeks!”
Further inquiry showed that many other people in the Prescott area were having difficulty finding quality pet care, especially in the peak season in the Quad Cities.
It was evident this problem was increasing as the need was growing.
Thus, the timing was perfect for the debut of a facility such as Prescott Bark. “With the local population expected to continue to grow and demand for quality pet care already far exceeding the available supply, Prescott Bark will provide premium services to discerning pet parents who demand a high standard of care and services for their dogs,” she said.
Prescott Bark will offer 42 luxury kennels and suites for boarding, as well as more than 13,000 square feet for indoor and outdoor activity yards.
After conceiving of the idea, O’Connor applied for the 2022 Pioneer Pitch competition, a statewide Shark Tank-esque pitch contest sponsored by Moonshot.
O’Connor won at the local level in March 2022 and then went up against seven entrepreneurs for the statewide Pioneer Pitch competition in June 2022. She won and took home the cash prize of $10,000.
O’Connor accepted the award on June 17, 2022, during the second annual Shoemaker Awards at Little America in Flagstaff, an event in celebration of entrepreneurship.
“Elaine won the local Quad Cities and state AZ Moonshot pitch finals event because she did her research, easily conveyed the problem her startup would solve, understood her business model, and convinced the judges she was the person to make it happen through her conviction and passion,” said Moonshot President and CEO Scott Hathcock. “We all sort of walked away with the opinion that she was going to be successful getting her business off the ground.”
O’Connor had already envisioned a use for the award money, but plans changed.
“At that time, we were planning to purchase an existing industrial building in Prescott and the Moonshot prize money would be used toward the acquisition,” she said.
A service offered by the City of Prescott called the Pre-Application Conference (PAC) revealed feedback on their planned use of the industrial building before they purchased it.
“I’m very glad that we participated in the PAC for that property, because through the process we learned that city code requires that we could not have dogs playing outdoors within 300 feet of a residence, regardless of the zoning designation, which makes sense when you think about it – listening to dogs playing all day may not make for a pleasant experience for the nearby homeowners,” O’Connor said.
She decided to create a custom-built facility from the ground up. “As you can imagine, the search took some time and we eventually decided that our best option would be to build a state-of-the-art facility from scratch on a pristine, undeveloped industrial lot, far enough from homes to ensure that we could maximize outdoor play time for the dogs.”
O’Connor also decided to use the Moonshot money for a new use – to attend a Pet Care Facility Management Bootcamp program in Houston, Texas, that specializes in providing education, hands-on experience, and insights to owners and managers in the pet care industry, operated by Suzanne and Al Locker.
“Our decision to build from the ground up presented us with the perfect opportunity to maximize what we could learn from both Suzanne and Al, and so we repurposed our Moonshot prize money to send us both to the Bootcamp in Houston,” she said.
The Moonshot prize paid for one week for Elaine in October 2022, and for Mike’s half week in October 2023. “Staggering the timing worked out well as we had come so far in our planning, we could get their feedback on it,” she added.
The couple worked to learn everything they could about designing and building a new facility, including “seeing first-hand the impact even seemingly small design decisions can have on day-to-day operations, design decisions that are difficult to rectify once construction has taken place,” she said.
Although she is the owner and leader of the Prescott Bark endeavor and has done most of the legwork, she says Mike has been great support. “His primary function at the moment is being my biggest cheerleader, being there for me to bounce ideas off of, and to get his take on various design decisions,” she said.
Armed with this new knowledge from the bootcamp program in Houston, O’Connor assembled a team of architects, engineers, contractors and bankers to help make Prescott Bark a reality.
“We haven’t broken ground,” she said. “Our location is within the Prescott Regional Airpark and Commerce Center, just south of the airport. It’s really central for the Quad Cities area. Our engineers are currently wrapping up their work, and we plan to very soon submit our plans to the City of Prescott for building permits.”
The proposed building will be about 6,200 square feet on a 5.7-acre site and is designed to provide a clean, safe, healthy, dog-first environment that will give dogs the structured socialization, interaction and activity they thrive on.
“The weather here is so wonderful so much of the year,” O’Connor said. “We will have 13,000 square feet of fully fenced play yards for individual and small group off-leash play to focus on their happiness and health. With the site being over five acres, there is also plenty of space for on-leash nature walks, to smell things and explore – all the things dogs like to do.” QCBN
By Betsey Bruner, QCBN
Courtesy Photo: Elaine O’Connor pores over architectural designs for Prescott Bark.