Today we’d like to introduce you to Ligaya Kelly.
Ligaya, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
It started with my daughter who is an animal lover. She decided at five she wanted to be a veterinarian. Fast forward ten years to 2011. My husband and I were both looking for more work. I was an independent bookkeeper and he had a carpet cleaning business. I found an ad on Craigslist for “a mature couple to manage a dog boarding facility. Must not be afraid of the dark. I asked my husband and kids what they thought. They all agreed we should look into it and about a month later we moved from a house in a neighborhood to a ranch on a mountain top.
We put in three very hard but very rewarding years before approaching the owner about selling. Two years and 27 banks later we found some private investors to help us and on October 4, 2016, the entire thing became ours – land, house, kennels, business.
We have quite a few plans in place. We’re building a grooming facility next week. We’re looking into offering transport services, We’re talking to a trainer about working with our clients while their pets are boarding. And I’m working on plans to build a large building that incorporates all the latest technology to work more efficiently, be more pet friendly and better to the environment. When my daughter graduates college we’ll also have a veterinarian on site. She’ll be starting her senior year for her undergrad at CalPoly SLO in the fall. My husband manages all the construction and repairs and my son manages the office and employees. I’m the boss-boss and manage everything else.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth road, literally and figuratively.
We are located 1/2 a mile up a forestry road that is not maintained by forestry. So we have to do what little we can to keep it drivable. It’s nearly impossible to drive in the rain but my husband and son know it well. It’s the only time we don’t allow customers to travel it because the mud becomes so heavy that cars get stuck. And, the tow truck drivers in our area will not pull you out.
When we started looking at getting funding to purchase this we got 27 no’s before working out a deal with the previous owner and two investors. My husband worked tirelessly to find a way. He knew this is where we should be and he was right.
We have our days where each one of us wants to run away. It can be exhausting but then you sit on the mountain top and see what we’ve done and you realize that life is good. We never would have thought that 10 years ago this is where we would be.
Please tell us about Bouquet Canyon Kennels.
We offer pet boarding to all animals. We mainly get dogs and some cats but we’ve also cared for pygmy goats, sulcata tortoises, guinea pigs, beta fish, rats, hamsters and a bearded dragon.
It’s not that we specialize in any one thing but we do offer boarding for all temperaments. We have a few aggressive dogs that we care for that my husband deals with. We also take many geriatric dogs and cats and are trained to administer meds such as insulin.
We’re known for our customer service – something that doesn’t seem to have been taught to the younger generations. We’re most proud of what our customers have to say about us, especially in our Yelp! reviews. We’ve been told by customers that their dogs are excited to come here. They refer to us as doggy camp and doggy Disney Land.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I didn’t have a great childhood. There’s not a lot that I talk about. The only memory that really stands out that I could call my favorite happened when I was about 9 or 10. My uncle had given me $20 which was a lot back then. I stopped at Circle K while walking to school and bought every one of my classmates a Dinosaur Egg. The teacher had always said we couldn’t eat in class unless we had enough to share with everyone – so I did.
Pricing:
- $33/night for dogs over 30lbs
- $28/night for dogs under 30lbs
- $18/night for cats
Contact Info:
- Address: 29973 Bouquet Canyon Road
Santa Clarita, CA 91390 - Website: www.bouquetcanyonkennels.com
- Phone: (661) 297-5484
- Email: [email protected]
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SCVBCKennels
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/bouquet-canyon-kennels-santa-clarita-2
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bouquetcanyonkennels/
Image Credit:
Ligaya Kelly
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