Business Profile: Putnam Paws Doggy Daycare & Grooming, Brewster
Photo credit: Neal Rentz
Brewster resident Bailey Santucci opened Putnam Paws Doggy Daycare & Grooming in Brewster in August, but her passion for dogs has been a life long endeavor.
“I just have had a love of animals forever,” she said last week.
Aside from running her new business, Santucci also grooms dogs. “I am a self-taught dog groomer,” she noted. She graduated from cosmetology school, originally intending to cut people’s hair, but she decided instead to work with pets. While studying cosmetology she worked as a veterinarian’s technician at an animal hospital. “I just decided to combine the two,” she said.
She was a manager and groomer at a dog grooming business in Ossining for about three years, Santucci.
Santucci said she decided to open a business, which is part of the Brewster Chamber of Commerce, in the village after her parents, Kimberley and Dennis, were looking to move to Brewster two years ago. “I saw the building. It was a perfect location,” she said. “I basically gutted the inside and made it entirely what I wanted.” The building was previously a real estate office.
Most of Santucci’s clients live in Putnam, though some also live in Ossining and other locations in northern Westchester.
It is the first business Santucci has owned. But being an entrepreneur is nothing new in the Santucci family; her father owns a construction company.
Santucci said the business is “full service grooming salon and we have doggy daycare.” Dogs can be dropped off and will be placed in one of four rooms. “There all based on breed size,” she said. “All the rooms have TVs. We have beds, toys and we have water dishes built into the ground. We also have a big outside dog run so all the dogs go out every hour based on their groom.”
Watching television is something dogs like to do, Santucci said, noting only dog-related videos are played on the facility’s televisions. “They’re always intrigued by it,” she said. “They’ll bark with the dogs, sometimes, on the TVs.”
There are no overnight stays permitted for dogs yet, but Santucci said she hoped to receive the necessary approvals to start doing so in the next six months.
Santucci said one of her goals is to expand her business. “I’m the only doggy daycare facilities in Brewster and one of two other groomers,” she said.
Santucci said her dog day care is different from other similar facilities. “It has a much more homey feel to it as opposed to an industrial open big room where all the dogs are interacting,” she said. “This is more like a home.”
Putnam Paws Doggy Daycare & Grooming is located at 1485 Route 22 in Brewster. For more information call 845-363-1336, or send an e-mail to Putnampaws@gmail.com.
