Dogs that need a watchful eye while their parents are away now have a place to stay at Top Notch Kennels’ newest facility in Turlock.
This company’s newest facility opened up on March 12 and offers boarding, daycare, training and grooming services, along with giving dogs the chance to receive exercise and play. Whether it is supervised group play or one-on-one attention with the staff, this business strives to provide comfort and happiness for each dog.
Having multiple types of kennels gives the them the opportunity to hold large amounts of dogs from various breeds and types of personalities.
“We can accommodate 120 dogs,” Tristyn King (Top Notch Kennel Attendant) said. “As a new facility we have about 25 dogs a day. All breeds are allowed, we take all breeds. We have the suites and the people to give them the care that they deserve. We even accommodate older dogs that don’t like being around the younger dogs. We have music quietly playing in the whole building. It’s like doggy Disneyland.”
This Turlock facility offers a wide variety of suites (kennels). There are indoor climate controlled boarding suites along with outdoor and indoor climate controlled daycares. Each suite is based on the size of the dog and whether it is kept with other dogs or not (essentially the personality of the dog). 
Starting at 6 am, the staff follows a constant routine of feeding and rotating the dogs from indoors to outdoors and vice versa.
“We feed early to ensure we get every guest out and they get enough time to potty and to get dogs out multiple times before bed,” King said.
As mentioned previously, Top Notch Kennels also offers a place to work on basic dog training with a professional dog trainer.
For dogs that have more specific needs, this location also offers reactive training and even has a program called “Board and Train.” This is an eight-week program in which they keep the dogs that require more detailed training and work with them each day.
“They [clients] get very excited,” Kayla Bache (Manager at Top Notch) said. “Especially the new clients, they get nervous because their dog might be a little nervous at first, especially for boarding since they are actually staying with us for a week or whatever the time frame. Generally a lot of clients are so happy that we’re here, they can’t believe that its such a nice place.”
Bache added that a lot of the dogs, including those that come in a bit timid, love it at Top Notch and show excitement when they come back.
“We always reassure them of that. They’re like our family too, our kids too,” said Bache. “A lot of our clients say that they [the dogs] know the roads. Once they turn down this road, they know that they’re going to Top Notch and they get extra excited.”
This facility is located 15 minutes away from Stan State. This is one of the reasons why Stan State’s Dr. Shannon Stevens (Professor from the Department of Communication Studies) takes her own puppy, Malcolm, to Top Notch’s daycare.  
“The people are obviously very good with dogs,” Dr. Stevens said. “They even have the positive reinforcement behavioralist training slogans up on the walls. Everybody is walking around with their clickers. It has exactly the right vibe. It’s super clean, doesn’t smell like dogs. They wash it down for Parvo every day. Their dogs are all immunized too, so it’s very low risk. But still, they’re very careful with their cleanliness and their care.”
Dr. Stevens recalled the excitement that she first saw in already established client’s dogs as they walked through the doors. 
Daily rates apply for boarding, while daycare is based off whichever package the owners choose to go with. All dogs must also be up-to-date with their vaccinations. Boarding and daycare prices, along with vaccine requirements, can all be found at the Top Notch Kennels website.  
The new Top Notch facility in Turlock is located at 1118 S. Tegner Road. Their business hours are from 7:30 am-6 pm, Monday-Saturday, and 2 pm-6 pm on Sundays. Their phone number is (209) 656-1960 and their email is [email protected].