By the time Sam Apple pulled up with his goldendoodle, Steve, to their resting place, he was tired from the long drive and already second-guessing his plan. He felt a little better when they stepped inside the Dogwood Acres Pet Retreat. The lobby, with its elegant tiled entrance, might have passed for the lobby of any small countryside hotel, at least one that strongly favored dog-themed decor. But this illusion was broken when the receptionist reviewed their reservation — which, in addition to their luxury suite, included cuddle time, group play, a nature walk and a “belly rub tuck-in.”
Venues like this one, on Kent Island in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, didn’t exist when Apple was growing up in the 1980s. If you needed a place to board your dog back then, you went to a kennel, where your dog spent virtually the entire day in a small — and probably not very clean — cage. There were no tuck-ins, no bedtime stories, no dog-bone-shaped swimming pools. There was certainly nothing like today’s most upscale canine resorts, where the dogs sleep on queen-size beds and the spa offerings include mud baths and blueberry facials; one pet-hotel franchise on the West Coast will even pick up your dog in a Lamborghini. Apple knew Dogwood Acres wouldn’t be quite as luxurious as that, but the accommodations still sounded pretty nice. So he decided to check his dog in, and to tag along for the journey.
How the Birth Control Pill Got Over the Counter
The Writers’ Revolt Against A.I. Companies
China’s Economic Rebound Hits a Wall
The Sunday Read: ‘The Moral Crisis of America’s Doctors’
How Clarence Thomas Came to Reject Affirmative Action
How Affirmative Action Changed Their Lives
The Great Resignation is Over
Many Countries Banned Cluster Munitions. The U.S. Is Sending Them to Ukraine Anyway.
Will Threads Kill Twitter?
The Sunday Read: ‘The Spy Who Called Me’
The Complicated Future of Student Loans
Russia After the Rebellion
How MrBeast Became the Willy Wonka of YouTube
From Serial: ‘The Retrievals’
A Clash Between Religious Faith and Gay Rights
The Sunday Read: ‘A Week With the Wild Children of the A.I. Boom’
The Supreme Court Ends Affirmative Action
Is Washington Finally Ready to Take On Big Tech?
Suspicion, Cheating and Bans: A.I. Hits America’s Schools
Speaker McCarthy Has Lost Control of His House
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Up First
The Ezra Klein Show
Post Reports
Consider This from NPR
Matter of Opinion