- Title: ISRAEL: Israeli kennel offers luxurious day care for dogs
- Date: 8th October 2007
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) ADI LISAK, CO-OWNER OF THE ISRAELI DOG CENTRE AND A SPECIALIST IN DOGS' REHABILITATION SAYING: "We call that a 'kindergarten for dogs', we pick them up in the morning with a car, we bring them here, they are going for a trip around the fields and after that they are coming for the treatment in the under water treadmill right behind me." SILHOUETTE OF
- Embargoed: 23rd October 2007 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Israel
- Country: Israel
- Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVAB2QR1ZJ8I91VAT4NXZCGDHZFF
- Story Text: An Israeli couple takes dog care to the next step, offering man's best friends a luxurious spa-like day care centre.
The Israeli owners of a special dog kennel offer their four-legged clients luxurious spa-like care.
Adi Lisak and his wife Dorit Dembin-Lisak, who own and run the Israeli Dog Centre in the village of Kfar Ahim, have managed to translate the dull concept of a kennel into a comprehensively fancy facility, providing dogs with pick-up services, special hydro therapy and private recuperation rooms.
"We call that a 'kindergarten for dogs'. We pick them up in the morning with a car, we bring them here, they are going for a trip around the fields and after that they are coming for the treatment in the under water treadmill right behind me," Lisak, a specialist in dog rehabilitation, told Reuters Television.
The centre's latest attraction is the underwater treadmill, an exercise machine in which the dog can walk and run amid flows of water. Lisak explained that through hydro-treadmill training -- which forces the dog to exercise without putting too much pressure on bones and joints -- even those patients who suffer various injuries, or are just too old or lazy to run outdoors, can rediscover the joys of running.
The Israeli Dog Centre, Lisak said, not only provides dogs with a pampering refuge from the life of a couch potato that most urban dogs are forced to lead, but also provides their hard-working owners with the perfect solution for their conscience.
"Most of the people that are sending the dogs or giving them to us, are very busy people that working most of the day. When they come back home either they have kids or they very tired because they are coming late at night from work, so they have... they don't have much time to spend with the dogs so they sending the dogs to us," Lisak added.
David, the owner of a female dog called Joanna who suffers from a leg injury and travels to the Israeli Dog Centre twice a week, said the days in the centre are doing wonders to Joanna's mood and medical state.
"Joanna is going to do a treatment day at the spa, as I call it. A day where she'll go and do water treadmill therapy for her leg and enjoy a day with her family. She has a great time and she always comes back happy and her leg is doing very well," David told Reuters Television in his home in the Israeli town of Ra'anana, when Lisak came to pick up Joanna.
After the dogs arrive at the centre, trainers take them for a walk in the open fields surrounding the compound, then feed them, play with them and train them. Elderly dogs or dogs with special needs are provided with varied treats, like an air-conditioned room for rest, massages and special training.
Dorit Dembin-Lisak, a specialist in dog behavioural problems, told Reuters that in order to maintain intimacy and individual care, the centre hosts not more than ten dogs a day. Even the structure of the compound was specifically designed to best serve its hairy clients' needs, she added.
"I thought how can I do this without cause any trauma for the dog, so that's why I built it like a ... real like a hotel: Every dog come into the room, no dog can see him when he comes from outside so nobody bark at him, he feel very comfortable. When he finish, when he feel right, when he feel free, he can go to the backyard and then he can meet the other friends and play with them," Dorit Dembin-Lisak explained.
By providing dogs and their owners with a combination of dog sitting, dog walking and dog physical therapy, all located in a nurtured compound at the heart of a rural area, the Lisak couple is hoping to make life a little better for man's best friend. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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