*photo: Tim and Lacy Belangee with Samson
By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
Tim and Lacy Belangee expect their clients to bark instructions at them.
That’s all they can do. They’re dogs.
The couple opened Ruff Dayz doggie daycare and boarding on Dec. 17.
At their innovative facility, they have a staff of eight and are looking to add two more people.
They are located at 601 S. Lake of the Woods Rd., in Mahomet, in a building that was finished in 2015.
“Animals and old cars are my passion,” said Farmer City native Tim Belangee. “I don’t have the means, places or tools to do old cars.”
Dogs are a different story.
The parents of three adult children, they have three dogs at home. All are between 2 and 3 years old.
They understand the desire of families who want their dogs to be active during the day and tired in the evening.
“We knew this area could use this type of facility,” Tim Belangee said.
The staff is known as personal playpals. They don’t sit at the front desk and stare at a computer screen.
“They don’t do anything else but play, love on the dogs and be aware of their behavior,” Lacy Belangee said. “We’re constantly watching them and never leaving them alone.
“It’s about getting energy out and socializing them.”
The job is one the employees enjoy.
“We’ve heard from parents of some girls who work for us that they didn’t want to come home, they were having so much fun,” Tim Belangee said.
Ruff Dayz offers daycare pricing for different time periods: two hours ($10), two to five hours ($18) or five-plus hours ($28).
Boarding is $30 per night and includes an unique arrangement. Any time there is an overnight guest, staff remains in the building all night.
“We don’t want them to feel alone,” Lacy Belangee said. “We’re responsive to the needs of others.”
Tim Belangee is accustomed to overnight shifts. For the past 18 years, he has worked as an Urbana fireman, where he is on duty for 24 hours at a time.
“It’s stressful for a dog to not be in a comfort zone,” Tim Belangee said. “We want to offer that service.
“It’s still not home, but your dog is not alone. If something should happen, someone is here.”
Ruff Dayz has 12 available kennels, seven of which have eight-foot runouts outside.
By special request, Tim Belangee said, “we will do cage-free boarding so they are not locked in a 5-by-6-foot kennel.”
The Belangees signed a lease on Oct. 1 and have found owner Bud Parkhill easy to work with.
“Mr. Parkhill has been absolutely amazing,” Tim Belangee said. “He gave us the support to take the next step.”
Added Lacy Belangee: “He made us feel like we could do it.”
After 25 years, she left a job in nursing — which included stints at both Carle and Gibson Area Hospital in the emergency department and in education — to follow her passion.
“It’s much more fun to play with dogs,” she said.
Ruff Dayz has a shared outside play area, but will expand to dedicated areas for the small, medium and large dogs by spring. Inside, the dogs are always separated by size.
“As we get bigger, we will have a personal playpal in every area,” Lacy Belangee said.
They have a bathing room and a grooming room, with plans to have a groomer on site, possibly as soon as Thursday (Jan. 10).
More ideas are on the drawing board.
“We’d like to add onto the building and build a pool and an arena-type area,” Tim Belangee said. “There are a lot of things we sure want to do.
“We’d like to have a shuttle service, like you would for a school, and we’d like to walk the dogs.”
The most recent addition was the creation of dog birthday parties, which can be scheduled for any day.
They have small ($50), medium ($75) and large ($100) packages, which will include either bite-size cakes or a double-tiered cake for the dogs from Lucky Moon Pies, as well as decorations, balloons and birthday party music.
“We’ll do pictures, too,” Lacy Belangee said.
The package size doesn’t refer to the size of the animal, but to the length of the event. A small package is considered one hour, a medium is two hours and the large is three hours.
The business name came about by chance, Tim Belangee said, after he returned home one day from doing fix-up work on a house.
“Our dogs were passed out in the house and I said, ‘You guys have had a rough day,’ “ he said.
With a little tweaking, a business name was formed.
Still in their early weeks of operation — with limited advertising except word of mouth — Ruff Dayz has averaged between six and seven canine clients a day.
“If we had 30, we’d be full,” Tim Belangee said.
They anticipate that day will come.
“We get a call or two every day from people wanting to meet with us and tour the facility,” Lacy Belangee said. “We’ve heard from a lot of multi-dog families.”
Special rates are available for families with two or three dogs.
The Belangees typically bring some — or all — of their own dogs, but that, too, could change.
“If we get full enough, we would take them to Georgia’s (K-9 Komforts, in Savoy),” Lacy Belangee said, “if we didn’t want to take up space here.”
Tim Belangee hails from what is known as a service-oriented family. His parents, Elvin and Julia Belangee, own and operate Calvert-Belangee-Bruce Funeral Home. They have locations in Farmer City, Heyworth, LeRoy, Mansfield and Saybrook.
Ruff Dayz is open from 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. It is closed on Sunday, but is available that day for specially-scheduled dog birthday parties.
Though they refer to themselves as a doggie daycare center, Tim Belangee set the record straight.
“The state does not recognize daycare for dogs,” he said. “We are licensed as a kennel.”
