Pet services business started with a rake and a Honda

Kelsey Kuhn had a dream and nobody believed in her.

But she’s living it today, on five acres filled with horses, dogs, cats and occasionally like-minded humans.

“This is my passion and my livelihood, and I love it,” said Kuhn, owner of Dog Inn Dog Out pet services in Haysville. “I can share my piece of America with everyone.”

It’s a pretty piece, for sure, dotted with trees and snuggled close to the Arkansas River. And lively. At times she has boarded up to 30 dogs, eight horses and a couple of cats.

Although she’s happiest tending to animals, that’s only part of the job. Kuhn builds lean-tos, shovels manure and hay, mends fences and handles all the customer relations that go with any service business.

Somehow maintaining manicured nails alongside muddy jeans, Kuhn seems like a perpetual motion machine, as quick with a quip as she is with a shovel of you-know-what.

“At one point I was boarding 17 dogs a weekend in a single-wide mobile home and grooming them in the kitchen,” she said, recalling her start. “Dog hair was a condiment.”

Kuhn began riding horses at the age of 3, eventually showing Arabians and saddle breeds, but says she was the only person in her family so inclined. She studied French at Wichita State University and the University of Orleans in France, calling it “just one of my life goals to speak a foreign language fluently.”

She then worked as a wedding coordinator at the Broadview Hotel.

“I loved it, but I’m not girly enough to continue that,” she said.

She sold cars for Brandon Steven, who she says “taught me how to sell and how to make money.”

And she worked for a veterinarian. She was doing that when she started a side business removing pet waste from people’s backyards, focusing on disabled people who needed help with guide dogs.

“I started with nothing but a rake and a Honda Accord,” she said. “I liked scooping poop.”

As referrals grew that to almost a full-time job, clients began asking her to board pets and groom them, too. She bought her current place three years ago, when it was in such disrepair that “the guys at code enforcement thought I was crazy for buying it.”

Because of problems with the previous owner, Kuhn said, she spent a lot of time convincing authorities she should be allowed to operate there. Today, it’s usually running at about full capacity.

“From what I understand, she’s improved it about 3 million percent,” said Mike Briley, who boards his horse, a rescue animal, there.

Kuhn said her service is different from many because of the time she spends on the “socialization” of animals, whether they’re skittish horses or unruly dogs.

“If (dogs) are good off leash, they get to go trail riding with us, and sometimes they sleep in bed with me,” she said. “I will get them used to being a dog again. They just love it.”

A dog groomer, Amy Castor, operates her own business on the property, often getting referrals from Kuhn.

The property has its own horse trails that lead to more along the Arkansas River. There’s a practice area for polo, outdoor riding arena and tack room.

“This pony I’ve got in my hand, he’s never been around other horses before,” Kuhn said as she worked with a young horse and its owner, a novice rider, this week.

Kuhn said her first horse boarder became her best friend and, not incidentally, introduced her to her husband. She was able to buy horses of her own, Champ and Sebastian, two years ago, and often leads trail rides along the nearby river.

Asked why the name of her business does not include horses, she says: “It kind of does if you’re thinking ‘get along little doggies.’

“We’re just out here enjoying our unity with animals and being outside.”

This story was originally published November 18, 2015 at 2:22 PM with the headline "Pet services business started with a rake and a Honda."