Twenty years ago, Denise Einkauf founded Waggin’ Tails Pet Ranch to provide a home away from home for dogs and cats.

Einkauf holds an animal science degree from Texas A&M and said she has always known she wanted to work with animals. She opened the pet ranch in 2005, when doggy day care wasn’t a popular concept in Katy.

“We were one of the first that came in, and nobody, especially out here in small Fulshear, which was 762 people when we moved in, had heard of dropping your dog off for the day,” she said.

Offering day camps, boarding, training and grooming, Waggin’ Tails Pet Ranch quickly grew successful. The ranch now features 15 acres of land, a filtered pond and a doggy swimming pool, and in 2020, Einkauf opened Waggin’ Tails Animal Inn, the sister property of the ranch in Richmond.

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For Einkauf, the ranch was always meant to be a vacation for dogs when owners traveled out of town. She said she knows most of her returning dogs' names, and that she still gets excited when the dogs want to come back.

“Our favorite thing is to watch them,” Einkauf said. “The first time, they may be a little bit shy, because they've not been anywhere, but then the second, third time, they're pulling their owners through the door because they're excited to come.”

What makes Waggin’ Tails different is that the business charges boarding by the night instead of the day and is all-inclusive, meaning she doesn’t charge extra for dogs to play outside or get pets, Einkauf said.

Additionally, all staff are pet CPR certified, first aid certified and required to do extensive dog handling and behavioral training.

Einkauf boards pets for free for patients staying at the Ballard House, a nonprofit for individuals undergoing medical treatments. (Roo Moody/Community Impact)
Einkauf boards pets for free for patients staying at the Ballard House, a nonprofit for individuals undergoing medical treatments. (Roo Moody/Community Impact)

The local impact

Along with taking care of dogs and boarding cats in the community, Waggin’ Tails donates to several local organizations, including the Fulshear Police Department and The Ballard House.

While the Ballard House hosts families around the world for medical treatments, Waggin’ Tails boards patients’ pets for free and loves them like their own.

“I honestly think that I'm so lucky because I have staff who truly think of Waggin’ Tails as a family, and when we welcome somebody new who's never been here, we really do try to make them part of our family,” Einkauf said. “We’re all pet people, and that makes a difference.”