Anyone who has had to board a pet knows it can be stressful to leave a part of the family in the hands of a stranger. Jean Steiner has opened a boarding facility south of Dickinson to help ease some of that stress.
Antelope Creek Kennels began when the Steiner family started breeding German wirehaired pointer dogs.
"We got our first one in 2001," Steiner said. "It was a birthday present from my husband and it kind of has just grown from there."
Steiner's love of dogs led her to open up her farm to other people's pets.
"We started by helping some friends out when they needed a place for their dogs. I just got to liking taking care of them," Steiner said. "I like having a place where they're comfortable."
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She recently built a second set of kennels to offer more room, and opened them up to the public in September.
"The set up she has is really, really nice and it's a good place to take your dog," said Justin Kruger, who uses Antelope Creek Kennels. "It's like leaving your kid with your grandmother."
Steiner has seven kennels to house dogs while their families are out of town.
Each kennel has an indoor space with a doggy door that leads outside to a large, fenced-in run. Each dog has about 6-by-10 feet of outdoor area to themselves.
"Outside of that I have another fenced-in larger area that I call the exercise area," Steiner said. "When I clean their outside runs and stuff like that I let each dog out by themselves in that larger area to run around and do their thing."
She also pets and plays with the dogs while they're in the larger area.
"You don't have to worry about it when you leave," Kruger said, adding Steiner makes dogs feel at home.
Occasionally, Steiner takes the dogs on walks to give them even more exercise.
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"I'm pretty careful about letting them out of a fenced-in area, because most of them will seek home," Steiner said. "I try to get them out and get them moving around a little bit."
She added the dogs are checked on multiple times a day.
Kruger said the kennels offer ample room for dogs to run and said he trusts Steiner to take good care of his dog.
"She's good with animals," Kruger said. "She does a really good job with them."
Steiner said more dog boarding options were needed in the area.
"Some of the first calls I was getting was because people couldn't find a place," Steiner said. "The places that do boarding get so filled up over holidays and weekends and things like that."
She doesn't have a time limit for dogs using the kennels and said she can care for them for months if needed.
"I don't have specific times where you have to pick up your dog at a certain time or anything like that," Steiner said. "As long as I know ahead of time I don't have a problem with working around everyone's schedule."
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Steiner also has a "back-up crew" she relies on when she goes on vacation, so she is able to board dogs year round.
"I'm very comfortable leaving the place in their hands," Steiner said.
To contact Steiner about boarding a pet, call 701-225-4355.
