When Cedar Creek Kennels in Cambridge went on the market in 2023, Sara Brueske saw an opportunity to make her lifelong dream a reality. Brueske closed on the facility in October, 2023 and rebranded it as Happy Dog Lodge.
Since she was a child, Brueske has known exactly what she wanted to do with her life. “When I was seven years old, I was on graph paper designing my kennel. Where I was going to have the training space, and where we had the boarding dogs and everything.”
Brueske watched the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge on TV; watching the dogs perform agility, Frisbee, and diving. “I’m like, that’s what I want to do. So I begged my parents to let me buy my first dog. We had a family dog but I wanted a dog that I could train for sports and do tricks. I was 11 years old and found a border collie in the newspaper, and he was my first dog.”
As soon as she was old enough to start working, Brueske was working with dogs. She worked for PetSmart, On the Run Canine Center, and eventually was hired by Purina as a trainer in Missouri.
A dream come true
For eight years, Brueske trained dogs for Purina and traveled the country teaching others how to train dogs. When her daughter was born, Brueske and her husband moved back to Minnesota to be close to family. That’s when the opportunity to buy Cedar Creek Kennels came to her attention.
The business was an already established boarding facility with a grooming salon. Though Cedar Creek didn’t offer training, the 16 acres nestled in on the east side of Highway 65 was enough land to train dogs in agility, Frisbee, and diving.
Brueske made the leap and bought the business and the building, and took on the responsibility of the existing boarding clients alone. “I closed on October 10, of last year and I was open the next day, and it was me sitting there.”
Since then, she has systematically built the business she plotted out when she was seven years old. “Our goal is to be that place that you can go if you need anything dog-related, other than veterinary care.”
She’s brought in several other trainers who Brueske couldn’t be happier with. “I don’t know how I got so dang lucky with my team, they’re absolutely phenomenal.”
Happy Dog Lodge has also partnered with other businesses to bring her vision of a comprehensive dog center into focus. “We have a full-service grooming salon that is Nose to Toes Grooming. They rent the space from us. Excellent grooming. She’s so kind to the people, so kind to the dogs.”
Happy Dog also works with Velocity Canine Performance, which uses Happy Dog’s facility to teach their barn hunts.
Vibrant
When you visit the Happy Dog Lodge website, you’re greeted with an image of a blue-eyed dog who appears to be grinning at you from ear to ear. Her name is Vibrant and she is the inspiration for the Happy Dog Lodge logo.
“Vibrant is a dog I bred. She’s an Australian Koolie. She’s the second generation of my breeding program,” said Brueske. “They’re a really cool breed. They’re very happy-go-lucky.”
The Koolie breed, though less well-known in the United States, is very popular in Australia. They are energetic, herding dogs that are known to be highly intelligent and loyal.
“She (Vibrant) is the logo for Happy Dog Lodge, because she is one of the happiest dogs I’ve ever met. It’s just fitting to have her as the logo.”
A different kind of program
Happy Dog Lodge is different from other doggy daycare centers. When you walk in you find dogs in many different environments, including private rooms for dogs that struggle with reactivity or shyness.
“With the daycare program, it’s actually catered to the dogs that don’t do well in traditional daycare,” says Brueske. “Because a lot of times you bring your dog to daycare, the daycare is like, your dog is not suitable for this. Their temperaments not right, which is the majority of adult dogs.”
Brueske’s history with training dogs makes her sensitive to the needs of all her clients, especially shelter adopted dogs who might be more reactive than other animals.
“If they’re dog reactive, they don’t have to interact with other dogs. And the best part is they get more neutral exposure to other dogs just by being here. They hear other dogs, they smell other dogs, and they pass other dogs. So they practice those real-life skills of existing around dogs in a way that’s not practicing their reactivity, which is such a big deal.”
The day camp also engages the animals to keep them mentally and physically active during their stay. “We do a trick of the week. We do a workout of the day. We do sniffy walks; we do recall exercises. My biggest goal in life is to get more dogs off the couch and playing and engaging with their handlers.”
Brueske knows this will make our dogs better companions and make both humans and dogs healthier.
“We know that dog/human interaction lowers stress in humans, right? And it gets people outside, it gets people active, it gets those dogs moving and engaging, and works their brains so they’re not just sitting on a couch all day, and plus, the more people fall in love with doing things with their dogs, the more dogs that they adopt to get dogs out of the shelters.”
When asked what she would most like for the community to know about Happy Dog Lodge, Brueske doesn’t hesitate in her response.
“I want people to know that we’re here and we’re a good resource. I have so many amazing trainers working here. All of our dog camp trainers are a wealth of knowledge in their niche. If you’re struggling with your dog or you want to get more involved in the dog community, hit us up. We are here to help in every single way, and we just want to better the lives of the people and the pets that share their homes.”
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