CT’s 1st Indoor Dog Park Opens In West Hartford

WEST HARTFORD, CT — The state’s first indoor dog park recently opened in West Hartford, according to the Hartford Courant. Wagging Tails Pet Resort and Spaw opened earlier this month at 635 New Park Avenue in West Hartford. Wagging Tails is a doggie daycare that offers boarding, grooming, training and other services and is open seven days a week. Owner Krista Cugno Lofquist opened her first Wagging Tails location in 2017 in Wolcott, which sits on 6 acres and features a 45-foot diving pool. The West Hartford location features an indoor dog park that promises to make owners’ cabin fever and your dog’s pent-up energy disappear during the winter months.

Lofquist told the Courant that she would like to build a 4-foot deep pool outside at the West Hartford location, along with laying down turf outside, but needs to submit plans and receive approval from the town. The indoor park offers dogs and owners a respite from the brutal winter months and also has access to an adjacent, expansive outdoor play yard for the good-weather days, according to its website. The park has separate fenced areas for various size or breed of dogs to play.

Lofquist, who started out with a mobile grooming business, credited her black lab Bella for inspiring the name and venture for Wagging Tails.

“Over 20 years ago, right after I graduated from Syracuse University and moved to the big city of Boston to start my career in corporate America, I decided that I was ready, on my own, to fulfill my lifelong dream of having my very own black lab puppy,” Lofquist wrote in a post on the Wagging Tails website. “Little did I know then, what WORK it would be to raise a puppy, especially while working full time in a big city! Bella, as she was aptly named, is the reason Wagging Tails is here today. She and I took the step together to start this venture.

“In 1993, right after I took a leap of faith to follow my entrepreneurial spirit and I quit my corporate job, I was having a bit of a panic attack. I looked at Bella and said... ‘Well, there's no turning back now. We're in this together. What are we going to call our adventure?’ Bella’s adorable little face looked up at me and she wagged her tail. And the rest is history...”

For more information about Wagging Tails, visit the website here and on Facebook here.

Read the full story at the Hartford Courant here.

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