About Pets in Progress LLC

Pets in Progress runs training, boarding and daycare from a home setting at 121 Maverick Rd in Jonesborough. The site is explicit that the environment is a house rather than a kennel: “Unlike traditional kennels, Pets in Progress provides a stimulating environment that nurtures your pup’s mental and physical well-being.”

Training programs

Two tracks are published. Private lessons open with an in-home consultation covering a behavior assessment, puppy-proofing the home, realistic goals and a plan that fits the owner’s schedule; four- and eight-lesson packages are sold and two lessons a week are recommended. The second track is residential “boarding school” – training “24/7… in our in-home setting” with two visits a week for wellness checks and private lessons, so the owner learns alongside the dog. Length is set at consultation and runs in published levels: Pre-School (two weeks), Elementary (three), Middle (four), High School (four), and Advanced at six or eight weeks. Two-week refresher courses are offered to graduates, with the site noting they are “NOT for new issues” such as resource guarding or aggression that the original program did not cover.

Who it will and will not take

The site states aggressive dogs are not accepted, but that one resource-guarding case is taken at a time. Boarding and daycare are restricted to trained dogs and established clients – graduates of a board-and-train program are accepted automatically, and others need a meet-and-greet.

Published prices and the owner

Daycare is listed at $25 for up to eight hours between 8am and 4pm, hiking adventures with built-in training at $75 for three to four hours, and baths and nail trims at $25 each. Interest-free instalment plans are named. The owner, Mackenzie Gray, publishes a long personal account on the About page, including years at a private horse and dog sanctuary in Kingsport working with rescue and severe-neglect cases, and subsequent work as a veterinary technician.