About Dogwood Kennels and Cattery

Dogwood Kennels and Cattery is on Buffalo Shoals Road in Catawba and runs boarding, daycare and grooming for both dogs and cats alongside a training and behavior service. The training is not a sideline: it has its own page, and the person delivering it describes herself as a trainer and behaviorist.

What you can book here

The training offer is stated broadly and without hedging: "We can help you with any dog training or behavior issue. We use only positive reinforcement in our training and behavior modification." The practitioner's own line is "I am a trainer and behaviorist. I do all types of training from obedience to behavior modification. My passion is helping dogs who have severe behavior issues. Some of my happiest days are when I can help dogs avoid surrender." A separate service – pet consultations – helps owners choose a dog or cat that will actually suit their household, which is preventive work most businesses do not offer at all.

How the rest of the facility runs

Positive reinforcement is stated as a facility-wide policy rather than a training-only one: it is applied in boarding, in daycare and in the grooming salon, where the business also commits to minimal restraint and to keeping stress low. Daycare groups are matched by size. Reviews the business publishes describe nervous and newly adopted dogs settling in over a small number of visits.

Where its sympathies lie

The business publishes its rescue partnerships – a dog rescue in Wilkes County and an animal ministry that builds free fences for dogs in Lincoln County, with past work alongside Piedmont Animal Rescue, the Cats' Cradle in Morganton and the Catawba County Humane Society. That is a reasonable proxy for how a facility thinks about dogs generally.