About A Dog’s Life Camp and Spa

A Dog's Life Camp and Spa is a boarding and training camp on four and a half acres of Catskill hillside at Woodbourne, and it is the only business in this directory's Sullivan County set that trains dogs on its own residential property.

The training ladder

The published program runs as a sequence rather than a menu: Puppy Training, then Basic Obedience, then Intermediate Obedience, then Advanced Obedience, with a separate Specialized Training track alongside them. Boarding is sold separately, with its own vaccination and documents requirements, and transportation is offered throughout the tri-state area.

The specialized track

The owner's stated specialties are the ones a general obedience class cannot absorb: desensitization training, fear-based aggression, resource guarding and leash reactivity. That is an unusual list for a boarding operation to publish, and it is what separates this record from the several kennels in the same towns that board dogs and do not train them.

Who runs it

Stephanie Pennino owns the camp and describes more than ten years of experience in animal behavior. The business itself is older than her ownership of it: the site records that it was formerly owned by Carla Barbano, has been running for more than twenty-five years, and that the current owner worked closely with the founder for eight years before taking it over.

The setting

The stated aim is a quiet, peaceful environment with room for play and adventure, and the site stresses that every dog gets individualized care whether it is there to board or to train. Owners are told they can text for updates during a stay, and photographs and videos are posted to the camp's social accounts while dogs are there. Boarding staff are on site around the clock.