About Hayes Happy Dog Boarding DayCare & Training

Who they are

Hayes Happy Dogs is a full-service daycare, boarding and training facility in Hillsdale, in the southeast corner of Columbia County. It was founded by Nora Hayes after she relocated to the Berkshires in 2005, and the published history behind it is longer than that. Her first Golden Retriever, Daphne, arrived in 1982 and became a competitive obedience dog with a CD title, then a certified therapy dog. Her next Golden, Finn, was her first multi-titled dog, earning titles in tracking, obedience, agility and field work.

The therapy-dog history

The site sets out this part of the record in detail. Finn's most significant work was as a therapy dog after the September 11 attacks: he and Nora worked with grieving families at the New York City Family Assistance Center and later on ferries to Ground Zero. For that work Finn received the Golden Retriever Club of America Gold Standard Award and recognition from the New York City community police. Nora also developed a therapy program at Rockland Children's Psychiatric Center with Finn and her Rottweiler mix, Bess, a former stray; the site says the program's impact was significant enough that therapy dogs were written into treatment plans there. She holds an MSW in clinical social work, which is an unusual pairing with this work and explains a good deal of it.

What they offer

Three services are published with starting prices: daycare from $40, boarding from $60, and training from $75. Nora is a certified AKC Canine Good Citizen evaluator and a certified Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dog evaluator, so a CGC test or a therapy-dog evaluation can be done here rather than elsewhere in the region. She bred Golden Retrievers between 2010 and 2023 and has now retired from that.

Intake

This facility is explicit that it does not take dogs sight unseen. The site states that an in-person meeting or a Zoom call is required so that both sides can establish whether the facility can accommodate the dog's needs. It also states plainly that it takes dogs located in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York — Hillsdale sits within a few miles of both state lines, so this is a practical point rather than a marketing one.

Getting started

The published route in is the contact form on the site, or email.