“People will buy more pets,” Marrow says. “That never changes. Over time, our tendency to humanize our pets is leading to more dollars being spent on their care.”

Marrow started by buying out existing mom-and-pop pet care service providers and reorganizing their business.

“I raised some money and implemented standard operating procedures,” Marrow says. “We started hiring and training personnel, and we started to plan how we were going to build out stores and create a cageless environment, how we were going to get top groomers and trainers to come to us and provide one-stop-services.”

Now, SPOT has a total of nine locations, including six facilities in New York City and Connecticut, two locations at O'Hare International and a dog-boarding location servicing a rural clientele in Connecticut. Most of the locations centralize several pet care needs under one roof, including dog daycare, transportation, boarding, grooming, walking, training and retail. The staff is insured, licensed and bonded and workers are subjected to background checks.

SPOT also provides trained veterinary staff and on-site animal behaviorists to monitor the pets under its care. The company also screens the dogs it services to assess their behavior and temperment.

“We don’t crate the dogs, we have them grouped together by breed, size and temperament with highly-trained handlers,” Marrow says.

SPOT's general pet care services operate like a health club. A membership at SPOT costs $200 a year. Services for non-members are more expensive—just getting a dog's nails clipped, for example, costs $20. Without a membership, dog daycare costs $51 per day, but the membershop lowers the cost to $675 per month or less than $30 a day. Shuttle service for the dogs costs an additional $350 each month.

Pet owners can add additional services—walking can be added on at $16.20 for a half-hour group walk, and they'll feed your dog from a standard diet for $5 per feeding. Other additions include catering to the pet's special diet or medication needs or offering spa treatments and grooming.

Their most expensive package costs $850 a year, plus a $600 monthly fee, and includes unlimited daycare and regular bathing and grooming services.

Overnight kenneling at their rural location is $120. They also offer dog training camps at the location for $1,800 a week