The training building is coming along. The building process is never quick and especially when we have Jason Smith, QK Vice President…BUT don’t take that as an insult or a slam to my dear Husband! Jason refuses to create or build anything halfheartedly and his amazing carpentry skills has always been the ‘foundation’ to our success with QK. Our goal is to create and maintain the finest canine facility in the Northeast and we certainly do that here at QK. From our design work to the latest and greatest materials and technology, we strive to provide your dog with a safe, healthy and truly awesome environment.
The specialized Prime Coat epoxy floors have been installed by the PermaTek Coating crew from Illinois. They travel the country installing only kennel floors and they are experts! Now the epoxy floors are seamless right up the walls and right to our new individual drains for each kennel run.
The new concrete block walls were installed over a month ago to replace the rotting wood-framed walls. They will get smoothed and then we will cover them with FRP panels which are bright, easy to clean and the dogs cannot destroy them.
The greenboard walls have been installed, taped and sanded and will be getting painted this week. We chose a beautiful soothing blue/green color aptly named “Breezy” after our very first Labrador Retriever. I would have liked the color even with a different name, but having it called Breezy just makes it all that much more special! The ceiling is ready to be power sanded and will receive a new coat of bright reflective white to again keep the interior bright and it is easy to clean. Thanks to our interior designer friend and color expert Christine Modica with Sherman Williams!
Lastly, for the interior section we will install the new aluminum Mason Kennel bases and then reassemble our custom Mason hand-woven kennels to have 10 runs on either side, each run sloping to the individual drain and protective aluminum base to prevent cross contamination between kennels for added cleanliness. Once this is complete we will be moving dogs back into the building. Jason will spend more time on the front entrance where the trainers will now have their own cubicle office spaces with a fresh new look and facelift. The back section, which houses the kitchen, old tub space, bathroom and storage closet, will also be getting updated. We will be installing a built-in crate system where the tub was, which will allow us to section off dogs that need crate training or prove to be incapable of being safely housed in our kennel runs. This can often be the case with training dogs as they have never learned how to have ‘forced’ downtime to chill out and relax. The kitchen will get a new stainless work station, sink and counter top to replace the Formica one that got worn away from dog food dishes over 12 years of use. This back room project will most likely go into August, but we will be up and running hopefully in just another 2 weeks for training dogs! Thank you Jason for another GREAT job in renovating this building. Your long work days, late hours and weekend work behind-the-scenes often goes unnoticed and underappreciated! It has a whole new feel and the new flooring and drain system along with the concrete walls will make such a difference.
