MAN'S BEST FRIEND: Chip Brown, seen with his 10-year-old Labrador retriever, Reaves, recently opened Brown Dog Lodge. -- Photo Courtesy Of Abo Marketing & Communications

Chip Brown made an entrepreneurial leap in December. The longtime commercial real estate professional had been mulling the idea of starting his own business since his college days at the University of Mississippi. But the time was never right-that is, until four months ago.

That's when Brown opened Brown Dog Lodge in East Memphis.

"I've always enjoyed the commercial real estate aspect," Brown said. "But the luxury boarding had been a business idea that I've had since college. ... And finally when I brought together the day care and the boarding and the grooming business, financially, that made sense."

And when he found the building last year, which formerly was Laurelwood Car Care, he said he just knew the time was right.

The Brown Dog Lodge, at 4953 Black Road near Poplar Avenue and South Mendenhall Road offers overnight lodging, spa and doggie day care services.

Dogs in luxury

Day care rates begin at $21 per day for one dog, $35 per day for two dogs and $50 per day for three dogs. Overnight lodging costs $39 per night and $19 per night for an additional "guest."

The company says it treats its "guests" like VIPs. A glance at the services offered, not to mention what Brown calls the "luxury suites," is proof. Instead of kennels or cages, Brown said Brown Dog Lodge's suites are built more like a room using residential-type construction.

"They have a raised bed with pillow, a raised feeder bowl for the food and they each have a flat-panel TV, which is to help simulate a home environment," he said. "And (the suites) each have a Web cam so the owners can go to our Web site and see their dog while they're away."

The Web cam allows owners to see their dogs in the private suites, at the inside play area, and outside in the backyard.

The unique amenities are what Brown said he wanted to offer his customers.

"I don't think any place in Memphis offers the Web cams or flat-panel TVs," he said.

A big dog party

Since he opened the business four months ago, Brown said the response has been great.

"We're growing every day and we've had great feedback from our customers thus far," he said. "So I'm very pleased."

As to what service has been most popular among his customers, Brown said the business as a whole has been well-received.

"But I would say the day care is a bigger segment because we get more dogs (for that), whereas in our boarding we have only 12 suites," he said. "So we're limited with the small number there. But the day care is continuing to grow. It's just a group of dogs playing together, so that's the bigger segment of the business, though they're all popular to the customers."

The concept of day care is something that seems to be catching on with pet owners, Brown said, because they have been able to see benefits of having dogs socialize with other dogs on a frequent basis.

"Though day care is a relatively new concept, it's become real popular and it's actually a great thing for dogs to socialize and we've seen a lot of great benefits," he said. "With more-reserved dogs, they kind of come out of their shell after being in a day care environment for a while."

For the day care segment of the business, the facility averages about 20 dogs a day.

For now, Brown said his focus is to grow the customer base and to focus on the three core services that are offered. But in the near future, he said, those services also could include obedience training.

"I may expand my services to include training," he said, adding that even though he's done some obedience training in the past, he'd most likely bring in someone and let them hold classes in the facility.

"It's a service I've had a couple of inquiries on and I think it may make sense to offer that in the future, especially with the large backyard we have."