Your Dog Is Not A Couch Potato

Your dog isn’t giving you a hard time. Your dog might be under exercised, under stimulated, or simply unsure who to trust. We sit down with Natalya Demina, the owner of AAA Pet Resort to talk about what dog boarding and dog daycare can look like when the dog is truly the priority, not the schedule. Her facility is designed for real play and real rest, with acres of room to run and a team that pays close attention to behavior, body language, and comfort.

Natalya shares how she went from being a circus performer and aerial acrobat to rescuing and training dogs, then building a pet resort that serves families across Florida. We get into a surprisingly common myth: the “couch potato” dog. She explains why many dogs that seem lazy at home become energized in the right environment, and how structured exercise plus dog enrichment activities can improve both physical health and mental health. If you’ve been searching for dog grooming, dog training, or enrichment programs that go beyond the basics, you’ll hear practical ideas for keeping dogs happier and healthier at any age, especially senior dogs.

The most moving moments come from the trust building stories, including a senior dog regaining the ability to jump onto the bed and a rescue dog with a traumatic past who learns to feel safe, socialize, and play again. Natalya also explains how AAA Pet Resort supports dogs that are reactive or prefer solitude, using private yards and one on one attention so every dog still gets a fair shot at a good day.

If you care about your dog’s wellbeing when you travel, listen now, then subscribe, share this with a fellow dog parent, and leave a review with your biggest question about boarding or daycare.

Transcript

Welcome To Good Neighbor Podcast

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Virginia McConnell.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast Live. Are you in need of a pet resort? One might be closer than you think.

A Pet Resort With Acres

SPEAKER_02 0:19

Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Natalia Demina, with AAA Pet Resort. How are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Hello, Virginia. I'm doing great. How are you?

SPEAKER_02 0:31

I'm doing well. Thank you. Thank you. I'm so excited you're here. I want to hear about your business. Can you tell me more?

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Yes, I'm the owner of AAA Pet Resort. Look at it here in Bredenton. We have clients all over Florida. We've got people driving from Orlando, Tampa, Anna Maria, Sarasota area. I mean North Port. It's a beautiful facility. We have it's a like farm field. The dogs run free, and we have beautiful rooms for them. So it's we located on 2.4 acres of land where they can run and play. And we do have a pond that is now it's need to be a little bit more green to life, and the dogs can jump in and dive into the summer and have fun in the pond. But yes, and it's home base, so it's home farm field where the dogs can run, burn their energy, and I absolutely love, love, love dogs.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

Oh man, that sounds like heaven for the dogs and for you, actually.

From Circus Performer To Dog Care

SPEAKER_02 1:51

How did you get into this business?

SPEAKER_01 1:54

So I used to be a performer, I used to be a circus performer, I used to be an aerial acrobat, and then we start me and my ex-husband now. We used to rescue dogs, train them, and travel. But then we were thinking, huh, maybe we should open some kind of pet resort because we know how to take care of the dogs. We know what to do, how to make them happy. If we've been rescuing dogs for 15 plus years, we sure know how to take care of um not rescuing dogs, and it's like, yes, let's do that. So we got into this business and we absolutely love that. Dogs are the priority. We know how to make them happy, we learn about their attitudes, we know um about their what makes them happy, what makes them upset, what how to get rid of that energy that it's builds up during the daytime, and they want to get rid of that at night. So we've got great exercise plan for the dogs.

The Couch Potato Dog Myth

SPEAKER_02 3:09

Okay, and what are some myths or misconceptions in your industry?

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Um well, it just depends. There's a lot of them, and some of them that it kind of make me think that people think that if their dog loves to be on the couch, it's always need to be on the couch. And as soon as they bring to our other facility, the dogs are running and jumping and get motivated by other dogs and be like, No, your dog is not potato couch, he doesn't need to be on the couch. Everybody needs exercises. So this is the most interesting I found. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

Uh okay, so who are your target customers and how do you attract them?

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Practically anyone and anybody who loves their dogs to have have fun, to socialize them, to um explore the new friends, to run, burn the energy, have fun, get happy, get healthy, because exercises are important. Also at our facility, we offer grooming and training enrichment programs, which are concentrating not only on physical um health, but also in mental health, because the dogs need to be mentally stimulated to be happy, physically stimulated, mentally stimulated, get some kind of exercises, and that enrichment program stimulates their brain. So we're satisfying their natural instincts, which makes the dogs happy. Also, it helps uh not only puppies, not only adult dogs, but also seniors to get in good shape. A lot of seniors they're a little bit tired to get up, they're a little bit lazy to get up and walk. And people think that it's okay, but the more we encourage the dogs to get up and moving and keep going and doing some exercises, the more their body producting this um uh producting these great cells that helps them moving. So I have a great case where um adult dog, uh well, more like a senior dog, couldn't jump on the bed. And the owner loved loved the dog sleep on the bed. And the dog was about 13 or 14 years old, and it started doing the enrichment program one or twice a day, started coming to the doggy daycare once or twice a day, and one day she came in and she's like crying, and I was thinking, what happened? and she's like, Natalia, you're not gonna believe. I'm like, What? Just tell me. And she's like, My dog jumped on the bed today and slept with me. And I started crying, and both of us crying, and both. So, this is we know this really works that stimulates our body because if they're moving, the heartbeat is going up, the heart rate is going, everything is moving, their muscles are working, the joints get it's all about health, you know, overall. So, and of course, it's the dogs have to eat good food, um, move a lot, and stimulate their brain as well. So, it's it's amazing. I've got plenty of stories like that.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

And that is amazing, it it's crazy because they're so much like us, you know. Yes, I mean it's it's literally sounds like you're talking about a human right now.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Um actually, yes. Actually, yes. The dogs, the studies show, and now um a lot of people are studying psychology of the dogs, how to train them, how to get better to them, how to understand them better, why they have certain behavior. So it's now more and more open to what the dogs have and how we can understand them because they cannot talk, but by behavior, by their habits, by how they bark, how they wiggle their um tail, but it by the body language, you can tell a lot what is going on with the dog, and if he's happy, if he's sick, if he needs something. So, yes, it's just like kids. And some of my clients they tell me they love their dogs, it's a secret, more than the kids.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

Oh, that's funny. Have you ever thought about having your own podcast?

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Yes, yes and no. I would love to, but it's like it's so I'm so busy, I guess. But it's a great idea, yeah, yeah.

Life Outside The Resort

SPEAKER_01 8:31

And then outside of work, what do you do for fun? So I'm single mother of three, I run triple APAT resort. I also a life coach. And our next podcast, I would like to talk about women and how to help women to go through traumas, through different kinds of situations, through just life instead of surviving to leave. But my kids are going to school, high school, um, and elementary school. So I'm pretty busy mom and they're in sports, so it's a lot of um around me.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

Yeah, yeah, that's great.

Home Away From Home Stories

SPEAKER_02 9:15

Uh okay, Natalia. Can you please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about AAA Pet Resort?

SPEAKER_01 9:24

AAA Pet Resort is home away from home. It's a truly home away from home. A lot of people come in the first um meet and greet, and they cry because they're scared, and we gain their trust. And it's like a triangle. The dog trusts us, and the owner starts trusting it because they see how the dog is happy. So the dogs are priority here. The dogs are the most important, and not me, not who works here, not even the person client, but the dog client is the priority. They can tell us if they're happy, if they want to come back. So um, we are always trying to create home away from home. I have another heartwarming and in the beginning a little bit heartbreaking story because I have recently one dog, Abby, she came in, um, and she had a really traumatic and traumatic past. Um, she had the bullet on her head inside her head. So she was mistreating, she still has a bullet in her head, and her new owner's gonna be operating and taking the bullet out. But she was rescued from the shelter and this beautiful family. They brought that dog to us because they want her to socialize, they want her to trust us, they want us to um be able to take care of so they can travel and the dog can be happy. And the first day, the dog didn't want to come in, it didn't want to go with the strangers, it didn't want to pass the first gate. And today, and today the dog is running, the dog is happy, it's on social media post the videos today. She comes to people, she greets them, she jumps. It's like she never had the traumatic past. It's so beautiful. So that's why I'm saying we're creating home away from home because of the it's a lot of dogs are not socialized, they or they're pretty close to a mom, they have separation anxiety from their parents or something. But with our passion, with our love, we we give them time, we respect them, we give them everything that what they need. If it's a little bit faster of exercises, we'll give you. If it's a little bit step back and respect me, we'll do so. But we um understand them, we love them, and that's why we're always trying to create a home away from home. So that's that's what I would say. AAA Pet Resort is home away from home for the dogs.

How To Find AAA Pet Resort

SPEAKER_02 12:16

Okay, and how can our listeners learn more about AAA Pet Resort?

SPEAKER_01 12:21

So you can find us on social media, we're on Instagram and Facebook. It's um at aa.pet.resortfl or our website, aapetresort.com.

SPEAKER_02 12:38

All right.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

They can stop by, they can stop by, give us a phone call. We probably can include the phone number down low and all the information so they can find us. But yeah, I would love, and we give chance to every dog. If some of the facility cannot take the unnutered or unspaid dog, we do so. We give um chances to every dog to come to the facility to have time, even if they're aggressive, they cannot be socialized. We do have private yards where they can run and play. We come in and play with them and have fun and they still be dogs because we know some of the people don't like to be around other people. So the same with dogs, other dogs don't like to be with you know, their dogs. So we respect it, we give them the private area, and they're still happy, they still socialize, not socialize, but uh play around, run, and having fun.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

Yeah, awesome. Okay, well, Natalia, I really appreciate you being on the show, and I wish you and your business the best moving forward. Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Final Thanks And Local Business CTA

SPEAKER_00 13:53

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. How many of your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show? Go to gmpsilasota.com. GMPSilasota.com.