GNP Morgan County Podcast
The Good Neighbor Podcast... Bringing Together Local Businesses & Neighbors of Morgan County!
GNP Morgan County Podcast
How Spruce Hill Kennels Earns Pet Owner Trust In Morgan County
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Leaving town is supposed to feel exciting, but if you’ve ever packed a bag while worrying about your dog’s meds or your cat’s stress levels, you know how fast that excitement turns into doubt. We’re talking with Dustin and Samantha “Sam” Sanders, the new owners of Spruce Hill Kennels in Martinsville, Indiana, about what pet boarding really demands when you take it seriously and why “peace of mind” is a service all by itself.
They share how their roots in Little Russell’s Pet Rescue and the Morgan County 4-H dog club led them to take over a kennel that’s been part of the community for nearly 60 years. We get practical about the daily work: watching the weather to keep animals comfortable, building feeding schedules that actually match what pets do at home, and managing medication routines that don’t stop at bedtime. If you’re searching for dog boarding in Morgan County, cat boarding near Martinsville IN, or a pet kennel you can trust, this conversation lays out what to ask and what to look for.
We also dig into what makes Spruce Hill unique, including indoor-outdoor kennel runs that keep dogs secure while giving them choice, plus grooming on site. Dustin and Sam explain how they’re improving cleanliness and routines while keeping the legacy standards that longtime clients expect, and we touch on local partnerships like St. Francis Pet Hospital and low-cost vaccine clinic resources they share with the community.
To book a stay, call 765-342930 or message Spruce Hill Kennels on Facebook. If you find this helpful, subscribe, share it with a pet owner who travels, and leave a review so more Morgan County neighbors can find trusted pet care.
Welcome To The Good Neighbor Podcast
SPEAKER_00This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Tim Server.
SPEAKER_02Hey, thanks, Charlie. Really appreciate it. And uh hey, welcome to everybody back to our Good Neighbors podcast. Uh I'm Tim Server, the host, and uh this is a show where we shine a light on people and businesses that make Morgan County the kind of place worth calling home. And today I've got a great one for you. Uh we've got a dog. If you got a dog or cat, you know, or both, uh you and you've needed a place to put them when you're when you're heading out of town, where are you going to go? And uh we have some people here with us today that this is a great place to take your animals. We've used them for years. Um, and these are the new owners. Uh, been here just about a year uh for the Spruce Hill Kennels in Martinsville, which is uh out on 67, just off of uh what is that road? South Buffalo Hill. That's right, South Buffalo Hill. That's right. So welcome, Dustin and Samantha Sanders. She goes by Sam, uh, but uh I tell you they're the new owners of that, and uh they're about a year into, like I said, and they got a good story. So uh welcome to the show, you guys.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for having us.
SPEAKER_02Well, we're excited about it. So let's get started and tell us uh, you know, who you guys are, how you found Spruce uh Kennel, Bruce, Spruce Hill Kennels, and and how they got into your lives, and and you know what drew you to this business?
How They Bought Spruce Hill
SPEAKER_01Yeah, uh that's a really long, really long answer, uh, but we'll make it short. Um so back in uh 2019, Dustin and I started a rescue um here in Morgan County. Actually, it's on his hat and shirt, um, Little Russell's Pet Rescue. Um, and about that time, um just a year later, Dustin's daughter got into the dog club here in um Morgan County for 4 H, where we met the previous owners of Spruce Hill Kennels, uh Frankie and Debbie Cole. And um, so we kind of our daughter grew in 4-H um with Debbie and her kids. And um, when Debbie let us know, I mean, we personally used Spruce Hill when we went out of town too. Um, and so Debbie let us know um last year, I believe, in like February timeframe, um, that she was looking to move out west to be with her older parents um and help take care of them. And we kind of looked at each other and we're like, well, it kind of fits. You want to try for it? So it's uh it's been a wild ride. Um dogs have pretty much been at the forefront of our lives uh primarily since 2020. But um, you've always grown up with dogs, and I've always grown up with pets. So I always had the cats, he always had the dogs, and it just kind of messed and worked really well.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's pretty awesome. You know, you I think you gotta really love animals to have a kennel, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_02Now, just so the audience knows, I mean, like I said, I use them. They right now have our cat, and uh, she's not the friendliest cat in the world. She'll attack you until you feed her, and then she, if you get after her, she she will hold a grudge and come back and get you. She's a funny cat, but they seem to be doing okay with her. They don't have any band-aids or scratches on their face, so that's good. She's a good girl. She does great.
SPEAKER_01I don't know what you're talking about.
Biggest Surprises As New Owners
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm the bad one here. So, you guys have been in about a year now. Now, you know what surprised you the most about owning this facility that maybe you didn't expect to happen.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Honestly, watching the weather, I think that's the biggest thing that I've learned is I have to watch the weather a lot more, knowing how hot it's gonna be or how cold it's gonna be to be able to move the animals and keep them comfortable while they're here. I think that's the most surprising thing for me of being here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think for me, like he he does the weather kind of thing, but for me, it's the wide range in our clients. I mean, we have not just the four-legged clients, right? But I mean they're they're people too um from all walks of life, from all over Morgan County, um, and really all over central Indiana. We've gotten a lot of folks from Bloomington, um, you know, from Hendricks County down. Um, and it's just so neat to be able to see just people from all different walks of life. We have canines in here that come in. Um, we have folks that, you know, entrust us with our cats like like you guys do. Um, and just being able to meet everyone and just appreciate everyone's differences. I think that's something that kind of surprised me um being more in the forefront of like that customer service side. It's been a really good experience.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm sure that the owners, pet owners can be just as difficult at times and just as much fun.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because you know, a lot of people, and uh, I have a a son who's that way, he looks at that animal as a kid. When you have kids, you look at them and go, it's not a kid, trust me.
Living On Site And Med Schedules
SPEAKER_01No, we have dogs too, and our dogs are our kids too, even before we had our our little little ones. Um, but that's the great thing about being here on at Spruce Hill is that we're the house on the hill. Um, and so we live on property that the kennel is. So there's someone that's always around. Um, and it makes it really convenient to be able to, you know, pop down to the kennel when we need to, and and we can adjust feeding schedules and medication schedules just because we have the capability to be so close and be on property.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, that's awesome. Yeah, I know that's uh that's always the pros and cons, right? You're all the business for sure. Uh but you know, you you have a unique business, right? Because it is really uh dictated on the animal schedule, and they probably aren't all on the same schedule. And then when you throw medicine into it, yeah, a whole different ball game.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we have one dog that comes here that he has to get a medication three times a day for seizures, and there's a lot of times when everyone knows he's in the kennel because Sam and I have our phone set for an alarm to go down and give him meds at 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. Yep.
Boarding Options And Grooming
SPEAKER_02So yeah. Well, and that's important though, right? Because the the owners want to know you're gonna take care of them just like they would. Yeah, you know, and I think that's important, and I think that's awesome that you guys do that. We had a we had a cat that was really, really uh, she had a I can't remember what they called it now, but she actually had a a bag that developed in front of her throat, kind of like so the food would never get down her stomach. And uh, you know, we had to keep giving her medicine at first because we weren't sure what it was. Once we found out, you know, there wasn't anything that could be done. But uh Debbie, who was the owner there at that time, uh did that for us and and uh you know that gave us relief. You know, we knew that she'd be taken he'd be taken care of. So but uh, you know, and and you know, walk walk us the listeners through what Spruce Hill offers. You know, what can a pet owner expect whether they're bringing in their dog or cat?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So we try and treat every dog like they're part of our family. And kitty cats. So yeah, and kitty cats, yeah. Yeah, um, so I mean, we offer the wide array of the boarding um feeding schedules. We can kind of uh tailor that to each dog if needed. Most dogs are typically on the one or two times a day, but we've had some that have to have very specific regimented schedules, and we can do that here, and then grooming. We do grooming here. Got a great groomer, her name's Angie. She does a wonderful job.
SPEAKER_01She does, she does big dogs, little dogs, she'll even do the occasional cat. So Timmy, if we have the cat done, we we can get her done.
SPEAKER_02I may think all my cat, yeah. I wouldn't know I can't I've been told about I can't, so my wife rules that one.
SPEAKER_01That's fair. Yeah, we it's pretty neat. Um, within the kennel, we're very uniquely situated where we have indoor-outdoor kennel runs. So the dogs can come in and out as they please. If they want to spend their time outside and they are more comfortable outside, they can go outside. All of our kennel runs are completely secured inside and out, so that they're completely safe. Nothing can get in, nothing can get out. Um, and if they want to hang out inside and chill in the AC in the summertime, they can. Um, but that's kind of their choice. Um, and because we do have those indoor-outdoor kennel runs, we can take dogs that may not be able to go to other facilities where people have to be significantly more hands-on. Um, we have a dog, I think, coming in next week at some point that is a very hands-off dog where we'll go in, we'll feed him, we'll, you know, talk to him and stuff like that. But he's more hands-off because he's not as people savvy as some dogs are. Um, so we're uniquely situated to be able to do that and be able to offer that for folks who need it. Because just because you have a dog that might not like someone else doesn't mean that you can't go on vacation too.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02And that I think that's important. I was, I was thinking about, you know, how you guys handle dogs that could be difficult and everything. But I'm um, you know, it's it's thankful that you got people like yourselves that can that are experienced and know how to handle that because it gives it gives the owner all again, peace of mind. I mean, a lot of what you do is to give the owners peace of mind.
SPEAKER_01And we have a phenomenal staff here that just does such a great job at, you know, talking with owners and really working with the animals. I mean, combined, I think our staff has well over 35 years of experience um combined. So it's it's a really, really great thing that we've got going.
Indoor Outdoor Runs For Tough Dogs
SPEAKER_02Nice, nice. Well, since you guys have taken ownership, what have you changed? What have you added, improved uh whether new services are upgrades to the facility, or just just a different approach to the animals?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Uh so one thing that we've greatly improved is a little bit of the interior and exterior cleanliness, kennel runs, uh more regimented cleaning, uh outdoors specifically. Because I mean you always have things that could be done better that when you come in new, you can kind of see the stuff that's been getting left behind before.
SPEAKER_01And then honestly, we've done a really good job at keeping up with the quality of care. Like you had mentioned, Debbie was really great about medication, she was really great about um talking with pet parents. Um, and we wanted to maintain that, right? We wanted to maintain the great name of Spruce Hill because it's been in our community for 60 years now. Almost right at 60 years that Spruce Hill has been a part of the Morgan County community, and we want to be a part of that legacy and build on it. Um, and that's been the real big thing that we've really worked on this year. You know, we've made some improvements interior interior-wise on some of our kennels, exterior-wise on some of the kennels, um, just to spruce it up a little bit. Um, and then uh as well as in the office, um, like Dustin said, we've kind of put in more regimented cleaning schedules um and really just tried to build upon that legacy that Mr. Woodard started 60 years ago.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I've noticed that because you know, a lot of dog places, you can say, kennels and everything, they do have a lot of odor to them at times, you know. You can't help that. Uh you guys have done a good job of cleaning that up. Like there's a big difference.
Cleanliness Upgrades And Protecting Legacy
SPEAKER_01And uh thank you for noticing.
SPEAKER_02Well, and I think that's important, right? Because I think you want to feel like your dog's not living in her and stuff, and I don't really care what happens to the cat, but dogs, you know.
SPEAKER_01No, and and just like with the dog, or just like with the dogs, the cats we can kind of tailor our routine to what the cat needs. Um, and you know, as you know, some cats are more standoffish than others. We have a cat personally that's very much like a dog, so she wants to be around everyone, and then we have another cat who just wants nothing to do with anyone, you know, so we can tailor that um within our cat room. We've got the capability to do that. Um, and then we've just kind of, like I said, trying to grow the legacy that that we've been given.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and that's and that's important. And that kind of goes with, you know, um how you how do you earn the trust of the pet owners, right? You know, to trust you with their dog and cat. And and I'm sure when they come back to pick them up, that's where you really get judged, right? How the cat you know, how they're if they left the bed, uh, you know, what happened, and you know, so you get judged even though they may not say anything, they're checking things out to make sure you guys did your job for sure. You know, so how do you get them to to trust you when they first meet with you? Because we knew of you guys and we knew of the place, so we were comfortable bringing them our animals back. But uh somebody brand new, and I'm sure you're getting a lot of people like that right now. How do you how do you get them sold on you?
Transparency And Earning Owner Trust
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, a really big thing for us is transparency. Um, we I am a very open and honest person. Um, even my family will tell you I'm a very open and honest person. Uh Dustin's shaking his head, yes. Um but we we try and be as transparent as we possibly can, just because that's so important. You're entrusting your family member with us. We want to be as transparent with you about their care and as we can, and um, you know, be as honest as we can because when they're with us, they do become our family too. Um, so that's what's really important is to make sure that our clients, whether two-legged or four, um, are valued, their voices are heard, and make sure that they know that they're respected and what they need and their wishes are respected too. Um, and we will provide that top-notch quality care that Spruce Hill's been really great at and that um we we uh have tried to do in our community and continue to do in our community through rescue work and the kennel sponsors a lot of stuff with the rescue too.
Vet Partners And Low Cost Vaccines
SPEAKER_02So that kind of brings me up. Are you connected with like local vets or pet businesses in the area to help along with what you do? Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so we harbor a really good relationship with uh St. Francis Pet Hospital. Uh they're mainly in Centerton, but they also have the Cambi location.
SPEAKER_01We work really well for like MedVets. If we ever need a Medvet, we go to Indie Urgent Care um in Indianapolis because they're the closest urgent care to us. Um and they're fabulous. Um, and then locally um we also partner with the 4-H Dog Club that hosts a vaccine clinic, a low-cost vaccine clinic that is coming up next weekend, actually, um, at the Morgan County Fairgrounds, 8 to noon. Um, and St. Francis is helping host that too. Um, and that'll be all low-cost vaccines. So we try and provide low-cost options. We have a community resources board posted within the kennel where you can see a lot of those low-cost options for folks and full service options as well.
SPEAKER_02Nice. And uh are those type of things on your website also or your Facebook page?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so we try and post as much as we can on our Facebook page. Um, I have not been as active on that as I should have been, but we have just uh left a very, very busy winter, uh, significantly busier than what I thought we would be, actually, because winter is our slow time normally. Um so it has been a lot busier than what anticipated this year. Um, but yeah, so we try and post all of that there. I post a lot of local um and then surrounding county um vaccine clinics um because I think low cost is always really important. Um, low cost quality service is always really important. Um, so that's what we we try and uh provide folks if St. Francis has a has a new vet that they're just starting. So we tried to promote her too. She does um exotics, so that's super exciting for our Morgan County area um to have her on board at St. Francis.
Future Plans And How To Book
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, nice. Well, we've reached the end of the show, but I got one last question. What's on the horizon for you guys? And where can people find you, follow along, or book a stay for their dog or cat?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So you can call us at the kennel to book a stay, uh, or you can message us on Facebook. And as far as the horizon, we just hope to keep building uh our business, and then we're looking at potentially five years down the road, hopefully building a new building that is a lot more state of the art and yeah, gives us a little bit better range of what we can offer.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Nice. And what's that phone number, Dustin? They would call.
SPEAKER_03It is 765-342930.
SPEAKER_02There you go.
SPEAKER_01And then you can also find us on Facebook too. Yep.
SPEAKER_02All right. Well, I tell you, I appreciate you guys joining us. Uh, I'm excited that you've uh got to share your story, and we're gonna put it out there to the rest of the county. And uh everybody, as I said, you can entrust your animals with these guys, they'll take care of them. I promise you. Uh, if they don't, you uh you can call and beat me up, I tell you, but I guarantee you'll have no problem. So uh thanks, Dustin and Sam. I appreciate your time. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01We appreciate you so much, and our cat says thanks too.
SPEAKER_02All right, we'll see you later now.
SPEAKER_01Thanks, Tim.
SPEAKER_00Bye-bye.
SPEAKER_01Bye.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show. Go to gnpmorgancounty.com. That's gnpmorgancounty.com or call 317 743 2058.