Dog Days of Sommer, Wichita

Kellye Sommer lived closely with nature in her hometown of Seminole, Oklahoma, and spent the early years of her life deeply fascinated by the creatures around her. Her deep empathy, fostered by tolerant parents, led her to adopt and rehabilitate injured and orphaned animals found around their home, and she assembled quite a menagerie. When not bottle-feeding a baby raccoon, bathing a skunk, or teaching a crow to speak Spanish, she and her brother cared for cats, dogs, and a host of other critters. After a pit stop in the horticulture department at Oklahoma State University and 12 years spent working in the medical-technology field at a local hospital, Kellye returned to her first passion—caring for animals.

Today, Dog Days of Sommer makes clever use of Kellye’s surname to describe the substance of her days, which involve caring for pups whose owners are at work or out of town. Beyond the warmly lit lobby of her facility lies a massive indoor play space equipped with toys and large kennels for private sleeping. Throughout their stay, dogs are lavished with myriad pampering services, including baths, full grooming, walks, and supervised romp sessions in the attached yard. Dogs return home clean and sleepy, which is often more than their owners can say, unless they tame wild bars of soap for a living.