Former Georgians Shannon and Matt Bergman know dogs are active, social creatures, and when they moved to Naperville it bothered them that they couldn’t walk their pets when the weather was bad.
“It really kind of stemmed from a really cold winter and we were looking for a place to play with our dogs,” said Shannon. “They like to go on walks and need some exercise but it was super cold and we thought, ‘how great would it be to have an indoor park?’”
That idea grew into Wag N’ Paddle – a 16,000 square foot space where dogs can play in the park or the pool.
All new dogs go through a temperament evaluation, just to make sure everybody in the park will get along.
“We used to look at public dog parks and one of the things that’s nice that kind of steered us away from doing that and coming here is you have an assessment, a temperament assessment. So you know what you’re getting into,” said Wag N’ Paddle customer Don Blake.
For dogs looking to explore the ‘paddle’ part of the facility, one-on-one swimming sessions with an instructor are a fun way to get some exercise.
“The benefits of swimming are very similar to what it is for people,” said Shannon who co-owns the business with her husband. “It’s great exercise, it’s not weight bearing, it increases circulation, the water pressure kind of relieves pain, issues you may be having from land exercise.”
But maybe the best thing Wag N’ Paddle has to offer is the chance to socialize with other dogs.
“What I love about it is when you watch a dog come in here, they want to go straight to the dogs,” said Matt Bergman. “They want to play as a pack, they want to get together, they want to have fun, just like we do as humans, they want to do the same thing.”
A place for dogs, no bones about it.
Naperville News 17’s Casey Krajewski reports.
