First-Time Franchisee Jamie Enders Is Introducing Hounds Town USA to Las Vegas Pet Owners

Jamie Enders grew up on the East Coast, where he worked on the management team at Publix supermarkets, focusing on the stores’ professional and customer service experiences. In 2014, Enders moved to Las Vegas when his wife, a registered dietician, received a job offer to be a supervisor at the Children's Heart Center. When they first moved, Enders was semi-retired and picked up a part-time job at as a dual-rate dealer at a casino. After a few years, he decided the job was not the route he envisioned for his professional future.

It was on a flight to Belize in May of 2019 when Enders was drawn to a franchising placement advertisement in the airline’s magazine. At the time, Enders had not considered franchising, but after further research into business ownership — and into doggie daycare brands specifically — he discovered Hounds Town USA. Enders fell in love with the pet-care brand after his trip to visit the corporate team in Long Island in October of 2019. The simple business model and owner and operator guidance, along with the fun, dog-loving atmosphere caught both Enders and his wife’s heart.

Now, the Enders, along with their two rescue pups, are bringing Nevada’s first Hounds Town USA to Las Vegas. They are excited to offer local dogs an escape from the 100-degree heat by giving their working owners an air-conditioned, easy drop-off spot to ensure they get their daily workout in, away from the blazing desert sun.

1851 Franchise: Tell us a little bit about your background.

Jamie Enders: I grew up on the East Coast, and I left college early to go into management with Publix supermarkets. My wife and I moved to Vegas when she had a job offer to be the supervisor for Children’s Heart Center. She is a registered dietician. She still works there. When we came out here, I started working in the casinos for about 5 years as a dual-rate dealer which means I dealt a few days a week. It was the introductory level of management in the casino. I got tired of the hours and didn’t like the smoky environment. It was not the professional career I wanted.

My wife and I have two dogs. They’re both rescues. One is 10 years old, she's a corgi-retriever mix, and we just got another who is a one-year-old Australian cattle dog mix.

1851: How did your previous career set you up for success as a franchisee?

Enders: My motivation and drive have set me up for success. I drove my own career change from the casinos. My wife and I had enough money to open a business, and now, being an owner-operator depends on what I do for the company.

1851: Why did you decide to go into franchising, and how did you choose Hounds Town USA? 

Enders: We were on a trip to Belize for a week, and on the airplane, I was reading the airline magazine, which had an article about franchising. At the time, I knew I wanted to leave the casino. So here was this article about a franchise network or broker company. I contacted them, went online and went through the list of brands. I didn't want to work in food because of the hours. I saw a couple of different doggy daycare companies, which I thought would be fun. I did research into a few, like Camp Bow Wow and Dogtopia.

I liked the Hounds Town model. I flew to New York to meet the team and was impressed with them. The owner and operator guidance was outstanding. I really liked that everything sounded exactly the same — there was real consistency to the brand.

1851: Why do you think Hounds Town USA is going to be an especially good fit for your community? 

Enders: We’re not sure what side of Vegas we’ll be on yet, but there’s not a lot of doggy daycares around here. There's a Dogtopia scheduled to open soon and they’ll be the first Dogtopia in Vegas.

There is a real niche for it. Unlike your Northern cities, we have the desert, where it's too hot to take your dogs out. It’s too hot for their feet and it’s not good for dogs to be running around in the 100-degree weather during the day. People can drop them off in our air-conditioning, pick them up after work and they have their full workout in for the day.