Stories and Advice from Amazing Sniffspot People | Sniffspot (2024)

We took Forgotten Dogs Rescue to Fran's spot for Giving Tuesday and made a video. Check it out! Thank you to Fran for donating her spot, Allison for producing and Ellen for all she does for Forgotten Dogs!

Hear from John and his trusty pup Pearl about why they love visiting Sniffspot

Hear from Stefan and his beautiful pup Brasa on why they love hosting with Sniffspot

Hear from Barbara (and her pup Barnaby) about what is means for them to be a Sniffspot guest.

Hear from Patrick and June about what being a Sniffspot host means to them.

One of our guests created this video to share the joy her dog feels when using Sniffspot. I hope it brightens your day!

At Sniffspot, our mission is to make the world a more dog friendly. As a host on Sniffspot, you participate in this mission and vision. We put together this video to help set YOU up for success with us. We’ve spent a lot of time listening, reading, researching, and conversing with hosts and guests to understand what success looks and feels like. If you’d like to follow along, download the slides we’ll be coveringhere.

Patrick is the host of Sammamish/a fenced half acre to run in, one of Sniffspot's most popular spots. He has taken the time to write up the lessons he has learned about how to be a great Sniffspot host.

Fran is the host of Ranch Setting, one of Sniffspot's most popular spots. She has taken the time to write up the lessons she has learned about how to be a great Sniffspot host.

Ellen is the host ofCountry Pasture Getaway, one of Sniffspot's most popular sniff spots. She has taken the time to write up the lessons she has learned about how to be a great sniff spot host.

Maurice has always poured tremendous energy into helping those in need.

Just 20 minutes outside of the busy city of Portland, Oregon, and settled right on the banks of the Columbia River, you’ll find what countless visitors have flocked to the area in search of – mountain views, crisp, clean air, and running water for miles. What you might not expect to find, however, is a hidden oasis designed just for dogs and their people, owned and operated by a farming couple and enjoyed by visitors on two legs, and four.

Thousand Oaks, California has been a safe haven for Sniffspot host, Jen, since childhood. Having grown up in busy Santa Barbara, Jen, an introvert from an early age, would seek out solitude and serenity away from tourists attractions and droves of people visiting from elsewhere. “My grandparents own 60 acres about a 30 minute drive from here, and I grew up spending every summer and every holiday visiting them on the ranch,” Jen explained. “In Santa Barbara, we wouldn't go to the beach on the weekend because that's where everybody was, so you'd find places off the beaten path where the tourists weren't. For me, the ranch was just my happy place.”

50 miles north of Dallas, outside of Denton, Texas, Sniffspot host, Carol, values several things in life, two of which are an appreciation for the outdoors, and seeing happy dogs. “I'm a senior citizen,” she said. “I've lived at my property for 20 years now, and have a total of 10 acres, which is fenced in completely.” With time on her side and ample space for her dogs to exercise, Carol has made the most out of country living.

Hal and Colleen haven’t had dogs of their own for a while. Having shared their home with canine companions for 35 of their 42 years together as a couple, the big yard at their house began to feel a bit empty, but adopting a new dog simply isn’t in the cards for now. “We've had dogs almost all of our life,” Hal said. “When we both retired we started traveling more and we'd be gone for a month, so it really wasn't feasible to have another dog.”

If there’s one thing Janice knows and understands well, it’s the needs of dogs and their owners, and how to meet those needs. No stranger to the petcare game, Janice, a dog trainer herself, has been running a successful dog boarding and training facility just 30 minutes north of Seattle since 2001. When business slowed down a bit during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Janice looked into additional ways to bring in more income by using what she already had available to her.

When Grace started out as a host with Sniffspot, she gave herself one month to feel it out and see if it might be a fit for her and her husband. “I watched this video about Sniffspot and thought our property here would be a good thing for it,” she said, of the fully fenced nine acre space she shares with her husband. While she was excited at the prospect of hosting dogs on their land, her husband took some convincing to give it a try. “As soon as he came home, I said, ‘hey, look, this is as good as our property, and it’s just sitting there doing nothing.’ I asked him if we could try it for one month and if he didn’t like it then fine, I'll close it because we have that option.”

When Jill retired in the middle of the pandemic in 2020, she realized she could go anywhere and do pretty much anything she wanted. Where did her heart lead her? To Bellingham, Washington, in the same town her daughter calls home. “I had lived in Olympia for over 30 years, but my kids are both pretty much up near Bellingham,” she said. “No one was meeting at restaurants or doing all the things we used to do, so I decided to move.”

When Francisco and his wife were looking for a home to call their own, they knew that having lots of outdoor space was more important than the square footage of the actual house. “My wife and I got married and decided to buy a house,” Francisco said, of his Michigan property known as The Farm. “This one came on the market and it was just perfect because we were living on 10 acres and this one was around 20.” With ample room for the couple and their five dogs, the space was also used to conduct Francisco’s dog training and boarding business, although it took a sizable amount of work to make that a reality. “It had a pole barn in the back which was perfect to board dogs and do classes and consults, and we just went for it. Many of the dogs we train are not able to go to regular boarding facilities.”

If you had told Ellen K. three years ago that renting her land to dogs would be a key part of affording her home, she wouldn’t have believed you.

Evan M. has always considered himself to be a person who has many projects around the home. “I've always had busy hands and a curiosity for building and improving. My passion for home improvement comes from the blue collar childhood I had. I went to a trade school for high school and got into HVAC,” he explained. Although he went to school to study criminal justice, he ultimately landed in a trade that allows him to fix things around him, which bleeds into his home life as well. “When my wife and I moved into this home, there was already an established, albeit neglected, garden bed,” he added. “I could not watch the weeds overrun the bed so I took action. From there, it was immensely satisfying to have fresh vegetables throughout the dry season, and it's certainly taught me a lot.”