Sunny Acres Boarding Kennel

Sunny Acres

Boarding Kennel

Est. 1961

Bartlesville

There was a kennel or two left over when Willis and Zelma Jardot left Stillwater and moved their "kids and beagles" onto a quiet 10-acre tract southeast of here in 1956. A dog-loving friend heard about the space "bedroom" at vacation time and a longtime hobby turned into a booming family business.


The couple officially opened Sunny Acres Boarding Kennel three years ago by adding a few extra runways to the ones occupied by their own prize beagles. Last year, they added another 25 runways, and all are full.


"We're planning to add another 25 runways next spring, we're having to turn people away right now," says Mrs. Jardot.


The couple has had more trouble keeping the hobby-business in manageable areas than in keeping enough volume. They let down the bars a little last year and had to add 10 extra cages for pet cats.

"Then We Started...

...getting inquiries about keeping birds and even pet mice," says Mrs. Jardot. "But we had to draw the line there."


As their two children tell it, operating a kennel is something like running a working man's boarding house, especially at mealtime except these "guests" are more finicky about taste. Vici, 13, recalls a German Shepherd who demanded rice along with his regular meal.


Then there was the Cocker Spaniel who had to have graham crackers. Most of the dogs will eat hamburger meat, but some insist that it be cooked.


A Boston Terrier was used to cottage cheese for dinner, roast beef and carrots for breakfast. And when a dog refuses to eat, he can almost always be coaxed into taking a load of liver.

"I Just Kept Trying Until...

...we find something they will eat," says Mrs. Jardot. "I don't want them going hungry."


The bulk of Sunny Acres' business comes during the summer when families can't be bothered with taking along a pet on tour.


Mostly, the "guests" keep happy, though their owners sometimes worry for three weeks. One lady called regularly each day from Florida to check on her pet.


Once in a while, a dog will require small doses of tranquilizers to keep calm while its master is away, but owners are often surprised to find their pets have gained weight while they were away.

"There Have Been Only...

...two really unpleasant incidents in the couples' three years of operating Sunny Acres. They lost one dog, probably by theft, and another dog bit Zelma.


"It took 37 stitches to close the wounds in my legs," she recalls. "That was the first and the last of that breed that we kept."


Willis and Zelma came here in 1956, after growing up in Stillwater where they were both born to pioneer families and both graduated from Stillwater High School.


His grandfather, Lou Jardot, was an early-day stonemason who built Stillwater's first brick building, the old Opera Building, and he later laid the bricks for Stillwater National Bank's original building. The city's easternmost street, Jardot Street, was named for him.

"Zelma's Parents...

...Mr. and Mrs. M. C. Dryden, still live in Stillwater. Citizens named Dryden Street for her grandfather, John Dryden, who homesteaded east of the city and owned real estate in Stillwater.


Willis and Zelma got into the dog business shortly after marriage when the Beagle puppy they purchased turned into a show ring champion.


They had 30 dogs when they moved to Bartlesville where Jardot operates a stone masonry business, but the pack is down to six and the showing days are over.


"It was a pretty expensive business and besides, we don't have the time for it now," says Mrs. Jardot.

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