About the Founders and Owners of Kennel Club Boarding

Welcome to Kennel Club Boarding

At Kennel Club Boarding, we've built something we're genuinely proud of — a calm, purposeful environment where dogs are cared for by people who have spent their lives working with them. Our reputation is built on honesty, experience, and the kind of hands-on knowledge that only comes from decades of working with dogs of every temperament, background, and need.

Patrick

Patrick was born into a military family and spent his early years moving across Canada before settling in Ottawa, where he has lived for the past 26 years. It was during time spent in Germany that he fell in love with German Shepherds — a passion that has defined much of his life since.

Over the years, Patrick developed a specialization in working with aggressive and difficult dogs. He has provided rehabilitation training for dogs that other trainers wouldn't take on, worked alongside world-class trainers in the USA and Germany, and completed extensive coursework in canine behaviour and training. He has also worked with therapy dog, which he trained, bringing comfort to school children, retirees, and palliative care patients. That chapter of his work, like the training practice itself, eventually gave way to the kennel — which grew faster than either he or Chandra anticipated.

Today, Patrick is regularly called upon by animal control services, police departments, rescue organizations, and government agencies across Ontario to locate and safely remove dogs that other services aren't equipped or willing to handle. These calls take him across the province. He also founded and ran a specialized dog training equipment store online for several years before the kennel demanded his full attention. He purchased the original property on Prince of Wales Drive in 2016 with the specific intention of one day opening a kennel, and that intention became a reality in 2019.

When he's not at the kennel, Patrick is usually working on his property or out dirt biking with his kids. He and Chandra have five children between them and, at last count, six Working Line German Shepherds — Chyra, Delta, Ashton, Fossil, Ella — and Toni Legs, a roughly 10-pound Pinscher/Whippet mix rescue who keeps the big dogs appropriately humble.

Chandra

Chandra grew up in Russell, Ontario, surrounded by animals her entire life — horses, dogs, and everything in between. She ran a hobby farm, worked in the medical field, and at one point owned and raced a sled dog team of Huskies. That chapter eventually led her to the world of dog sports, specifically Schutzhund, where she began working with high-drive Working Line German Shepherds and competing at a serious level.

Over more than two decades, Chandra built a reputation as a skilled and versatile trainer — providing basic, advanced, and expert-level obedience training, as well as specialized work with problem dogs. She has attended numerous training courses and seminars throughout her career and was a member of the Canadian Association of Professional Dog Trainers. She and Patrick were also registered breeders with the Canadian Kennel Club, a chapter of their work they've stepped back from as the kennel has grown to occupy their full attention.

Chandra developed a particular gift for working with anxious and fearful dogs — learning to read them, earn their trust, and help them find their footing. That skill is woven into everything she does at the kennel today. When she's not there, she tends to her garden, her fish, and her cross-stitch.

Chandra and Patrick met through a local dog sport club. What started as a shared obsession with dogs eventually became something more.

How the kennel came to be

In 2019, Patrick and Chandra welcomed their first boarding customer at the Prince of Wales property, housing dogs in their home. The business grew quickly. They developed the land, hired staff, and began building proper facilities. In 2021, they started working with dog rescue and foster organizations — taking in dogs that needed medical care, behavioural rehabilitation, or simply a safe place to land. That work continues today. In 2022, the kennel moved to its current home at 5673 Fourth Line Road in North Gower, and it hasn't stopped evolving since.

All staff are certified in canine first aid and go through thorough training before working independently. Most have been with the kennel for multiple years — rare in this industry, and something Patrick and Chandra work hard to maintain by investing in their team.

The facility

The kennel at Fourth Line Road was designed and built from the ground up to handle any dog — large or small, social or not. It includes 24 large and very large outdoor play yards enclosed with 10-foot fencing, an indoor play area, individual 5×8 ft enclosures each with a private 5×12 ft outdoor run, in-floor heating, air conditioning, and a state-of-the-art water treatment system. There is also an on-site veterinary office, used extensively when caring for foster and rescue dogs with complex medical needs.

The kennel is sanitized using Prevail — the same hospital-grade disinfectant used in veterinary clinics and animal shelters across Canada, effective against Canine Parvovirus, Kennel Cough, and a broad spectrum of bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Every surface is cleaned between uses. The team has cared for dogs with broken bones, seizures, torsion, diabetes, cancer, and all manner of acute illness — often animals arriving from rescue organizations in conditions requiring immediate assessment and ongoing care.

At Kennel Club Boarding, your dog's well-being isn't a priority — it's the point of everything.