With the help of HCC, Elizabeth Staples ’03, ’05 turned her passion into a successful business.
Somewhere in the basement of her Easthampton home, stored away with other memorabilia from her youth, Elizabeth Staples keeps a kind of scrapbook of all the dogs she never had.
Growing up, Staples — then Elizabeth Powers — had begged her mother for a dog. But her mother, divorced, working nights and raising three kids, couldn’t take on the extra responsibility. Still, Staples persisted. Whenever she saw a stray dog, she’d take a picture. Every year, she turned those photos into a calendar she used as a lobbying tactic: “12 Reasons I Need a Dog.”
“Somewhere in the basement there are 165 pictures of me with random dogs,” she recently said.
Staples laughs at the irony. These days she has more dogs than she ever imagined.
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Staples walks through the cordoned play areas, setting off a stadium wave of enthusiastic barking as the dogs notice her.
“You get used to it!” she shouts over the din.
Staples founded The Good Dog Spot in 2007, first in Chicopee, then in Northampton. The business is the embodiment of her lifelong devotion to dogs. But it is also the product of hard work and careful planning.
To turn her passion into a sustainable enterprise, she enrolled at Holyoke Community College to study business and accounting. “I went to HCC so I could set myself up,” she said. “I was able to write my business plan and create realistic financial projections for bankers when securing my original loans. It’s not just about doing what you love — you have to understand the business side.”
“ I went to HCC so I could set myself up. It’s not just about doing what you love — you have to understand the business side.”
Elizabeth Staples
Her time at HCC helped her hone and sharpen the details required to care for animals in a way that aligned with her vision.
Staples wanted her dogs to be supervised by trained pet care specialists and placed into playgroups carefully curated by size, personality, and play style. Today, The Good Dog Spot offers customized experiences based on each client’s needs, including one-on-one interactions and small group activities.
Her philosophy isn’t simply to tucker dogs out until they collapse at bedtime. “It’s more about enriching and fulfilling the lives of pets,” she explains. “It’s not just an eight-hour party where dogs run nonstop. We’re really looking at what makes a well-rounded dog. Exhausted isn’t the same as fulfilled.”
Staples conceived of The Good Dog Spot as a one-stop-shop model, offering daycare, dog training, grooming, and overnight boarding services.
“We wanted to be convenient for owners and comforting for the dogs,” she says. “If the dogs already come for daycare and then come back for grooming, they already know us.”
As Staples continues her tour, she stops in front of the dog spa window, where a woolly white Great Pyrenees is getting a bath, regally luxuriating under the warm suds. Nearby, a small dog perches on a grooming table, tolerating a trim. Across the way, Staples steps into the Spot’s Tots room, the socialization area for puppies, empty at the moment — and quiet — and reflects on turning her childhood obsession into a thriving business and community.
Her mother never did accede to her requests for a dog, but Staples settled for the next best thing, working at a dog kennel throughout her teens and early 20s. She was 21 and living on her own before she finally adopted her first dog, an American Staffordshire Terrier she named Haley, whom she had for 14 years.
“That dog was with me through everything,” she says, “the beginning of the business, my wedding, and the kids.”
Staples had also joined the board of directors for the American Boarding Kennels Association (now called the Pet Care Services Association) and began attending industry conferences, where she witnessed a major shift in pet care philosophy.
“I saw places moving away from the warehouse style of boarding — dogs in chain-link runs, safe and fed — to spaces that were more social and actually catered to dogs’ emotional needs,” she said. “My ‘aha moment’ came when I realized, ‘There’s nothing around here like this.’”
While working in life beneficiary services at MassMutual in Chicopee, Staples began drafting her business plan. She had passion but little collateral. “I didn’t own a house,” she said. “I didn’t own a car. I didn’t have anything I could leverage.” Passion alone, she knew, would not secure an investment.
“I love dogs, and that’s great, but I knew I couldn’t be successful in business if I didn’t know my numbers,” she said.
Elizabeth Staples
“HCC was the perfect fit for me. It didn’t feel too huge and overwhelming; it felt comfortable and easy.”
That led her to HCC, where she earned an associate degree in business administration in 2002 at 22, followed by an associate degree in accounting in 2005 at 25. “Both degrees gave me practical tools to build a sustainable business,” said Staples, adding that she had not been motivated to go to college after high school. “HCC was the perfect fit for me. It didn’t feel too huge and overwhelming; it felt comfortable and easy.”
Two years later, Staples leased a space in Chicopee, taking out a small bank loan and maxing out her credit card. She bookended workdays at Mass Mutual with hours at her new business.
There were naysayers, she recalls: “Some people said, ‘You’re opening a doggy day care? Dogs are fine at home alone while their owners go to work.’”
But Staples had tapped into a broader shift, with owners increasingly viewing their pets as family members in need of daily enrichment. “They don’t want to leave them home alone anymore,” Staples said. “We really see it like we’re being entrusted with somebody’s child.”
Like any daycare, Staples plans fun and creative activities for the dogs, such as birthday “pawties,” pet-of-the-month spotlights, paw-print art and picture days. “Parents put their kids’ artwork on the fridge, and we wanted to give our pet parents the same thing,” she said. Owners can even peek in on their pets during the day via webcam.
Word about The Good Dog Spot spread at Greyhound speed. “Early on, if we had eight dogs, it was a win,” Staples said. Just two years after opening, The Good Dog Spot outgrew its original 2,400-square-foot space, expanding to a nearby 13,000-square-foot facility. The Northampton location, which opened in 2017, is 5,000 square feet.
Staples had tapped into a broader shift, with owners increasingly viewing their pets as family members in need of daily enrichment.
Each location supports an average daily clientele of 50 daycare dogs, with numbers of overnight boarders fluctuating seasonally between 10 and 30. Staples employs 43 staff members across both facilities, serving more than 5,000 clients a year.
One of those clients is Lynn Pellerano ’06, also an HCC alum and business operations director at MassMutual. Although Staples left MassMutual around 2010, Pellerano remembers her sharing plans about opening a dog daycare. Ten years later, when Pellerano became the owner of a Pomeranian named Rose, off they went to The Good Dog Spot.
“I knew Elizabeth and her team would take care of our Rose as if she were their own,” said Pellerano. “Elizabeth always had a true commitment to service, which I knew would translate into her being a great business owner. She has clearly instilled this attribute in her staff.”
Along the way, The Good Dog Spot has truly become a family business. While Staples is the company president, her husband, Cory Staples, manages daily operations, and her father, Keith Powers, is director of finance and technology. Even their three young children — Grace, Haley (yes, same as her first dog), and Thomas — star in Instagram videos that promote the community spirit of The Good Dog Spot, such as one showing them feeding dog-friendly pumpkin pie to the pups on Thanksgiving.
At home, the Staples have a “small zoo” that includes four turtles, two leopard geckos, a freshwater aquarium, and seven birds, including four cockatiels, a sun conure named Pickles, Piper the Quaker parrot, and Kevin, an Indian Ringneck Parrot, adopted from an animal shelter.
And then there is North, the family’s American Staffordshire Terrier, who is, in fact, a direct descendent of her first dog. North, though, suffers from idiopathic epilepsy, which has caused brain damage, and requires medication to manage the frequency and magnitude of her seizures.
“I have definitely built a wealth of knowledge in dog training, behavior, and managing her medical condition over the past four years,” Staples said. “Not the journey I was hoping for, but the one I got and, as a family, we try to give North the best life she can have while she’s with us.”
Staples is also deeply committed to helping animals in need, organizing fundraisers and donation drives that primarily support the Foundation for TJO Animals, the nonprofit arm of the Thomas J. O’Connor Adoption Center in Springfield. This year, The Good Dog Spot’s Santa Pictures fundraiser, which offers clients a digital image of their pet with Santa, raised nearly $2,000 for the foundation. The business also sponsors annual fundraising events such as “Pets Rock” and “Designer Purrse Bingo.”
“Our four-legged clients have amazing lives and amazing homes,” Staples said. “There are so many shelter pets that deserve the same.”
Jill Carra, marketing and communications manager for the Foundation for TJO Animals, said The Good Dog Spot has been a dedicated supporter over the years, continually demonstrating its strong sense of community, especially during times of heightened need.
Elizabeth Staples
“We want to keep giving dogs a great day and giving owners peace of mind. They put an awful lot of trust in us to be the home away from home for their dogs, which is incredibly humbling, and we’ve gone a long way to earn that trust.”
“With the economy right now, there’s a lot of food insecurity, and folks are struggling,” Carra said. “The first thing that’s usually affected is pets. We’ve seen a lot of difficult animal cases come into the shelter — situations where people can’t keep their animals, or the animals are severely underfed and require emergency vet care. Every dollar goes toward addressing those needs. The Good Dog Spot is a huge part of the success of what we do, and they are always advocating for us.”
In addition to giving back to the broader community, Staples fosters a strong sense of connection among Good Dog Spot pet families. In October, they threw a Halloween party, complete with a fog machine, with dogs and owners alike showing up in costumes. For Christmas, they hosted an Ugly Sweater “Pawty,” inviting fur friends to search for treats under the Christmas tree skirt.
Staples already has her gears spinning about how to celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Good Dog Spot in 2027. Until then, “We want to keep giving dogs a great day and giving owners peace of mind,” she said. “They put an awful lot of trust in us to be the home away from home for their dogs, which is incredibly humbling, and we’ve gone a long way to earn that trust.”
Talking Dogs, with Elizabeth Staples
Why did you want a dog so badly as a kid?
“Years later, I read a book called The New Work of Dogs: Tending to Life, Love, and Family by Jon Katz. It helped put words to something I think I sensed even as a kid – that dogs have always had an important role in our lives, but that role has evolved. They may not herd sheep or guard farms the way they once did, but they still do incredibly important work. Today, much of that work is emotional: helping people feel connected, grounded, and less alone.”
“I love that dogs live fully in the moment – they greet you with joy, forgive quickly, and approach life with curiosity and enthusiasm. There’s something incredibly grounding about that.”
– Elizabeth Staples ’03, ’05
What is it about dogs that you love so much?
“I love that dogs live fully in the moment – they greet you with joy, forgive quickly, and approach life with curiosity and enthusiasm. There’s something incredibly grounding about that.
“What I really love about dogs is that they have a remarkable ability to bring people together. They create community, spark conversations, and help us slow down enough to appreciate the small, joyful moments in life. It’s very much the heart of the work we do at The Good Dog Spot.
“When dogs are supported and thriving, the people who love them feel that too, and that ripple effect is something really special to be part of.”
