Behind the Scenes at One of Chicago’s Largest Dog Daycares
On a busy day, up to 180 dogs move through K9 University Chicago. A team of 45 people keeps the daycare running, the boarding suites staffed around the clock, the training classes on schedule, the shuttle vans on their routes, and the grooming tables turning. The facility has operated for more than 30 years, and it does not slow down. Boarding runs 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
Dog owners see the front of that operation: the wagging tail at pickup, the daily photo updates, the tired and happy dog at the end of the day. What they do not see is the work behind it. Running a dog daycare business at this scale means payroll for 45 people, schedules that change daily, leave tracking, compliance training, and a hundred small operational decisions that never reach the play floor. K9U Chief Operating Officer Mariya Sergeeva manages all of it.
This is a look at how a large, full-service dog care facility runs behind the scenes, and one recent change that gave the K9U team back hours it did not know it was losing.
A Facility That Never Stops
There is no quiet moment in a building with 180 dogs in it. Daycare groups need active supervision. Boarding dogs need overnight care. Training sessions run throughout the day. The shuttle team is on the road during morning pickups and afternoon drop-offs. Every one of those moving parts depends on the right person being in the right place at the right time, which means the operation lives and dies by its staffing and its schedule.
For years, K9U handled the back office the way many established small businesses do: with a patchwork of tools that each did one job. Payroll ran on one system. Schedules ran on another. Leave tracking happened by hand. Each tool worked on its own, but none of them talked to each other, and that gap landed on the COO’s desk every single pay period.
The Hidden Cost of Manual Admin
With 45 employees clocking in and out every day, payroll was a manual review job. Every pay period, Mariya opened the timesheets and checked each entry one by one. A single missed punch meant a wrong paycheck, so there was no skipping the review. That is 30 to 45 minutes of close, careful work every cycle, on top of running a facility full of dogs.
Scheduling was built on printed documents. Every shift was typed by hand, printed, and posted. When an employee needed to swap a shift, it was handled in person or edited on the printed copy. The shuttle routes added another layer, since driver coverage had to line up with pickup and drop-off windows every morning and afternoon. Leave tracking was manual too: every sick-leave request meant calculating hours by hand.
None of this was visible to clients, and none of it improved a single dog’s day. It was pure overhead, and in a facility that never stops, the time it ate was time that had to come from somewhere. Sometimes the only way to focus on payroll was to step out of the building entirely.
Consolidating the Back Office
The fix was consolidation. Instead of four systems that each did one thing, K9U moved payroll, scheduling, time tracking, benefits, compliance training, and leave management onto a single platform, Rippling. One employee record now drives everything. A new hire or a pay-rate change gets entered once and syncs everywhere, instead of being keyed into multiple systems by hand.
The practical results showed up fast:
- Payroll that flags its own problems. Time-clock issues are caught automatically and flagged for review, so the line-by-line manual check is gone.
- Digital scheduling. Schedules are posted, updated, and shared in an app. Nothing gets printed, and the whole team sees changes the moment they are made.
- Automated leave tracking. Sick and paid leave calculate automatically, employees request time off themselves, and approved time syncs straight into the schedule.
- One source of truth. Payroll, scheduling, leave, and compliance training all run off the same record, so a change made once is a change made everywhere.
The total saved was about five hours every pay period. For a staff of 45 that does not consider itself especially tech-savvy, adoption was easy: employees use the app to see their schedules, clock in, and manage their own requests.
Why Operations Matter to Dog Owners
It is fair to ask why any of this matters to the person dropping off a dog. The answer is that the back office and the play floor are connected. When scheduling is reliable, the right number of trained handlers are on the floor for every group, and overnight boarding stays covered around the clock. When payroll and leave run smoothly, staff stay longer, and the people who know a dog by name are still there next year. When the COO is not buried in manual admin, she has time for the parts of the job that affect dogs and clients directly.
A facility that has run for more than 30 years does not last by accident. It lasts because the operation behind it is built to hold up under pressure, day after day, dog after dog. Modernizing the back office is part of how K9U protects the experience clients count on.
The full operations story, including the numbers behind the switch, is documented in a customer case study published by Rippling: How K9 University Chicago runs payroll, scheduling, and compliance in one place.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many dogs and staff does K9 University Chicago have?
On a busy day, K9 University Chicago cares for up to 180 dogs, supported by a team of 45 staff members. The facility has operated for more than 30 years and provides overnight boarding with 24-hour supervision.
What services does K9 University Chicago offer?
K9U is a full-service dog care facility offering daycare, overnight boarding, professional training, grooming, and a door-to-door shuttle service, all from a single location in Chicago. Owners can combine services, such as pairing grooming with a daycare day or boarding with a training program.
How does a large dog daycare keep its staffing reliable?
Reliable staffing depends on consistent scheduling, accurate payroll, and low turnover. K9U runs payroll, scheduling, time tracking, leave, and compliance training on a single platform, which keeps the right handlers on the floor for every group and helps experienced staff stay with the facility long term.
Why does a dog care facility’s back office matter to clients?
The back office and the play floor are connected. Smooth operations mean properly staffed play groups, lower staff turnover, and a leadership team with time to focus on dogs and clients rather than manual paperwork. Operational stability is part of what allows a facility to deliver consistent care over many years.
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