Fruitport, Michigan—West Michigan K9, a rapidly growing dog training company from West Olive, Michigan, is in process of building a new dog training facility off Airline Highway east of Quarterline Road.

At a cost of $2.5 million, the facility will be built of steel on 10 acres of land. The building will house up to 150 dogs, and provide training areas, as well as grooming rooms, and full veterinarian offices that will be open to the public.

The company’s West Olive facility offers dog training and boarding, while West Michigan K9 is also authorized to provide services to the U.S. Department of Defense and Homeland Security.

WM K9 founder Stephen Parent told MLive he hopes that the new facility will be a “one-stop shop for all things dogs.” He says that if people need to bring their dog to a dog park, or get training for their dog, or even have a place where their dog will be able to go through physical therapy after surgery, this will be the place to go. The facility will have 20 new kennels especially for police dogs and military contracts.

Parent estimates WM K9 has grown 250% every year since 2016, the first year he started dog training full time. Originally, in 2013, Parent was training dogs out of his garage on the side of working corporate jobs, after serving in the Army. Demand for dog training continued to rise. 8 months after going full time with his business, Parent received his first military contract with the U.S. Department of Defense.

The new WM K9 facility will bring 50 new jobs to Fruitport Township, greatly expanding the company’s current staff of 15 employees. Administration and dog training positions, as well as positions for groundskeepers and support staff, will be available.

In another statement to MLive, Parent said of running his business, “It’s turned into seeing how many lives we can change through trained dogs.” He also said that employing people has become the most rewarding part.

Another goal of WM K9 is to have a positive impact on communities by providing service dogs to veterans and trained dogs to police. The West Michigan K9 Foundation, which is the company’s non-profit arm, donated a dual-purpose dog to the St. Clair Shores PD after one of the department’s dogs was killed in the line of duty in 2018. The Foundation donated a dog to the Wyoming Police Department, as well, planning to donate 6 more by the end of 2021.

Parent hopes the new facility will open in the summer of 2022, being among the highest quality places for dog training, veterinarian care, and rehabilitation.

by Kate Holtrop: Published in the Fruitport Area News, 2021, November Issue, page 23