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Puppy Love

Craig Lin has dedicated his life to the happiness of dogs.

BY MEGAN SWOYER I PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANGIE BARN

It's a Tuesday night at Botsford Hospital in Farmington Hills, and the emergency
room buzzes with activity. Rattled and nervous patients await medical staff whose goal
is to calm visitors while servicing their needs.
Big Jake Lin isn't on staff, but he sure knows how to quash fears and quell angst
amid the suffering. A nod, a loving look, a way with people — that's Jake. He doesn't
talk. But who needs talk when you've got man's best friend beside you?
Jake, you see, is a white-as-snow, 3-year-old Great Pyrenees dog who comes to the
aid of Botsford patients courtesy of his owner, Craig Lin. "When we first started as
volunteers here, we would visit pediatrics or geriatrics. But they recently asked us to
visit the ER," says Lin, of West Bloomfield. "Big guys in there will say, 'Hey, bring him
over,' and it's like they forget their pain and why they are there. It really works."
Not only does Lin find the time to visit hospitals, he also volunteers in a local Dr.
Paws Pet Assisted Therapy program and participates in the Detroit Kennel Club Dog
Shows (held every year in March) at Detroit's Cobo Center and America's Family Pet
Expo coming to Novi's Rock Financial Showplace in November.
All this — plus he co-owns Dog Centers of America in Wixom. The state-of-
the-art, 24-hour attended-care complex, which opened almost three years ago, offers
lodging, training and grooming classes, nutritional food, accessories and more. Web
cameras (a nanny cam for puppies) allow owners to watch their pets. On any given day,
Lin, along with business partner Steven Subelsky and their Dog Centers staff, works
with anywhere from 25 to 75 dogs, whether there for a weekend visit while their "par-
ents" are vacationing or longer-term boarding.
Dogs who require training can get all they need at Lin's facility "You cannot
believe how many dogs just need to know what 'yes' and 'no' mean. After they
understand that, you can transition that knowledge into commands," Lin explains.
Exercise also is key for dogs, he notes. "If a dog has no outlet for energy, that
means chewed shoes and couch." Mission accomplished with the 11,000-square-foot
facility, 4,000 of which is dedicated to two enormous romp rooms. All, including a
puppy room and doghouse, are brightly painted with murals of dogs and mountain

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vistas, faux trees and park benches. Even fire hydrants are scattered about — invit-
ing details that welcome animals and people alike.
When Lin and Subelsky began developing their complex, they focused on what
was in the best interest of the dogs and worked from there. "The 24-hour care provi-
sion was non-negotiable. It was key to our belief," Lin explains of the trained facilitator
always on duty. Each dog that enters the complex is screened to make sure they're not
aggressive. And the owners invested time and money in a workshop/consultation with
a St. Louis company that has been servicing dogs for more than 30 years.
As a boy growing up in Livonia (Lin jokingly refers to himself as a "hillbilly Jew,"
noting there were few Jews in the area at the time), Lin had a veritable menagerie. "We
always had animals," recalls Lin, 50, who, along with his siblings, regularly brought
critters home to his Yiddish- and Russian-speaking grandparents; his father, who
owned Jack's Fifth Avenue clothing store in Detroit; and his homemaker mother.
"My dad was best friends with the owner of a pet-supply store, so we would get
exotic visitors, too," he says. "You could buy baby alligators at a department store on
Eight Mile and Telegraph — so we did, of course," says Lin of the pet amphibian he
named Ally. "My brother was on TV with an ocelot," says Lin, whose first dog was a
collie. "And we had a monkey overnight once." In the neighborhood, Lin would keep
his eyes peeled for just about anything that moved. "I had bullfrogs that I would put on
a makeshift leash." But, he adds, "My days of owning alligators and racing pigeons and
walking bullfrogs on a leash are over. I'm running with the dogs these days."
Today, Lin prefers big dogs such as Newfoundlands, Bernese mountain dogs and
Great Pyrenees like Jake, whom Lin bought after studying the breed intensively. "Great
Pyrenees are excellent therapy dogs due to their overall gentleness," Lin explains. For
him, dogs provide unconditional love and companionship. "I love that the only nag-
ging I get from him these days is for a biscuit or a walk," Lin laughs. "Good boy!"

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For more information about Dog Centers of America s call (248) 960-0800
or log on to dogcenters.com.