Riding the Paw-ty Bus! – How One Man Built a Unique Doggie Daycare from Scratch

ALEXANDRIA, VA – For a while, Maggie was a very insecure dog. Although she was fine at home, she usually barked as soon as she saw another dog. That is, until she was signed up with a special doggie daycare. Every day, she and 20 other dogs were whisked away to a special dog park for a two-hour-long puppy play date. At the park, she had such a good time that her anxiety completely dissipated. Soon, Maggie was as friendly as ever.

Meet St. Elmore Nanton, the owner of Courteous Pets Care. Every day, he loads up his van (aptly dubbed the Paw-ty Bus) with dogs from around the city and drives them to his own dog park just off I-95.

Although Nanton now has a successful business, his entrepreneurial journey was no walk in the park. Having immigrated from the Caribbean island of St. Vincent, he spent years printing t-shirts and doing other work for below-minimum wage pay. Finally, his luck turned: His friend got him a dog trainer position at one of Alexandria’s doggie daycares.

Having grown up around dogs his whole childhood, he was a natural from the beginning.

He didn’t always agree with his employers though—especially when perfectly fine dogs got rejected from the daycare. One such dog was seen as too aggressive. To him, however, the daycare just didn’t understand the dog’s play style. A couple days later, he saw the owner on the street and offered to walk the dog himself.

It was 2005, and St. Elmore Nanton just got his first client.

He didn’t skimp on his walks either. Although his first client had only signed up for a half hour walk, Nanton took the extra mile—literally—by running the dog for around three hours every day.

“Some people treat this as like a business, where they want money and they’re just gonna do it for the paycheck,” he says. “But if you’re doing this you gotta do it from the heart, you gotta do it with love, you gotta care for the animals you’re caring for, and for me that’s all it is.” He knew the dog liked getting out and he himself liked walking—it was as simple as that.

Nanton’s clientele grew quickly after that. His clients gossiped about him to their friends. People saw him on the streets, walking dogs for hours on end and talked to him. (And he was no small sight, sometimes running up to ten dogs at once!)

By now, St. Elmore had a real business going. He got laid off from the doggie daycare and devoted himself to the business full-time. He bought a car, ending his days of taking the city bus or biking between clients. He hired an assistant to drive him around, as he didn’t yet have his license. He bought a van. Then a bigger van. He started driving his dogs to dog parks for hours on end.

“The summer of 2008, I did not live in my house for like three months,” he says. “I would just go from house to house to house to house.”

In 2019, his daily flood of dogs got him kicked out of a local dog park, despite the support of all the park’s patrons. This turned out to be a blessing, however, as he soon found someone in Woodbridge who owned three acres of woods and agreed to let him rent the land. He picked out a spot, fenced it, and built his own little dog park.

That park is now used by 25+ dogs every day, rain, snow or shine.

“I stay engaged with my dogs, and that’s what makes a difference,” Nanton says. His assistant always sits in the back of the van to keep the dogs company, and during playtime they each stand at the ends of the park keeping a watchful eye on everyone.

They take care of any trouble as soon as it pops up. For example, whenever two dogs get into a scuffle, Nanton puts the aggressor in time out in a separate area of the park to reflect on their actions.

“My favorite part about running the business is the satisfaction I get from seeing the dogs happy,” he says. “Driving the van back up in the evening, looking in the rear view mirror, and seeing them tiredly lean on one another and have a big smile on their face.”

In a world dominated by money, St. Elmore puts his whole heart into the dogs he cares for. For many clients, he’s a member of the family.

“Working with dogs, I don’t think I’d want to do anything else,” he says. “I just love working with dogs.”

Find his Instagram account here, or get in touch with his via email or at (301)-793-3892.

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