{"id":703,"date":"2025-05-21T21:18:44","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T04:18:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dogtopia.com\/washington-bellevue\/?page_id=703"},"modified":"2026-04-03T09:31:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T16:31:07","slug":"meet-the-owners","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.dogtopia.com\/washington-bellevue\/meet-the-owners\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet The Owners"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Message from Michel and Allison<\/h3>\n

We started Dogtopia of Redmond with one thing in mind: making it easier to have a dog.\u00a0Probably like how you feel about your dog, our twin Saint Bernese babies are our family. We\u2013Michel Rau and Allison Christian Rau\u2013started Dogtopia of Redmond for the two of them. Here\u2019s how it happened.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Xiana and Xeus are rescue dogs. (That\u2019s them above, at two months old.) Deemed an \u201caccident\u201d and thus worthless in the eyes of their breeders, the puppies had been unceremoniously dumped before being taken in by a rescue in West Virginia. We took one look at those tiny, frail, sickly little angels, scooped them up the day they turned eight weeks old, and now have the greatest joys of our lives in the forms of giant wagging tails, massive sloppy kisses, and 200+ pounds of unconditional love.<\/p>\n

Friends, dogs make life BETTER.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is a contagious joy in a dog that you cannot help but catch. They bring laughter into your home and lightness into your heart.\u00a0Everybody<\/em>\u00a0needs a dog.<\/p>\n

And just like every person needs a dog, every dog needs a person. One of my great wishes in this world is that the cages in every dog shelter, rescue, and pound would be entirely empty, because every single dog had been adopted into a loving forever home.<\/p>\n

Yet too many people who would like to consider adopting think it too much trouble to care for a dog. I constantly hear people say, \u201cOh, I wish I could have a dog, but I work all the time and I would have to leave him home by himself all day.\u201d Or \u201cI would love to, but I travel too much so I can\u2019t have a dog.\u201d And I want to shout from the rooftops, \u201cOF COURSE you can have a dog! Because there\u2019s Dogtopia!!\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, I have to admit something: before Xeus and Xiana, I thought dog daycare was flat-out THE dumbest thing I\u2019d ever heard of.<\/p>\n

But then, almost by accident, we discovered Dogtopia, and I instantly became a believer. This fantastic dog daycare, specifically its Alexandria, Virginia location, became Xeus and Xiana\u2019s second home. Open-play daycare supervised by certified coaches, boarding, spa, training\u2014it was fabulous socialization, education, and fun for our dogs, who came home tired and calm and with all that crazy energy out of their systems. No more chewed doorjambs and half-eaten sofas at our house! Michel and I were able to work, play, and travel extensively because we knew that even when we weren\u2019t there, our babies were in remarkably loving and capable hands. Dogtopia, its brilliant business model, and its wonderful, caring staff took away all the worry and complication of having dogs. They simply made having dogs easier.<\/p>\n

Then we moved to Seattle. Though there are Dogtopias all over the country, there wasn\u2019t one anywhere in the Pacific Northwest, and we couldn\u2019t find a daycare that was the calibre to which we had become blissfully accustomed. So Michel and I decided to fix that, with our own Dogtopia!<\/p>\n

I am so, so excited to have brought this remarkable service to this city and to this state.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I get to take my beautiful babies to work with me every day, and I get to take care of other people\u2019s babies, too.\u00a0I get to help make it easier for someone to have a dog.<\/em>\u00a0My heart is absolutely teeming with joy at this opportunity to serve, because it means that I get to help bring the world that much closer to emptying out those shelters and getting all those babies into their forever homes.<\/p>\n

Now we encourage everyone\u2013no matter what you do or when you\u2019re home or what your life looks like\u2013to go out and get a dog! Or two or three! Just go to a shelter or look up a rescue and find that bundle of fluff that needs to be a part of your family. Bring this beautiful furry joy into your life. And don\u2019t worry about how to make it work.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why you have us: to make it easier to have a dog.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Love to all,
\nAllison<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Message from Michel and Allison We started Dogtopia of Redmond with one thing in mind: making it easier to have a dog.\u00a0Probably like how you feel about your dog, our twin Saint Bernese babies are our family. We\u2013Michel Rau and Allison Christian Rau\u2013started Dogtopia of Redmond for the two of them. Here\u2019s how it … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":418,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-team.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-703","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nMeet The Owners - Bellevue<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dogtopia.com\/washington-bellevue\/meet-the-owners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet The Owners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Message from Michel and Allison We started Dogtopia of Redmond with one thing in mind: making it easier to have a dog.\u00a0Probably like how you feel about your dog, our twin Saint Bernese babies are our family. 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