Between the doggie splash pad at their Hershey Road location and the nature trail at their flagship location on Milton Grove Road, to name a few, the Elizabethtown-based Playful Pups Retreat lives up to its name, with amenities to rival any getaway for humans. 

Their focus on activities and socialization (with both dogs and people) has set Playful Pups apart from the very beginning. For example, unlike other boarding and daycare facilities, Playful Pups doesn’t have any indoor-outdoor runs. 

“We wanted our people to spend time with the dogs,” owner Laurie Yost said. “We don’t stick our dogs in cages. They need activities. We’re really big on activities.” 

She opened Playful Pups in 2010, because, simply, “Dog stuff is my life.” 

In addition to the clients she sees every day, she has her own pack of seven at home, and also founded the 501c3 nonprofit “Pitties Love Peace,” devoted to finding loving homes for pit bulls and pit bull mixes, in 2011. (Laurie’s newest dog, Zebe, was a PLP puppy.) 

Today, Playful Pups has two locations and four main service offerings: day and long-term boarding, daycare, training and grooming. It started with the Milton Grove campus (where the dogs take nature walks on the aforementioned nature trail). In 2019, their Hershey Road location, which has doggy daycare, obedience and specialty training, and grooming services, opened at the former site of Now Wear This Consignment, which Laurie also owned. 

The COVID-19 pandemic, which happened right on the heels of that second location opening,   affected Playful Pups in its own ways. It led to a reduction in their onsite retail offerings at both locations, since, in Laurie’s words, “everybody orders in their pajamas at midnight now.” But, possibly the biggest change has been in their clientele.

“The post-COVID dog is very different from the pre-COVID dog,” Laurie said - often less socialized, since many of these dogs were adopted during lockdown, and more anxious. To help the owners of these post-COVID dogs, some of whom are first-time dog owners, they added a new program called “Pawsitive Experiences” to help undersocialized, shy and anxious dogs. Additionally, research has found that enrichment activities like what Playful Pups has can reduce stress in dogs, so they were already well-suited to meeting the needs of this new generation of dogs and owners with their current offerings.

“Most dogs are going to fit into the environment really nicely,” she said. 

2025 marked 15 years in business for Playful Pups. While plans to add a third location have been put on hold due to staffing, Laurie says that’s still something she hopes to do in the near future. Their current focus is on expanding into full-service grooming, since many of the independent pet groomers in the area are retiring. Another goal they’re working towards is expanding their training program and offering private training in homes. 

“You have to be prepared for it to change and evolve - we have to change and evolve with it,” she said. 

Visit https://www.playfulpupsretreat.com/ to learn more or schedule boarding, daycare, grooming or training sessions.