Puppy Pickup: These Adorable Doggy School Buses Are Revolutionizing Pet Daycare

As any dog owner knows, working full-time when you have a pet presents a unique set of challenges, especially if you don't have a doggy door and a fenced-in backyard. So, it makes perfect sense that the pet daycare market was estimated to be worth $1.73 billion in 2024, with that number expected to grow considerably over the next several years. And some people are getting creative when it comes to this booming business, taking defunct school buses and turning them into adorable doggy daycare transportation.

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The Ruff and Puff school bus started in Calgary, Canada.

Calgary, Canada-based dog trainer Denzel Morrison had long helped out with his parents' dog rescue business, which not only sparked his love of animals but gave him some creative ideas.

"I saw a video of a guy driving a yellow van full of dogs and it looked kind of like a school bus. He said it was 'the best job in the world,' and I was like, 'holy, wow, that does actually look like a great job,'" he told CTV News in 2023.

So, he bought an old school bus and retrofitted it with sliding gates between the seats and safety attachments for the dogs' harnesses.

The Ruff and Puff bus picks its doggy clients up from their homes, straps them in their seats on the bus, and brings them to a dog park where they can run around, play, and socialize. They even get to wear birthday hats on their special day and dress up for Halloween!

"It is a dream job. You really can’t get much better than hanging out with dogs all day," Morrison shared with Global News.

K9 Konvoy is another doggy bus in Wisconsin.

In the small town of Oconto, Wisconsin, Hope Mehlberg runs a similar doggy school bus.

According to USA Today, her story begins with her simply taking her own two dogs out for walks after work and finding it to be a significant stress reliever. She then added her in-laws' two dogs to the group, as well as a local dog who was recovering from an injury. Before long, she added more dogs but found she couldn't transport them to the park in her car.

Mehlberg first purchased a Ford utility van and removed all the seats. But in May 2023, as her client list exploded, she quit her full-time job, bought the school bus, and started K9 Konvoy.

She now picks up between 22 and 26 dogs from their homes each day and takes them to a park, which just so happens to be owned by her family. Therefore, she was able to fence in the three-acre space and outfit it with toys, play areas, and trails. After the dogs get tired out, they enjoy snack time, get cleaned up, and are dropped back off at home.

"I get to spend the day with dogs," Mehlberg told USA Today. "I can't complain about that. Some days are a little faster than others, but overall, it is most the best job I've ever had, and I think I will ever have."