A loan helped my woman-owned NYC-based dog daycare/boarding business rehire employees laid off due to COVID19.


Tania's story

My name is Tania. I have lived in NYC since 1991 and on the UWS since 1999. I am a lawyer by training – worked at a large firm (Stroock & Stroock & Lavan) out of law school and worked at Goldman Sachs from 1994-2011.
In 2012, I left Goldman Sachs to follow my passion, purchasing a failing dog daycare, boarding and grooming facility on the Upper West Side named Camp Canine. When I took over the business, it had about $600,000 in total annual revenues and 6 employees. In the past 8 years, the revenues have multiplied nearly 400%, and we employed about 40 people when COVID19 hit. In addition to business success, Camp Canine has also helped rescue homeless dogs and has assisted in the fostering and placement of over 200 dogs.
When the COVID19 crisis became apparent, we tried to stay open, both for ourselves as well as for the first-responders & essential workers who are our clients. We received mixed guidance from the state about whether we were essential ourselves. The determination that we would qualify as an “essential business” was ultimately made, but by then we had already decided to close, believing that no matter the designation, it was the morally right thing to do in the face of the pandemic.
I kept as many of my employees on as long as I could, and when I eventually had to lay them all off, I paid them some additional money out of my own pocket to help them get by and to bridge the gap until they began receiving their unemployment benefits. These are people barely making it paycheck to paycheck even when employed. As a business owner and employer, I take the responsibility of supporting my employees – and by extension, their families – very seriously; having this ability taken from me is agonizing. As an aside, my manager has been actively helping them to file for employment with limited success due to crashing systems and lack of access to speak to people.
I have started to slowly reopen my business and am looking forward to being able to bring back more of my amazing staff.


This loan is special because:

It supports a business through the COVID-19 crisis.



Loan details


About Camp Canine NY LLC

Industry: Services
Years in operation: More than 5 years
Website: nycampcanine.com

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Loan details