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It has been a while since I have gotten to sit down and write, and a rainy Saturday morning got me in the mood. The last few weeks have been busy, busy. Danny has been recovering from his knee replacement surgery, and we have had some good quality time together. He is doing well and ahead of schedule according to his therapist but of course not fast enough for him. You know he has work to do! While we have had this down time together, with quiet mornings, talking, discussing, laughing and me making sure he has his medicine on time with the ice machine always ready lol I’ve felt a gentle nudge in my heart telling me it’s time to slow down. Not stop. Not disappear. Just pause…from social media.
Social media can be a beautiful place. It’s where we share milestones, memories, silly moments, and of course all the dogs who make our days brighter. It’s where friendships are formed, businesses grow, and stories are told, and I am truly grateful for all of that. But sometimes, even good things you need a break from, and I am learning that it is important to listen to what’s quiet. For me, that quiet looks like early mornings with my coffee in my hand, my dogs and my devotionals, then out to the kennel to care for our guests who are always so glad to see me and always ready for a belly rub and their breakfast. When their tails are wagging, I know it’s going to be a good day! We all know that Dogs don’t care about algorithms. They don’t care how many likes you have and they don’t rush the moments. However, they do remind us to be present! Running a dog boarding business for almost 9 years has taught me that presence is everything. And the dogs aren’t worried if I post their picture, they just want me to throw that ball or hand over that treat! They don’t care if I have a phone in my hand, they want my attention, my patience, my heart. So, I’m choosing to step back for a bit on posting to our socials. I am ready to live more than I post. This break isn’t about burnout or negativity—it’s about choosing what fills my cup instead of what drains it. About honoring the season I’m in and giving myself permission to rest without explanation. And I am pretty sure I am not alone in this season. When you have your own business, social media is a second job. I’ll still be here. Still loving what I do. I’m still caring deeply and loving my job and all the dogs that stay with us! Just a little quieter for now—walking slower, breathing deeper, following those paw prints instead of a feed. Thank you for being here, for supporting, and for understanding that sometimes the best stories are the ones lived offline… with dogs by our side and hearts fully present. 2026 is in full swing and dates are getting booked so if you need us call/text us (931)607-3118 or email us at [email protected] and you can still message through our Country Bark business page. Hope your year is off to a great start and hope to see you in the country soon! Love, Charlotte (And don’t worry I can still keep you updated with pictures through texts!)
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It was 9 years ago this month that I started looking for a different direction in my career
path and God planted the seed of beginning this journey as a small business owner to create a safe, nurturing, and happy space for dogs to stay while their families are away, and we are always truly humbled by the support and trust you all have shown us. We are thankful for our clients- the dog owners who trust us with their beloved companions. Each reservation, referral, and kind word helps our small business continue to thrive. We are especially grateful for the repeat customers who have become friends and family to us. Thank you for choosing us to care for your pups and for recommending our kennel to your friends. Most of all, we are thankful for the dogs who fill our days with joy, laughter, and unconditional love. Danny and I find ourselves often talking about them and wondering how they are or what they are doing. Often, I find myself checking our Facebook memories and seeing so many dogs that stayed with us, and they have passed on to the rainbow bridge, and I can only hope they are all there to greet me when it’s my time won’t that be fun! Each pup that stays with us brings their own personality and spirit, turning our kennel into a place of happiness and adventure. From energetic playtimes to quiet cuddles, every moment shared with your dogs is special to us, and let’s not forget how they all love Mr. Danny! I could not do this without him by my side each day. November is a time to be thankful and even though we have taken this week off to rest and clean the kennel before the holidays, it gives me the opportunity to sit down and reflect on our journey, and we are thankful for our past and excited for the future. We look forward to welcoming old and new guests as we continue to provide a safe, and loving environment for all our guests. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for always supporting our small business. Hope this month brings you loads of fun, family, and lots to be thankful for! Hope to see you in the country soon! Give your dog a hug from me! Love, Charlotte and Danny Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Matthew 6:27
Hey there! It has been a while since I have written anything, and I have missed it! My morning devotionals got me all in the mood 😊 and yesterday’s storms! Pretty sure I am ready for the severe weather and all the rain to be done, and over with! How about y’all? I mean don’t get me wrong my flowers and garden are loving all the rain, but having to mow every few days is getting kind of tiresome! Lol Oh I know we will welcome the rain come July and August, and I know we can’t do anything about the weather but…. when these severe, tornadic storms appear and your phone keeps blaring TORNADO WARNING the worry and anxiety kicks in, especially when you have 20+ dogs in your kennel! That my friends are when the praying starts. We have all seen the devastation that these storms can cause, either on the news or firsthand. I am very thankful that we have never had to experience it. But that doesn’t keep us from worrying, does it? I am thankful for the ones that text yesterday asking if we were ok, it means a lot. Danny and I always make sure the dogs are as safe as can be during storms and to be honest yesterday most of them were calm like cucumbers! We do have a storm shelter but I’m not sure how I can get 20+ dogs in it! Danny and I have lived here for 23 years, and we have had some severe weather, but luckily no tornados, and one reason we think is because we are surrounded by these beautiful mountains! I can only hope that they will continue to protect us for years to come! So, if your dog is boarding with us, and severe weather happens, just know we will do our best to make sure all are calm and safe and have faith that all will be well! We hope everyone is safe from the storms and that you can get out and enjoy this beautiful day! ( I am probably going to be mowing!) Hope to see you in the country soon! Love, Charlotte
Good morning! It is a slow rainy Saturday in the country. Luckily, we were able to get out, and about before the rain started here, which I am very thankful for. We have all had our breakfast and our guests are now taking a relaxing nap! And hopefully the rain will taper off soon, and we can get out and play! 😊
As much as I love sunny days, it is days like this that can help me catch my breath, sit and have a cup of coffee, get caught up on some housekeeping, paperwork, and cooking breakfast for Danny. He is the one that usually fixes me breakfast, and a lot of times supper too because I am always busy in the kennel. I don’t know what I would do without him, and I hope he knows how grateful I am and how much I love him! This month begins our 8th year of operation! I know I can’t believe it either! We are always so thankful for the support you all have shown our small business and trusting us with your dogs! It truly is a privilege to love them and care for them while they are here. I have lost count of how many guests have stayed with us, but I know I have taken thousands upon thousands of pictures and posted them on our social media pretty much every day for the last 7 years, and I know how everyone loves pictures me included and I will keep taking those pictures, but I have decided I am going to just be cutting back on posting pics every day. (Anyone that has a small business knows exactly what I am talking about.) Now, just because I don’t post everyday doesn’t mean we aren’t having fun! I am always glad to text/message your pictures. I am just trying to take a little social media break and put the phone down a little more, and I hope you all will understand. I heard it is good for the soul!! Thanks for reading, and hope y’all have a great weekend! We hope to see you in the country soon! Love, Charlotte P.S. We only have a few spots left for Fall Break. Let me know if you need one! Happy Labor Day, friends!
When you google the meaning of Labor Day this is what it says, “A national holiday created to honor the nation’s workers and their contributions to the wellbeing of the country.” Ok perfect, but some people might say that Labor Day to them means the end of summer, the start of football season, (Go Vols), Dove season, the start of everything pumpkin and Fall, or a three-day weekend! Woohoo! I had someone recently ask me how I liked being retired? I said what? I am far from retired; I work harder now than I ever have. Sure, I work from home, I don’t have to clock in or go to meetings, I don’t have to get in the car and some weeks I don’t even leave the house (Danny loves going to the grocery store for us), plus I am far from retirement age! Lol Now if you asked Danny how he likes retirement he would say, “I am not sure how I got everything done around here after working 8 hours a day.” Always thankful for all he does each day for our small business. I am sure if you asked any of us that own a dog boarding kennel it’s not for the faint at heart. We are up early every single day to care for our guests, and yes even on Labor Day. So, you see to me Labor Day is another day of work, we don’t get the 3-day weekends, but really if you think about it if you love what you do is it really work anyway? We thank you all for a wonderful summer, and we are looking forward to our busy Fall! We have several already booked for 2024 so message us with your dates so we can get you in the books! Enjoy your Labor Day and we hope to see you in the country soon! Love, Charlotte PS. Reminder we will be closed Sept. 18 -28, there is this dog that boarded with us a few times, you might remember him, he kind of stole my heart and I am going to go pay him a visit. 😊 Yep, it’s Chewy! November 1, the first day of the month, the month of Thanksgiving, and one of my favorite holidays. As I sat down this morning for my daily devotional, I thought ok this is a new month and for the next 30 days I am going to write down all that I am thankful for. Not that I am not thankful the rest of the months, but just something about November that gets you thinking more about what you are thankful for, plus y’all know I love to write, and journaling has become an everyday habit for me.
As I get older and the years keep on passing by faster and faster, and the things that I was thankful for say 10 years ago are so different than what I am thankful for today, and more than likely 10 years from now I will be thankful for different things. Let’s face it, life changes, and you change with it, and I have realized that’s ok. One of the things that I will always be thankful for is sitting in Franklin FUMC with my mom in November 2016 and hearing the sermon and realizing it was time to do something different with my life and so this journey I am on began, with dogs! Don’t get me wrong there are days I want to say, God, what am I doing?? Why did you let me do this? But I am so tired, God! Then BAM, he lets me know that he will never give me any more than I can handle, and I realize I am so THANKFUL that he is by my side every day!! I am also very thankful for all the friendships I have made since opening our kennel. You will never know how much I appreciate you and you trusting us for your boarding needs with your fur baby! And of course, you all know I am forever thankful for your dogs! There is no love like dog love, and I am so thankful for that love every day!! Thanks for reading my post, and I hope you all have a wonderful month and Thanksgiving, and we hope to see you in the country soon!! Love, Charlotte July 17, 2022
Be kind, work hard, stay humble, smile often, stay loyal, be honest, travel when possible, never stop learning, love always. – unknown Time needs to slow down just a little bit don’t you think?? 2022 is half over and Summer is on the downhill, and I am not ready! Some schools will be starting back soon, that’s so crazy! What was wrong with starting after Labor Day and ending at Memorial Day? That’s how my generation went to school, and it worked out just fine! As I look back on the first half of 2022, I realized how blessed we are. By the end of next week Danny and I will have had over 425 guests stay with us since January and don’t forget Chewy! WOW! How incredible! Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think we would stay this busy, but thanks to you all we have. We are forever grateful that you chose us for your boarding needs. We are not a large kennel by any means, and I am very glad about that. Sure, we could add on and add more kennels, and keep more dogs, but I know that I would not enjoy that. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job and I love every dog that comes through the door to stay with us, but I didn’t start this business to see how many dogs I could keep. I wanted to do this so I can care for the dogs properly and have fun with the dogs and love on the dogs like they need when they are away from you and their normal routine. Being a small business owner is a lot of work 24/7. Danny and I are always working whether cleaning the kennel, repairing something in the kennel, or scheduling guests, it’s all day every day, and I think we make a great team, and I couldn’t do all that we do without him helping me every day. And we are looking forward to a little r and r ourselves in the next couple of weeks, and I am excited! I love everything that the quote at the top of the page says, and when you get to that travel when possible part, and you take that trip, be sure and bring your dog to stay with us! We would love to have them! Thanks for reading my post, give your dog a hug from me, and we hope to see you in the country soon! Love, Charlotte P.S. Fall is filling up fast and we even have some reservations for 2023 so its never to early to get on the books! It is May, time sure flies when you are having fun!! Pretty soon we will be in the dog days of summer!! Speaking of summer, we are getting ready to begin our 6th year of operation, and it seems like yesterday when we first started with only 9 kennels never dreaming, we would stay as busy as we did, then adding 9 more kennels and staying even busier! We have made so many friends and loved on so many dogs it has just been the best and we look forward to meeting all our new guests that will be staying with us this summer and adding their picture to our famous wall of dogs!
We just got back from a little vacation at the beach, and we had a wonderful time! Good food, perfect weather, and lots of laughs!!! It was just what we needed!! As much as I love my job, I have finally realized that every now and then we need to take a break! The first few years I never really took off and with this job being a 7 day a week 24/7 job, we don’t get weekends off, or holidays, I would get tired, dog tired lol so as much as I hated to, I had to eventually just block off dates so we could have a break every now and then. I also unplugged and took a little social media break while we were gone as well and let me tell you it was nice and when I logged back on it was like a soap opera and you could catch up with out really missing anything!! 😊 (But don’t worry I love posting all our guest’s pictures!) We still have a few days off, and we will be cleaning and getting the kennel ready for all our summer guests. We appreciate you all more than you know, and if I could give you any advice just remember it is ok to take that break you will be glad you did! Hope to see you all in the country soon! Love, Charlotte P.S. You can always check out our website for information www.countrybarkboarding.com Drop off and pick up times. Monday-Saturday 8-9 A.M. and/or 4-5 P.M. Sunday – 4-5 P.M. December 11, 2021
I saw a post last night that said, “Nothing says December in Tennessee like turning on your AC in December and staying up for a Tornado watch.” Yep, every bit of that is true, I turned the AC on and Danielle Breezy is probably tired from talking to me through my phone all night. Shew, it was a long night! Pretty sure Danny got more sleep than me. I just don’t understand why these storms must come at night. I mean they are bad enough during the day. Kudos to the weather forecasters for keeping us informed and letting us know what’s going on. And prayers for all the ones that have been affected by these storms. When we have weather like this we always try to be prepared. I am thankful for the cameras in the kennel so I can check on the dogs through the night and make sure they are ok; we make sure the TV is playing loud and the lights are on and so far, we have had no complaints. I know a lot of dogs get stressed from storms and I just want to make sure they are as comfortable as can be if we are able. We have a guest that is staying with us right now, who is a gentle giant, and I have been thinking about him a lot as you see he is a retired Army Dog. I don’t know his whole story just what his owner told me on the registration paper that he was in Afghanistan, and he lost his handler, but he has been fortunate enough to have been adopted by an Army Vet and given a wonderful life after his service. I am sure he had many sleepless nights too, while he was on duty, doing his job, not knowing what to expect, what he was going into next, but he made it and just being around him for a few days I know he was great at whatever he was asked to do. Yes, this gives me chills just thinking about it, and I am thankful for his service. So, some of us may have lost some sleep last night because we don’t know what Mother Nature is going to throw at us, all we can do is pray, be prepared, have a safe place if possible, and know that God will be with us in whatever comes our way. As my mom always said, “What’s a problem today, won’t be tomorrow it will be something else.” I just hope I can get a quick nap before then! 😊 Hope you all have a great day!! Charlotte |
