Our Story — How K9 Clubhouse started
How K9 Clubhouse started
It started with a chocolate Labrador called Jacko.
Sam was living in Auckland with his cat Luna when Jacko came to join them — a small chocolate Lab with a big personality and a bigger need for company. Sam's work meant flying down to Wellington once a month, two nights at a time, and like a lot of dog owners juggling travel and daycare, he found the maths just didn't work. Daycares opened too late. Kennels felt like a last resort. Jacko deserved better — and so did every other dog whose person had to be somewhere else for the day.
Sam grew up in Wellington but had moved north to the big smoke of Auckland in 2006. When family eventually brought him south again — closer to his mother — he chose Kāpiti. Close enough to commute into Wellington, far enough to feel like home. And that's when the local daycare gap really came into focus. Commuter trains rolled out before most daycares opened their doors. People sprinted back from the office to make a 5:30pm pickup, or sat watching State Highway 1 refuse to budge. The dogs were either rushed, kennelled, or left at home for ten or eleven hours alone.
Sam had the idea. The vision sat with him for months. Then one day he saw 8 Manchester Street, Paraparaumu — a former mechanic's workshop that had been sitting empty: a tall steel shell with an existing office and reception area at the front, and a generous backyard for outdoor play. Right off State Highway 1, perfect for the commute. He made the inquiry, then made the move. K9 Clubhouse opened on 6 January 2026, with Sam's brother Peter — an accountant by trade — joining in to keep the family-run side of the business running.
What we built
K9 Clubhouse runs from 6:30am to 6:30pm, Monday to Friday — built around the Wellington commute, so no dog ever sits at home waiting on a train that's already left or traffic that won't budge. The facility has seven separate play areas, grouped by play style as well as size. Pocket rockets that want to run with the big dogs can. Gentle giants who prefer a quieter pace get one. The morning sniff sets the day's groupings — and the team adjusts them in real time as the day unfolds. The backyard handles outdoor play and toilet breaks, and the original front-of-house office and reception area handles drop-offs and pickups without disrupting the day's play.
We follow SPCA New Zealand's best-practice ratios — one two-legged pack member for up to every fifteen four-legged friends. Every dog goes through a complimentary assessment visit before joining the pack, and every dog needs to be up to date on Bordetella and DHLPP vaccinations. Leptospirosis is strongly recommended too. No exceptions on the requirements; we'd rather one dog miss out than risk the whole pack.
Our team
K9 Clubhouse runs with a dedicated team of full-time and casual two-legged pack members who genuinely love their job. They're the ones running the morning sniff, refereeing the zoomies, calling the nap breaks, and writing the daily report cards. Several of the team hold the New Zealand Certificate in Animal Care (Level 3), more are working towards it, and one of the team is a qualified vet nurse.
Sam still leads the pack day-to-day. Jacko's a couple-times-a-week regular himself; Luna stays home and enjoys the full freedom of the house.
Where we are now
K9 Clubhouse opened in January 2026 and the early Google reviews are telling a consistent story: extended hours that fit the commute, a team that cares, and dogs who go home tired and happy. We're Kāpiti's first commuter-friendly dog daycare — built specifically for people who can't choose between their job and their dog.