Meg Long-Sappington
Owner
Meg is an avid dog lover who is particularly fond of homeless, scruffy mutts. She first embraced the benefits of Dog Daycare while living in Atlanta with her first dog, a somewhat challenging mutt named Bruno. Seeing the results of a dog surrounded by positive experiences whenever at Daycare opened her eyes to a new way of owning dogs. Upon moving to Northern Virginia, She couldn’t quite find just the right facility she and Bruno had become accustomed to. Thus the idea for The Board Hound emerged to bring Boarding and Daycare to another level. Meg has her PetSaver PetTech CPR, First Aid & Care certification. She received her Bachelor of Science in Information Management from the Dolan School of Business at Fairfield University.
Jessica Ward
Senior Director & Canine Behavior Specialist
Jess began with The Board Hound in 2012 and set a goal to improve the quality of the animal care industry with a focus on humane methodology and implementing science-based dog care practices. With a long-time interest in animal behavior, Jess attended Franklin Pierce University (Rindge, NH) and earned a double bachelors in Psychology and Marketing in 2009. She then earned a Master of Arts in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (Washington, DC) in 2018. Jess is currently continuing her study of animal behavior at George Mason University in Cognitive & Behavioral Neuroscience. She has a strong interest in researching the effects of trauma on decision-making, and how human-animal relationships can aide in recovery from trauma conditions. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family, traveling, and experiencing different cultures. Jess lives in Arlington with her partner and their pets of various species – currently they live with Kono the greyhound mix, Fizzy the cattle dog mix, Alfredo the rescue ball python, Diablo the rescue king snake, and lots of house plants.
At The Board Hound, our daycare was established to enrich the lives of the dogs in our community through healthy outlets for play and socialization. Our smaller play groups come with individual care and attention, while providing a low-stress, safe, daycare environment at our location in Alexandria, Virginia. Since safety is our first priority, we start with providing a high staff to dog ratio of about 1 to 10. This personalization ensures that your dog is always closely monitored.