Sammy, Diesel, Neil, George, Brenda and Cody

Photo Compliments Of Lil Pals Pet Photography

Brenda & Neil Tanenbaum - Owners
Brenda and Neil both come from a sales and marketing background, with the better part of their professional careers consisting of customer care and making certain those customers are happy at the end of the day. On a returning flight from Florida, the idea for Fido’s Funhouse was born. Guided by their love for dogs, years of customer service and a shared dream, Brenda and Neil decided to turn it into a reality. With a pack of four dogs of their own, the pair recall the feeling of dread that came with taking their pooches to a kennel-type environment whenever they left town. Even leaving their dogs home alone while at work was worrisome, for they were never quite certain what trouble their paws would get themselves into. Their dream was to make Fido’s Funhouse a great place – full of fun for the dogs – and a place where owners would feel comfortable leaving their dogs. A place that was bright, safe, welcoming and so clean and odor free that nobody would ever know it was a dog-filled playground. In 2006, Brenda and Neil began the research phase of the project and Brenda attended a training seminar at the Dancin’ Woofs Training Center in Bend, OR, under instructor Mare Shey, a renowned Dog Trainer and Speaker on running a Safe Day Care Facility. After a year and half of research, planning and building, Fido’s Funhouse finally arrived, meeting every expectation that anyone had ever imagined it would be.
Neil can be found at the Funhouse during his free time assisting with operations. Brenda works full-time at Fido’s Funhouse, while Neil personally spends most the nights on-site with the dogs. Both owner-operators are hands-on in all aspects of the business and continuously educates themselves on dog behavior and facility safety.

Janice - Operations & Grooming Manager
Janice has worked with dogs all of her life. Starting in high school, she worked at a local veterinary clinic which then led her to becoming a Veterinary Technician for the next 12 years. She then moved to Arizona and worked as a horse groomer for different thoroughbred trainers. Eventually her love of dogs soon led her into the dog grooming field. Janice started bathing dogs for private groomers and then found a job bathing dogs at Petco. She went into their groomer training program as she moved her way up to manager. During the fall of 2007, Janice joined Fido’s Funhouse to become their groomer and general manager. Janice is also a member of the APPGA so she can continue to learn and fine tune her pet styling techniques.

Thamzen - Day Camp Manager
Thamzen joined Fido’s in July as a dog handler. She recently received her Bachelor's degree in Mathematical & Natural Science from ASU and is now applying for Graduate schools for Applied Animal Behavior. Her intent is to specialize in dog behavior. In additional to school and Fido’s, she is also an Obedience Trainer at Petsmart on the weekends. She has a full house at home of four-legged family members; kitties named Si and Am (Lady & the Tramp folks for those who were thinking "what on earth?!") and her two pups Peanut Butter and Ten. Could she have more unique names? The dogs love her here at the Funhouse and look forward to spending their days receiving lots of belly rubs and hugs from Miss Thamzen.

Stephany - Camp Coach
Stephany is our most recent camp coach to join the Fido’s team. Stephany came to Fido’s with multiple years of experience in the pet care industry. Her extensive understanding of canine care has proven a valuable asset at the Funhouse. Her experiences have included overseeing dog day care groups, making certain that overnight boarding tasks are being accomplished, as well as taking excellent care of customers. Stephany is currently enrolled at ASU with a major in Psychology. Her minor is... get ready for this... Socio-cultural anthropology. Stephany has one little pooch at home by the name of Munchkin. He was luckily rescued by Stephany and has found his forever loving home.

Cherisse - Camp Coach
Cherisse is one of the two newest members to join the Fido’s Team. Although she is new to Fido’s, she seems to have been handling dogs her entire life. In fact, her animal experience doesn’t end with dogs.   Cherisse’s experience with animals has included, but not limited to: dogs, turkeys, geese, goats, sheep, ferrets, snakes, turtles, rabbits and even tarantulas (yuk!). Her professional experience handling dogs came from over two years of employment at Sun Valley Animal Shelter where she was specifically in charge of taking care of the dogs. In addition to her full-time employment at Fido’s, she is also a full-time college student majoring in Wildlife Biology. Cherisse is magnificent at the handling of and caring for the Funhouse pups and we feel very fortunate to have her as a part of our family.  

.

Charley - Camp Coach
Charley, Charley Charley! What to say about this guy except that he has more love for Funhouse Campers than can possible be measured. Born and raised here in Phoenix, he has grown up raising everything from pups to goats to horses. He continuously educates himself on dog behavior and has become quite a favorite with the Funhouse Campers. You can even catch him on occasion singing to the dogs.