Pack leader for some is a role shy away from. That is not the case for Jean Stelten-Beuning who is in her 21st year as the “lead dog” of Top Dog Country Club, a first-of-its-kind vacation club she created that forever changed the way we care for dogs when people travel. Located just 20 minutes West of Lake Minnetonka in New Germany, Top Dog has been featured worldwide as a model for pet lodging. Animal Planet, The New York Times, and NBC are among the many news outlets that have picked up on Top Dog’s scent over the years.
A former vice president and 14-year veteran with Marriott Hotels, Jean is no stranger to hospitality. She describes her years managing hotels as a perfect training ground and shared the valuable lesson she learned from one of the best: Mr. Bill Marriott. He always said “success is never final” and that has stuck with Jean. “I challenge myself and my team to celebrate what we do well but to never get comfortable, and to continually strive to do better every day... to earn our reputation as the best at what we do”.
Walking into the lobby, you instantly realize the passion for dogs and the vision of what she has created; the walls filled with photographs of furry family members having the time of their lives sets the tone. “Spending your day with dogs, and giving people the peace of mind to know that their dogs are safe, happy, and having the vacation of their lives... that is 'the greatest job in the world'."
When hiring team members, “I focus on a candidate’s character . . . things like honesty, integrity, and loyalty... the things you cannot teach. They either have them, or they don’t,” she contends. “Skills and abilities... those can be learned and we do that on the job. I want passionate people who love dogs and want to do this work.”
Caregivers keep Top Dog’s guests on a tight schedule that prioritizes what dogs need most: lots of physical exercise, fresh air, mental stimulation, and socialization. Jean’s team accepts dogs of all social skill levels and works to teach good pack behavior. After 5 to 6 hours of outdoor play, it’s “Yappy Hour,” with fresh-baked biscuits, naps on custom forged wrought iron bed frames with upholstered mattresses, soft music, private training, grooming, and spa services.
"At night I can have a full headcount and you can hear a pin drop in this building," she adds. The dogs have had their fill of exercise and fun and they sleep well so they can do it all again tomorrow. She knows this as she has often returned in the middle of the night, a short 100-yard walk from her home, to the sound of silence.
Not much has changed in Top Dog’s operations in the last 21 years. Jean spent a decade developing the concept realizing there had to be a better option for dogs when their families travel. In that time she has learned pretty much all there is to know about dogs’ behavior, but in that small margin of the unknown lays a vast and primordial mystery about the creatures humans have called companions for more than 30,000 years.
“Dogs surprise me every day,” Jean muses. “I’ll get that uncertain look and wonder, what’s going on in that little head?” What is certain, though, is the insight dogs have given her. “Dogs have taught me so much: loyalty, resilience, living in the moment. Absolute unconditional love. I think you’re hard-pressed in this world to find that truly unconditional love from something other than a dog, and I think people so long for that,” she remarks.
Jean has loved dogs for as long as she can remember, and she has rescued hundreds over the years. Her first rescue, at age 8, was a mutt she found in an abandoned car in a farmer’s field; a beagle mix she named Barney. She came home and announced to her mother that he was the newest addition to their family. There was no discussion her mother recalls. As a child, Jean nursed injured birds back to health and even once held a funeral for a spider she accidentally stepped on.
Now, Jean is spreading her love for dogs to others through Top Dog Foundation, a nonprofit offshoot of her main operation that seeks to rescue both elderly pups and elderly humans alike.
Among the foundation’s missions is to ensure that senior people can continue to enjoy the companionship of dogs as they age without fear of what happens should their dogs outlive them: That includes the fear of a forced separation should they need to enter assisted living. 80-year-old Don and his 10- year-old lab Hoover inspired a program called “Hoover’s Taxi Network” allowing for seniors forced to separate from their beloved best friends to stay in touch. It is a collaboration between the adoptive family, the care facility and team, and a network of volunteers.
Stories like Don and Hoover’s have planted within the Top Dog owner a dream of constructing a Top Dog Foundation sanctuary within senior living campuses in every major market in the country. “My dream is that no senior person is ever forced to permanently say goodbye to their beloved dog and that they can continue to share their lives with dogs for as long as they want without the fear of what will happen to them.” At the moment, the dream is still a dream, but Jean is in talks with developers and senior living organizations. “It’s a huge vision,” she admits. “I always think big.”
For now, she is preparing for a celebration at the end of September commemorating Top Dog’s 21 years, to benefit Top Dog Foundation and her vision.
When asked what is one thing she could not live without... “I could not live without dogs”, she smiles.