About Us — The Mariani Family

01 — Jennifer Mariani

The reason there's a property at all.

I'm the owner. The land, the operations, the boarding side — that's me.

I've been around dogs my whole adult life. We had four rescues at our old place before we decided we wanted somewhere with real space — somewhere a dog could run flat-out and never hit a fence. We found this stretch outside Elon and never looked back.

My job, day-to-day, is making sure every dog who stays here gets treated the way I'd want our dogs treated. That means real time outside, real attention, and real communication with their families. If you've used Rover before, you've probably met me there too. The website is just the next step.

Owner & Operations Lead Boarding Host

02 — Codie

Army veteran. Certified trainer. Specialist in the hard cases.

Codie runs Direct Connect Dog Training — the training side of what we do.

He got into this work after the Army, partly because the VA was running out of things to try for his PTSD, and partly because an older veteran told him to go volunteer at the SPCA. He did, and it changed everything.

He's now CCPDT-certified, with experience on the toughest cases the SPCA of the Triad could send his way. He specializes in dog-to-dog introductions, aggression, and the kind of in-home behavioral work most trainers won't touch.

See Training Services →

Army Veteran CCPDT-Certified CATCH Academy Graduate

03 — Jenna Mariani

Photographer. Builder of the website you're reading.

Jenna runs the photography arm and built this site from the ground up.

She started photographing the rescues we brought home, and somehow ended up photographing everybody else's dogs and families too. Holiday portraits in November and December. Lifestyle sessions on the property. Whatever you can throw at her.

If you've gotten daily photo updates from a boarding stay, those are probably Jenna's.

See Photography →

Photography Web & Brand

We're all so different, with the same passion: helping the dogs nobody else figured out how to help.