Caught on Higher Ground

Sanctuary in Motion

The Perch is a mobile dog sanctuary that parks right at your venue — the ski hill, the golf course, the festival grounds — so your dog stays safe, secure, and genuinely cared for while you enjoy your day. Your day out, their day in.

Book a Stay Support the Build
  • Day stays only — never overnight
  • Live webcams & GPS tracking
  • Ottawa-based, fully mobile
Three crowned dogs sitting proudly on a wooden perch above a mountain valley at sunset — where every dog is treated like royalty
SafetySecureCared ForTreatsTrainingMobile

The Problem We Solve

Your dog shouldn't be the reason you miss the day

Every week, good people skip the slopes, cut the round of golf short, or pass on the festival — because there's nowhere trustworthy to leave the dog. The options today are a long drive to a distant kennel, hours alone at home, or the one choice that's never acceptable: a parked car.

  • Days cut short

    The guilt clock starts the moment you leave — and the fun ends hours before it should.

  • Cars and RVs are not care

    Temperatures swing fast, strangers walk past, and a vehicle is no place for a family member.

  • Kennels are far away

    The good boarding kennel is across town — in the wrong direction from everywhere you're going.

  • Dogs feel it too

    Noise, strange smells, and chaotic drop-offs are stressful. Care should calm a dog, not rattle them.

One of Kathleen's regulars relaxing at home, looking up with complete trust

The idea is simple: care comes to where life happens — and every guest is treated like royalty.

So we built the care into the day itself. The Perch sets up at the venue, minutes from where you'll be. You check your dog in with a trained handler, watch them settle in on the webcam, and get on with your day — they're close by, calm, and cared for the whole time.

Meet The Perch

A destination, not a drive

The Perch is a purpose-built, lightweight trailer with room for 20 guests. It is towed to the venue and parked — dogs are never transported in it. You bring your dog to us, the way you'd walk them into a spa. Inside: individual suites with a seamless, rubberized interior (no seams, nothing to trap dirt or odor), climate control, filtered air, calming music, and handlers who know every guest by name. One unit to start — and we'll grow only when demand calls for it.

Concept view inside The Perch: bright individual suites with glass doors, where dogs rest on clean white bedding
Concept view of The Perch's modular dog park: handlers supervising dogs on patterned turf with tunnels and ramps

Safety

Engineered for safety from the ground up: climate control held between 18–22°C, HEPA-filtered air, secure fencing with double-gated entries, and a maximum of three dogs per walker on outings — because that's what careful looks like.

Secure

Secure suites, a secure perimeter, secure peace of mind. Every guest wears a dedicated GPS tracker, check-in and check-out use a personal identity-match handoff, and only staff and registered guardians pass the gate.

Cared For

Every guest is genuinely cared for by trained handlers who learn their routine, their quirks, and their comfort cues before they arrive. Filtered water, quiet rest time, and photo "pupdates" to your phone through the day.

Treats

Cared-for dogs eat well. The Barkery serves clean-label, organic treats made with simple ingredients like spelt, hemp, and chia — and the Paws & Brews café pours puppuccinos for guests and proper coffee for their people.

Training

Good care respects training. At intake we record your dog's training level, known commands, and triggers, and our handlers — trained in low-stress, calm-energy handling — work the way your dog already understands.

Mobile

Fully mobile, by design. One lightweight unit, set up in about an hour, solar-assisted with battery backup for off-grid venues. If there's a mountain, a mall, a stadium, or a festival — The Perch can be there.

Calm is built in

A sanctuary should feel like one. Sound, scent, light, and air are all part of the design — right down to Kathleen's gong, whose deep, settling tones dogs respond to remarkably well.

  • Soundproofed suites that hush crowd and traffic noise
  • Calming music and gentle binaural tones
  • Live gong sound sessions from our founder
  • Calming, dog-safe scents — never harsh chemicals
  • Lighting that follows the natural day
  • Seamless rubberized interior, sanitized to a spotless standard

Why The Perch Is a Trailer

Why a trailer, and not a building?

People ask why we didn't simply rent a space. The honest answer: a building always answers to someone else's rules — a landlord, other tenants, activities that have nothing to do with dogs. The Perch answers to one thing only: what good care requires.

Its own air

The Perch breathes on its own. No shared hallways, no air drifting in from the business next door — and no dander drifting out to people with allergies. Inside, the air is HEPA-filtered and the climate never moves: clean, calm, and entirely the dogs'.

Built for dogs, only dogs

Nothing in The Perch has another job to do. Suites that hush noise, a seamless rubberized interior that sanitizes spotless, light that follows the day. A rented room is adapted to dogs; The Perch was designed for them, from the floor up.

It comes to where you are

A building makes you cross town in the wrong direction. The Perch parks where your day already happens — the shopping centre, the event, the neighbourhood — and when a community needs it somewhere else, it can simply go there.

And through it all, you can look in: live webcams mean your dog's day is never a mystery. One small building on wheels, built for a single purpose — that's why a trailer.

Services

Care that fits your day

From a 40-minute reset while you shop to a full day on the slopes, every stay includes a private suite, supervised play, fresh filtered water, webcam access, and a handler who knows your dog's profile.

Core Offering

Day Stays

Supervised daytime care at the venue, by the hour, half-day, or full day. Drop off on your way in, pick up on your way out — rested, played-out, and happy.

Quick Reset

Micro-Stays

A 40-minute sanctuary session for shoppers and park-goers: water, a stretch, a treat, and a calm rest while you run your errands dog-free.

Monday–Friday

Weekday Daycare

Drop off in the morning, pick up after work — daycare for your dog. Stationed at shopping centres and retail lots, so your pup spends the day in comfort instead of waiting in the car.

At Your Event

Event Residencies

The Perch on-site for the whole occasion — ski season at the lodge, tournament weekends, festival runs, and game days, staffed for the full schedule.

For Regulars

Perch Pass Memberships

Monthly memberships for weekday daycare regulars: a set number of days each month, priority booking, member rates, live webcam access, and a standing profile so check-in takes seconds. Founding Members lock their rate for the first year.

From Grandma's Kitchen

Grandma's Treat Tin

Themed, collectible treat tins from the Perch café: The Starting Lineup (baseball), The Hat Trick (hockey), Full-Time (soccer), and Pawsh (for the pampered ones) — with seasonal editions through the year. Every tin carries a full ingredient card, because some of our best friends can't have chicken. Members receive a tin each season.

Training

Perch Clinics

Small-group training clinics at the host lot, led by Kathleen: the Recall Clinic — a dog who truly comes when called — plus stay and settle, leave it, loose-leash walking, and calm door manners. Discounted for members, open to everyone. A trained dog is a safer, happier dog, at the Perch and everywhere else.

For the Humans

Paws & Brews Café

Our micro-café travels with The Perch: specialty coffee, pet-themed pastries, and a puppuccino for your co-pilot. Settle in, watch the webcam, stay a while.

Giving Back

Adoption Showcases

We partner with local rescues to host mobile adoption showcases from the unit — because every dog deserves to be somebody's whole world.

Day stays only — The Perch is a daytime sanctuary, not overnight boarding. Rates vary by venue and event.

Contact for Pricing

Where You'll Find Us

If dogs can't go in, The Perch parks outside

Anywhere people gather and dogs aren't allowed through the door is a place The Perch belongs. Ottawa first — then wherever the road leads.

Ski Resorts

At the base lodge, so the whole family skis the full day.

Golf Courses

Supervised care by the clubhouse for the full eighteen.

Shopping Districts

Quick Resets while you browse, dine, and take your time.

Sports Stadiums

Game-day care that turns matches into family outings.

Music Festivals

Soundproofed calm, steps from the main stage.

Concert Venues

Enjoy the encore — your dog is resting nearby, not waiting in the car.

RV Parks

A safe stopover that beats leaving dogs in the rig all day.

Dog Parks

Our modular park adds supervised play and rest space to big park days.

Dogs playing freely in a snowy Ottawa dog park under a bright blue sky
Four seasons, all weather — Ottawa dogs play year-round, and so do we.

For Venues & Partners

The amenity your guests are already asking for

Dog owners choose venues that welcome the whole family — and stay longer when the dog is looked after. The Perch arrives as a complete, insured, self-contained service: we handle staffing, setup, and every guest with four legs.

Longer visits, happier guests

When the dog is settled, guests stop watching the clock — they shop more, dine longer, and come back.

No build, no footprint

One parked unit and a modular park, set up in about an hour and gone without a trace. Solar-assisted power means minimal hookups.

Safety you can point to

Commercial liability coverage, vaccination requirements for every guest, trained handlers, and live-webcam transparency for owners.

Cleared by the City

The City of Ottawa has confirmed in writing: our model needs no kennel licence and no special business licence. Partnering with us is simple.

Sponsorship & community

Brand placement on the unit, co-hosted adoption showcases with local rescues, and a café that becomes a natural gathering point.

On the horizon

Coming as we grow: a concierge pickup service for guests who'd rather we come to them, and co-branded merchandise with local pet retailers. Launch partners hear about both first.

Talk Partnerships
Two happy dogs playing on the grass in an Ottawa park on one of Kathleen's daily walks

From Kathleen's daily rounds — the dogs of Ottawa are where this idea started.

The Founder's Story

Meet Kathleen Caught

Kathleen spent 40 years in Canada's financial industry — banking, mortgages, and consulting — before her second act found her. Today she runs a referral-only dog care practice in Ottawa, where she walks, boards, and knows by heart the dogs of her neighbourhood. Every week she watches the same scene play out: loving owners apologizing to their dogs, cutting days short, or staying home entirely, because nowhere felt good enough.

So she decided to build the place that did. Caught on Higher Ground pairs her business discipline with something rarer: as a Kundalini yoga teacher, Kathleen builds calm on purpose — and The Perch is designed, down to its sound and scent, to give dogs exactly that.

  • 40 years in finance — banking, mortgages & financial consulting
  • Professional dog care — Kathleen Caught Pet Services, referral-only, Ottawa
  • Kundalini yoga teacher — free community classes, twice a week
  • Past President — Ottawa Multicultural Lions Club Branch
"I spent my life managing capital. Now I'm looking after something worth more — the peace of the dogs who trust us."

In Loving Memory

Gambit

Kathleen smiling beside Gambit, a Doberman with snow on his nose, on a bright winter day

Kathleen’s movie star — a Doberman who circled the kitchen every time she arrived, because that’s what Dobermans do when they love you.

“He would have protected you.”

Gambit passed away in June 2026. He is missed every day.

Support the Build

Help put the first Perch on the road

The first lightweight unit — 20 suites, the café, the modular park — is being funded now. Every contribution goes directly toward building a sanctuary Ottawa's dogs can call their own, and every supporter is remembered on board.

$25 – $99 Supporter

Your name on the Founders' Digital Wall, shared with every guest who checks in.

$100 – $499 Guardian

A commemorative plaque inside Unit #1, plus a care pack from The Barkery.

$500 – $2,499 Ambassador

Sponsor a rescue adoption showcase and see your logo carried on the unit.

$2,500 – $9,999 Community Builder

VIP passes to the launch event — be there when The Perch first opens its doors.

$10,000+ Founding Underwriter

Permanent exterior brand placement on Unit #1, everywhere it travels.

Donate on GoFundMe

Donations are handled securely through our GoFundMe campaign (USD and CAD welcome). Canadians can also e-transfer to kcaught@gmail.com — zero fees, so every dollar reaches the build. Prefer to talk first? Call 613-415-3897.

A note: Caught on Higher Ground is not a registered charity, so contributions aren't tax-deductible — they're gifts toward building something wonderful. Thank you for every one. 🐾

Book a Stay

Tell us about your dog

Send a booking request and we'll confirm availability, rates, and the intake details with you personally. New guests complete a full wellness profile before their first stay — vaccinations (rabies, distemper, parvovirus, bordetella) and a microchip are required, and profiles are due 48 hours before arrival.

Sending opens your email app with the request addressed to us — nothing is sent until you press send there. Rather just talk? Call 613-415-3897.