We take the responsibility of what we do seriously. In the unregulated pet industry where anything goes without checks and balances, we put our all into creating resources and services that positively impact lives in our Kalamazoo community, human and pet alike. You SHOULD do your research and carefully consider ALL your options before hiring any style of pet service. We appreciate the efforts, consideration, and compassion that leads our clients to maintain the absolute highest standards for the services they utilize and encourage all prospective pet parents to take the time to get to know us before inviting us into your lives.

Cloud 9 Canine’s Mission

Cloud 9’s mission is to enhance the quality of life for ALL pets while providing further knowledge and resources to families. We strive to cultivate a positive change within the Kalamazoo community thorough readily available resources, quality education and proper enrichment by skilled and passionate professionals.

Cloud 9 Canine’s Values

Community: Cloud 9 exists primarily as a local small business dedicated to provide long-term support to members of the beloved city we’ve called home for our entire lives. We believe in the significance of social connection, empathy, equity, and safe relationships for all.

Wellness: When we work with all beings of all species, it is our job to tend to the needs of ALL who wind up in our care, human and animal alike. We look beyond “just behavior” and “just a dog walk” to provide a professionally skilled eye to all we do—after all, these are SO MUCH MORE than ‘just a pet.’

Excellence: We’ve put in the work to bring intensively-thought-out, developed, professional quality services that are the just-right blend of passionate heart, brilliance in problem solving, and guidance through a gentle hand. When you book with Cloud 9, we give our all to bring you the best pet care and dog training has to offer: because your best friend deserves the best of the best!

Interested in joining our team? Fill out an application!

Join the C9C Pet Pro Team

Cloud 9 Canine Service Area

We service the greater Kalamazoo Area in home and provide facility-based services. Our facility is on Riverview Drive and may be visited by appointment only. The blue area is our primary; orange is Limited to 1 hour minimum, and gray is Limited to 2 hour minimum.

Meet the Twin Sisters Behind Cloud 9 Canine!

Hello! My name is Nicole, and I am the owner & founder of C9C.

My passion for pets was first cultivated when I was about four years old. My parents built a hobby farm in Vicksburg, MI where we grew up.

I was extremely shy as a child and struggled to make friends. I often felt lonely and as though I had no real connections. This void was filled while growing up with pets that gave me a particular soft spot in my heart for animals. Cats, geckos, rabbits, birds, even frogs . . . it didn’t matter if they were the furry kind or the creepy-crawly kind, they all fascinated me just the same.

Growing up, I spent the majority of my time outside in nature. My sisters and I would wait rather impatiently by the upstairs window, on the lookout for our babysitter to arrive. The moment her car rumbled up the driveway, we raced downstairs, threw open the basement doors, and charged out into the farmyard, eager to feed our rabbits, snuggle our kittens, let our goats out to graze, and search for salamanders in the swamp. When the sun set and we had to come inside, I remember what would become known as “binge-watching” Animal Planet and doing extensive research on dog breeds, behavior, care, and training as I dreamt of having a dog of my own.

In 2009, I was blessed with my first dog, Morgan, a mixed breed dog. She got me through some of the darkest and most isolating experiences of my life, and I would not be here without her.

She enjoyed her golden years overjoyed with enrichment by Cloud 9 until she made her journey across the rainbow bridge in December 2022.

As I got older, I began volunteering for the SPCA of Southwest Michigan and providing pet sitting and dog walking services for fun while attending Western Michigan University. There, I studied business, where I found I discovered another passion of mine. I believe business is about giving—finding a need, figuring out how to fulfill it, and going above and beyond to give back and truly serve the community in order to meet that need.

Soon, the stars aligned and a lightbulb went off, and suddenly I realized I was able to pursue both of my passions for both pets and connection! And as the story goes, Cloud 9 Canine was born in 2019. In our first year alone, we served over 200 families and their pets! We, as a team, are all very grateful for this opportunity and eager for all that will unfold over the coming years! It is a privilege for us to serve our community, both the people and their furry, feathered, and scaly companions alike. And here we are today!

I am a cat person at heart and share every inch of my home with 4 rescued kitties: Xi, Nala, Kenai, and Aslan.

Hi there! My name is Jordan and I’m the other half of Cloud 9 Kalamazoo, having joined part-time as support until eventually leaving the healthcare field of occupational therapy to run Cloud 9 full-time alongside my twin sister!

I share the same upbringing story as Nicole right outside the Kalamazoo neighborhood after growing up in Vicksburg, through I left the area to attend Michigan State University (Go Green!) for undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Kinesiology, and eventually a doctorate in Occupational Therapy at Western Michigan University. I have worked professionally with animals since 2014, starting out in a boarding kennel/board-and-train facility in Three Rivers, then expanding into shelters, in-home pet care, daycare, and training around Lansing and Kalamazoo areas alike.

I’ve always had a special love for Australian Cattle Dogs. My first was a dog named Adnap that became my responsibility as a teenager. He experienced severe human- and dog-directed aggression, and ultimately left this world at just 3 years old. My second ACD was adopted from the SPCA of Southwest Michigan in 2009, Panda, and has since crossed the rainbow bridge.

Enter Zuko! Zuko was a pandemic puppy that came home in November 2020 at the age of 8 weeks. Like my first cattle dog, he was a farm-bred worker designed to drive cattle through pastures. Not at all unfamiliar to cattle dogs, but having not had a puppy for 10 years, I was ready to redo everything with this exciting new life we were going to create together! Zuko’s breeder determined that he wasn’t suitable for ranch work, so he came to me with big plans to venture into performance venues of obedience, agility, herding, disc, and dock diving.

Zuko was a challenging puppy: you know 8 week old pups are typically springy, happy, and fairly interested in people and trouble. NOT this one! In addition to the fact that research and expansion of my skill led me to decide to abandon the (effective but ethically unnecessary) “traditional” or “balanced” training techniques of my past two dogs, I quickly found myself needing to check…and re-check…and triple check my work with this puppy. We are two peas in an pod with tenacity to attack a project until its finished, endless endurance to be put to work at all times, and an intensity about our emotions rivaled by none.

We got into a groove, and I grew deeply passionate about helping people navigate the confusingly contradicting advice out there about how to BEST select, care for, train, exercise, and meet the needs of the brilliant and fiery animal in my home. Unfortunately, Zuko was attacked by another dog at his first-ever agility trial at age 2, which brought on a slew of behavior challenges to follow. It was a complicated ride with this dog from day one, but it’s a journey that has made ME into a better version of myself while bringing me to Cloud 9 as a life project. I joke that I’m our pickiest client ever, except it’s actually NOT a joke: I want the best that’s out there for my boy, and I feel strongly about the households we serve, filled with people doing the best they can with what they currently know, receiving no less than the best of the best to make the most of the short time we share with the fascinating, complex, loving individuals that are our dogs.

SO STRONGLY felt that I surprised many by abandoning a ~typical~ career path and dove head-first into building out Cloud 9 alongside my twin sister. I believe deeply in the values and mission of Cloud 9 and am dedicated to spending my life serving our pet community however I can alongside the evolving body of scientific literature, best practices, and collaboration with other dedicated professionals we’re lucky to come alongside.

When I’m not working hard to create our policies and procedures, developing our services and programs, serving clients, meeting with other talented teams, or training our own staff team, you can find me out with Zuko, enjoying off-leash hikes, training hard for precise, clean, kind, and flashy performance in various sport venues, and making the most out of this life that brought us together.

Looking forward to meeting you: let’s talk dogs!

Meet Our Team

Our Professional Pet Care Provider staff team are out in our Kalamazoo community each day providing support to meet the needs of the dogs, cats, and small animals within our neighborhoods. We are all dedicated to the C9C mission for bringing services and resources to better quality of life for pets and their people in the city we call home. Staff undergo beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels of knowledge and skill assessments designed by Jordan for animal behavior management, husbandry, and safe handling to bring you the reliability and trust that only comes from local small business of pet people in our very community!

Caroline E — Office Manager

with C9C since April 2022.

Caroline started out as a professional pet care provider and stepped into the role of overseeing our office! She will answer your calls, help with scheduling, and come out to Meet & Greets to get you all set up. She’s an absolute rockstar at overseeing all the ins-and-outs behind the scenes and brings an inviting and warm presence to our staff team!

Caroline has a poodle, Lavender, at home who she shares her life with! Lavender often serves as quality assurance by overseeing office communications while Caroline is on the phone with you all!