Willow Creek Pet Center

There are veterinarians, there are pet trainers, there are pet groomers, and there are pet boarders. But have you ever heard of a place where all of these services are under one roof?

I have:  Willow Creek Pet Center in Cottonwood Heights

Here’s something that’s important to me: I trust them. I trust Willow Creek Pet Center because we’ve investigated their business practices, and the way they treat their clients.  As a result, I am proud to endorse them as Gephardt Approved.

The whole attitude and philosophy comes from owner and founder, Dr. Rick Campbell, DVM.    Dr. Rick, as he’s known, to his friends, clients, and staff, says he operates the most progressive animal facility in Utah, with 3 decades of perfecting their craft.   “Other veterinarians send special cases to us because of our state of the art digital x-ray machine, our therapeutic laser and surgical laser equipment, state-of-the-art laboratory facilities, and a combined 120 years of experience in our 7 doctors,” Dr. Rick says.

But all of that is not how he began his interview with me.  Instead, Dr. Rick made it very clear to me his passion about socializing pets and their owners.  “Pets must be socialized early,” says Dr. Rick.  “We were the first facility in North America in 1984 to begin training puppies at 11 weeks.  The standard back then was 7 months to begin training.  Others said our way was too young, but it’s not.  To begin training a puppy at 7 months is like starting to educate a child beginning in the 7th grade, and that’s ridiculous.  The result of our training is that we no longer have dogs abandoned in shelters.  70 per cent of puppies are dropped off at the human society before their first birthday because of uncontrollable behavior problems.  Not when we train them early.”

“90 per cent of dog biting comes from fear,” Dr. Rick says. “When they’re socialized and trained early, these naturally social puppies turn into well behaved companions.”

That compassionate attitude extends to Willow Creek Pet Center’s medical side.  “With that combined 120 years of experience, it means if one of our doctors can’t solve a medical problem, we have 2, 3, or 4 second opinions right on the premises for free.  So, we don’t have to turn to an outside specialist who might charge 3 or 4 times more,” says Dr. Rick.  

In fact, Dr. Rick says countless veterinarians from Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Nevada send cases to Willow Creek Pet Center.   “You’ve got to learn to read dogs and cats to detect what is wrong.  Dogs have a pack behavior, and you have to think like that to figure out where’s there’s pain or sickness in order to cure the problem.”

“We have a loving, caring staff with the goal of improving both the quality and length of a pet’s life.”

Willow Creek Pet Center has a full-time, modern grooming facility.  For example, they don’t use traditional blowers or hair dryers on dogs that might frighten them.  They have an area where room temperature air blows across the dogs.  “Look there,” Dr. Rick.  “They think they’re in a convertible car.”

And if anything goes wrong in any aspect of animal care, Dr. Rick has an attitude he says he expresses to everyone on the staff.  “Fix it if something goes wrong.  We want the best service ever, and we’ve taken 30 years to perfect it.  The only problems we can solve are the ones we know about.”  

“Animals love people unconditionally,” says Dr. Rick.  “The people and animals I see are both friends and clients.  We understand these pets are members of the family.  They are bonded to people, and people are bonded to pets.  These pets do affect human lives.”

So there you go: Willow Creek Pet Center.  Now you know how they treat their clients and patients.  Now you know their attitude if anything goes wrong.  And now you know what 30 years of growing a veterinarian business has done.  And, now you know why I am proud to endorse Willow Creek Pet Center as Gephardt Approved.

--Bill Gephardt