ALBURTIS, Pa. — As Rayne and Kerry Reitnauer hosted a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday for the coming expansion of their Cold Nose Lodge premier luxury dog center, Rayne let everyone in on a secret.
She revealed the entire 15-year business and personal relationship may have hinged on a man's relationship with a beagle.
- Cold Nose Lodge in Alburtis held a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday as it plans to expand its facility
- Cold Nose Lodge is a premier luxury dog center
- Owner Rayne Reitnauer said plans for the expansion have been in the works for about five years
Rayne and Kerry began dating in 2001. The dog-loving Rayne asked him if he wouldn’t mind caring for her dog for a while. Her mission: To learn if her boyfriend could get along well enough with and love enough her beloved 5-year-old beagle, Bruno.
“If it didn’t go well, it could have been a dealbreaker,” Rayne Reitnauer joked.
“I never worked so hard to get along with a dog in my life,” her husband added.
Kerry loved Bruno. Rayne loved Kerry. They married. Started a family. Started a dog training, day care and boarding business.
And Monday, they started to reveal the details of their expansion project.
Plans are for a 2,314-square-foot addition to the current 8,000-square-foot Cold Nose Lodge facility.
Work on the new addition will begin Tuesday. It will include a larger storefront, dedicated training and feeding rooms, an expanded grooming room and additional office space.
"We didn’t have room for more dogs. We were turning (clients) away. This expansion gives us the room we need."Rayne Reitnauer, owner, Cold Nose Lodge
“The new room will be for training the dogs,” Rayne Reitnauer said. “And for two months of the year — late June through August — the playroom will give us an opportunity to have more dogs.
“We were getting calls from more and more clients, but we didn’t have room for more dogs. We were turning them away. This expansion gives us the room we need.”
Staying put
The expansion project will be led by John G. Membrino Construction, of Hereford. The site, which is located beside the current facility, has been cleared and leveled.
“But we can’t start yet because John has to subcontract some of the work,” Rayne Reitnauer said. “And he’s at the mercy of those subcontractors. I’m hoping we can be done with expansion sometime before winter.”
Jen Kohlmeier has been a dog trainer at Cold Nose Lodge since October.
“The addition is going to be great because right now the day care rooms are used for training,” she said. “The new room will enable us to have training during the day and on weekend mornings. It’ll really just allow us to have a lot more classes. It’ll be like a playground for the dogs.”
Alburtis Borough Council President Ron Delaco noted there was a time when there was talk Cold Nose Lodge may be considering relocating out of Alburtis.
“We’re glad you stayed,” said Delaco, who was a Cold Nose customer when he owned dogs. “You’re a viable part of the community. Alburtis loves you.”
Lehigh County Commissioner Ron Beitler noted how the Reitnauers built their business from the ground up.
“And now, it will be even better with this expansion,” he said, before presenting the owners with a proclamation.
Rayne Reitnauer said the Cold Nose Lodge expansion was initially planned in 2018 or 2019, with a groundbreaking goal of March 2020 — the start of coronavirus pandemic lockdowns.
“We had only three boarders the entire month of April that year,” she said. “Once COVID happened, we didn’t need additional space.”
Kerry viewed the expansion delay as a blessing.
“If we had done the expansion before COVID, as we were hoping to do, we might have gone under,” he said. “People were boarding their dogs back then. We were very fortunate.”
As fortunate as a man loving his girlfriend's dog.
