Editor’s note: Made in Tarrant is an occasional Q&A series on small businesses started in Tarrant County. Submit your business here.
Wife-and-wife duo Cecilia Gonzales and Gayla Turley’s business Pixee’s Paws Pet Palace came from a love for dogs — and a need to find a use for a 5,000-square-foot building.
“We had a lot of dogs at home, and we thought, well, let’s just open a doggy day care,” Gonzales said. “We know how to work with our dogs and what to do.”
Six years on, their business is a doggy day care and boarding facility that is uniquely cage free. Staff also stay overnight with the dogs, monitoring them 24/7.
The business has created a community, Gonzales said, and they regularly hold events for dogs and their owners. The two also started the nonprofit Lighthouse Dog Rescue to help pups in need.
“It’s been a really wonderful journey that we’ve been on,” she said.
Gonzales spoke with reporter McKinnon Rice about her tail-wagging business.
The interview has been edited for clarity and space.
Contact information:
Website: pixeespaws.com
Facebook: Pixee’s Paws Pet Palace
Phone: 682-999-8684
Email: cecilia@pixeespaws.com
Address: 112 W. Randol Mill Road, Suite 100, Arlington
McKinnon Rice: Could you tell me about your business and how it got started?
Cecilia Gonzales: Pixee’s Paws Pet Palace is a dog day care, boarding and training facility. We are different because we stay with our dogs overnight. There are crates that we have in the room with our employees and the guests, but they sleep with our employee in the bed, or on chairs, or on the floor under the bed, or on futons. It’s a dog slumber party every night at Pixee’s Paws Pet Palace. That’s what sets us apart, is that we are there overnight with our dogs.
Rice: How did you get the idea to start this business?
Gonzales: We have a 5,000-square-foot building that my family owns, and we had a lot of space in it. We had a lot of dogs at home, and we thought, well, let’s just open a doggy day care. We know how to work with our dogs and what to do. Gayla is a nurse. She’s the primary owner of the business, and she would stay overnight with the dogs. As the overnight count grew, she stayed there to help facilitate that, and we would stay there during the day with all of our new little guests. That’s how it started. It was just kind of out of a need to continue having our building be used and financially pay for it, but then we have a passion for dogs, so it kind of all worked together.
The building is hilarious because it actually has an upstairs track, because we had a staffing company. My father and I had the building built. We decided to have an industrial-type feel to it, because that’s the type of staffing we did, was industrial, warehouse, outside construction and stuff. We have an upstairs track and cubbies upstairs for old storage, but sometimes the dogs just like to hang out in there when the dogs are running upstairs.
We have two outdoor areas, and we have the upstairs track. We have a huge commons area. We have several rooms. They’re all decked out with televisions, beds, chairs, coffee tables. It’s just really the dogs’ domain. We just kind of let them do what they want to do. My employees just love hanging out with them. It’s a passion for dogs that we have.
Lovie in a room with other dogs at Pixee’s Paws on Feb. 20, 2026. (McKinnon Rice | Fort Worth Report)
Rice: What are some of the challenges that come with running a business like yours?
Gonzales: Like any small business, the financial burden of payroll, of labor, is a big expense, and finding a really great team has taken years. We’re in our sixth year in business, and we have a team that is synergistic and work really great together. We have a motto that if you’re not kind, you can’t be a Pixee’s pack, right? Everybody that works for us has to be kind and love dogs. But the payroll, and the burden of labor, that’s the biggest challenge. We work with our employees, they work with us, and we make it work.
It’s a journey every day. It’s just a lot of fun. It’s fun creating at the business as well. (Feb. 19) we’re having a Mardi Gras pet parent mixer. We decked out the lobby in Mardi Gras, and we cooked red beans and rice and boudin balls. We’ll be there from 4 to 7, the owners, and we’ll be feeding everybody and having appetizers, drinks. It gives us a chance to slow down and talk to our clients when they come to get their puppies. We’re going to have raffles, and we’ll have prizes. We’re excited about that tonight.
Rice: And from my understanding, you also do birthday parties?
Gonzales: We do! We actually have a monthly birthday party for our clients, pets. Whoever’s birthday is in that month, they get their name on our sandwich board, and they get a birthday party. They get comped for their birthday, so they get to come to day care, get a photo shoot, get puppaccinos. They get birthday cakes from R&B Dog Bakery — little shoutout to my friend Aisha. She makes individualized dog bones for the birthday babies. It’s just a lot of fun. And we have enrichment days every week. Every Wednesday, it’s a different theme. I think next week is the Oscars.
Dogs spend time together at Pixee’s Paws on Feb. 20, 2026. (McKinnon Rice | Fort Worth Report)
Rice: What is your favorite part about your business?
Gonzales: My favorite part about the business is the creative part of it, of creating ways to help the business grow financially. Also, helping our clients, and the relationships we’ve built with our clients and their dogs. That was a really surprising part of the business.
We actually have our own Pixee’s pack community that’s been really amazing. It’s been a blessing. That’s my favorite part — the relationships that we’ve built.
Rice: How did you choose the name for your business?
Gonzales: My niece actually came up with the name. We were looking at a lot of different combinations of doggy day care businesses, and we had all these names and a whole list, and she said, “Why don’t you just name it Pixee’s Paws?” And of course, we had to add the pet palace. We want everyone to be treated like royalty. Pixee was my dog, and she was a Catahoula mix with shepherd, and she was a rescue. She was brilliant. She helped me rescue a Chihuahua once, she would herd us as we took walks. She was a genteel lady. The business is in her honor, and the logo is her, all fun and bright and colors. She was a wonderful dog. I was just real tickled that my niece came up with Pixee’s. It’s a fun name for a day care.
The Pixee’s Paws logo hangs on the wall at the business on Feb. 20, 2026. (McKinnon Rice | Fort Worth Report)
Rice: Is there anything else about your business I haven’t asked you about that you think is important for folks to know?
Gonzales: We are cage free, and our boarding is cage free. We don’t leave them locked up from 7 to 7 every night. Somebody’s with them, so if there’s a medical emergency, or if there’s a need for them to go out to go potty, they get to go out and do that. They’re monitored all day and every night. That sets us apart, that’s a big deal. We can also, if people want them to be separated, we can do that as well. We can accommodate. Like I said, our building’s huge.
We also have a store, so we sell a lot of dog clothes, a lot of dog leashes. Mendota leashes, because we train, we do dog training. We also have personalized merchandise that we sell. That’s a lot of fun, to come up with stuff like that.
The lobby area with items for sale at Pixee’s Paws Pet Palace on Feb. 20, 2026. (McKinnon Rice | Fort Worth Report)
McKinnon Rice is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org.
The Fort Worth Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
The Report’s higher education coverage is supported in part by major higher education institutions in Tarrant County, including Tarleton State University, Tarrant County College, Texas A&M-Fort Worth, Texas Christian University, Texas Wesleyan University, the University of Texas at Arlington and UNT Health Science Center. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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