A dog-meet-dog world

To enter Judy Rudin’s home in Burbank is to enter a world of dogs.

Rudin, owner of SuperShmuttle at 854 Ford St. in Burbank, has for the last two decades dedicated her life to taking care of dogs of all shapes, sizes, ages and breeds.

SuperShmuttle might be compared to a baby-sitting service for dogs, Rudin says. Clients leave their dogs with Rudin at the beginning of the day, and she takes them to Laurel Canyon Dog Park, where they spend the entire afternoon frolicking with other dogs.

Rudin calls it “park adventures.” Other services include taking the animals to the groomer or vet.

“The main part of the business is a park adventure,” Rudin said. “It is not about being here [at the business]; this is only a great place as a drop-off. For some people that just can’t leave their dog home alone at all, they’re driving by here anyway. It makes sense.”

Some of Rudin’s clients include Burbank, Toluca Lake and West Hollywood residents.

“They’re with other dogs; they’re socialized,” said five-year client Todd Thurman of Los Angeles.

Twenty-one years ago, Rudin was looking for a way to spend as much time as she could working on her music, so she spent her time looking for jobs that would give her that flexibility. Then Rudin adopted a yellow lab puppy named Jersey. Unable to leave the dog alone, she would take Jersey to parks during the day.

Then she began fielding requests from friends to take their dogs on walks, either because they were starting a new job or could not physically handle their canine pets. So Rudin began a dog-walking business, which allowed her the flexibility to work on her music and play gigs at night.

“There was no word ‘dog walker,’” Rudin said. “All of a sudden people just said to me, ‘You’re going to the park with your dog; take mine and make a little extra money.’”

Over time, Rudin felt that she could not physically handle the number of dogs pulling on the leash, so she took her business in another direction. She founded SuperShuttle about three years ago, which instead centers on allowing the dogs to frolic in the park under Rudin’s watchful eye.

“To be in the lives of the clients, you become part of their family,” Rudin said. “So it’s not just the dogs. I’ve been there through two to three generations of dogs.”

SuperShmuttle has two full-size vans capable of taking multiple dogs to the park each day. Dogs can also be dropped off at Rudin’s business.

Yearlong client Mark Fogel of Toluca Lake drops off his dog at Rudin’s business on his way to work in downtown Los Angeles.

“It’s great,” said Fogel of the service. “Izzy’s exhausted at the end of the day. He’s never alone and always with somebody. That’s the way he likes it. Whatever makes him happy.”