POWERGRAMS

TEMPLETON PLANTATION PET HOTEL If not for the license plate "PET HTL" on Lori Templeton's car parked in the driveway, her home would look like most any other from the street. But with each step farther around the side, the "plantation" comes into focus and the colony of dogs and cats becomes more obvious. The two-story hotel has six air-conditioned and furnished rooms with doggy doors that open to individual, fenced dog runs. It is attached by an elevated walkway to a large porch that leads to a grooming spa, where Templeton and her assistant Lori Sies are lifting a German shepherd into a bathtub while dogs of most every size, shape, color and breed watch as they are blown dry nearby. The obvious queen of the scene is Sassy, a tiny Yorkie perched above the couch. She is one of Templeton's four dogs, who all seem to enjoy the company of strangers. A woman enters The Groom Room to pick up her Pomeranian, pays Templeton, who hugs her and then walks the dog and owner outside to their car. Soon, two more customers arrive with man's best friend in tow. Humans flock to her shop, eager to have their pets put up for a night ($15-$22), nails ground down ($9-$13), or hair washed and blown dry. Templeton was a vet tech for 20 years before taking "a leap of faith" and opening her own business in her own home. "I hated that the cats and dogs were boarded in cages," says Templeton, who is a certified dog trainer. "Sometimes I would let them come home with me." Ten years ago she forfeited all of the benefits of a steady job, began accepting pets overnight at her home and the plantation steadily grew along with the client list. She has never advertised and hasn't yet needed that expense. The Pet Hotel is open seven days a week; Templeton grooms pets Tuesday through Thursday. Her facilities, with a maximum capacity of 25 pets, are always fully booked at least a month in advance — longer for holidays and prime vacation months. "I have people from Georgia, Wisconsin, Texas, who bring their pets when they are coming this way," she says. "I have to turn down a lot of people." Standing in front of a "Home is Where the Dog is" poster, Templeton says she is blessed as an animal lover to make a living providing a home away from home for people's pets. "My philosophy is 'If they can't be at home with you, let them be at home with me,'" she says. "I feel lucky to do what I love." RAINING DOGS STUDIO & GALLERY Will York doesn't mind that "PRESCRIPTIONS" is still visible on the back wall of the century-old former Pearson Pharmacy building he renovated two years ago on North Tallassee Street. "I painted it three times over, but it's like the past is insisting on remaining a part of the gallery," says the former professor at Auburn, Alabama and UAB. York came to Alabama 35 years ago after stints with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in Boulder and the Seattle Theatre Group. He was a director and voice specialist whose students included Kyle MacLachlan of "Twin Peaks" fame and "a lot of actors and actresses that people would know but that's my past life. Now I'm a potter." His Raining Dogs Studio & Gallery is sparkling white, but York left intact the back section that was a doctor's office but is now where he fires pottery in a new kiln. While restoring a 107-year-old house in Camp Hill, York was bitten by the bug to open a business where he could display his artwork as well as that of fellow regional artists. He wanted to further his teaching career by spreading his love of the arts to children. In January, the works of finalists in the Dadeville and Tallapoosa County student art contest will be exhibited at Raining Dogs. On a winter afternoon, York ponders the many pieces of pottery, paintings, jewelry, furniture and gourd creations filling the gallery floor, walls and display cases. He is proud of them all but lingers at a pair of portraits by Montevallo artist Michelle Watson. "There's something about a cow in a bathtub that always makes me smile," York says. 27 27 Templeton stands outside one of the air-conditioned suites at her pet plantation. Above, Sies with Snow, while Arrow awaits grooming.

• Cover